Baldwin stalking case heads for trial

NEW YORK CITY - A Canadian actress accused of stalking American actor Alec Baldwin on Wednesday again refused a plea bargain deal with prosecutors, ensuring her long-running case will go to trial.

A judge in New York fixed October 8 as the date for the start of the trial of Genevieve Sabourin.

Baldwin filed stalking charges in 2012, accusing Sabourin of sending love-struck emails, asking him to marry her and showing up uninvited at his Manhattan apartment.

Prosecutors have now twice indicated they would be ready to settle the case if Sabourin pledged not to go within 10 blocks of the home or office of the actor and his wife and to get therapy.

But Sabourin again refused the offer first made in April, telling the court: "I can't accept this offer. I don't need treatment."

She added that she was homeless and destitute and would be barred from re-entering the United States if she were to plead guilty.

Sabourin has said the stalking allegations are part of a "misunderstanding," and, outside court, she repeated her claim of an affair with the star that lasted several months, having first met him in 2002.

"I had an affair and a sexual relationship with Alec," she said.