The Denver Post
Civil suit against Bryant assigned to Judge Matsch
Friday, August 13, 2004 -
The no-nonsense federal judge who presided over the Oklahoma City bombing trial has been assigned to the civil lawsuit filed against basketball star Kobe Bryant by the woman who accused him of rape.
Judge Richard Matsch, an accomplished senior jurist who has handled some of the state's most notorious cases over the past 30 years, could have deferred the Bryant case to another judge after the random draw but chose to take it himself, said Kathy Hasfjord, operations supervisor for the Denver federal courts. The lawsuit, filed earlier this week by the 20-year-old accuser, seeks at least $75,000 in damages for pain and suffering. In other developments Thursday in the criminal case against Bryant, scheduled to go to trial beginning Aug. 27: District Attorney Mark Hurlbert has asked District Judge Terry Ruckriegle to allow the use of a jury consultant during individual juror questioning. Attorneys for the accuser have asked Ruckriegle to reconsider his sweeping gag order, which they say has prevented them from fairly responding to inflammatory defense assertions. Bryant's attorneys also filed a motion supporting the gag order. |