Gabor Back in Spotlight as Trial Winds Down to Final Arguments

Just when it appeared her trial was bogging down in nitty-gritty legal procedures, Zsa Zsa Gabor stormed back into the spotlight Tuesday, fleeing the courtroom twice in anger and accusing two prosecution witnesses of lying.

The actress, who walked out a week ago during the testimony of Beverly Hills Police Officer Scott Thompson, did so once again--this time with the judge’s approval--as soon as Thompson stood to be sworn in for rebuttal questioning.

“I can’t go through it again,” Gabor said in the hallway of Beverly Hills Municipal Court, where she is facing charges of disobeying and slapping a police officer during a traffic stop on June 14 . “I cannot listen to all those lies. I just cannot listen to the vulgarity and the lies.”

In earlier testimony, Thompson testified that Gabor swore at him while she was handcuffed and about to be jailed for slapping motorcycle Officer Paul Kramer.

Although Thompson testified for only a few moments Tuesday, Gabor expressed more anger with him--because he was kind to her during the arrest--than with Kramer, who, after all, is just another man she has slapped.

“Thompson . . . said to me he has a wife and three children, and one of his children looks like me,” an indignant Gabor said outside court, despite a gag order precluding her from discussing the case. “Thompson is a liar. Kramer is a macho, macho. He is not the first man I’ve slapped.”

As a matter of fact, Gabor added, she slapped her husband, West German Prince Frederick von Anhalt, just a day earlier.

“He is so mad about me saying Kramer is so gorgeous,” Gabor said of her husband. “We had a fight about it. He’s so jealous of Kramer he could die.”

Another prosecution witness, Mateo Guerrero, said he “enjoyed” being ticketed by Kramer four years ago for jaywalking.

“I felt good, because he was such a nice guy,” Guerrero said. “I enjoyed the confrontation. . . . I even spoke to many of my friends and said, ‘I met the nicest police officer today.’ ”

Gabor’s attorney, William Graysen, then asked the witness, “Do you find Officer Kramer to be an attractive person?”

“He’s attractive, yes,” Guerrero replied.

Leaves Court Again

Less than an hour after leaving court while Thompson testified, Gabor again abruptly stood and requested permission from Judge Charles G. Rubin to leave during the questioning of Amir Eslaminia. The witness, who took the stand wearing slicked-back hair and an earring, is the younger brother of Billionaire Boys Club member Reza Eslaminia, convicted last year of murdering their father, wealthy Iranian Hedayat Eslaminia.

Amir Eslaminia described himself as a former Beverly Hills High School student whom Kramer had stopped numerous times.

“Every time I was stopped by him I was rude and demeaning,” Eslaminia said, adding that Kramer always acted professionally.

He said he decided to step forward after hearing Gabor’s comments about the officer. “I just really thought it to be b.s., all made up, “ he testified.

At that point, Gabor stood and asked to be excused, drawing objections from the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Elden Fox.

Later, Gabor verbally sparred with Eslaminia outside court, saying, “You lied about me,” and, she added, turning to reporters and photographers, “I’ll tell you why I left: When the little punk with the hairdo like a girl and the earring said she lies . . . who needs that?”

Eslaminia yelled back at one point: “Is that why you’re causing all this ruckus, so you can get a little more TV?”

The confrontations marked the final full day of testimony in a $2,000-a-day trial that is now expected to go to the jury today after closing arguments.

Several defense witnesses Tuesday supported Gabor’s assertion that she was pulled from her Rolls-Royce by Kramer and slapped him in self-defense. Anthony Peric, who testified that he was traveling past the scene in a Jeep when the actress slapped the officer, provided essentially the same account as his mother and another witness who testified they saw Gabor pulled from the Rolls.

Met at Gabor’s House

Under cross examination, however, Peric conceded that he and his mother and the third witness met at Gabor’s house a week ago to demonstrate for each other how they saw the incident unfold.

Gabor’s mother, Jolie, 91, and oldest sister, Magda, both wearing black hats, appeared in court in the afternoon, sitting in the front row.

“Zsa Zsa is a happy, happy girl,” Jolie Gabor said of the former Miss Hungary. “Now she’s not happy. I’m also not happy.”