Expert: Get Ex-Beauty Queen To Shrink!
A law school student and former beauty queen who has posed for a racy calendar while brandishing a weapon and has been accused of kidnapping, biting and threatening a former boyfriend with a handgun should get psychological help, pronto, an expert defense attorney says.
And police say one of the men thought to have helped Kumari Fulbright in the alleged incident has fled the country.
Fulbright, 25, who is midway through her second year in law school, faces a long prison term if convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated assault.
Fulbright, who competed for the Miss Arizona title in 2005 and 2006, recently completed a semester-long unpaid stint clerking for a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Raner Collins, his office said. She also poses wearing a shiny black bikini in a 2008 calendar that features women holding guns.
In the Dec. 18 indictment, Fulbright is accused of holding and torturing her 24-year-old ex-boyfriend in early December with the help of three other men, including another man she had previously dated.To see photos of beauty queens who've gotten in hot water, click here.
On The Early Show Friday, well-known defense lawyer Mickey Sherman, who's not involved in Fulbright's case, suggested that the first thing he would advise her to do is seek psychological help.
Asked by co-anchor Julie Chen what the first advice he'd give Fulbright would be promptly responded, "Get to a shrink. Get to a psychiatrist or psychologist as soon as possible, get into counseling because, clearly, this is not the actions of someone who is 100 percent there. There's something going wrong within her head that should be flushed out by a shrink."
The defense approach, Sherman said, could be "a little bit less than temporary insanity, but something to show she's under a lot of pressure, maybe she was on some medications, maybe on too many Zoloft, maybe she should have been on more Zoloft, but something to show why her behavior was aberrant, why she would do something so crazy and stupid (assming she did what she's accused of having done)."
Such an approach "definitely helps her," Sherman said. "If she has no criminal record, she's in law school, she's clerked for a federal judge, those are difficult appointments to make. Obviously, she's done quite well in life. However, whether this is a dark side of her or just some type of a once-in-a-lifetime screw-up -- that's why you need a shrink."
Photos: Celebrity Mug Shots
University of Arizona representatives said it's premature to speculate what punishment the law school would impose.
"It is simply too early to be looking at any kind of disciplinary action because we don't have enough information," said Nancy A. Stanley, associate director of external relations for the James E. Rogers College of Law.
Authorities think the dispute began because the ex-boyfriend was believed to have stolen jewelry given to Fulbright by the former beau suspected of helping in the attack.
Fulbright invited the man to her apartment, then excused herself to shower, said police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco. Then two men showed up and bound him with plastic ties and duct tape, accused him of taking the jewelry, and threatened to shoot him with pistols, Pacheco said.
When Fulbright finished her shower, she allegedly bit the man on his forearm, right hand and ear, held a butcher knife to his head, and told him she was going to kill him.
Authorities said the man was taken to another home, where the assault continued, then taken back to Fulbright's house, where she guarded him with a gun.
The man finally managed to free a hand and grabbed the gun, which discharged but hit no one, authorities said. As their struggle spilled outside, the man screamed for help, then ran to a home down the block, while Fulbright returned to her apartment, Pacheo said.
"He has some bite marks on him, evident and consistent with his account, and his hands were red and swollen, consistent with someone who had been tied up," Pacheco said.
A police complaint said the suspects stole the victim's wallet, money clip with $500 to $600, and his cell phone and briefcase.
Tucson police also are seeking to serve her former boyfriend, Robert Ergonis, 44, and his brother, Michael Ergonis, 46, with arrest warrants charging them with kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated assault, but believe they may have fled the country.
Larry Hammond, 40, who was indicted with Fulbright, remains jailed under $50,000 bond, but Fulbright was freed after arranging to have a similar bond posted.
Tucson police Sgt. Fabian Pacheco told CBS News, "We believe, based on our investigation, that (the Ergonis brothrs) may have fled the country."
Calls to Fulbright's attorney, Thomas Hartzell, and to the Miss Pima County pageant, which Fulbright won in 2005, were not returned. She also was selected Miss Desert Sun in 2006.