The Denver Post
Bryant defense cites "Mr. X"
Tuesday, August 03, 2004 -
Semen from another man found in the underpants and on the body of Kobe Bryant's accuser convinced a defense expert and a law-enforcement analyst that the woman must have had sex shortly after her encounter with the basketball star, according to transcripts from closed- door hearings released late Monday.
The transcripts include testimony from Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, a defense forensics expert, in which she concludes that the accuser had sex with an unknown "Mr. X" in the hours immediately after reportedly enduring a sexual assault. "It is likely that there was not any sperm from Mr. X inside (the accuser) at the time Mr. Bryant had his encounter with her, and that sexual contact ... likely occurred after (the accuser) and Mr. Bryant were together," she said. Her depiction of the time frame is based on the assertion that semen from Mr. X was found in the woman's underpants, on her legs and inside her vagina - along with that from Bryant - but Bryant had no traces of Mr. X on him. The revelation raises questions about who caused the accuser's injuries and whether she told the truth about her sexual encounters. The redacted transcripts made public by District Judge Terry Ruckriegle mistakenly had been sent by e-mail last month to seven media outlets, and their release has been the subject of legal battles taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although rape-shield hearings are intended to allow a judge to examine an accuser's sexual history in private to determine whether it may be admissible, the media are fighting an order by Ruckriegle barring them from disclosing the contents of the transcripts. "It is with great reluctance that this court releases these transcripts," Ruckriegle wrote in an order issued Monday. "The effect of this release is to present narrowly limited, one- sided evidence and argument to the public prior to the selection of a jury and without reference to the totality of the evidence." The testimony from Johnson was considered so damaging that prosecutors indicated at the time that they might reconsider going forward with the case if it were allowed at trial, which is set to begin Aug. 27. Since the judge ruled that the evidence of other sexual encounters in the three days prior to the rape exam could be admitted, however, prosecutors consulted with the 20-year-old woman and reiterated their desire to proceed with the case. The evidence doesn't preclude the possibility that the woman was indeed sexually assaulted - regardless of what she may have done afterward - and victims' advocates are quick to point out that everyone reacts differently to the stress of a sexual assault. "We want to remind people that this is just one piece of evidence," said Cynthia Stone, spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "You can have sex with other people. But the moment one person forces you to have sex against your will, that's rape. And that is the ultimate question. That is really the only question in this trial - not whether this woman had sex with other people, but whether Kobe Bryant forced her to have sex against her will." The accuser, through her lawyer John Clune, has adamantly denied she had sexual intercourse with another man after the encounter with Bryant. "The claims that the victim in this case had any sexual contact with anyone within 15 hours after being assaulted by Mr. Bryant are patently false," Clune said in a statement issued in March. "Anyone trying to prove otherwise will be chasing ghosts." The transcripts, which detail two short closed-door sessions held June 21-22, reflect only a small portion of the rape-shield hearings held periodically over several months and include little of the prosecution's rebuttal. Johnson, the only witness called during the hearing, testified that semen from Mr. X showed up in the yellow underpants the accuser wore to the rape exam, on the woman's thighs and in her vagina, and in the purple thong underwear she wore on the night of the encounter with Bryant. Semen from both Bryant and Mr. X showed up on the purple underpants, she testified. But the other man's semen did not show up on 11 samples examined from Bryant's clothing and swabs taken from his penis, indicating that the woman had sex with the other man after her encounter with Bryant, Johnson said. The portions of the transcripts released offer only limited insight into how prosecutors are trying to explain the conflicts and incongruities in the woman's account of the incident with Bryant, which took place in his room last summer at the upscale Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards. Prosecutors, according to depictions in the transcripts, have contended that the other man's semen was deposited in the yellow underwear earlier and then transferred to the woman when she inadvertently put on the soiled clothing before filing her complaint with Eagle County sheriff's deputies. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert had fought to keep out the evidence of the yellow underpants and any other indications that the woman had sex with anyone in the 72 hours surrounding the encounter with Bryant. Hurlbert suggested that the dried semen could have been rewetted by blood or sweat and transferred to the woman. The defense, however, noted that Colorado Bureau of Investigation officer Yvonne "Missy" Woods concluded "that transfer of DNA to all of the places on (the accuser's) body where it was found is highly unlikely," defense attorney Hal Haddon said. Hurlbert told the judge that prosecution forensics expert Dr. Michael Baden can testify that the DNA from Mr. X could have been transferred from the yellow underwear to the woman and that a study has shown live sperm can be found inside the vagina as many as 17 days after sex. But that doesn't explain how semen from Mr. X also appeared on the purple underpants - taken as evidence by sheriff's investigators - that she had worn the previous night when she met Bryant. Bryant's attorneys plan to call Woods as a defense witness, a highly unusual situation for a law-enforcement officer who normally testifies on behalf of the prosecution. Defense attorneys also have requested saliva or blood samples from two of the accuser's acquaintances to try to match it with the DNA in the semen from Mr. X. Hotel bellman Bobby Pietrack consented to the test, while former boyfriend Matt Herr has fought the matter in court as an illegal search and seizure. Bryant, a married, 25-year- old all-star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, has admitted to committing adultery but contends the liaison with the accuser was consensual. He faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation if convicted. Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com . Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1929 or hpankratz@denverpost.com . |