Defense Rests In Trial Of Woman Accused Of Stalking Alec Baldwin
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The defense has rested in the case of a woman accused of stalking Alec Baldwin.
Genevieve Sabourin's days of sobs, gasps, remarks and interruptions continued during some legal arguments Wednesday, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum told her, "That's it.'' He found her in contempt and gave her 30 days in jail as a punishment.
Woman Accused Of Stalking Alec Baldwin Held In Contempt Of Court
Mandelbaum had warned Sabourin he might do so if she didn't stop speaking out during the proceedings. He's hearing the case without a jury.
"I didn't do anything!'' Sabourin replied.
Sabourin greeted the development with a soliloquy about the strain of the trial and the pain of hearing what she says are false allegations, calling herself "a person who is totally exhausted, humiliated, beat up, destroyed, alone.''
"It's because I'm insecure. I'm not American and I've been treated with abuse and force here," she told the judge.
"My life is shattered in pieces,'' Sabourin said.
"Like everyone else, you are not permitted to scream out loud in this courtroom," the judge responded.
The ruling came after previous warnings from Mandelbaum on Tuesday, who told Sabourin to calm down as she interrupted Baldwin's testimony.
Newly released surveillance video showed Sabourin in the lobby of Baldwin's apartment building on Easter of last year. A doorman testified that Sabourin was angry that Baldwin did not want to see her.
Dan Ollen, an attorney had been observing the trial on Wednesday.
"She's being asked a lot of yes or no questions and she's going on a soliloquy which generally means a witness who does that is not telling the truth," Ollen said.
Attorney Matthew Galluzzo has also been observing the trial.
"She was not adhering to his instructions at all. Blatant and persistent and it was very aggravating and disruptive. Tough for the judge to listen to testimony when he's got someone yelling at him from the defense chair," Galluzzo explained to CBS 2's Tony Aiello.
Woman Accused Of Stalking Alec Baldwin Held In Contempt Of Court
Sabourin, 41, a Canadian publicist and actress, met Baldwin in 2000 during the filming of the sci-fi comedy "The Adventures of Pluto Nash.'' He had a cameo and she was a publicist.
The two had dinner together in New York in 2010, both sides say.
Sabourin claimed that Baldwin took her to see a Broadway play starring Alicia Silverstone. She said that Baldwin held her by the hand at the theater and kissed her when they returned to their hotel.
"I gave him my heart, my body, my soul," she said, "He made promises to me."
She also alleged that Baldwin promised to cook her omelets every morning for the rest of her life, CBS 2's Dave Carlin reported.
Her attorney Todd Spodek, was hopeful that the judge would reconsider the sanction.
"The trial's been overwhelming for her. It's an emotional whirlwind. She's in a foreign country going through a New York criminal trial, and we hope that the judge will reconsider his sanction tomorrow," Spodek said.
Baldwin and prosecutors say she then conducted a campaign of harassment that escalated from phone calls and emails to showing up uninvited at his homes.
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"It was nightmarish," he said. "No matter what was said to her, she kept coming. More emails, More phone calls. She was desperate."
"You're lying!'' Sabourin shouted as he testified. "You delete women after you have sex with them."
Baldwin "became very flirtatious'' at their first meeting in 2000 and invited her to visit him at his Hamptons home, Sabourin said as her testimony began Wednesday. She says the two had a sexual and romantic relationship, which Baldwin denied on the witness stand.
Meanwhile, another Hollywood figure became an issue in the case: "Scarface'' and "Dog Day Afternoon'' producer Martin Bregman, who was also a producer of "Pluto Nash.''
Baldwin testified that Sabourin was Bregman's mistress and that Bregman asked the actor to give her advice.
The married Bregman, however, later said by phone that he "never had an affair with her'' and was shocked that Baldwin had said otherwise. Sabourin also says she and Bregman weren't romantically involved.
Prosecutors included Bregman on their list of potential witnesses but didn't call him because he told them "he had little to say about this incident,'' Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Zachary Stendig said Wednesday.
But Mandelbaum agreed to what's called a "missing witness'' instruction, allowing him to infer that Bregman's testimony wouldn't have been favorable to the prosecution.
Bregman isn't expected to testify for the defense, either.
After several hours in court Tuesday, Baldwin was caught on camera getting into heated exchanges with photographers outside the courthouse.
He told a Post photographer who he had faced off with after an altercation in February: "I hope you choke to death.''
As he drove away in his car, Baldwin rolled down the window and snapped at a CBS 2 photographer: "What job did you want to do that you failed at, that you're doing this job?"
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