The Diapers? Astronaut Denies It |
The Diapers? Astronaut Denies It
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 30, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/us/30astronaut.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
ORLANDO, Fla., June 29 (AP) — The astronaut Lisa M.
Nowak did not wear diapers during her 950-mile road
trip to confront a romantic rival, her lawyer said
Friday, disputing one of the more bizarre details to
emerge from a love triangle.
“The biggest lie in this preposterous tale that has
been told is that my client drove from Houston,
Tex., to Orlando, Fla., nonstop, wearing a diaper,”
the lawyer, Donald A. Lykkebak, told reporters after
filing motions here to suppress evidence in his
client’s criminal case. “That is an absolute
fabrication.”
The tidbit that Captain Nowak, a naval officer, had
worn diapers during her trip was written in the
police report filed after her arrest in February. “I
then asked Mrs. Nowak why she had baby diapers,”
said the charging affidavit, written by Officer
William Becton. “Mrs. Nowak said that she didn’t
want to stop and use the restroom, so she used the
diapers to collect her urine.”
There were toddler-size diapers in her car when she
was arrested, Mr. Lykkebak said, but they were
several years old. Captain Nowak and her family had
used them, he said, when Houston was evacuated in
2005 ahead of Hurricane Rita.
The diaper detail became fodder for late-night
television comics and talk radio. “It jeopardizes
our ability to have a fair trial when the accused is
the butt of jokes,” Mr. Lykkebak said.
An Orlando police spokeswoman, Sgt. Barb Jones, said
that she could not comment about the case
specifically and that the courts would determine the
facts.
Captain Nowak, now 44, was charged with attempted
kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault in a
confrontation at Orlando International Airport with
the girlfriend of another Navy officer, Cmdr.
William A. Oefelein, then a space shuttle pilot.
Commander Oefelein told detectives that he had had a
two-year relationship with Captain Nowak but had
ended it some time after he started a relationship
with the girlfriend, Colleen Shipman, an Air Force
captain.
Captain Nowak has pleaded not guilty, and her trial
is set for September. She was dismissed from the
astronaut corps a month after her arrest.
In his filings here Friday, Mr. Lykkebak asked among
other things to have a transcript of the police
interview with Captain Nowak sealed, contending that
the media would otherwise use it for entertainment
value and taint potential jurors. |
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