Neal Augenstein, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Gary Giordano, the sole suspect in the disappearance in Aruba of Robyn Gardner, will fight a charge of indecent exposure after being arrested with a woman in the back of his sport utility vehicle, his lawyer tells WTOP.
“We don’t think a crime was committed,” says defense attorney Steven Kupferberg.
“The crime of indecent exposure requires a person willfully and intentionally expose himself to others in public, and that didn’t happen,” says Kupferberg.
In May 2012 charging documents, Annapolis Police officers said they observed Giordano and Carol Ann Bock of Tennessee naked in the rear compartment of a Cadillac Escalade on the second level of a downtown parking garage.
According to police, passersby complained of seeing sexual activity in the SUV.
“The facts as charged don’t present a crime,” says Kupferberg, who will defend Giordano Aug. 10 in Anne Arundel County District Court.
Police say Giordano and Bock were trying to hide themselves under a blanket.
“There was no exposure. If anyone saw anything it certainly wasn’t willful or intentional,” says Kupferberg.
One year ago, Robyn Gardner, 35, of Frederick disappeared while traveling in Aruba with Giordano of Gaithersburg.
On the anniversary of her disappearance, Kupferberg said, “it wouldn’t be appropriate for him or me to comment on the tragic death.”
Giordano spent four months in an Aruban jail, suspected in Gardner’s death. Giordano maintains she disappeared while snorkeling.
An Aruban judge ordered Giordano released, after prosecutors were unable to provide evidence linking him to Gardner’s disappearance.
Friends and family of Gardner held a vigil this week, holding out hope she is still alive.
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(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
