The Denver Postkobe bryant trial
Blunders were par for the case
Thursday, September 02, 2004 -
On July 3, 2003, Eagle County Sheriff Joseph Hoy obtained an arrest warrant for Kobe Bryant from a district judge with the unusual step of not having the district attorney sign off on it.
It was the first of many questionable decisions in the Kobe Bryant case leading up to Wednesday's surprise dismissal after prosecutors said the alleged victim could not go on. Earlier Wednesday, Bryant's defense had already asked the judge to dismiss, saying the prosecution did not provide potentially exculpatory evidence from one of its experts. The NBA star's case, stretching over the past 14 months, has seen many arguable moves and highly visible missteps and mistakes by prosecutors, law enforcement and the courts. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert defended the prosecution Wednesday shortly after the case was dismissed. "This decision's not based on the lack of ability of this trial team," Hurlbert said. But Bruce Brown, who is running against Hurlbert in the November election, called the case a "debacle" and a waste of money. In the inflammatory language of political campaigns, Brown cited several "missteps" by Hurlbert. Those included the "mercenary hiring" of outside prosecutors, missed filing deadlines, Hurlbert removing himself from the case "to politically distance himself," releasing the accuser's medical records to the defense, and withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense. In June, Bryant's attorneys asked the judge to tell jurors at trial that lost evidence - including bathroom towels and the contents of trash cans - could have cleared their client had it been collected. In a setback for prosecutors in July, Judge Terry Ruckriegle ruled that the defense could introduce evidence at trial of the accuser's sexual activity in the 72-hour period surrounding her encounter with Bryant. The missteps were not limited to the prosecution. The court's first highly visible mistake came Sept. 16, 2003, when documents revealing the accuser's identity were briefly posted on a state court website. "We blew it," Eagle County Judge Fred Gannett said at the time. Then in June, a court reporter mistakenly sent transcripts from closed rape-shield hearings to several media outlets, including The Denver Post, only to have the judge issue a hasty order that none of the material be published. The judge later reluctantly released redacted transcripts under direction from higher courts. And in July, an order from Ruckriegle was mistakenly posted on the court's website. It again included the name of the accuser and details indicating the accuser may have had sex with multiple partners in the time around the alleged assault. Two days later, Ruckriegle apologized to the family of the accuser for mistakenly posting her name. "My family and I have lost trust that we can obtain a fair trial in your court," the accuser's father wrote last month in a letter to the judge. On Wednesday, with her parents looking on, Ruckriegle dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning that charges can never be refiled. Staff writer Sean Kelly can be reached at 303-820-1858 or skelly@denverpost.com .
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