The Denver Post
Bryant-case prosecutors suggest DNA evidence was tainted or altered
Thursday, August 26, 2004 -
Prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant case suggested in filings released Wednesday that DNA evidence may have been contaminated or results altered by defense experts.
Representatives of District Attorney Mark Hurlbert requested a pretrial hearing into the validity of the evidence only two days before the jury pool is to report. "Data from Technical Associates Inc. appears to have been whited out or otherwise manipulated," wrote prosecutor Dana Easter in the motion. Prosecutors also asserted that the controls for the DNA samples - which Bryant's defense team wants to introduce as evidence that the accuser may have had sex with another person in the 72 hours surrounding her encounter with the basketball star - were contaminated. "We are seeking proof as to the reliability of the evidence," Easter wrote. Among other concessions, she requested DNA profiles of every laboratory analyst who handled the clothing from which the samples were taken. "They are too late, and they are too early," said Larry Pozner, a Denver defense attorney. "They could have brought this up in pretrial hearings, and they can bring it up on cross-examination. But right now, there's nothing the judge can do about it."
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chronology of the Bryant case.
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Bryant is accused of raping a 19-year-old hotel clerk in June 2003 while in Eagle County for off-season knee surgery. He has admitted having sex with the woman but contends the liaison was consensual. District Judge Terry Ruckriegle has scheduled a pretrial hearing for today, and possible jurors are expected to show up at the courthouse Friday to fill out written questionnaires and begin the arduous process of seating a jury. Meanwhile, both sides continue to bicker over the exchange of information, with prosecutors asking that 51 defense exhibits, specified only by their evidence letters, be ruled inadmissible. One of Bryant's attorneys, Pamela Mackey, suggested during the preliminary hearing last fall that the woman's injuries may have been consistent with having sex with "three men in three days." The defense has pointed out that another man's semen was found on the woman's body and in the underwear that she wore to a rape examination the next day. Additionally, the accuser told investigators that she had sex with her boyfriend two days before the incident. Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or at slipsher@denverpost.com . |