The article misstated a position formerly held by lawyer Robert J. Spagnoletti. Spagnoletti, who is representing Albert in a civil lawsuit filed by Nuevelle, is a former D.C. attorney general, not a former U.S. attorney for the District.
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D.C. judge Janet Albert accuses ex-lover of stalking her
Taylar Nuevelle, 40, was found hiding in D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Janet Albert's attic after their relationship ended.
(Sarah L. Voisin/the Washington Post)
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On Sept. 11, 2008, the women agreed to end the relationship. Then, according to court documents, on Sept. 13, 2008, Albert found Nuevelle in her attic but declined to press charges. Weeks later, after Nuevelle filed a complaint alleging ethical violations against the judge, Albert filed a police report against Nuevelle.
Nuevelle later filed a civil lawsuit against Albert to recover property. That case is pending. Albert's attorney, former U.S. attorney for the District Robert J. Spagnoletti, declined to comment on the civil case.
Police arrested Nuevelle in November 2008. She was released from jail and has been living at home since her arrest.
The trial, being heard before Judge Russell F. Canan, is expected to last through the week. Albert's testimony, which is expected to continue Wednesday, is critical to the criminal case against Nuevelle, and whatever Albert says on the witness stand could also be used by the judicial review committee.
Finding a judge to hear a case involving a peer was difficult. One judge, Lynn Leibovitz, declined. Finding a judge to hear the civil case also was tricky; one declined before it was assigned to Judge Judith Macaluso.
During hearings before the trial, Nuevelle often smiled when speaking in court, but then wept when she spoke of her past relationships and being physically abused.
She has taken an active role in her defense. She fired her first lawyer and is often seen speaking to or passing notes to Jones and reviewing exhibits before he speaks. Between hearings, Nuevelle sits alone reading "Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court."
In 1999, Nuevelle, whose birth name is Idella Jackson, ducked out of a District courtroom and fled the country with her son, then 5, during a custody battle with her ex-husband. Two years later, she pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a felony charge of criminal contempt and lying to obtain a passport; the parental kidnapping charge was dropped in the plea deal. Nuevelle was sentenced to three years' probation, which had ended by the time she met Albert.
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