Law school suspends charged beauty queen

TUCSON, Ariz. - A law school student and former beauty queen accused of kidnapping, biting and threatening a former boyfriend with a gun wants to continue her studies at the University of Arizona, which has barred her from campus.

Kumari Fulbright, 25, who is free on $50,000 bail, met with university officials on Monday. The second-year law student has been placed on interim suspension by the dean of students' office, spokesman Johnny Cruz said.

Fulbright wants to further her legal education, "and she's making every effort to continue with that and to put the events of December in perspective," said attorney Marc Beginin. He practices law outside Arizona and said he still needs court approval to act as co-counsel for 25-year-old Fulbright.

"Law school is the most important thing to her, and she would not do anything to jeopardize that," said Beginin, who also met with school officials.

Cruz said that the suspension has no end date, but that her status could change between now and the resumption of classes Jan. 14.

The dean's office can sanction a student for off-campus conduct, but such sanctions are imposed after an investigation, he said.

Authorities have accused Fulbright of kidnapping, holding and torturing an ex-boyfriend at gunpoint and knifepoint with the help of three other men, including an earlier boyfriend.

"If she's guilty of anything, it's making poor choices in men," Beginin said.

Fulbright, who competed for the Miss Arizona title in 2005 and 2006, recently completed a semester-long unpaid stint clerking for a federal judge. She also poses in a 2008 calendar that features women holding guns.

Fulbright and Larry Hammond were indicted last month by a Pima County grand jury on charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, armed robbery and aggravated assault. Hammond remained in jail on Monday.

Tucson police also issued arrest warrants in December for Fulbright's previous boyfriend, Robert Ergonis, 44, and his brother, Michael Ergonis, 46, on similar charges. Police were still searching for the brothers.

The alleged victim told an investigator that Fulbright accused him of stealing her jewelry and that she physically abused him, according to a Tucson police report released in response to an open records request.

Fulbright "bit him on his left ear lobe, slapped him in the face with plastic bags that had items in them, bit him on the webbing of his hand, stuck a butcher knife into his ear and talked about shoving it into his brain," according to the report.

The man escaped after a struggle with a gun and called police, investigators have said.

A supplementary narrative from another detective said that after Fulbright was advised she was going to be arrested because of the information provided, "she blurted out" that the victim had taken her jewelry and was trying to shoot her.

The victim also told detectives that they had dated about four months and had recently broken up.

The report said the victim admitted that he sold jewelry at pawnshops in Mesa and Tucson at Fulbright's request.

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