Alec Baldwin stalker refuses plea deal

NEW YORK, USA – The Canadian actress accused of stalking Alec Baldwin refused a deal with prosecutors Monday that would essentially have seen the case against her dropped.

The trial against Genevieve Sabourin is tentatively scheduled to begin May 13.

Baldwin filed stalking charges in 2012, accusing her of sending love-struck emails, asking him to marry her and showing up uninvited at his Manhattan apartment.

She was first arrested in April 2012 and detained for 36 hours, and then again in November and released on US$5,000 bail for violating a restraining order against her contacting Baldwin and his wife.

Prosecutors indicated they were ready to settle the case if Sabourin pledged not to go within 10 blocks of the home or office of the actor and his wife and to get therapy.

But Sabourin, who changed lawyers for the second time Monday, refused.

“It’s an agreement a Canadian could not make. I couldn’t return to the US,” she said as she left the hearing, declaring that she would have no other choice but to go to trial to defend “until the end” her “integrity.”

Sabourin has said the stalking allegations are part of a “misunderstanding.” She told AFP in November she had been romantically involved with Baldwin — star of the television show “30 Rock” — for several months.

She first met the now 55-year-old actor in 2002 on the set of the Eddie Murphy film “The Adventures of Pluto Nash.” – Rappler.com