Expert: Get Ex-Beauty Queen To Shrink!

Lawyer Outlines Advice He'd Give Kumari Fulbright, Accused In Attack On Old Flame

(CBS/AP)  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.

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To see photos of beauty queens who've gotten in hot water, click here.

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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.

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."

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Photos: Celebrity Mug Shots

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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.

[medusasbigo]

Are you sure this was a beauty contestant? The "Miss Hell contest" maybe.. she looks scary enough to stir a cauldron and tell Lucifer to scoot over!

[beerfan9]

What''s most obvious, from Ms. Fulbright''s mug shot, is that she appears to have developed an addiction to methamphetamine. If this is the case, and she was, in fact, on a meth binge, she could arguably have been in a psychotic state during both the planning and execution of her violent misdeeds. Since no lives were taken, she may find some leniency, although the captive''s story suggests that he would have suffered harm, had he not managed to escape.

I''m not sure what to say. Obviously, Ms. Fulbright''s life is shattered, and all she can do is try to pick up the pieces. Worse than this -- if meth is at the heart of this -- her plight symbolizes that of hundreds of thousands of others who struggle with this all-too-often fatal addiction.

[videoguy100]

My first advice would be to get her to a makeover team. As a beauty contest winner, she obviously "cleans up" nicely, and the more beautiful the woman, the more she can literally get away with murder.