Denver Post
Agenda growing for next week's Bryant hearing
Thursday, December 11, 2003 - Faced with a mountain of motions and witnesses, next week’s hearing in the Kobe Bryant sex-assault case will take at least a full day and could require working beyond the normal closing time, a state judicial official said today.
Karen Salaz, spokeswoman for the state court administrator’s office, said that presiding Judge Terry Ruckriegle has vowed to “go until we are through” on Dec. 19.
The hearing is set to begin at 9 a.m. Dec. 19 and conclude at 5 p.m., but could extend well past that, Salaz said.
Salaz said Ruckriegle has become increasingly concerned as witness after witness has been subpoenaed to appear at the hearing — including the accuser’s mother.
Salaz said that Ruckriegle now thinks the hearing - one of two critical motions hearings before the trial of the Los Angeles Laker’s star - may have to be extended into a second day.
That is the reason that today, Ruckriegle issued an order to lawyers that they spell out specifically what they intend to do on Dec. 19.
In it, Ruckriegle said that by next Monday he wants the lawyers to file a list of witnesses who will be called to testify in each motion, how long each witness will take and the justification for calling the witness.
The most critical motions have to do with efforts by defense lawyers Hal Haddon and Pam Mackey to obtain the accuser’s medical records from Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs and The Resource Center of Eagle County.
The woman, who claims she was raped by Bryant June 30, was examined at the hospital afterwards. The hospital also has records of an earlier visit the 19-year-old made to the hospital.
The alleged victim went to the center for counseling after the alleged rape, which Bryant claims was actually consensual sex.
The center is fighting the release of any notes concerning the counseling and says the woman doesn’t want her advocate examined.
The center cites the recent Colorado Court of Appeals decision in the case of Daniel James Gonzales, 42, who was accused of fondling a 5-year-old victim and forcing her to participate in oral sex.
The unanimous court, in an opinion written by Judge Sandra Rothenberg, said the therapy records of sex-assault victims who seek psychiatric help after an attack can’t be disclosed to defense attorneys. The court also added that a victim’s counselors can’t be forced to testify at trial.
Bryant’s accuser has asked that the part of the hearing dealing with her medical history be closed to the public.
Her lawyer, John Clune of Avon, has said that Bryant’s lawyers have subpoenaed “the victim’s friends and her mother to testify at the hearing.
“Defense counsel has indicated her intent to call witnesses to testify regarding the victim’s previous medical history,” Clune said in a motion filed this week. “Although the court has not yet ruled on whether ... the defense is entitled to that evidentiary presentation, even arguments regarding these personal issues would be harmful to the victim’s right to privacy,” Clune said.
The final motion is a request by District Attorney Mark Hurlbert that Ruckriegle investigate alleged leaks of information about the case, viewed by legal analysts as potentially helpful to the defense, by retired Judge William Jones to the media. The judge told one news outlet he received the information from Haddon, but Haddon denied talking to Jones.
Jones subsequently denied talking to Haddon about the information and, in fact, said he hadn’t talked to Haddon in 10 years. Jones was quoted as saying in an Oct. 11 article that “there was more than one man’s semen found in (the accuser’s) panties.”
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