SHORT TAKES : Conduct of AIDS Trial Criticized

The head of the Guardian Angels and a fashion model whose face was slashed by thugs appeared in court today to protest what they view as hostile questioning of a doctor who contends she caught AIDS from a hypodermic needle at a city hospital.

Model Marla Hansen, 28, whose widely publicized case provoked a national outpouring of sympathy, said defense questioning of Dr. Veronica Prego, 32, in the trial of her $175-million lawsuit “reminded me” of the intense and personal questioning she underwent during the trial of assailants, purportedly hired by her landlord, charged with attacking her in June, 1986.

Prego spent a fifth day on the witness stand today. Defense lawyer Stanley Friedman, conducting the cross-examination, continued to call into question her account of the night on which she claims she pricked her finger on an infected needle at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn.

Lisa Sliwa, national director of the Guardian Angels and wife of the organization’s founder, Curtis Sliwa, also went to court and pledged to support Prego. Sliwa criticized acquired immune deficiency syndrome activists, including the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, for not appearing on her behalf.

“If these people were concerned with people who had AIDS instead of their own political agenda, they would be down here speaking out in support of this woman,” Sliwa said.