DALLAS — The off-court drama surrounding Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki took a new turn Tuesday, when medical records obtained by The Dallas Morning News confirmed his ex-girlfriend’s claim that she took a pregnancy test and it came back positive.

Cristal Taylor, 37, and Nowitzki’s attorney had spent the last week in a war of words over her assertion that she was tested and found to be pregnant when she was jailed after her arrest this month. After she went public in The News, the attorney issued a statement questioning whether she had even been tested.
The following day, last Friday, Taylor responded by offering to take a polygraph test. During that face-to-face jailhouse interview, she also readily signed a release form, giving The News access to her medical records. Federal laws prevent the disclosure of such records without the patient’s consent.
Officials at the Dallas County Jail and Parkland Memorial Hospital provided the document Tuesday afternoon. The record showed that Taylor was administered a pregnancy test and that the result was positive. Pregnancy tests do not determine paternity. Taylor has told The News that she and Nowitzki were engaged and that he is the only man with whom she has had sex in the last seven years.
“I can’t wait until you get those results,” she told a News reporter Friday. “I know they won’t lie. Can you hurry up and get them?”
Last week, Nowitzki’s attorney, Robert Hart, said in a written statement that “we have been told that she was not administered a pregnancy test,” adding, “As with all things coming from this woman’s mouth, we are highly skeptical.” When asked about Tuesday’s revelations, Hart responded by e-mail:
“This is all new information to us. We have previously submitted written requests through her Beaumont (Texas) attorney for an independent pregnancy test as well as authorization for release of medical records. We have yet to receive any response.
“We would like to reiterate that if her statements as to her pregnancy are true, Dirk will do whatever can be done to ensure the well-being of the child.”
Taylor, who is in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility facing a 2006 theft-of-service charge, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Nowitzki left the country last week and also was unavailable for comment.
On Saturday, Taylor’s family hired a new attorney to represent her in the Beaumont case. Scott Renick said he could not comment on Taylor’s medical-record disclosure without seeing it firsthand. He said he is focused on giving her the best counsel on “alleged criminal matters” and “whatever potentially family matters may come to light.”
“The fact that Mr. Nowitzki is involved does not change anything in our representation of her,” Renick added. “Whether it was an average Joe or a celebrity or a star athlete like Mr. Nowitzki doesn’t change anything regarding the facts or the law in the state of Texas.”
Taylor has a history dating back more than a decade of financial crimes in two states, including felony theft, felony forgery and felony stealing. She was also wanted on a probation violation out of the St. Louis area when she was arrested at Nowitzki’s Preston Hollow home on May 6.
During last week’s jailhouse interview, Taylor said she has changed St. Louis attorneys and will be represented in that matter by Scott Rosenblum and Matthew Fry. Taylor also said she expected to be extradited to St. Louis as soon as this week. Fry declined to comment Tuesday.
News of her legal problems, a brief 1997 relationship with former NFL quarterback Tony Banks and a failed 1998-2001 marriage that resulted in a bankruptcy filing have cast a negative light on Taylor.
But her medical record shows that she was telling the truth May 18 when she told The News she was pregnant during phone interviews from the Jefferson County facility.
At the time, she added The News to her approved visitor list, but jail rules prohibited her from seeing male visitors until Friday.
Taylor was not made aware that The News intended to bring medical release forms to the face-to-face visit. But shortly after entering the glass-divided visitation booth, Taylor saw that the reporter brought a manila folder.
“Are those release forms?” she asked. “May I please sign them right now?”
The forms were passed to a jailer. The reporter and jailer watched Taylor fill out and sign the forms. The jailer signed one of the forms as a witness. Taylor smiled through clenched jaws.
“I’m angry, but I do love Dirk with all my heart,” she said. “And I want you to know, he still hasn’t told me we’re no longer engaged.”