Denver Postjim spencer
Bryant team takes lowest road possible
Thursday, January 15, 2004 -
Dr. Ed Casper, head of psychiatry at Denver Health Medical Center, didn't mince words.
Kobe Bryant's attempt to beat a sexual assault charge by using his accuser's mental health treatment as a defense is "the lowest of the low." "They are going to go right to the prejudice of anyone on the jury," Casper said of a motion filed this week by Bryant's lawyers. They want people to believe that "if you have a psychological illness, you're a bad person and do bad things." That comes through in the rape case motion. From a revelation that Bryant's 19-year-old accuser may suffer from manic depression springs a sleazy theory of the defendant's innocence: "One of the common symptoms of mania is an 'increased sexual drive' and engaging in 'sexual indiscretions,' which may be connected to the general impulsiveness, poor judgment and reckless behavior experienced during manic episodes " wrote Bryant lawyer Pamela Mackey. "The facts of this case strongly suggest the possibility that the accuser was either in a manic state or experiencing rapid cycling of manic and depressive states at the time of the incident with Mr. Bryant." Oh, really? "I have no bias in the Kobe Bryant case," Casper said. "But to bring up that her manic-depressive illness somehow caused this is a real stretch." When a person with manic-depressive illness is "hypersexual," Casper said, "they aren't predators. They are usually taken advantage of. They are usually a victim." That's because the over-the-top sexual behavior of mania is neither subtle nor normal. The hypersexuality of mania, Casper explained, is not the quiet seduction to consensual sex that Bryant's lawyers hypothesize. Most of the time, Casper said, hypersexuality is public. Almost always, it is bizarre. Think of someone stripping naked in a bar or a mall or a street. Think of someone in ridiculously inappropriate clothing and enough makeup to stock the cosmetic counter at Nordstrom. That didn't happen here. So the attempt to link mental illness to this act - consensual or not - is just plain sick. Mackey hopes to use the fact that Bryant's accuser once took the drugs Wellbutrin and Seroquel to suggest that she is a psychotic who might have suffered delusions at the time she had sex with Bryant. Wellbutrin is an antidepressant, Seroquel an antipsychotic. Together, Casper said, they can control cycles of mania and depression. Mackey claims Bryant's alleged victim had stopped taking Seroquel and was taking only Wellbutrin when she had sex with Kobe. Ergo, the alleged victim "might have been suffering from a delusion - a false but strongly held belief - about what occurred in Mr. Bryant's hotel room." Yes, she might. And I, a 6-foot man in his 50s, might be able to dunk over Ms. Mackey's client. The pandering to prejudice in this motion is grotesque. Bryant's lawyers point out that the alleged victim tried to kill herself twice before she had sex with Kobe Bryant. We all know what that means. Actually, we don't, and that's the way Pam Mackey wants it. First, Bryant's lawyers use the two suicide attempts as evidence that the accuser can't be believed. Then, they point to the fact she took drugs to treat her mental illness as proof that she can't be believed. Damned if she does. Damned if she doesn't. Damned because she admitted to having consensual sex on June 28 with someone who used a condom. Then, she showed up at the hospital with another man's semen in her panties on July 1, the morning after she says Bryant raped her. Those three sexual encounters, Mackey argues in her motion, might just suggest mania. Mackey's argument suggests something else. It suggests exploitation of the public perception of mental illness. Casper has studied that for years. He's writing a briefing paper about it. The American public still looks at mental illness as the patient's fault, the doctor said. Physical illnesses can produce the same symptoms, and no one blames the person who's sick. "A diabetic with high blood sugar can act confused, and people will forgive him," Casper said. "We have a hard time believing (mental illness) is a health issue rather than a character flaw. "People see mental illness as behavior that people can control if they try hard enough. The stigmatization is tremendously alive." It will be kicking even harder because of the Kobe Bryant case. Stereotypes reinforced in highly publicized celebrity trials have long legs. People already "resist treatment for mental illness because of the stigma," Casper said. After this, he wondered, "who's going to go in and get treatment?" Jim Spencer's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in The Denver Post. |