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Miceli attorney's gag request denied(The Meadville Tribune, Pa. Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 4--A second day of hearings again failed to determine whether Meadville resident Lisa Miceli defied a court order to stop contacting basketball superstar Michael Jordan, his family or his representatives. At Thursday's hearing in Crawford County Court of Common Pleas, Miceli was facing contempt-of-court charges after she allegedly left threatening and profane phone messages on the voice-mail of Jordan's attorney. Like Wednesday's session, Thursday's hearing was continued -- until July 15 -- but not before Miceli requested that the judge recuse himself from the case and her newest attorney asked to withdraw. Miceli claims Jordan is the father of her child. In the original lawsuit Jordan filed against Miceli, he claimed she was harassing him in violation of a 2005 agreement between the two. Jordan denies he is the father of her son, and he said two DNA tests have proved that. Under that agreement, if the DNA tests showed Jordan wasn't the father, Miceli would have no further contact with him. Jordan claimed Miceli had sent in excess of 400 voice-mails, e-mails and notes to the superstar, seeking an injunction against Miceli from having contact with him, his family or his representatives. Miceli claims that agreement was illegal. But after a June 12 hearing, Crawford County President Judge Gordon Miller issued the permanent injunction, ordering her to stop all contact. Since that time, she has been accused of sending 11 more messages. The contempt-of-court hearing began Wednesday but was continued after Miceli objected to attorney Kenneth Horoho Jr. of Pittsburgh playing a CD of audio recordings that were said to be taken from the voice-mail box of Jordan's attorney, Frederick Sperling of Chicago, Ill. Attorney Robert L. Garber of Pittsburgh, who was representing Miceli, arrived at Thursday's hearing and immediately requested time to discuss the case with his client. He said he had "no idea what's going on" and had "just found out" about the hearing. Miller granted Garber and Miceli 10 minutes to confer, stating he "wasn't sure she deserves more time" -- but because the judge said she could "possibly end up being incarcerated," he would allow it. Speaking to the court via telephone and video monitor, Sperling played the voice-mail recordings for the courtroom. In them, the caller -- alleged to be Miceli -- refers to Jordan as a racist and informs Sperling that she has filed a police report and also a complaint against him with the bar association. She also states that the "Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Central Intelligence Agency were witnesses" to her relationship with Jordan, and tells Sperling to "stop making false accusations" about her and attempting to ruin her good name. Transcripts of the most recent recordings are posted on meadvilletribune.com under Local News. In one of the calls she told Sperling to stop harassing her, stalking her and filing frivolous lawsuits. As the recordings played, Miceli and Garber whispered, and at one point he asked Miller to halt the proceedings. He asked that the recordings be sealed, witnesses be sequestered, a gag order be issued, and the courtroom be cleared because of the "salacious allegations" that were contained in the voice-mail recordings. "The nature of the statements are not the type of verbiage that I would want to be circulated around Meadville," Garber said, adding that he was concerned for his client's rights to privacy, as well as her child's. Garber also stated that Miceli wanted him to formally request that the judge recuse himself from the case for making statements to the press. "I've never," Miller said. "I wouldn't talk to them about a case." He further commented that if she thought he had spoken to the press and wanted to file a complaint that he hoped "she can prove it." In addition to voice-mail recordings, Sperling provided transcripts of all of the messages left on his machine, including one which asks, "You have a daughter?" and then asks how he would like it if someone were to harass her and then put pictures of her on the Internet. Prior to Thursday's conclusion, Garber also requested that he be permitted to withdraw from representing Miceli. "Our communication problems are insurmountable," he said. "I don't believe that I can represent her due to our communication difficulties." Miller, however, said while he understood the request to withdraw under the circumstances, he wouldn't consider the motion until after the hearing. Though Miceli represented herself in Wednesday's hearing, she told Miller that she had hired a new attorney who would be with her at Thursday's session. Sperling said he warned Miller that "hiring and losing counsel would perpetuate" throughout the hearing. After playing all of the audio recordings, Miller ruled that the compact discs and the transcripts will be sealed until further order of the court and that the motion to enter a gag order was denied. He also denied Garber's request to clear the courtroom for the remainder of the hearing. Because Miceli didn't have enough time to present her defense, Miller ordered the continuance to July 15 at 1:30 p.m. and requested that Miceli and Garber "make a good faith and reasonable effort" to do their best to work out their differences before that time. He also asked Miceli to "follow this order until July 15" and to refrain from any further contact with Jordan, his family and other representatives. "Think about what it is that you are doing to your son," Miller said. "And while I cannot force you to, you really need a lawyer." Penni Schaefer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at [email protected]. To see more of The Meadville Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.meadvilletribune.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Meadville Tribune, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |