The accused shakedown stalker of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was back in court yesterday — to switch lawyers.
The family of Louise Meanwell, 35, is replacing her longtime defense lawyers with a retired judge from Westchester, a move that will delay her next Manhattan Criminal Court appearance until March 7.
That new date will now be the earliest Meanwell, who also goes by the last name Neathway, would learn whether she has been indicted for allegedly extorting $6,000 from the married Cashman — and trying to shake him down for thousands more — by threatening to go public with their affair.
“We have been notified by Ms. Neathway’s family that they have decided to change counsel,” defense lawyer Alan Abramson said of himself and Stephen McCarthy.
The two lawyers have represented her during a history of harassment and trespassing allegations in New York and New Jersey.
Meanwell changed lawyers seven times in a New Jersey case for which she’s on probation, according to one of the attorneys who represented her in that case.
Meanwell’s new lawyer is Rory Bellantoni, a White Plains-based state Supreme Court judge who retired in 2009. Bellantoni did not appear in court today because he is trying a case elsewhere, Abramson told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson.
Meanwell appeared in court in tight jeans and a bulky gray sweater. She remains held in lieu of $200,000 bail.
She was arrested Feb. 1 and charged with harassing Cashman and trying to extort $15,000 from him after a relationship that began in April 2011. In the wake of Meanwell’s arrest, the court has granted protective orders for Cashman’s estranged wife, Mary, and their two kids, as well as for his former mistress, Kim Brennan, and her two children.
Former boyfriends of Meanwell have described her as a “relentless” stalker who makes bogus claims of pregnancies and abortions and resorts to violent tactics when she’s dumped.