Emily Leatherman was arrested in March outside John Cusack’s home for allegedly stalking the actor and has been in jail since. She was in court Wednesday to enter a plea and get released but the judge determined she was not entering into the plea freely and denied the deal.

On Wednesday, Leatherman appeared in court and was subdued at first, answering a prosecutor’s questions simply and politely.

Her demeanor was drastically different from an August court hearing, during which Leatherman berated Judge Susan M. Speer. The judge had just found her competent to stand trial, but not to act as her own attorney.

But during Wednesday’s hearing she accused her attorney, Brent Merritt, of using scare tactics to get her to agree to the deal. Merritt, who was appointed against Leatherman’s wishes, denied the allegation in court.

Leatherman seemed unsure of the agreement at times, prompting a prosecutor to ask repeatedly her whether she wanted to accept the deal.

Her uncertainty led Speer to discard the deal and order jury selection to begin Friday morning, causing Leatherman to express a willingness to accept the plea deal.

“I want to take it,” Leatherman shouted before bailiffs led her off in handcuffs.

[From MSN.com]

Ms. Leatherman has to be predisposed to psychological issues to be a stalker in the first place, but her actions in court took it in another direction.  She was mocking and defiant to the court until she pushed it too far.  Now she’ll remain in jail and face a jury trial where there’s a real possibility she’ll be sent to state prison for up to four years.

Leatherman was charged with felony stalking after she defied a restraining order Cusack has secured against her.  She was arrested outside the actor’s home in late March. Cusack described Leatherman’s odd behavior in papers filed with the court:

Cusack, the star of “High Fidelity,” “Say Anything” and dozens of other movies, was granted a restraining order in July 2006 stipulating that Leatherman stay at least 500 feet away from him, his home, his car and offices or companies in which he does business.

In court papers, Cusack said Leatherman “is showing unusual interest by stalking, throwing long letters of interest over my fence in bags with rocks and screwdrivers inside, making unannounced visits to offices of people I work with in an attempt to meet with me and listing my address as her own during a recent arrest.”

County sheriff’s deputies were called to the actor’s home Sunday after a cab driver reported that a passenger refused to pay for the ride to get there. As the deputies were responding to the situation, Cusack flagged them down and told them that he recognized the woman and that she had been stalking him.

[From FOXnews.com]

Emily Leatherman maintains that she was just trying to get Cusack to help her convince the police that she had been drugged, raped and forced into sex trafficking.  A year previous, Leatherman was arrested outside Tom Cruise’s house, breaking a restraining order Cruise had on her, also. 

John Cusack is shown at the Igor premiere on 9/13/08. Credit: Starbux / WENN