Sporkin rejected that argument, writing in his opinion that Cisneros failed to prove that extortion was Medlar's motivation.

CNN: Ted Barrett/

Medlar testified that, after the affair was made public in 1988, she divorced her husband and was unable to keep a job.

CNN: Ted Barrett/

But he allowed the remaining 22 tapes -- copies of the originals which Medlar had since discarded -- over defense objections the tapes are unreliable.

CNN: Ted Barrett/

From Bugues, you could see her head rising in the distance, above the hedge of medlar trees that separated our land from that of her children.

NEWYORKER: The Stolen Pigeons

Cisneros and Medlar began an affair in the late 1980s while Cisneros was the popular mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and both were married to other people.

CNN: Ted Barrett/

Medlar testified she began recording Cisneros in 1990 out of fear that Cisneros, who was going through an on-again, off-again reconciliation with his wife, would stop the payments.

CNN: Ted Barrett/

The former HUD secretary faces trial in September on 18 counts of lying about the amount of money he was paying Medlar in 1992, when he was nominated to be HUD secretary.

CNN: Ted Barrett/

The tapes, which Medlar says she recorded in the early 1990's to document Cisneros's promise to support her financially, were the subject of an exhaustive three-week hearing on the admissability of the recordings.

CNN: Ted Barrett/

Sullivan and Simon also argued the authenticity of the tapes was in doubt because the original tapes were destroyed and Medlar admitted to editing out portions that she felt portrayed her in a bad light.

CNN: Ted Barrett/