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Marbury backs Isiah Thomas in harassment case

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO | tony.destefano@newsday.com

12:23 AM EDT, September 13, 2007

Isiah Thomas arrives for court for his trial at Manhattan Federal Court. (Patrick McCarthy, Freelance / September 12, 2007)

After a trip to a strip club, Knicks star point guard Stephon Marbury had sex in a car with her college-age office intern, a weeping Anucha Browne Sanders testified Wednesday in her federal sex harassment trial against coach Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden.

In a packed Manhattan courtroom, Browne Sanders said the young woman "felt like she had to" follow Marbury's requests after he called her over to his car near St. John's University in April 2005.

The intern later said she considered the sex consensual, Browne Sanders said.

Marbury -- the marquee witness in the $10.6-million lawsuit filed by former MSG executive Browne Sanders, 44, alleging sex harassment and unlawful termination -- did not say specifically whether he had sex with the woman and denied that the encounter took place at St. John's.

U.S. District Court Judge Gerard Lynch cut off questioning about the encounter, saying the details were not germane to the case against Thomas and MSG.

When Marbury, 32, took the stand Wednesday, he testified that he never heard Thomas refer to any woman as a "bitch" or "ho." "That is not his persona," Marbury replied repeatedly to questions from Thomas' attorney.

Marbury could not answer similarly for himself, as his own words and conduct were called into question before the jury.

"Yes, I called her a bitch," Marbury admitted when one of Browne Sanders' attorneys asked about a conversation Marbury had with one of Browne Sanders' subordinates. That conversation stemmed from a payroll dispute involving Marbury's cousin, who worked at the Garden.

Browne Sanders, who claims she was terminated because she brought her complaints to MSG officials, is using the intern incident to show that she had reported sexual harassment allegations to the officials before her January 2006 termination. Marbury wasn't questioned by MSG officials about the allegation involving the intern, court records show.

Thomas and MSG have denied that Browne Sanders was sexually harassed and said she was fired because of poor job performance and her interference in an internal investigation of her own harassment complaint.

Browne Sanders alleges that Thomas hugged her and made passes at her while she was working as a Knicks marketing executive. Both Wednesday and on Tuesday, she testified that he called her a "bitch" and "ho" numerous times.

In the incident involving the intern, Browne Sanders said the young woman had gone to a strip club with Marbury and his cousin, who drove her to St. John's University in one car while Marbury followed, Browne Sanders testified.

According to Browne Sanders, the intern later told her that as she exited the cousin's vehicle, Marbury shouted, "Are you getting in or not?" The intern got in, Browne Sanders said.

Asked about the incident by MSG attorney Ronald Green, Marbury testified he was in the vehicle with the intern after a strip club visit but not in the vicinity of St. John's.

Matthew Chayes contributed to this story.