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Closing arguments coming Hingis stalker trial nearing completion in Miami
Updated: Wednesday April 04, 2001 1:33 AM
MIAMI (AP) -- A man accused of stalking Martina Hingis told jurors Tuesday that he understands the tennis star may no longer love him because she has probably found someone else while he's been in jail. But Dubravko Rajcevic said he was convinced Hingis once loved him because she smiled at the television cameras after winning a French Open match only hours after he sent her a fax telling her to smile more. "Yes, I believe she was in love with me, but I've been in jail for one year," Rajcevic said. "She's young, beautiful, famous. In one year she's probably found someone else." Rajcevic faces up to four years in state prison if convicted of four misdemeanor counts: stalking and three counts at trespassing at the 2000 Ericsson Open near Miami. The jury was expected to get the case late Tuesday. In closing arguments after Rajcevic's testimony, prosecutor Christopher Calkin said Rajcevic followed Hingis around the world even though she and others repeatedly told him to stop. Under the law, he said one warning was enough. "It certainly does not require somebody to tell someone to stop for over a year," he said.
Abrams said the only thing his client is guilty of is trying to romance a woman beyond his reach. "The pursuit, no matter how implausible, cannot be punished," he said. Rajcevic was at times argumentative and rambling as he answered questions from his attorney Frank Abrams and prosecutor Christopher Calkin. He spent more than five hours on the witness stand Monday and Tuesday. Rajcevic conceded many people close to Hingis told him she didn't want a relationship with him, but he said he never heard that from her. Hingis testified just the opposite Monday, saying she told him in person and by phone to stay away. The 46-year-old Croatian-born naval architect said he fell in love with Hingis after seeing her on television while at home in Australia about the same time he was getting a divorce in 1999. Thinking a relationship could develop with Hingis, Rajcevic began sending her faxes and letters expressing his admiration for her and traveled to her Swiss home to deliver flowers. "Is it wrong if I want to marry Martina?" he asked. Rajcevic bristled when Calkin said that he had been "chasing" Hingis to the various tennis tournaments that she plays around the world. "I was traveling, not chasing," Rajcevic said. "Chasing means that she was running and I was behind." Psychologists who evaluated Rajcevic concluded he was delusional but mentally competent to stand trial. He talked about how he is close friends with former President Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh. Rajcevic said he was glad Clinton didn't pardon him when he left office because it was important that at least one person "very close to Mr. Clinton" did not receive a pardon.
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