Sheryl Crow stalker...

[DrummerDeanna]

From the Associated Press...

-------------

NEW YORK (AP) _ Singer Sheryl Crow testified Monday that she was
concerned about her family's safety after she learned an alleged
stalker had asked them to help contact her.
Crow, who appeared relaxed on the witness stand, said she heard
about the accused stalker, Ambrose Kappos, from her father,
attorney Wendell Crow, who told her Kappos had visited him in his
law offices in Kennett, Mo., with a purported message from God.
``Did that give you cause for concern?'' the pop rocker was
asked by Assistant District Attorney Christopher Hill.
``Absolutely,'' Crow replied. ``I was concerned about my
family.'' She said it was relatively easy for her to take care of
her own security but she would have difficulty arranging for
theirs.
Kappos, 38, is being tried in Manhattan's state Supreme Court on
charges of burglary and stalking. He allegedly pursued Crow from
July 2002 until his arrest on Oct. 6, 2003, at the Hammerstein
Ballroom, about four blocks from the Empire State Building.
The original police report identified Kappos as a former Navy
SEAL until his discharge in June 2003. However, prosecutors now say
he was a diver in a unit that worked with the SEALs, but was never
part of the elite unit.
Crow said she knew little about Kappos except what her family
had told her. She testified that she had seen him once, standing
outside her dressing room on Oct. 6 as she left the ballroom, but
had never met or spoken to him.
``I thought it strange that someone would be outside the
dressing room who was not supposed to be there,'' Crow said.
Crow said that minutes after leaving the building, Kappos
approached her group. ``I was headed into the limo and suddenly
there's chaos and I was pushed into the car, and my manager was
telling someone, 'Back away! Back away!'''
``We drove away, and that's when Pam Wertheimer (a member of her
management team) told me who 'Ambrose' was,'' Crow testified.
As Crow testified, Kappos, watched her intently, sometimes
smiling faintly.
After his arrest, Kappos told police and prosecutors on
videotape that the word ``fan'' was inadequate to describe his
attraction to Crow. He said he was a ``spiritual twin,'' and that
he and the pop rocker were destined to marry and have children.
Kappos's lawyer, Stan Hickman, asked Crow on cross-examination
whether the defendant had ever contacted her personally and whether
he had threatened her.
Crow said Kappos had not.
Earlier in the day, Crow's sister, Kathryn, and their father
also testified.
Crow was the last witness called by the prosecution, which then
played his videotaped statement.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNT-11-22-04 1505EST<