CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Orange
County Circuit Court officials scheduled a pretrial hearing in the case of
former astronaut Lisa Nowak.
Judge Marc Lubet will
preside over a status
hearing in the case at 9:30 a.m. June 22.
Prosecutor Pam Davis and
defense attorney Donald Lykkebak are expected to report to the judge their
readiness for the trial to begin.
Nowak is charged with
attempted kidnapping, battery and attempted burglary with assault.
Authorities said Nowak
drove from Houston to Orlando International Airport in February 2007 to
confront Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman about their mutual love interest,
then-astronaut Bill Oefelein. Shipman was returning from a trip to visit
Oefelein.
Investigators said Nowak, a
Navy captain, confessed to pepper-spraying Shipman while asking to get into her
car at about 3 a.m. in the airport's blue parking lot.
Nowak allegedly told a
detective pepper-spraying Shipman was "stupid."
Lubet disallowed Nowak's
statement to police, as well as evidence found in her
car, to be used at trial.
The state appealed that
decision.
In December, the 5th
District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach upheld excluding Nowak's statement,
but allowed back into the case evidence found in her car, which included
Internet maps from Houston to Orlando International Airport, a hand-drawn map
to Shipman's house and a letter from Nowak to Oefelein's mother.
Nowak and Oefelein, a U.S.
Navy commander, both were fired
from NASA as astronauts following the incident. In addition, NASA overhauled
its psychological screening for the astronaut corps.
Nowak remains in the U.S.
Navy, serving as a captain in flight training at Naval Air Station Corpus
Christi in Texas.
Oefelein and Shipman left
the military, and records show they possibly are living together in Alaska.
"We're just glad
things are moving along, and hopefully we'll get some resolution soon,"
said Shipman's attorney, Kepler Funk.
Published
under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2009 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of
this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
advertisement
