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Former astronaut attorney seeks to suppress evidence

Former US astronaut Lisa Nowak did not wear diapers during her 1,530km road trip to confront a romantic rival, her lawyer said, disputing one of the more bizarre details to emerge from the NASA love triangle.

"The biggest lie in this preposterous tale that has been told is that my client drove from Houston, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, nonstop, wearing a diaper," Donald Lykkebak said Friday after filing motions to suppress evidence in Nowak's criminal case. "That is an absolute fabrication."

The tidbit that Nowak wore diapers during her trip was written in the police report filed after Nowak's arrest in February.

"I then asked Mrs Nowak why she had baby diapers," according to the charging affidavit written by Officer William "Chris" Becton. "Mrs. Nowak said that she didn't want to stop and use the restroom, so she used the diapers to collect her urine."

There were toddler-size diapers in her car when she was arrested, but they were several years old, Lykkebak said. Nowak and her family had used them when Houston was evacuated in 2005 during Hurricane Rita, he said.

The diaper detail became fodder for late-night TV comics and talk radio and even inspired an episode of the NBC show "Law & Order."

"It jeopardizes our ability to have a fair trial when the accused is the butt of jokes," Lykkebak said.

Lykkebak waited until after he had taken a deposition from the police officer to dispute the statement about the diapers in the police report, said Marti Mackenzie, a spokeswoman for the defense attorney. The deposition interview was Thursday.

An Orlando police spokeswoman, Sergeant Barb Jones, said she could not comment about the case specifically. She said a court would determine the accuracy of the facts.

Nowak, 44, was charged with attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault in a confrontation at Orlando International Airport with Colleen Shipman, the girlfriend of former astronaut and shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein. Oefelein told detectives he had a two-year relationship with Nowak but ended it some time after he started a relationship with Shipman.

Nowak has pleaded not guilty and her trial is set for September. She was dismissed from the astronaut corps a month after her arrest.

Oefelein was dismissed from the corps at the beginning of June.

Lykkebak filed a motion asking a judge to prevent statements that Nowak made to police from being entered into evidence, claiming she had not been properly advised of her constitutional rights.

The defense attorney also asked that a transcript of the police interview be sealed from the public, contending the media would use it for entertainment value and taint potential jurors.

Circuit Judge Marc Lubet said that he wanted Lykkebak to present more case law supporting his argument before he would issue a ruling.

The judge said such an order might be "futile" since prosecutors likely were going to bring up aspects from the transcript during hearings.

Lykkebak also asked that evidence found in Nowak's car not be allowed to be introduced in court, saying it was seized without a search warrant.

Police officers recovered maps to Shipman's home, large garbage bags, latex gloves and Shipman's flight information.
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