Dessarae Bradford is going to have to find another puppy to play with, at least until 2009.
On Monday a Los Angeles judge denied the Colin Farrell: A Dark Twisted Puppy author's bid to throw out the restraining order that's currently keeping her 150 yards away from her Irish muse.
Farrell secured the three-year injunction Aug. 28, about a month after Bradford approached him during a Tonight Show taping and was escorted out of the building by NBC security. She claimed it was an attempt to serve him court papers; Farrell called her "my first stalker."
The Miami Vice star's attorney, Jeffery McFarland, obviously objected to Bradford's request, stating in court documents that the self-published author, who in the past has filed "numerous harassing lawsuits" against Farrell, had no legal ground to stand on.
Bradford's first unsuccessful attempt to sue Farrell came in 2004, when she took the actor to small-claims court, alleging he had harassed her with lewd emails and text messages. She upped the ante last year, moving her lawsuit to federal court and asking for $10 million in damages. After that motion was tossed, Bradford refiled her suit in May, adding slander to her list of charges.
The third time wasn't a charm, however, but rather just landed her in a game of keep-away. Bradford appeared in court Monday on her own behalf, arguing that Farrell "is trying to give the impression that I'm some stalker, some delusional fan, which is absolutely not true."
"But you are somebody who comes up from the audience, which is not allowed, during the live taping of a TV show, to confront him," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Reid replied.
"I might have been overzealous in trying to get this done," Bradford said. "But I am by no means a Farrell stalker. I had no intention of getting that close to the stage and I apologize for that."
She also called a witness, a Burbank police officer who was working security at NBC at the time.
"During the live taping, she walked down from the audience area and passed the cameras onto the stage," Todd Mofford said, adding "that everybody didn't know if maybe, if this was part of the show. Colin Farrell grabbed her and confronted her and escorted her off the stage." To Bradford: "He grabbed you by the arm and walked you down the steps and called for security. He seemed alarmed." Bradford reminded the court that Mofford did not see her attack Farrell or throw a copy of her book at him, as stated in the actor's complaint against her.
A judge issued a temporary stay-away order against Bradford the day after her surprise Tonight Show appearance, with Farrell stating in his petition that he neither knew the 31-year-old woman nor "have I had personal contact with her prior to [last night], when she accosted me during a taping of a television show." The long-term restraining order also requires Bradford to stay away from Farrell's three-year-old son, James, and the child's mother, model Kim Bordenave.
Bradford further denied Farrell's claims Monday, telling CourtTV.com outside of court that his assertion that she harassed him is "totally a lie." She said that the actor reached out to her in 2004, wanting to be book number two. (Bradford's first foray into the literary arts was My S/M Romp with Alec Baldwin.) "Let the court of opinion be the judge and jury," she said, adding that she has taped phone conversations between the two of them that she's planning to put on her Website.
"That means if I have to go to Spago's and Colin's there, I have to leave?" CourtTV.com reported Bradford as saying to a friend as she made her way to her car. "That makes me steaming."
McFarland told the cable channel's Website that he was quite happy with Judge Reid's ruling today.
"When she speaks," the attorney said, "it speaks for itself."