New York- A former Navy Seal accused of stalking Sheryl Crow said yesterday he may testify in his own defense at his criminal trial, which opens today.
“You haven’t heard my side of the story. I’ve been slandered,” Ambrose Kappos told reporters as he left Manhattan Supreme Court after a jury had been chosen.
Asked if he might testify to give that story, Kappos, 38, of Queens, replied, “It’s possible, possible. Keep your eyes peeled.”
Kappos was charged last fall with stalking Crow after he was caught trying to get into her rehearsal at the Hammerstein Ballroom on W. 34th St. He also was slapped with a burglary charge.
Crow, 42, who won Best Female Artist at last week’s American Music Awards, is scheduled to testify early next week in a case that will continue after Thanksgiving.
In a recent interview, Crow said several fanatical fans have inserted themselves into her private life during her decade-plus of fame, and they have created a sense of alarm.
“You can never be safe enough,” she said. “You keep thinking of that TV personality Rebecca Schaeffer and what happened to her.”
Schaeffer was an actress shot dead by a fan at the front door of her California home.
Kappos was discharged from the Navy last year after he showed up at Crow’s family home in Missouri in full dress uniform and carrying flowers.
Police said Kappos told Crow’s father that “a bird” led him there and that he then asked Crow’s father for permission to date the performer.
His infatuation with the pop-rock artist dates to 2002, when he called Crow’s sister at her home and at work to say that he loves the singer and planned to marry her and have children with her.
She said just a few days before he showed up in New York, Kappos tried to get into her limousine. She said the incident gave her “the creeps.”
“You really have to take it seriously and you have to be smart about it,” she said in an earlier interview. “Yes, it frightens me. I have the means to provide for security for myself. For the people around me, my family, that’s when it gets really frightening.”