Ex-astronaut Nowak wants ankle monitor removed

— -- Ex-astronaut Lisa Nowak's lawyer argued in court Friday that she was not properly warned of her rights and was promised by an Orlando detective that he would help her if she talked to police about her situation.

Lawyer Donald Lykkebak is trying to bar Nowak's statement to police from the evidence in her case. Lykkebak has also asked Judge Marc Lubet to discard evidence obtained by searching Nowak's car and to lift the order that Nowak must wear a monitoring bracelet on her ankle.

Nowak was arrested in February for allegedly pepper-spraying Colleen Shipman, the girlfriend of astronaut William Oefelein, who had also had an intimate relationship with Nowak. NASA threw both Nowak and Oefelein out of the astronaut corps after the incident. She faces charges of attempted kidnapping and burglary with assault, which could earn her life in prison.

On Friday, Nowak spoke publicly for the first time since her arrest on Feb. 5. Looking anxious and pale, she testified that she seldom goes to public places for fear that the siren on her ankle bracelet will sound. If the alarm goes off and she hasn't replaced the device's battery quickly enough, a staffer of the monitoring company speaks to her from the bracelet. That forces her to leave meetings or pull over on the highway so she can bend her ankle to her face to reply, she testified.

Nowak promised to stay away from Brevard County, Fla., where Shipman lives and works, if the bracelet is removed.

Lykkeback told the judge that Nowak's frame of mind has changed since she confronted Shipman.

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"The emotions of the moment in February were, perhaps, well-served by the GPS device," Lykkeback conceded. "We are now well past that."

Shipman, also making her first public appearance since the alleged attack, asked the judge to leave the monitoring bracelet on.

"When I'm home alone, and there's nobody with me, it is a comfort," she testified. Asked by state's attorney Pamela Davis whether she is afraid of Nowak, she said, "Yes."