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Court Allows Sex Defense

by TChris

Heather Specyalski, charged with manslaughter in the highway death of prominent Hartford businessman Neil Esposito, contends that she wasn't driving the car. She couldn't have been driving, she says, because she was performing oral sex on Esposito at the time of the crash. The fact that Esposito's pants were thrown from the car lends some support to her story.

But that isn't good enough for the prosecutor, who argued that Specyalski should not be allowed to present her defense. The prosecution argued that the pants could have come off in a variety of ways.

"No one saw it," Assistant State's Attorney Maureen Platt said. "His pants could have been down because he was mooning a car he was drag racing. His pants could have been down because he was urinating out of a window. His pants could have been down because he wasn't feeling well."

It wasn't true that "no one" saw it. Specyalski, after all, was there. The court agreed with the defense that she had a right to tell her story to the jury.

"A defendant has a right to offer a defense no matter how outlandish, silly or unbelievable one might think it will be," Judge Robert L. Holzberg said.

Not exactly a charitable view of Specyalski's case -- the prosecution's speculation about the missing pants seems more outlandish than Specyalski's testimony would be -- but the judge got it right in any event. The Constitution gives Specyalski the right to present relevant evidence in her defense, and her explanation of her actions negates the prosecution's theory that she was driving the car. Her trial resumes today.

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