Albert Assault Trial Opens in Virginia

Marv Albert scolded “You’ve been a bad girl” and bit a woman during an alleged assault for not bringing another man to a hotel for three-way sex, a prosecutor told the jury during opening statements Monday as the NBC sportscaster went on trial on charges of sodomy and assault in Arlington, Va.

Albert’s attorney, Roy Black, countered, “Everything that happened that night was consensual. It was that same thing that happened every other night when Marv and [the woman] got together.”

Albert, 54, is accused of biting the woman and forcing her to perform oral sex last February. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Prosecutor Richard Trodden said the alleged assault began with the couple watching a pornographic movie at a hotel after Albert had broadcast an NBA game, and ended with Albert grabbing the woman’s arms, throwing her on the bed and telling her, “You’ve been a bad girl. You didn’t bring anybody.”

Trodden said Albert pinched the woman’s cheeks to force her to perform oral sex and ignored her pleas to stop, saying, “You know you like this.”

Albert looked away from the jury of seven women and five men during the opening statement and began taking notes. His fiancee, ESPN producer Heather Faulkiner, sat behind him, expressionless.

Trodden said the couple, who met in 1986, had previously had threesome sex, adding that that during their sexual encounters Albert requested women’s underwear to wear.

Black argued that the accusing woman was lashing back at Albert because her life was unraveling. He said the woman had lost her job after being released from a mental hospital and that Albert had revealed he was considering marrying Faulkiner.

Motor Racing

Attempting to break the world land-speed record, jet pilot Andy Green, driving Richard Noble’s jet-powered Thrust SSC car, turned in runs of 618.55 mph and 687.94 mph across on the Black Rock Desert 125 miles north of Reno.

The rules call for two runs in opposite directions within one hour, and they have to average a little over 640 mph for the record. Green averaged 653 mph, but took 80 minutes in what a taciturn Noble, who set the record of 633.47 mph. nearly 14 years ago, called only an “engineering hitch.”

Green will make two more runs today. Rival Craig Breedlove is taking a second day off because of a balky fuel pump and problems with desert sand in his car’s wheel bearings.

Pro Basketball

The Chicago Bulls traded reserve forward Dickey Simpkins to the Golden State Warriors for forward-guard Scott Burrell. . . . The Lakers signed free-agent forward Mario Bennett, a first-round pick of the Phoenix Suns in 1995 who spent part of last season in the CBA.

Miscellany

Bud Bradley of Santa Monica, who won the British Senior Amateur golf title last month, defeated Jerry Jackson of Kokomo, Ind., 3 and 1, in the first round of the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Bridgehampton, N.Y.

Paul Cayard’s EF Language held a narrow lead after the first 24 hours of the Whitbread Round-the-World sailing race from Southampton, England.