2010-02-03 17:33:16 -

A New York barman is facing a minimum of 20 years behind bars after plead= ed guilty to the murder of a partygoer at a 2008 birthday bash for rapper= LIL KIM.
Syed Rahman was charged with fatally beating Ingrid Rivera

with a steel= pole on the roof of the Spotlight Live karaoke lounge in August, 2008. T= he victim's throat had also been slit.
The 25 year old confessed to hitting Rivera, 24, but claimed he had bee= n too drunk to remember killing her, according to prosecutor Anne Schwart= z.
The incident is alleged to have occurred when Rahman helped Rivera snea= k back into the club after being kicked out, but their exchange turned vi= olent when she taunted him.
Rahman's admission means the case will not go to trial - instead, he wi= ll be sentenced on 16 March (10), when he faces 20 years to life in priso= n.
Rivera's family is relieved to finally see justice served and is gratef= ul not to have to hear in detail how the young woman died, reports the Ne= w York Daily News.
Steven Rothberg, lawyer for Rivera's mother, says, "Nothing will ever b= ring her daughter back... (but) this means she doesn't have to go through= the pain of a trial." Rahman's attorney, Peter Frankel, adds, "He did not want to put the vic= tim's family through the rigours of a trial - or his own family." (MT/NYD=