Lawrence Taylor seeking dismissal

NEW CITY, N.Y. -- Pro football great Lawrence Taylor says the rape indictment against him should be dismissed because police did not have a warrant when they arrested him.

In a wide-ranging motion, Taylor's lawyer is seeking to at least suppress any statements Taylor made when he was arrested and to rule out any evidence taken from him.

Taylor, 51, signed an autograph, but he did not speak, on his way into the courthouse Tuesday for a hearing before state Supreme Court Justice William Kelly. Lawyers spent most of their time in a sidebar discussion with Kelly. Taylor's next appearance will be Dec. 23.

The former NFL MVP is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old prostitute in a suburban New York hotel room in May. He allegedly paid the Bronx runaway $300. He has pleaded not guilty to third-degree rape, patronizing a prostitute, sexual abuse and endangering a child.

Defense attorney Arthur Aidala's motion alleges that Taylor's arrest violated his rights. It says he was "alone, sleeping in his hotel room" when police entered without a warrant and without his permission.

Rockland County prosecutors have not yet responded to the motion.

Aidala asked the judge to dismiss the indictment, suppress all evidence, suppress any Taylor statements, prohibit the identification of Taylor at trial and prohibit any cross-examination of Taylor about any "past crimes or bad acts." It also asks the judge to examine the grand jury minutes because Taylor believes that will show "the illegality and insufficency of the evidence."

Court papers in a separate but related case say Taylor admitted to sex acts with the girl but was told she was 19.

Such a sweeping motion, known as an "omnibus" motion, is often used early in a case by a defense team to learn as much about the prosecution's evidence as possible.

Taylor, who led the New York Giants to Super Bowl titles in 1987 and 1991, was arrested May 6 after the girl's uncle contacted New York City police. Officers from Ramapo woke him at a Holiday Inn in Montebello.

The motion says police "did not have a warrant based on probable cause to either arrest Mr. Taylor or conduct a search and seizure" and that the circumstances did not allow entry without a warrant.

"No lives were in danger, nor was the defendant's escape imminent," making any seizure of property improper and anything Taylor said to a public official inadmissible, even if he was read his rights, Aidala wrote.

In October, Aidala said the case would probably go to trial, but he would likely listen to any plea agreement offered by the prosecution.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Yankees to Jeter: "Take some 'Reality' potion

NEW YORK -- Negotiations between the Yankees and Derek Jeter are at a standstill until Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, "drink the reality potion," according to a source close to the negotiations.

According to the source, a baseball industry executive who has knowledge of both sides' position, the Yankees are not budging from the three-year, $45 million offer they made to Jeter earlier this month, nor has Jeter moved off his demand for a longer contract believed to be in the area of $23-$25 million per season.

No talks took place over the holiday weekend and none are currently scheduled. Neither Yankees general manager Brian Cashman nor Close immediately returned messages seeking comment early Monday.

Last week, Cashman told ESPN New York: "We understand his contributions to the franchise and our offer has taken them into account. We've encouraged him to test the market and see if there's something he would prefer other than this. If he can, fine. That's the way it works."

A team source said Cashman's statement was not intended to be an ultimatum, but an invitation to comparison-shop around the league, with the belief that no other team would match or exceed the Yankees' offer.

The baseball industry source said the Yankees have provided Jeter and Close with detailed statistical and market analysis to support their contract offer, including comparisons between Jeter and other shortstops and middle infielders throughout baseball.

That is the way Jeter's last contract, the 10-year, $189 million deal that expired with the end of the 2010 World Series, was negotiated, based on Jeter's contention and the Yankees concurrence that Jeter was the second-best shortstop in the game, behind Alex Rodriguez, who had just signed a 10-year, $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers.

This time, the Jeter side is said to not want Jeter's value to be judged against that of other shortstops, preferring to base his worth on his legacy as an all-time great Yankee. The next highest-paid shortstop, Florida's Hanley Ramirez, is nearly 10 years younger than the 36-year-old Jeter, hits for more power (21 HRs last year) and in 2010, hit 30 points higher, .300 to .270. He will be paid $11 million in 2011.

"They've changed the rules this time around," the source said of the Jeter camp.

Other industry sources have mentioned the Los Angeles Dodgers as a possible Plan B for Jeter and Close, considering Jeter's warm relationship with Don Mattingly, who will succeed Joe Torre as manager for 2011, and his increasingly chilly relationship with the Yankees front office.

However, the Dodgers financial situation has changed due to the ongoing divorce battle between owner Frank McCourt and his estranged wife Jamie. In March 2009, the Dodgers gave Manny Ramirez a two-year, $45 million contract, but placed him on waivers last August, where he was claimed by the Chicago White Sox.

The uncertain financial future of the Dodgers pending the divorce settlement makes a possible Jeter-to-L.A. scenario a long shot at best.

Said the source: "There just doesn't seem to be much out there for him besides the Yankees."

Jim Leyritz accquitted of DUI charges

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A jury in Florida on Saturday acquitted former major league baseball player Jim Leyritz of DUI manslaughter in a 2007 crash that killed a mother of two.

However, Leyritz was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail. Leyritz had faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter charge.

Testimony was inconclusive on whether Leyritz ran a red light on Dec. 28, 2007, when he collided with a vehicle driven by 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch, who died.

Defense experts testified that Leyritz may have been below Florida's 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level when the crash occurred, even though it was 0.14 percent three hours later.

Leyritz played 11 major league seasons, hitting a memorable World Series home run for theNew York Yankees in 1996.

The crash happened after Leyritz had been out at local nightspots celebrating his birthday. Veitch, who had gone out to other bars after work, was also drunk with a blood-alcohol level twice Florida's limit, according to trial testimony.

Two witnesses testified that Veitch had the green light at an intersection before Leyritz's Ford Expedition hit her vehicle, causing a rollover crash that ejected her onto the pavement. But under cross-examination, those same witnesses were less definitive about whether Leyritz's light was red or yellow.

Defense expert witnesses also said Veitch's lights may have been off and that Leyritz did not appear to be speeding. They also raised questions about the reliability of Leyritz's blood tests and suggested he may have suffered a slight concussion that caused his body to absorb alcohol more slowly.

Prosecutors insisted that Leyritz was too drunk to react to the traffic light or avoid the collision with Veitch's Mitsubishi Montero. They said he consumed the equivalent of between 11 and 12 shots of liquor in the three hours before the crash, which happened around 3 a.m.

Florida law provides for a DUI manslaughter conviction when a person's actions either caused or contributed to the cause of someone else's death.

In May, Leyritz settled a wrongful death lawsuit by agreeing to pay Veitch's family $350,000 in insurance and personal funds.

Leyritz's famous homer for the Yankees tied Game 4 of the World Series against Atlanta, a game New York would go on to win in extra innings. The victory paved the way for New York's 1996 title, its first in 18 years.

Primarily a catcher, Leyritz also played for the Angels, Rangers, Red Sox, Padres and Dodgers. He had a career batting average of .264 and hit 90 home runs.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Yankees fans harassing Cliff Lee's wife

Fans' treatment of Cliff Lee's wife at Yankee Stadium was ugly, but it might not have hurt the Yankees' recruitment of one of the game's top left-handed pitchers.

During the American League Championship Series games in New York between the Yankeesand Rangers, fans were extremely rude to Kristen Lee, spitting and throwing beer in her direction and shouting obscenities.

But the treatment apparently did not change how the Lees feel about New York.

"I brush that off as fans being fans. You can't control 50,000 people and what they're going to do," Lee said Tuesday, the day before pitching Game 1 of the World Series for Texas. "There were some people that were spitting off the balcony on the family section and things like that, and that's kind of weak, but what can you do?"

Lee said what happened last week wouldn't have any impact on his offseason decision.

"No, I don't know the guy that did it. It could be anyone. Who knows? Who cares?," Lee said. "They're at home right now."

Lee's agent, Darek Braunecker, told ESPNNewYork.com that Lee's wife still likes New York.

"The story is not an issue to us," he said. "Her experience in New York is certainly a non-issue. She enjoys New York as much as anyone enjoys New York."

Lee helped Texas beat New York in the ALCS in six games. But there has been widespread speculation that the Yankees will make a serious run at signing Lee when he becomes a free agent after the season.

That didn't stop Yankees fans from harassing Lee's wife.

"The fans did not do good things in my heart," Lee's wife, Kristin, told USA Today. "When people are staring at you, and saying horrible things, it's hard not to take it personal."

She was sitting with other Rangers family and friends in the visiting family section at Yankee Stadium during the playoffs.

"Some people get a little alcohol in them and act inappropriate," Cliff Lee said. "There's so many people there you can't control them all. I know it's been made into a big deal, but that's really all it is, just two or three or four people just acting like fools, and 50,000, you can't group them all together. But there's always going to be a couple goofballs in the crowd that think they have a right to do that stuff."

In a text to ESPNNewYork.com, Yankees spokesperson Jason Zillo said that the Yankees are "not commenting."

On the flip side of Kristen Lee's bad experience in New York is her close relationship with CC Sabathia's wife, Amber. They have been close since Sabathia and Cliff Lee played together in Cleveland.

Cliff Lee and Sabathia are friends as well. The Sabathias and Lees already were discussing where the Lees should live when it appeared as if the Yankees were going to make a trade for Lee in July.

The Yankees are expected to make Lee their No. 1 free-agent target. He will likely receive a deal in the five-to-seven year range at $100 million to $150 million. It also could be Lee's final major contract; he turns 33 during next season.

Lee, acquired by Texas from Seattle on July 9, is getting ready to start Game 1 of the World Series for the second year in a row. Last year it was for Philadelphia, which traded him to the Mariners the same day the Phillies acquired Roy Halladay.

This time, Lee will get to pick where he plays.

"He has a chance to win here for a long time," Rangers teammate Jeff Francoeur said Tuesday. "At the end of the day, I think he's going to be between Texas and the Yankees. He'll wind up in one of those places."

The fans' treatment of Lee's wife was first reported by USA Today.

Andrew Marchand covers the Yankees for ESPNNewYork.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report

NBA looking into illegal workouts by the New York Knicks

The NBA is looking into allegations that the New York Knicks circumvented league rules by conducting secret workouts with college players.

Teams are not supposed to work out players before the annual predraft camp and can only conduct a certain number of workouts during specified times. According to a Yahoo! Sports report, Knicks director of East Coast scouting Rodney Heard held workouts in gymnasiums in the Atlanta area in violation of these rules, with a May 2007 session resulting in a major knee injury to Kansas All-American Brandon Rush. Rush withdrew from the draft.

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"We will be investigating these allegations," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said Tuesday.

The Knicks said in a statement that they are cooperating with the NBA and "defer all comment to them."

Rush had previously said that he was injured in a pick-up game in his hometown of Kansas City, Mo., but he admitted to Yahoo! that it actually happened during a workout with Heard.

"It was [during] drill work, doing a three-man weave," Rush said in a recent interview, according to Yahoo!. "I went up for a dunk, came down and that was it. It was a quick pop in my knee."

Heard worked out Wilson Chandler before the 2007 predraft camp, league sources told Yahoo!, and the Knicks subsequently drafted him.

In addition, DePaul's Dar Tucker said Heard led him in a workout in 2009, and Notre Dame's Tory Jackson said Heard worked with him and Baylor's Ekpe Udoh in 2010.

"Rodney did most of the workouts," Jackson said, according to Yahoo!. "He never really put anybody else in charge of his workouts. He wanted to run all the workouts himself, which was good."

Heard denied being involved in the workouts when reached by Yahoo!.

Recap Of Giants - Cowboys Matchup

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tony Romo broke his left collarbone, then things really got bad for the Dallas Cowboys.

Eli Manning tied his career best with four touchdown passes, Brandon Jacobs ran 30 yards for a touchdown and Lawrence Tynes kicked a career-best 53-yard field goal and the New York Giants turned a sloppy start into a 41-35 victory over the Cowboys on Monday night.

New York (5-2) won its fourth straight and is alone atop the NFC.

Dallas is 1-5, its worst start since 1989. That was the year Jerry Jones bought the team, Jimmy Johnson took over as coach and the Cowboys went 1-15. Everyone knew that team would stink. This club, however, had Super Bowl hopes.

Any chance of turning this season around ended when Romo was drilled by blitzing linebacker Michael Boley in the second quarter. Dallas still pushed ahead 20-7, then gave up 31 unanswered points.