Denver Post
Bryant hearing ends; trial ruling soon
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - EAGLE - The preliminary hearing in the Kobe Bryant sex-assault case ended this afternoon after defense attorney Pamela Mackey went on the offensive, latching onto an initial statement by Bryant's accuser that indicated she never said "no" during her encounter with the basketball star.
But prosecutors countered at the hearing, telling a judge there was "uncontradicted" evidence that the Los Angeles Lakers guard raped the 19-year-old woman at a mountain resort.
“He held her by the back of the neck with his hand during
sexual intercourse,” prosecutor Greg Chrittenden said. "He lifted
up her skirt. She said 'no'. He pulled down her underpants and she
said 'no.' He penetrated her from behind and she cried."
Eagle County Judge Frederick Gannett, who presided over the hearing, said he hoped to rule by Monday whether the 25-year-old Bryant will stand trial.
At the hearing, Mackey grilled Eagle County Sheriff's Detective Doug Winters today over semen and pubic hair found in the accuser's panties the day after the June 30 incident. "The accuser arrived at the hospital (for a sexual assault examination) wearing panties with semen and sperm in them from somebody else, not Mr. Bryant, correct?" Mackey asked Winters. "That's correct," Winters testified in Eagle County Court. The pubic hair was from a "Caucasian" and thus could not have come from Bryant, who is black, Winters said. Mackey also asked Winters if he tried to find the origins of the semen and pubic hair. He said he contacted two different men and asked for samples but never got them. During the first stage of the preliminary hearing last week, Mackey dropped a bombshell when she questioned Winters on whether or not the women's injuries could have been "consistent with someone who had had sex with three different men in three days." At that point, Gannett suspended the hearing until today. The defense has suggested that injuries to the woman's vaginal area may have been caused by previous sexual partners.
Bryant, 25, faces four years to life in prison if convicted of sexual assault in the June 30 incident at the upscale Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards. Bryant admitted having sex with the woman but said it was consensual. Last week, prosecutors presented a case depicting Bryant aggressively attacking a starry-eyed fan, bending her over a chair and brutally raping her with his hands around her throat. But today, Mackey focused on what prosecutors conceded was consensual flirting, followed by hugging and kissing in Bryant's room. The lawyer also pointed out that in an initial interview with Winters, the woman indicated that she never said "no" to Bryant but was able to stop the alleged attack when she forcefully pried Bryant off of her. "What the accuser said was when she effectively communicated with Mr. Bryant, he stopped? When she took his hand away and moved his hand, he stopped?" Mackey asked. Winters agreed with that depiction. "There's no dispute he stopped?" Mackey asked. Winters replied: "Yes." Craig Silverman, a former Denver prosecutor sitting in the courtroom gallery as a legal analyst, said the apparent holes in the prosecution's case cast doubts on whether a jury would ever convict Bryant. "This is a stunning display of prosecutorial weakness and ineptitude," Silverman said. "This case could set back the plight of true sexual-assault victims for years to come, just like a false claim of racism hurts the cause of civil rights." "What the night auditor said was the accuser did not look or sound as if there had been any problem," Mackey said. Today's hearing, scheduled to start at 9 a.m., started about an hour late while Judge Gannett met with attorneys in his chambers to hear arguments over whether to close the highly publicized hearing to the media and the public. Gannett indicated that he had heard some testimony in the case "in camera" (in secret) to prevent the potential jury pool from being tainted by details of the case that may not be admissible in court. Last week, he broke off the preliminary hearing after Mackey asked the question about the woman's other sexual liaisons, which some analysts said walked a fine line on the state's rape-shield law, which generally precludes defendants in sex-assault cases from publicly airing an alleged victim's sexual history. In a court filing today, defense attorney Hal Haddon said prosecutors deliberately misrepresented blood evidence found on the accuser's panties. "The clear implication of this testimony was that the accuser was bleeding due to the alleged sexual assault," he said. The prosecution deliberately failed to "put before the court all of the evidence concerning those panties." The defense said that evidence had been given to Gannett, under seal, and it provided "compelling evidence of innocence." Prosecutors have accused the defense of a "deliberate and calculated" attempt to dredge up testimony about the woman's sexual history that is irrelevant at such an early stage of the case. "What was even more unexpected was her conscious misrepresentation of the evidence in order to smear the victim publicly," prosecutor Ingrid Bakke wrote in a court filing Tuesday. Bakke said Colorado's rape shield law bars the use of an alleged victim's sexual history in rape cases, with few exceptions. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click here for court documents and other information on the Kobe Bryant case. |