Brooks' lawyer seeks to discredit government witness

"No Dawn. No case."

With those words as his mantra, David Brooks' lead defense attorney attempted Tuesday to undermine the credibility of the testimony of the government's key witness, Dawn Schlegel, against the former body-armor manufacturer, and by inference the entire fraud case against his client.

Kenneth Ravenell hammered away at the credibility of Schlegel, the former chief financial officer of Brooks' then Westbury-based DHB Industries, often drawing laughter from many on the six-men, six-women jury, as he mocked her testimony and those of other government witnesses.

Drawing on a mélange of inconsistencies, some of them minor, in Schlegel's 23 days of testimony at the trial in federal court in Central Islip, Ravenell sought to paint her entire testimony as a tissue of lies.

Lies, Ravenell said, tailored to get her the best possible plea bargain when she is sentenced after having pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreeing to testify against her former boss.

The government, Ravenell claimed, "could get her to say anything" to implicate Brooks. He is charged with illegally having DHB spend $6 million to support his luxurious lifestyle and pocketing $185 million more on a stock-manipulation scheme.

Among other things, Ravenell noted that the Hofstra University graduate, who grew up in Selden, had her possible maximum sentence reduced from 75 years to 10 years, and noted that she had been allowed to keep her home and $1 million she made at DHB.

Ravenell also noted that Schlegel had falsely reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in false deductions on income tax returns for herself, friends and family. Prosecutors had said that as part of her plea bargain she had agreed to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service and pay all taxes she owed.

In another part of his summation, Ravenell repeatedly asked jurors why the government did not call as a prosecution witness former DHB board member Gary Nadelman, implying he might help clear Brooks.

Nadelman's signature on a board committee resolution, which supposedly helped allow Brooks to collect money for personal expenses, is a forgery, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors have granted Nadelman immunity, so either side was free to call him without Nadelman fearing he would be indicted, unless he perjured himself.

Sandra Hatfield, Brooks' former chief operating officer, is a co-defendant.