Batista's wife fires back, calling L.I. doctor irrational: He sniffed my underwear
BY JOE GOULD AND DAVE GOLDINER
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Updated Monday, January 12th 2009
The doctor who claims his wife dumped him after he gave her a kidney was so consumed with jealousy he rifled through her closet for evidence she was cheating, the woman's lawyer says.
Richard Batista, who wants $1.5 million for saving his wife's life eight years ago, started acting irrationally when their marriage started to fall apart, lawyer Douglas Rothkopf charged Monday.
Rothkopf, who represents Dawnell Batista, 44, said the husband suffered from "hyper-suspicion of his wife" as well as "overheated claims of hurt and false sentimentality."
"[He] was rummaging though her underwear drawer and sniffing her underwear," he said.
The warring couple's sensational divorce trial, capping a three-year breakup battle, starts today.
They sat at opposite ends of the courtroom and didn't speak or lock eyes during the 45-minute hearing.
Dawnell Batista wore a tasteful black pants suit and tiny, diamond-studded earrings, while her soon-to-be ex wore a dark suit and earth-toned tie.
Richard Batista's lawyer called the surgeon "godlike" for giving up his kidney. He insisted the kidney suit was a response to his estranged wife's hardball tactics.
A Long Island judge has refused to grant the wife's request for a gag order, a plea supported by a law guardian for their three children. Special Referee Jeffrey Grob said he would reconsider issuing the order later.
"He wants to tell the world what happened in this case because it's a tragedy," said the husband's lawyer, Dominic Barbara. "This is a man who put his life on the line, and his wife treated him like a piece of dirt, garbage."
Dawnell Batista shook her head as Barbara spoke in court.
Barbara mocked Rothkopf for asking for a gag order while making titillating claims designed to maximize media attention.
"His wife's attorney is the one who mentioned sniffing panties, and that's going to be the headline somewhere," Barbara said.
The donation drama started in 2001 when Richard Batista, 49, gave one of his kidneys to his wife after two previous transplants - from her father and a sister - failed.
Their marriage later faltered, and he claims she had an affair with a personal trainer. She filed for divorce in 2005.
Tears rolled down Dawnell Batista's cheeks as her lawyer detailed the couple's efforts to have their third child, which her lawyer said required her to get a new kidney transplant.
Rothkopf accused Richard Batista of a "grotesque performance" for suing over the kidney and thrusting the case into the spotlight.
"This case ... has gained worldwide notoriety," he said, adding that Dawnell Batista never cheated and didn't use the children as a weapon.
"She has never been unfaithful, and she has never denied visitation," Rothkopf said. Law guardian Jill Stone said the couple's daughters had to dodge reporters camped outside their suburban home.
"They had to sneak into their own home in order to sleep in their own beds," Stone said.
The husband insisted he had no plans to talk about their children and didn't want to involve them in the divorce dispute.
pleeease people... stop reporting this, for the children's sake. 
