Supermodel Campbell may get plea deal in assault case

NEW YORK - Lawyers for supermodel Naomi Campbell are discussing a possible plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney's office in her cell phone assault case, a prosecutor told a court today.

"There has been no grand jury action at this time. We are talking about a disposition," assistant District Attorney Shanda Strain, the assistant district attorney told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Evelyn Laporte.

What that means is that Campbell will be back in court on September 27 to either accept a plea deal or learn that she has been indicted for second-degree assault in a case in which housekeeper Ana Scolavino says the model threw a phone at her.

In March, Campbell was arrested at her home and accused of hitting Scolavino in the back of the head and opening a cut that needed four staples to close.

The 36-year-old celebrity model faces up to seven years in prison if convicted for that incident.

Wearing a tight-fitting black mini-dress, dark eye shades and spike heels, she said nothing as she entered the second floor Manhattan Criminal Court building with a stocky bodyguard and her attorney, David Breitbart.

Her appearance before the judge lasted about three minutes, with more than 75 reporters, photographers and camera crew jamming the room.

Yesterday, Campbell was accused by another maid, Gaby Gibson, of hitting her. In a one-page court filing, Gibson claims the British-born beauty inflicted "personal injuries, employment discrimination" and "civil assault and battery." Gibson is seeking unspecified damages.

In April, Gibson told the New York Post that Campbell whacked her in the back of the head when she was unable to find a pair of black designer jeans.

The two maid incidents are not the first time Campbell has had run-ins with the law. In February 2000, she pleaded guilty in a Canadian court to assaulting her former assistant and was given an absolute discharge, meaning her record was cleared.

After that incident, in which she assaulted her assistant Georgina Galanis with a telephone, she paid the assistant an undisclosed amount of money and attended anger management classes. She blamed her hot temper on lingering resentment towards her father for abandoning her as a child.

- REUTERS