Toronto chair girl Marcella Zoia has been expelled from school
The chair-tossing blonde everyone loves to hate is back in the news today, thanks to comments made by her lawyer during a court appearance Friday morning.
Marcella Zoia, 19, was charged by Police on February 13 with mischief—endangering life, mischief—damage to property over $5,000, and common nuisance after video footage went viral that showed her throwing patio furniture over the fast-moving traffic of Toronto's Gardiner Expressway.
The incident, in which nobody was harmed, was said to have taken place on the balcony of a condo building near York and Harbour Streets on February 9.
Someone took a video of a chair being thrown off a #Toronto condo building pic.twitter.com/fylo70gLu0
— blogTO (@blogTO) February 11, 2019
'Chair girl' didn't become a household name until a few days later, however, after Toronto Police put out a digital wanted flyer and news outlets started covering the mass outrage surrounding her actions.
Zoia surrendered to police at 52 division in the early morning hours of February 13, at which point the public learned her name, found her personal Instagram account, and tore her to shreds on Twitter even more so than they already had been.
The young woman was released on a $2,000 bail later that day and ordered to stay at her mom's house, away from tall balconies.
Hey Toronto, here's the Girl who was traumatized and embarrassed by her actions, throwing a chair from a balcony. She has re-activated her Instagram account and now has 7000 followers. Simply disgusting. Marcella Zoia pic.twitter.com/Aap0cPgTzg
— THEVOICEOFTORONTO (@ThevoiceofTDot) February 22, 2019
We haven't heard much about Zoia since, save for some truly excellent memes inspired by that time she whipped a chair off a high-rise balcony on camera.
The dental hygiene student and bottle service worker was originally scheduled to appear at Old City Hall today to set a date for her trial, but her lawyer showed up to court instead—and he doesn't think there should be a trial at all.
"She wants this matter to be over with," said Attorney Gregory Leslie to reporters gathered outside the courtroom this morning. "It's been extremely embarrassing, I think she's lost a lot of her friends, it's created problems between her and her mom, they've worked that out though."
The lawyer for the young woman accused of tossing a patio chair 45 storeys off a downtown #Toronto balcony says his client has been expelled from school & lost friends over her viral video. Greg Leslie hopes to settle Marcella Zoia’s case without going to trial. #ChairGirl pic.twitter.com/wdzXOhL9Qo
— NEWSTALK1010 (@NEWSTALK1010) March 22, 2019
Leslie says that Zoia was also kicked out of her dental hygeine program at school since the chair-tossing incident blew up.
"There's always the presumption of innocence. For a young lady to make a mistake and then be expelled from school, I think it's absolutely inappropriate," he said. "I'm actually looking into that and hopefully we'll have her back in school in a month or two."
While Zoia would prefer not to go to trial, Leslie says that they'll have no choice if the crown seeks jail time as part of her punishment.
Nice to see that Marcella Zoia is treating her Court case with the respect we expected her to treat it with...
— Charley Farley (@2018Farlie) March 22, 2019
By not even bothering to turn up.
The case will go back before a judge on April 26. In the meantime, Leslie says that Zoia will receive professional counselling.
