Denver Post
Bryant defense at issue on race
Saturday, January 24, 2004 -
EAGLE - Kobe Bryant's defense attorneys on Friday took aim at the "political agenda" of a rape-crisis center, arguing that the court needs to find the truth in his sexual-assault case rather than protecting the accuser at any cost.
Defense attorney Pamela Mackey said Bryant's rights to a fair trial should not be secondary to the empathy for an alleged sexual-assault victim in a case tinged with celebrity and race. "My client stands accused of a very heinous crime. There is lots of history out there of black men being falsely accused of this crime by white women," she told Judge Terry Ruckriegle. "What we are trying to do is to get to the truth of this case." The racial overtones arose during a particularly heated exchange with attorney Inga Causey, representing the Resource Center of Eagle County. She argued that the woman's conversations with a rape counselor should be kept secret to protect her safety and avoid scaring off other victims from reporting sexual assaults. "Her name is the most searched (name) on the Internet," Causey said. "Her name, home address, phone number have been passed around like a dirty postcard." She noted that reports of sexual assaults dropped dramatically in the wake of the high-profile rape case against William Kennedy Smith. Causey said victim advocates are "poor-man's therapists," and accusers confide in them only if they can be trusted with confidential information. "This case could possibly have a chilling effect on cases reported not only to the Eagle County Resource Center but nationwide," Causey said. Bryant, 25, is accused of sexually assaulting a former employee of the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards during an encounter June 30. If convicted, the five-time NBA all-star could face up to life in prison. The Los Angeles Lakers guard has acknowledged having sex with the woman but said their late- night encounter was consensual. Authorities, however, say mutual flirting and kissing in his hotel room led to a forceful attack that ended with the woman bent over a chair and Bryant raping her. Mackey and her partner, Hal Haddon, attacked the "political agenda" of rape counselors who would protect the privacy of alleged victims at the expense of a fair trial. Sitting in on the hearing, Cynthia Stone, spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, was outraged by the assertion, saying rape victims need to be shielded in the courts to prevent being re-victimized. "Political agenda? Victims' advocates don't have a political agenda. They have a societal agenda," Stone said, arguing that society needs victims to come forward so criminals will be prosecuted. It was not the first time Mackey has raised concerns that race might be tainting the case. She indicated to Ruckriegle on Friday that the defense still is looking into which members of the Eagle County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office ordered "inflammatory" T-shirts depicting a stick figure being hanged along with derogatory statements about Bryant. Ruckriegle also ordered defense attorneys to destroy a two-page medical record from Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs that inadvertently had been turned over to them. The records stemmed from an alleged suicide attempt by the wo- man May 30, a month before she and Bryant were taken to the hospital for sexual-assault exams.
Click here for an interactive
presentation on Kobe Bryant's career.
Click here for an archive of court documents in the People v.
Bryant case.
Click here for The Denver Post's graphic on the events of
June 30.
Click here for the 9NEWS archive on the case.
Click here for the CourtTV archive on the case.
Defense attorneys want to introduce evidence of the alleged suicide attempts Feb. 23 and May 30 in an effort to undermine her credibility. But they have suggested they can do that through questioning of her family and friends, who were to testify behind closed doors late Friday afternoon. Bryant's attorneys claim the young woman may have waived the physician-patient privilege by talking about her medical and psychological treatment with others. They have suggested the woman made a false accusation against Bryant, contending the suicide attempts and her prescriptions for anti-psychotic medications indicate someone who has gone to great lengths for attention. Prosecutors say she hasn't waived her privilege by talking with confidants and that such records can't be used at trial. They also question the relevance of her mental-health history. Ruckriegle, however, agreed to hear testimony Friday from witnesses including a police officer who interviewed the woman, the woman's mother and some of the accuser's friends. Defense attorneys contend detectives Doug Winters and Daniel Loya illegally conducted a 75-minute interrogation rife with "implicit threats, express accusations, misrepresentations and other standard police-interrogation 'stratagems"' to get Bryant to talk. Media attorney Christopher Beall said suppression hearings have been held in other cases without disclosing the specific statements being contested, and he argued the hearing would properly reveal to the public if any police misconduct occurred. Ruckriegle, in taking the matter under consideration, acknowledged most hearings on suppressing evidence are open, but the Bryant case requires special consideration. |