SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah -- A trial date has been set for Olympic gold-medalist Picabo Street, who allegedly pushed her father down the stairs and locked him in a basement as a result of argument in December.
Street appeared in the Summit County Courthouse Tuesday where her attorney, Joe Wrona, asked the judge for a speedy trial in early March.
“Ms. Street is prepared to waive her right to a jury trial because we want the truth out,” Wrona said.
Street, who won Olympic gold in the women's Super G while representing the United States in the Nagano Games in 1998, is facing charges of domestic violence assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child. Charges stem from an alleged altercation she had with her father on Dec. 23.
The incident allegedly started after Street spent an hour shoveling snow to allow her parents to leave her house, and then her father accidentally struck the house with the vehicle while trying to leave.
According to the 911 call Street made that day, she claims her father, Roland Street, started yelling at her and calling her names after the collision. She said she told her dad to get out of the way and go downstairs so she could get her mom home through the snowy conditions, and she claims he then attacked her during the ensuing argument.
However, a woman who Street addresses as "Mom" at one point can be heard in the background, contradicting some of Street's claims.
Wrona pointed to the media coverage as a reason to hurry the process, worrying as time passes, Street won’t get a fair trial.
“Partly because you guys want to keep playing the 911 call and nobody wants to talk about everything that happened that morning," Wrona told reporters outside the courtroom.
The state's attorneys argued the defense brought things to the media when Street's attorney defended her on public radio.
After setting a trial date for May 3, the prosecutor asked both sides to tone down their media exposure to assure a fair process.
“We’ve been lacking some decorum here in the last week,” Robert Hilder, representing the prosecution said.
