Witness Refuses To Testify At Reynolds’ Trial Former Volunteer Spends Second Day In Jail For Contempt Of Court

She was 16 when soon-to-be U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds pulled up in a Cadillac and offered her a ride. Her lurid tale of a sexual affair led to Reynolds’ felony indictment, and then her claim that she made it all up left the case hanging by a thread.

On Thursday, Beverly Heard, 19, was jailed for a second consecutive day - cited for contempt of court for refusing at Reynolds’ trial to back up either version of her story.

Composed and showing little emotion, Heard answered, “Ma’am, I respectfully refuse to testify,” when prosecutor Andrea Zopp asked about her relationship with Reynolds.

Prosecutors never have discussed charging Heard for anything she did with Reynolds, but Heard’s lawyer, Eric Dunham, has said he is concerned Heard could be charged with perjury or obstruction of justice.

Judge Fred Suria told Heard she would not be charged with any crime for her response, but she turned to him and said quietly, “I’m sorry, I can’t answer that question.”

Then he warned her she could get as much as six months in jail for each of more than a dozen contempt citations.

“These proceedings were initiated by you,” said Suria, who told her that the defense and prosecution have a great stake in her testimony. “By you not responding, you are holding both in great peril.”

Suria ordered the former Reynolds campaign volunteer back to Cook County Jail, to be brought to court again Friday for a third chance to answer questions. The jury was not present while Heard was questioned.

Heard’s refusal to testify is a huge stumbling block for the case against Reynolds, who if convicted faces up to 86 years in prison on charges including criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and obstruction of justice.

The prosecution case is built around wiretap tapes of Reynolds and Heard discussing their alleged sexual encounters. Defense lawyers want the tapes thrown out because Heard recanted her charges in January and has refused to corroborate the tapes.

Prosecutors have claimed that Reynolds is behind Heard’s recantation.

Heard spent her first night in jail Wednesday after refusing to answer questions. She invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination despite the judge’s assurances that she was not exposing herself to criminal liability for testifying.

“This is not about the Fifth Amendment,” Zopp insisted Thursday. “This is simply an effort to obstruct this prosecution.”

Heard’s lawyer said he expects Heard to refuse to answer questions again Friday, but held out the possibility that prosecutors might offer her immunity.

Heard met Reynolds in the summer of 1992 when she was a high school student and he was running for Congress. She worked briefly in his campaign and, according to prosecutors, had numerous sexual encounters with him. She went to police last summer and later told a grand jury she had sex with Reynolds.

Prosecutors and Reynolds’ lawyers have called Heard “disturbed,” but their attitude toward her has shifted with each twist of the case. Reynolds last year called her a Satan-worshiping “nut case,” but on Wednesday he commended her “courage” and called her jailing a “travesty.”

Reynolds refused to comment Thursday.

Reynolds, a black two-term Democrat, has said he is the victim of a racist, politically motivated prosecution led by Cook County State’s Attorney Jack O’Malley, a white Republican.

O’Malley called the claim “nonsense” and defended Heard’s jailing.

“We take obstruction of justice very seriously and the best thing that can happen is, again, for everybody to relax and let all the evidence come in,” O’Malley said.