The woman accused of beating a fellow Lincoln Hospital patient to death last month was arraigned Tuesday in Bronx Criminal Court and ordered held without bail on Rikers Island.
Raquel Haughton, 44, appeared briefly in court to face manslaughter and assault charges for allegedly repeatedly punching Cynthia Vann, 55, in the head on Sept. 10 in an eighth-floor room where the two women were being treated. Vann underwent emergency surgery on Sept. 11, but her condition deteriorated and she died Sept. 27.
The NYPD has reclassified the death of Cynthia Vann (pictured) as a homicide. (Courtesy of Taneisha Vann)
Haughton was arrested Monday at her Bronx apartment, police previously said. Dressed in a loose-fitting, pink-black-and-gray striped sweater and light-blue jeans, with a light-blue mask over her mouth, she did not speak during the hearing.
A prosecutor with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office requested she be remanded to custody, noting Haughton has two open felony assault cases for striking Lincoln Hospital staffers, plus a misdemeanor charge for assaulting another inmate in jail.
Defense attorney Cristine Oh, from Bronx Defenders, reserved a bail request without comment.
From left, Taniesha Vann, daughter of Cynthia Vann, Rev. Kevin McCall, Rosemary Vann (speaking), mother of Cynthia Vann, and family attorney John Elefterakis are pictured at a press conference in the Sherman Ave. Community Garden Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in the Bronx. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
In objecting to a request from the Daily News to photograph the proceeding, Oh argued it would violate Haughton’s privacy and there would be “little to no public interest” in allowing a photo of her to be taken during the hearing. “This was a dispute between two individuals in a hospital,” she said.
Judge Juan Abreu, who oversaw the arraignment, called the request premature since a grand jury had yet to indict Haughton.
The NYPD has reclassified the death of Cynthia Vann (pictured) as a homicide. (Courtesy of Taneisha Vann)
Haughton is due back in court Oct. 24.
The city Department of Investigation is conducting a review of the handling of the investigation into Vann’s death, The News previously reported. Vann’s family questioned why Haughton was not charged earlier and why Lincoln Hospital did not immediately involve the NYPD in the case.