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 Solo, a goalkeeper for the U.S. women's soccer team, has pleaded
not guilty to striking the family members - her sister and nephew -
during a June dispute at her home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.
Her trial, scheduled to begin this month, was continued until Jan.
20 after a judge found that her attorney should be allowed to
interview the family members with a court stenographer present.
Solo's sister and nephew had refused to be questioned if a court
stenographer was there.
Prosecutors maintained the "highly emotional" nature of the case
necessitated some limits on how the interviews were recorded.
Solo, 33, said nothing during the brief hearing. She was accompanied
in court by her husband, Jerramy Stevens, who played nine seasons
for the National Football League's Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay
Buccaneers.
 Solo has been able to continue playing on the U.S. women's national
soccer team and with her professional Seattle team, Reign FC, while
the legal proceedings continue.
Both organizations have defended their decisions not to bench Solo,
even as prominent players with the NFL have been suspended amid
domestic violence allegations.
Solo's attorney, Todd Maybrown, says Solo was the victim in the June
altercation and that she was hit over the head with a broom handle
by a family member.
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Police said that during incident Solo appeared to be upset and
intoxicated, while her adult sister and her 17-year-old nephew had
visible injuries.
Officers present when Solo was booked into jail have been subpoenaed
to testify at her trial on two counts of fourth-degree domestic
violence, gross misdemeanors.
She faces up to six months in jail if convicted.
Solo has appeared as a contestant on ABC television's popular
"Dancing with the Stars" and has played on two women's soccer teams
that won Olympic gold medals.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and
Steve Orlofsky)
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