Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 21

STATE CITY Sources: Asst. DA Backs Holtzman By Anthony M. DeStefano and Patricia Hurtado Brooklyn A Brooklyn assistant district attorney has told an official inquiry that the victim in a sexual assault trial was asked to re-enact her attack, court sources said. According to these sources, Gary Farrell, 26, confirmed a report by his boss, Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, that the woman was ordered to get down on her hands and knees in a Brooklyn court anteroom to re-enact the assault. However, the sources said it remains unclear whether the judge, Irving Levine, ordered the woman to demonstrate the assault, as Holtzman has charged, or whether the request was made by someone else.

Farrell made his statement to Criminal Court Administrative Judge Robert G.M. Keating, who is formally probing the report. According to the sources, Keating also may expand his inquiry to include Holtzman's handling of the incident. Holtzman charged last week that Levine, a Civil Court judge assigned temporarily to Criminal Court, made the woman re-enact her attack for him in a small anteroom off the court. Levine later acquitted the defendant in the nonjury trial.

The defense attorney, Paul Ascher, and a court officer who also was in the anteroom during the incident both insisted that it was Ascher who made the request during cross-examination of the woman. Ascher and the officer said that Levine denied the request. However, sources said that Farrell apparently has made a sworn statement before Keating that the woman was twice asked to show how her attack happened. The sources said that Farrell said see AP Photo Truckers Initiate New Schoharie Creek Bridge Traffic rolls across a new New York State and westbound traffic will open later this week. Thruway bridge spanning the Schoharie Creek Two new bridges were built after the old span soon after a single eastbound lane opened collapsed April 5, killing 10 people.

The second yesterday. Officials say more lanes for east- bridge is expected to open in the spring. Judge Voids Sale of Columbus By Michael Moss New York The city illegally traded increased bulk for bucks in approving the proposed Columbus Circle super building, a state court ruled yesterday in a decision that further darkens the shadow over the embattled project. State Supreme Court Acting Justice Edward H. Lehner voided the city's sale of the site, for $455.1 million, to developer Mortimer Zuckerman for his controversial double towers.

City officials said they'll appeal, but maintained that Lehner's decision will have no serious effect on the project because it is being scaled down. They predicted the Board of Estimate would approve a new sale agreement. Critics, however, said the ruling will force a complete reconsideration of the project. "Today's court ruling sends 1 the deal back to square said State Comptroller Edward V. Regan.

Lehner's decision upheld a city zoning law that permits developers to build larger projects called a bonus in exchange for performing some public amenity, such as improving a nearby subway station. But he said the city could not spend money received. that the first time she re-enacted her assault in the courtroom. When that did not clear up the confusion of what happened, the sources said Farrell told Keating that the group moved to a small anteroom off the courtroom. Farrell said the woman was told to get down on the floor.

and demonstrate how she could manage to identify one of her attackers while she was being assaulted. Ascher has said that the woman had stepped down from the witness stand to demonstrate the attack. When she noticed the anteroom, she said it resembled the room in which she was attacked. But the law enforcement sources said that during the incident in the anteroom, court stenographer Deborah Pugh's view of the woman was apparently blocked for a period of time because both prosecutor and defense attorney were standing in front of her. The source said that the trial's transcript does not indicate that a physical demonstration took place, which is usually prefaced in trial transcripts with, "Let the record reflect A spokeswoman for Keating refused to comment on the matter or to say whether Farrell or Levine had testified before him.

"The judge prefers not to name the people he has talked to," said Mary de Bourbon. Holtzman as an elected public official is independent of the state's judicial system. However, the sources said that Keating could turn over his findings on Holtzman to a grievance committee of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court or to the state's special prosecutor for criminal matters, Charles Hynes. The source said that that decision has not been made yet. Levine returned to the bench yesterday and heard more than 150 cases in Criminal Court.

Reached for comment at a downtown Brooklyn restaurant during a lunchtime break, Levine said he could not make a statement. "I have no comment because the judicial cannon of ethics forbids me from he said. Leonard Finz, an attorney for the 32-year-old woman, has said that she was rousted out of bed Thursday by a detective sent by Holtzman to make a videotaped statement about the incident. The woman said she never gave her written consent to Holtzman to publicly release the statement, and Finz said yesterday he is considering filing a lawsuit against the Brooklyn prosecutor and the state. Holtzman refused to comment yesterday.

Finz said yesterday that he expects his client will tell her story to Keating's committee by tomorrow. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct also is investigating Levine in the incident. and is to meet formally on Dec. 17. Maurice Carroll contributed to this story.

'AVOISMEN the wake of Salomon Circle Brothers' decision Site to bail out 'AVOS3NI as co-developer and prime tenant was crafted to prevent the entire deal from unraveling if Lehner ruled against the city, Biderman said. Under the agreement announced Friday, Zuckerman can reduce the building's bulk by up to a sixth of .00 its current size, thus eliminating his bonus. In exchange, the city would accept $75 million less 2861 for the site, give him $50 million in tax breaks, let him save $15 million in interest payments and let him forgo an additional $40 million he planned to spend improving the Columbus Circle subway station. Critics, however, predicted the new plan would face political fire unless it was resubmitted for complete review. "He's right.

He's just right. His decision was exactly to the point of our suit," said attorney Peter Paden, representing the Municipal Art Society and others suing the city over the project. Also jubilant were Columbus Circle area residents who, in a combined suit, claimed that the city neglected to study how the project would affect nearby property values and neighborhood cohesion matters Lehner did not rule on, but referred to in his decision. for the bonus on citywide projects, which had been the plan with Columbus Circle. "When disposing of its property, government, of course, has an obligation to maximize the revenue it Lehner wrote.

But the city must spend such bonus revenue on something that is hurt by the extra bulk, like on a nearby subway station that is made overly crowded by an infusion of new office workers, he said. All of the money was to go to operating and improving the city's subway system at large, with an extra $40 million from the developers to be spent on the Columbus Circle subway station. Lehner called that transaction illegal. Bonus money cannot go into the city's general coffers, Lehner ruled, concluding that the city "is prohibited from making what, in effect, is a 'cash sale' of a zoning "It's obviously unfortunate, but we certainly anticipated that this could happen," outgoing Finance Commissioner Abraham Biderman said of Lehner's ruling. The project restructuring announced Friday in.