04/13/2006

The Saratogian (Saratoga, NY)
By JIM KINNEY

Regan hearings postponed

BALLSTON SPA, NY - Evidence suppression hearings in the case of a Connecticut man accused of trying to kidnap a Saratoga Springs High School senior in October have been postponed until Monday, May 8.

John F. Regan, 49, of Waterbury, Conn., is accused of trying to drag a Saratoga Springs High School senior into his van Oct. 31 as she was heading to her car in a school parking lot following cross country practice. She got away and her coach followed Regan in his car until police arrested Regan on Beekman Street. The girl was unhurt.

Hearings had been set for today in front of County Court Judge Jerry Scarano in Ballston Spa.

Reagan's defense lawyer, E. Stewart Jones of Troy, is trying to keep a jury from seeing evidence collected from Regan's van following the alleged kidnap attempt, including a blue tarp, a rope tied into a slipknot and photos taken of women on the street. Some of the pictures were taken in Saratoga Springs, but none depict the victim in the alleged kidnap attempt.

Jones is also challenging police methods in getting eyewitnesses to pick Regan out of a photo lineup.

Jones said Wednesday he asked for an adjournment because he's representing another client in a murder trial this week in Rensselaer County Court.

'Obviously, you can't be in two places at the same time,' said Jones, one of the region's best-known defense attorneys.

Prosecutors in Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III's office have asked Scarano to allow them to use other charges pending against Regan in Connecticut against him at trial.

Regan is accused of kidnapping in a case from 1993 where someone cut the phone cord at a Connecticut woman's house, then bound, blindfolded and raped her with her children in the next room. He's also accused of trying to rape a colleague in 2004.

Police found pictures of the victim in the alleged 2004 attempted rape in Regan's home following the October arrest in Saratoga Springs. They've accused him of stalking the woman despite a court order to keep away from her.

Regan is in Saratoga County Jail awaiting trial.