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Denver Post
Defense seeks key testimony
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 - Kobe Bryant's defense attorneys are trying to force the woman who accused him of sexual assault to take the stand in a preliminary hearing next month - a move prosecutors are likely to fight.
The news was first reported Tuesday by the Vail Daily newspaper. Pamela Mackey and Hal Haddon issued the subpoena for the 19-year-old Eagle woman on Monday, and District Attorney Mark Hurlbert is considering filing a motion to quash it, said his spokeswoman, Krista Flannigan. "This is not unusual. We're not surprised," Flannigan said. Bryant, 25, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman on June 30 while staying at the exclusive Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards. The NBA star remains free on $25,000 bond awaiting the Oct. 9 preliminary hearing, which is a screen to make sure prosecutors have enough evidence to take the case to trial. Defense attorneys occasionally make such requests in sexual- assault cases, but prosecutors commonly fight attempts to make their star witnesses take the stand before a trial. One reason defense attorneys want to get any prosecution witness on the stand in early hearings is to find inconsistencies in their statements that could undermine the witness' trustworthiness or credibility, said defense attorney and University of Colorado law instructor Pat Furman. "They've got no way to force her to talk to them other than at some hearing where her testimony is really needed," he said. In preliminary hearings for sexual-assault cases, prosecutors typically call investigators to the stand to explain what the accuser told them and reveal corroborating evidence. Defense attorneys may call witnesses, too, but judges must decide in a "light most favorable" to the prosecution, and they tend to protect accusers from taking the stand unnecessarily, especially in emotionally charged cases. "Generally, judges are loath to let the defense call the victim if there's any sense that the defense is doing it to harass the victim," Denver defense attorney Phil Cherner said. "If all the defense wants to do is put her under oath and take her deposition, in effect do an interview, the judge is not going to let them do that." In other news in the Bryant case, prosecutors requested that Eagle County Court Judge Fred Gannett wait until after the preliminary hearing to determine whether the defense may sub- poena the accuser's medical records stemming from incidents unrelated to the case, or that he quash the subpoenas outright. "The only conceivable argument as to why these medical records may be relevant to the issue at the preliminary hearing is that they may be used to impeach the credibility of the victim," wrote Deputy District Attorney Ingrid Bakke. Bryant's attorneys have issued subpoenas for four sets of medical records, including some from the North Colorado Medical Center from February, when University of Northern Colorado officials held the woman as a "danger to herself." Prosecutors have joined with the woman's attorneys in opposing attempts to open the records and are seeking to screen her from additional public scrutiny in the highly publicized case. "We want to maintain the integrity of the prosecution," Flannigan said. "We want to maintain the victim's rights, too." |