911 Caller In Gates Case To Speak Publicly

The woman who dialed 911 to report a possible break-in at the home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. plans to speak publicly for the first time.

Lucia Whalen's attorney, Wendy Murphy, says her client wants to get on with her life after being hounded "relentlessly" by reporters in the days since Gates' arrest triggered a national debate over whether he was the victim of racial profiling.

A news conference was scheduled for noon on Wednesday.

Whalen was vilified as a racist on blogs after reports that she described the possible burglars she saw as black in her 911 call.

Tapes of the call released earlier this week revealed that Whalen did not mention race. When pressed by a dispatcher on whether the men were white, black or Hispanic, she said one of them might have been Hispanic.