Nowak pleads not guilty to attempted kidnapping charge

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Nowak pleads not guilty to attempted kidnapping charge

by Melissa J. Brachfeld | Staff Writer

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Just a few short weeks after being dismissed by NASA, former astronaut and Rockville native Lisa Marie Nowak entered a plea of not guilty last week in Orange County Circuit Court in Orlando. She was charged last month with attempting to kidnap a woman she considered a romantic rival.

Nowak’s plea was accepted by presiding Judge Marc Lubet, who scheduled Nowak’s trial to start on July 30, said Danielle Tavernier, director of communications for the Office of Lawson L. Lamar, state’s attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. A status hearing for the case is scheduled for June 29, she said.

Tavernier noted that Nowak, a 43-year-old U.S. Navy captain and mother of three, did not appear at the brief arraignment, as her lawyers had already entered a written plea.

‘‘A written not-guilty plea had been entered by her lawyer in February before criminal charges had even been filed,” she said.

Orlando Police had said Nowak had driven almost 900 miles from Texas to Orlando on Feb. 5 to confront Colleen Shipman, a woman she believed to be her romantic rival for the affections of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein.

According to police reports, Nowak pepper-sprayed Shipman, who had been sitting in her car in the parking lot of Orlando International Airport. Shipman, who was dating Oefelein, was able to get away.

Police also reported finding a BB gun, steel mallet, knife and rubber tubing in Nowak’s car.

In addition to the charge of attempted kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily harm, Florida prosecutors on March 2 charged Nowak with one count of burglary with an assault or battery using a weapon and one count of battery.

Nowak, who was officially terminated from the NASA astronaut program on March 8, is free on bail. However, she has been ordered to wear an ankle-tracking device.

According to published reports, Nowak will develop flight lesson plans and work on developing curriculum and training programs when she joins the staff of the Chief of Naval Air Training Command in Corpus Christi, Texas. She is scheduled to begin that new military assignment next month.

Nowak went on her first and only space flight on the Discovery Space Shuttle last summer. She returned to Montgomery County in the fall and spent several days speaking to schools in the greater Rockville area.