Trial Date Set for Ex-Astronaut

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- An ex-astronaut accused of assaulting a romantic rival in a Florida parking lot will stand trial December 7, a judge ruled.

Lisa Marie Nowak, 46, is accused of stalking Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman and pepper-spraying her in a parking lot at Orlando International Airport in February 2007.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily harm, battery and burglary of a vehicle using a weapon. If convicted, she could face a sentence of up to life in prison.

Prosecutors accuse Nowak of driving nearly 900 miles from Houston to Orlando -- wearing NASA diapers to cut down on the number of stops she needed to make -- and donning a disguise before following Shipman from baggage claim to a parking lot. Her attorney, Don Lykkebak, has denied that she wore the diapers.

Shipman told police that after she got into her car, Nowak feigned distress and knocked on the window. When Shipman cracked it to talk to her, Nowak sprayed her in the face with pepper spray, Shipman said. Police said Nowak was apprehended as she was disposing of her disguise in an airport trash bin.

Nowak has said she went to the airport to talk to Shipman, who had begun dating Nowak's former love interest, Navy Cmdr. Bill Oefelein, who was also an astronaut but has since left the astronaut corps.

Judge Marc Lubet handed Nowak a legal victory in November 2007 when he ruled evidence found in her car and statements she made to police after her arrest were inadmissible at trial because both were unlawfully obtained.

Prosecutors appealed, however, and in July 2008, the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled that evidence found in Nowak's car was admissible, although it agreed her statements to police were not.

At a hearing in August 2007, Orlando police detective William Becton testified that when he searched Nowak's car, he found maps showing how to reach the airport, maps of the airport's layout, a buck knife and papers including a letter Nowak appeared to have written to Oefelein's mother. He also testified he found used and clean diapers in the car. Police previously said they also found a BB gun, a steel mallet, a 4-inch knife and rubber tubing in the vehicle.

Nowak's attorneys have said they intend to utilize an insanity defense, saying in court documents her diagnoses include more than a dozen psychiatric disorders.

A pretrial conference in the case is set for November 10, Lubet ruled Tuesday.

A hearing set for Friday was canceled.

Republicans At Their Best

Pennsylvania authorities say a Cumberland County man suggested dressing up in animal costumes during online sex chats with a 15-year-old boy. Agents found wolf- and cat-type costumes in his home.

Alan David Berlin, a 40-year-old Carlisle, Pa., resident, also proposed visiting the boy's Harrisburg home and having sex in the back yard while his parents slept, according to a news release from the Attorney General's Office.

Berlin, who used the screen name "alan_panda_bear," requested nude photos of the boy and suggested they meet in a hotel room where a third person could photograph them having sex, the release says.

The boy's parents became concerned after discovering sexually graphic messages on their son's computer and called the attorney general's child predator unit, the release says. The unit began an investigation Tuesday.

Berlin, a longtime staffer for a Republican state lawmaker, is charged with unlawful contact with a minor, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

He is also charged with criminal attempted sexual exploitation of children, criminal solicitation to commit sexual abuse of children, all second-degree felonies, and other offenses.

Berlin was arraigned and sent to Dauphin County jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. He has been suspended from work.

(see his ad here- oh shit!)

Remember Lisa Nowak?

"They also said she wore a diaper during the drive." hahaaaa


ORLANDO, Fla. -- Donald A. Lykkebak, a lawyer for former astronaut Lisa Nowak announced Thursday that her camp is withdrawing a previously filed notice seeking insanity as her defense.

Nowak is accused of driving from Houston to Orlando to try to kidnap her romantic rival, Colleen Shipman, on Feb. 7, 2007. Both women were involved with fellow astronaut Bill Oelfelein. Oelfelein and Nowak have since been fired by NASA.

The news of the withdrawal comes after a judge appointed a psychiatrist and a psychologist to evaluate Nowak's sanity last month and report to the court. Prosecutors said Nowak dressed in a disguise and stalked Shipman through the airport, then attacked her with Mace in a parking lot. They also said she wore a diaper during the drive.

That insanity defense notice, filed in 2008, was required by court rules to be timely filed at that time in order to preserve the option of bringing an insanity defense at the time of trial.

Lykkebak filed a withdrawal notice and said Nowak will not rely on insanity as a defense in trial.

The former astronaut has plead not guilty to the attempted kidnapping, burglary and battery charges for the alleged attack.