Editor's note: In this story, The Associated Press erroneously reported that a hotel security guard stated in an affidavit that he was offered money to testify in the case by a man the alleged victim introduced as her attorney. According to the affidavit, the guard said only that he was offered money by a man he assumed was an attorney or someone else representing the accuser's interests. The reference to an attorney being introduced by the alleged victim appeared in a separate affidavit filed by a private investigator working for Haynesworth's legal team.
WASHINGTON -- A hotel security guard and witness in a pending sexual abuse case against Albert Haynesworth says he was offered $50,000 to testify against the NFL defensive lineman, court records show.
Haynesworth is accused of sliding his credit card into the bra of a waitress and touching her breast while having drinks with friends last February at the W Hotel in Washington. He is scheduled to stand trial in D.C. Superior Court next Tuesday on a charge of misdemeanor sexual abuse. He has denied any wrongdoing through his lawyer, who filed sworn statements this week from several witnesses who said they either never saw Haynesworth touch the woman or that the waitress had playfully allowed Haynesworth to place his credit card inside her bra.
The defense lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, filed the statements as part of a motion that seeks to force prosecutors to turn over all grand jury testimony and any evidence that is favorable to his case or could help his defense.
One prosecution witness, W Hotel security guard Ramon Davis, said in an affidavit that Haynesworth asked the waitress if he could place his card in her shirt or bra because her hands were full. He said she said yes, and then initially appeared playful before telling him to "stop, for real." Haynesworth did in fact stop at that point and did not fondle the woman's breast, Davis said.
Davis also said in the affidavit that he was approached at work in April by the hotel waitress and by a man in a suit who she introduced as her attorney. The man told Davis, "I'm talking about $50,000 if you help 'us' or a 'certain person,"' according to the affidavit. Davis, who testified before a grand jury and was later interviewed by a private detective hired by Bolden, said he was "shocked and ignored the man's offer."
He said he assumed the money was being offered in exchange for his testimony in support of the waitress because she knew that he had witnessed the incident.
"I did not get his name or his contact information and have never spoken to him or followed up with him regarding his offer," Davis said.
Bolden said Tuesday that the man Davis was referring to was connected to the waitress but was not actually her attorney. The man's identity was not revealed in court papers.
William Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, says prosecutors will file a written response but declined to comment otherwise.
The Washington Redskins traded Haynesworth last month to the New England Patriots after his season-long feud with Redskins coach Mike Shanahan. Haynesworth's agent, Chad Speck, said he thought the case should be dropped and that there's no evidence of a crime. Haynesworth had previously rejected an offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to simple assault in exchange for the dismissal of the sexual abuse charge.
"I don't think this would have ever seen the inside of a grand jury room, much less a courtroom, if the defendant's name wasn't Albert Haynesworth," Speck said.
Bolden also filed a motion to keep out of trial statements Haynesworth made to detectives who were investigating the abuse complaint, saying he spoke to the police before being advised of his constitutional right to remain silent.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
