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Gillooly has charged that Harding obtained the name of Kerrigan's Cape Cod training rink, the place where hitman Shane Stant said he stalked Kerrigan before pursuing her to Detroit. Gillooly testified that Harding, after listening to a message from Marano, told him the name of Kerrigan's rink sounded something like "Toby Can." Later, Gillooly claimed, he heard Harding tell Marano by phone, "Spell it out," and watched her write "Tony Kent Arena" on a piece of paper.
Last week FBI agents received more potentially damaging evidence, retrieved by Kathy Peterson on Jan. 30 from a Dumpster outside her Portland restaurant. Peterson says the items she turned over included one handwritten note with the phone number and address of the Tony Kent Arena and the numbers "12-4," which mirror Kerrigan's practice hours; another note bearing the notations "tunee can arena" and "tony kent arena"; and an envelope addressed to Gillooly. The FBI reportedly began tests to determine if the scratchings matched Harding's handwriting.
Shortly before Gillooly pleaded guilty, Harding denied his charges, insisting in a statement that "Jeff Gillooly's accusations appear to evidence a continued practice of abusive conduct intended to disrupt Tonya Harding's life and destroy her career." But Harding's word has a poor record for stacking up against the truth. On Jan. 18, she initially told investigators that Gillooly was innocent. Later in the interview, however, after an FBI agent told Harding he knew she was lying, Harding did an abrupt about-face. "I know now he is involved," she said of her ex-husband. On Jan. 27, Harding told reporters that she had learned of the plot "within the next few days" of returning from Detroit.
All this may eventually add up to little more than bad judgment on Harding's part. Others involved in the case have behaved just as poorly. Last Tuesday, Gillooly's attorney Ronald Hoevet publicly elaborated on his client's guilty plea. Hoevet charged Harding with obtaining both the name of the Tony Kent Arena and Kerrigan's hotel-room number in Detroit and of participating in a Jan. 10 meeting between Gillooly and Eckardt at which an alibi was concocted. He said he had "no doubt" about Harding's guilt and suggested that it would be "unconscionable" for Harding to skate at the Olympics. The next day the state bar was flooded with calls questioning whether Hoevet had violated Oregon's code of professional conduct, which states, "A lawyer shall not make an extra-judicial statement . . . by means of public communications." At least seven people have filed formal complaints against Hoevet.
Nevertheless, opinions surfaced everywhere as to Harding's future on the team -- from beauty salons to op-ed pages to the President of the U.S. ("She should be given the benefit of the doubt"). Nike Inc. pledged $25,000 to help Harding defend herself if she is booted off the team. Others, however, were less sympathetic. Scott Hamilton, the men's Olympic figure-skating champion in 1984, believes "Olympic athletes are expected to live up to a higher ideal, to remain pure."