With the Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook divorce case set to go to trial on Wednesday, a lawyer for a woman who Cook had a “very friendly relationship” with last year has criticized the supermodel for taking her to court to testify against Cook.

Carri Lyn Ciamarra is currently scheduled to take the stand July 10, but her attorney, Anthony Mangone, says he’s attempting to stop her from testifying, because she and Cook did not become close until after he and Brinkley were already legally separated.

“This is nothing more than a jilted woman trying to ruin someone else’s family,” Mangone told PEOPLE. “We feel her testimony is unnecessary and irrelevant to the current proceedings.”

Ciamarra, a 31-year-old fitness model from Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., saw Cook for seven months last year, says Mangone, who confirms his client is currently married and mother to a young son.

For her part, Ciamarra issued the following statement through her attorney: “I first came to know Peter Cook in February 2007 after meeting him in New York City. The nature of that relationship is a private matter.”

Asked whether Cook and Ciamarra were indeed dating last year, Mangone replied, “She maintained a very friendly relationship with Peter Cook from February 2007 to August 2007 … She’s a private citizen, and it’s not fair to explain what type of relationship it was.”

Although Mangone criticized Brinkley, the attorney did not paint her estranged architect husband as an innocent victim.

“He’s got some credibility issues, and I’m not trying to gauge what kind of relationship they had or who decided to end it,” said Mangone. “The press has done a good job in exposing who he is.”

He added that his client has no desire to be used as a pawn in court. “They might expect her to sit and cower in the courtroom. She’s not going to sit down and die for these people, and it’s a shame she’s being dragged into this mess.”

Source

WENN