Stalker says sorry
2004-06-30 09:04
Los Angeles - A woman accused of threatening Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones has sent her a letter apologising for the "distress" and asking for forgiveness, the woman's lawyer said on Tuesday.
The woman, Dawnette Knight, wrote to Oscar-winner Zeta-Jones and the actress' father-in-law, Kirk Douglas, describing herself as a "confused young woman" infatuated with (Zeta-Jones' husband) Michael Douglas."
"I want to apologize for any distress I have caused you and your families," Knight wrote in the undated, one-page, typewritten letter that sent addressed to the care of prosecutor Debra Archuleta.
The young woman, who lives in Los Angeles plush Beverly Hills district, said she could offer "no rational explanation for my actions."
"It would be a wonderful if you would all forgive me so that I can go back to college to finish my studies in child psychology," she wrote, according to a copy of the letter provided by her lawyer Richard Herman.
Knight, whose age was earlier given by police as 31, pleaded not guilty on June 16 to charges that she bombarded the British-born actress with a barrage of threatening letters and phone calls.
She remains in custody in lieu of one million dollars bail pending a July 26 hearing in Los Angeles to determine if there is enough evidence to require her to stand trial on more than two dozen charges, including making criminal threats and stalking.
Defence lawyer Herman said his client is a young woman who got "confused and thought she was doing something as a prank, and it got taken much too seriously because that's the age we live in."
Police have said Knight made phone calls, "most of them of them death threats" against 33-year-old Zeta-Jones, starting dating on January 2 2003.
"The letters and phone calls became violent and specific. We don't know if she was a crazed fan, or a past employee or worked on a movie set," Sheriff's Lieutenant Joe Impellizeri said earlier.