Chris Schneider © News Kobe Bryant, left, and defense attorney Hal Haddon are searched by sheriff's deputies as they arrive at the Eagle County Justice Center on Thursday for a hearing in Bryant's sexual assault case. The alleged victim in the case has asked the judge for an early trial date.

Request by woman in Bryant rape case cites safety concerns

By Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News
March 26, 2004

EAGLE - The one-page letter, written directly to the judge, contained a mother's plea:

"My daughter has plans for her future," wrote the mother of the 19-year-old Eagle woman who says Kobe Bryant raped her last summer.

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"However, her life is on hold and her safety is in jeopardy until this case is over. I am asking that the court do whatever possible to bring this case to trial as soon as possible."

The young woman's attorney filed an unusual motion on Thursday in Eagle County District Court asking Judge Terry Ruckriegle for an early trial date on the rape charges facing the basketball star.

"Her daily concern is, 'When will the media or defense investigators find me and where will I go then?' " said the motion filed by her attorney, John Clune.

"None of these consequences will end until after this case goes to trial."

Her mother, in an accompanying letter to Ruckriegle, outlined her daughter's life since the sexual assault charges were made public.

"My daughter has lived in four different states in the past six months. She is followed everywhere by the defense and the media.

"The defense begins to question everyone she meets. The media reveals her location. Her safety is at risk and she has to move again. She can't live at home, she can't live with relatives, she can't go to school, or talk to her friends."

Death threats, vile e-mails and phone calls and frightening personal encounters fill her daughter's days, the mother wrote.

The dramatic filing came a day after the alleged victim testified in a closed-door hearing - her first encounter with Bryant since June 30 at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in nearby Edwards. Bryant has conceded that the two had sex in his room at the hotel, but insists it was consensual.

Sources said Bryant's attorneys grilled the woman about her sexual history during 3 ½ hours on the witness stand.

The filing probably won't sway Ruckriegle, Denver legal analyst Andrew Cohen said.

"She has a right to be frustrated at the pace, and she has a right to express her frustration with the judge, who hasn't been particularly speedy with his decisions," Cohen said.

"That said, I don't think this motion is going to get the trial setting she wants."

Cohen said he thinks the judge will set a trial date within the next couple weeks to couple months.

Some experts think the trial could begin by summer, while others think it might not begin until early next year.

Bryant has yet to enter a plea. When he does, he is guaranteed a six-month speedy-trial window.

Cohen noted that the case is complicated. The judge, for example, must decide how much of the alleged victim's sexual history he will allow jurors to hear during a trial. That issue, the subject of days of hearings, was raised by defense attorneys because the young woman showed up for her rape examination with semen that was not Bryant's in her underwear.

"There's some things you just can't rush," Cohen said of the case. "There's lots of moving parts."

Another observer, Denver attorney and former prosecutor Craig Silverman, said he does think the judge will be moved by the mother's letter.

Silverman said the filing also could turn into a referendum on Colorado's victims rights laws, which were passed in the early 1990s but have yet to be tested.

"Now we will find out whether victims really do have the power the statute gives them," he said.

The filing by the alleged victim notes that Ruckriegle already has heard "eight days of motions spanning more than three months. This court has an additional six days of motions scheduled, totaling sixteen possible days of motions hearings spread over five months."

The woman's attorney cites state law to show that victims are entitled to a "swift and fair resolution."

"As each month passes, more dates are scheduled for motions, and more death threats are sent to a 19-year-old girl who has been forced to leave everyone who has the ability to protect her," the pleading says.

The pleading says Bryant's defense team "has previously stated on the record their desire for the earliest trial date available."

The mother's one-page letter, dated March 24, is addressed to "Your Honor." It is signed by someone whose name begins with a "K" - the rest is blocked out.

Krista Flannigan, spokeswoman for the prosecution, said the letter was written by the alleged victim's mother.

Matt Herr, a former boyfriend of the alleged victim, testified Thursday morning.

After dealing with the woman's sexual history, the proceedings moved on to Bryant's statements to police, according to courts spokeswoman Karen Salaz.

Detective Daniel Loya, who tape-recorded Bryant's statements, was on the witness stand for at least part of the afternoon. Hearings will continue April 2.

More witnesses who will speak to the woman's sexual history are expected to return in late April.

Whatever the verdict in an eventual trial, Cohen said a legal ending would help the young woman, who has dropped out of the University of Northern Colorado.

"Once the trial is over and there are no more court proceedings, my experience is the attention gets directed to another case," he said. "Her life is never going to be the same, but clearly her life will calm down after the trial no matter how the trial plays out."

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.