A witness in the Albert Haynesworth sexual abuse case was offered $50,000 by the alleged victim in exchange for testimony against the former Washington Redskin, the player’s attorney alleged in a filing with D.C. Superior Court.
In the late Monday filing, Haynesworth’s attorney A. Scott Bolden requested that the judge overseeing the trial — scheduled to begin Aug. 23 — to force prosecutors to provide what he believes to be various pieces of evidence.
According to the filing, the evidence includes the testimony of a bouncer who allegedly testified before a grand jury that he saw Haynesworth grope a cocktail waitress at the W Hotel’s P.O.V. Roof Terrace Lounge early in the morning of Feb. 13 following a party.
That witness later told one of Bolden’s private detectives the contact was “consensual” and that he was offered $50,000 to testify on behalf of the waitress from a man who introduced himself as the victim’s attorney, Bolden said.
Haynesworth was charged with one count of misdemeanor sexual abuse after prosecutors alleged he “inappropriately” touched the woman’s breast while paying his bill. Haynesworth has pleaded not guilty in the case.
In the filing, Bolden included an affidavit from the waitress’s supervisor at the W Hotel in which the supervisor said he noticed on the waitress hug, flirt and dance with guests on “several” occasions. The supervisor also said he “talked” to her about her behavior and told her to “relax a bit” because the behavior was “inappropriate.”
Later in the affidavit, the manager said the waitress looked “visibly upset” after the alleged incident with Haynesworth. She told her supervisor that she nodded her head yes to Haynesworth when he asked if he could place his credit card in her blouse, the W employee said in the affidavit. But she later told her supervisor “he had taken it too far” and fondled her breast. He said the waitress began crying and she told him she wanted to call the police.
Prosecutors had offered to dismiss the sexual abuse charge if Haynesworth would plead guilty to simple assault, but Bolden rejected the deal, saying his client was innocent. In the filings, Bolden asserts his client was never arrested in connection with the charge.
In July, Haynesworth was traded to the New England Patriots for a fifth-round draft pick.
In the filings, Bolden was also seeking any information that any of the government’s witnesses were “under the influence of alcohol, narcotics or any other drug” at the time of the incident as well as whether any of the witnesses had any prior cases in which they could be seeking favor from the government in exchange for their testimony.
Bolden wrote that he believed the testimony from several of the witnesses would prove Haynesworth either did not sexually assault the waitress or the victim consented.
U.S. Attorney spokesman Bill Miller declined to comment on the filings.
According to charging documents, Haynesworth motioned the waitress over so he could settle the bill as she was cleaning tables and had dirty plates in both her hands and on her arms. The waitress said she needed to put the plates down, but Haynesworth insisted on paying immediately.
Haynesworth then put his debit card down the woman’s bra and allegedly began moving his hand toward her breast while holding the card, documents say. As he did so, according to the documents, he asked her, “Can I do that?” and “Is that okay?”
The waitress told him to stop, according to the documents, but Haynesworth continued to fondle her.
Bolden was also seeking to have statements made by Haynesworth when he was being questioned by detectives and security officers in a private room at the hotel excluded from the trial. Bolden said Haynesworth made the statements before he was read his rights.
Bolden specifically identified the statements Haynesworth made alleging the waitress, who was African-American, made up the allegations because she was angry he dated outside his race and that he did not like black women. “She was upset I have a white girlfriend. I couldn’t tell you the last time I dated a black girl,” Haynesworth allegedly told a detective.
The statements, Bolden wrote, had nothing to do with the case. “These statements will serve no purpose other than to impair the search for the truth, harass, annoy or humiliate Mr. Haynesworth, improperly inflame the arbiter and unfairly prejudice Mr. Haynesworth’s defense in this action,” Bolden wrote.
“This case would have never seen the inside of a courtroom if this didn’t involve Albert Haynesworth,” said Chad Speck, the player’s agent.
Speck said his client will be in court during the trial. Management with the Patriots, Speck said, were aware of the case before he was traded.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
