NEW YORK _ The girlfriend of Grammy-award winning jazz drummer Lawrence Leathers is one of two people facing manslaughter charges in Leathers' choking death in his Bronx apartment building.
Leathers, 37, died June 2 during a fight with his girlfriend, Lisa Harris, 41, in the couple's home in Mott Haven.
Sterling Aguilar, who prosecutors describe as Harris' friend, put Leathers in a chokehold for about 30 minutes, while Harris sat on his chest and repeatedly punched him in the chest, prosecutors said.
Aguilar, 29, squeezed Leathers' neck so tightly he broke bones, prosecutors said. Harris then dumped Leathers in the stairwell of their building, and never alerted authorities.
An autopsy revealed Leathers died of homicidal asphyxia with compression to the neck.
Both suspects were arraigned in Bronx Supreme Court Thursday on manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges, where their bails were set at $5,000 bond or $3,000 cash.
Leathers, a Lansing, Mich., native, is best known in jazz circles for his connections to pianist Aaron Diehl and singer Cecile McLorin Salvant.
He won two Grammy awards backing Salvant, as a member of the Aaron Diehl Trio. His most recent Grammy was in 2017 for "Dreams and Daggers."
