Stunted

Here she won't be -- Miss America.

The case against at least one -- and probably more -- of the 11 men arrested in Suffolk with the help of the beauty queen and the television show "America's Most Wanted" is in jeopardy because representatives for Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson have told prosecutors she won't return to Long Island to testify, said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Without Nelson available as a star witness, every case she actively participated in during the undercover police sex sting may be up in the air, said Spota. He called the police operation well-intended but "nothing more than a publicity stunt."

"Given the fact that we have now determined that Miss America was actually speaking to one of those arrested, I have instructed prosecutors not to present any more cases to the grand jury until we can determine her involvement," said Spota, who added that police didn't tell his office about the April 20 operation until the afternoon before it went down.

Are you kidding me? She's involved in a sting to get sex predators off the street but is now unwilling to testify because she doesn't want to return to Long Island? What was the whole point of this, if not to secure convictions. Did she not realize that she'd have to come back to Long Island to testify as to what happened? Did no one explain the process to her?

The District Attorney opposed this publicity stunt in the first place, and wondered why Nelson's involvment was needed in the first place. Good question. Did the police think that this would garner good publicity regardless of the outcome? Whatever they may have thought at the outset, the District Attorney now faces a situation where they've got sexual predators who are likely to escape justice because Nelson refuses to finish the job. Lovely stuff.

HT: Anonymous emailer.