Inside SCOOP

-- Compiled by the Daily Pilot staff

Tina New, star witness in the trial of Eric Bechler, has a story to

tell.

No. She’s not preparing for testimony anticipated to last four days

and yes, she may go into labor any day now.

Tina New is working on a book and her collaborator, David Mehnert,

doesn’t know much about it except that the Bechler trial is going to be a

big part of it.

New, an aspiring model and actress, helped officers arrest Bechler in

October 1999 when he was merely suspected of murdering his wife, Pegye,

during a 1997 boating trip. She helped investigators trap her former

boyfriend in tape when he was caught referring to the murder.

New also testified in court that Bechler told her after a long night

of partying and taking the drug Ecstasy that he hit his wife on the head

and dumped her dead body in the ocean with 70 pounds of weights.

Only, this time John Barnett won’t interrupt her.