| Lying to a judge? That'll go over well ... |
"I just wanted to go to the Breeders' Cup," she told reporters after a hearing the judge held to find out why she had left town and lost contact with him, forcing him to replace her just hours before the jury found Stevens guilty.
Hinnant also told reporters that she would have found the Alaska senator guilty had she remained on the jury. "He was guilty, but these other guys are just as guilty," she said, referring to other members of Congress.
Her lawyer, federal public defender A.J. Kramer, tried to keep her from saying much in court, telling the judge only that "her state of mind was such that she had to go to California." "She apologizes to the court. In fact, her father did not die," Kramer said. "The story about her father was just one that popped into her head."
Hinnant cut in, however, and in a thick Kentucky drawl gave a rambling, incoherent and completely baffling monologue about her former employers in the horse-racing industry in Kentucky. She mentioned drugs, wiretaps and horse racing but made little sense. "I'm not the one who was selling the drugs; I'm not the one who was doing the drugs," she said.
| Um, no, course not, sure ... |
He added: "I'm convinced you were not able to deliberate."
| That's a true statement ... |
Hinnant, 52, told reporters that she works at Avis car rental in Union Station in Washington. She worked in horse racing for many years and simply wanted to see the race, since she already had a plane ticket to California.