No court grilling for Arnie
2004-03-23 08:37
Los Angeles - A judge on Monday denied a request from a woman who accused California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of sexual harassment to quiz the former movie star in court.
Former movie stunt woman Rhonda Miller had sought to quiz Schwarzenegger over claims that his office defamed her after she accused him of harassment just hours before the elections that made him governor.
But Los Angeles superior court judge Robert Hess said he could not see a compelling need to quiz Schwarzenegger in court, but did allow Miller's attorneys to send questions to the governor to be answered in writing.
The judge said he was reluctant to allow the grilling without strong justification because "we're talking about the governor of the state of California here".
But, according to Miller's attorney Gloria Allred, the judge said another request to have the governor testify could be made "if we come back with more compelling reasons why we need to depose him".
Landslide
The case stems from Miller's assertions before last October's recall election, which Schwarzenegger won by a landslide, that the former Hollywood superstar and ex-bodybuilder had twice sexually accosted her on movie sets.
Schwarzenegger's campaign dismissed Miller's allegations and suggested in an e-mail to reporters that they should look into whether Miller had a criminal record.
Miller's attorneys contend Schwarzenegger and his campaign knew Miller had no criminal history but raised the topic of court records, hoping they could manoeuvre reporters into investigating her.
In her libel suit, 53-year-old Miller alleges the governor and his advisers set out to ruin her reputation after she publicly accused him of sexual harassment by holding a news conference.
Miller's allegations that Schwarzenegger had sexually assaulted her came as the Los Angeles Times published accounts by several other women claiming they had been "groped" and "humiliated" by the star on film sets over his 30-year career.
But Schwarzenegger, who apologised for his "rowdy" behaviour following the allegations that he molested female Hollywood colleagues, managed to shrug off the charges and win the October 7 California poll by a landslide.