Preliminary hearings resumed Thursday for Dawnette Knight, the woman accused of making death threats against actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, with evidence that the 33-year-old stalker may have used phone cards to leave threatening calls to the Welsh-born actress.
Death threats were telephoned to an Amsterdam hotel where Zeta-Jones was staying during the shooting of Ocean's 12, Los Angeles Sheriff's Detective Dana Duncan told the court.
Detective Duncan was involved in the search of Knight's apartment and told the court that he found calling card account numbers, which prosecutors expect to prove were used to make the telephoned threats.
The detective testified that a total of 28 items were seized during the search of Knight's Beverly Hills apartment, among them were the mobile phone bills, a letter to Michael Douglas, and a copy of the autobiography My Stroke of Luck, written by Douglas' father, Kirk Douglas.
Knight had already admitted that she became infatuated with Douglas after seeing him in movies such as Fatal Attraction, and began to follow the 59-year-old star's budding affair with Catherine Zeta-Jones through the supermarket tabloids. It was this infatuation that prosecutors are claiming was the reason behind the threatening phone calls and letters.
Knight is accused of sending letters threatening to make 'entertainment history' by killing the Oscar winning star. During the hearings that began last July, Zeta-Jones recounted these letters from the stalker who threatened to 'slice her up like meat on a bone' and 'feed her to the dogs.'
Shortly after this testimony, Knight took an overdose of sleeping pills, postponing the hearings until her lawyers could evaluate her ability to continue. The word came down Thursday that the judge ruled that Knight understood the charges against her and that she could assist in her own defense.
The hearings will continue to determine if Knight will stand trial on 24 counts of stalking Zeta-Jones and leaving threatening phone calls and letters to the actress over an 18 month period.
