Denver Post
Bryant hearing heats up over 'agenda,' race
Saturday, January 24, 2004 -
EAGLE - Kobe Bryant's defense attorneys took aim today at the "political agenda" of a rape-crisis center, arguing at a hearing in Bryant's sex-assault case that the court needs to find the truth rather than protect the accuser at any cost.
Defense attorney Pamela Mackey also raised the race issue in open court today, saying that "there is lots of history out there of black men being falsely accused of this crime by white women."
In the second of a series of pre-trial hearings for the basketball star in district court, defense attorney Pamela Mackey renewed the battle over access to a single line of notes written by a rape counselor, arguing that it did not qualify for secrecy under the laws of client-therapist privilege. "What we are trying to do is to get to the truth of this case," Mackey told Judge Terry Ruckriegle at the courthouse in Eagle. But attorney Inga Causey, representing the Resource Center of Eagle County, argued that all of the records of sessions between the 19-year-old accuser and the counselor need to be kept secret to protect the woman's privacy and avoid scaring off other victims from reporting rapes. "Her name is the most searched on the Internet," Causey said of the accuser. "Her name, home address, phone number have been passed around like a dirty postcard." Noting that reports of sexual assaults dropped dramatically in the wake of the high-profile sexual-assault case against William Kennedy Smith, she argued that victim's 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 is accused of sexually assaulting a former employee of the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards during an encounter in his room on June 30. If convicted, the five-time NBA all-star could face up to life in prison. Mackey and her defense partner, Hal Haddon, attacked the "political agenda" of rape counselors. "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," Mackey said. Sitting in on the hearing, Cynthia Stone, spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, was outraged by the accusation, 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 law-enforcement needs victims to come forward so criminals will be prosecuted. Bryant's attorneys have suggested the woman made a false accusation, contending that two reported suicide attempts and her prescriptions for anti-psychotic medications indicate someone who has gone to great lengths for attention.
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.
The Los Angeles Lakers star has acknowledged having sex with the woman but said their late-night encounter was consensual. Authorities, however, say that mutual flirting and kissing in his hotel room led to a forceful attack that ended with the woman bent over a chair and Bryant sexually assaulting her. In another move in the wide-ranging hearing, Ruckriegle ordered defense attorneys to destroy a two-page medical record from the Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs that inadvertently had been turned over. The records stemmed from a purported suicide attempt on May 30, a month before the woman and Bryant were brought to the hospital for sexual-assault exams. Hospital attorney Michael McConnell said the records were turned over to the district attorney's office by mistake and in turn handed to the defense under the legal process of discovery even though they did not directly pertain to the case against Bryant. Defense attorneys want to introduce evidence of the purported suicide attempts on Feb. 23 and May 30 in an effort to undermine the woman's credibility, but have suggested that they can do that through questioning of her family and friends if Ruckriegle allows that. |