Chris Schneider © News Lindsey McKinney, left, a former roommate of the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case, is escorted in to testify at a closed motions hearing Monday at the Eagle County Justice Center. Rivka Morgan Sherman, right, is a member of the Bryant defense team. Bryant was excused from the hearing because of illness.

Illness keeps Bryant from court hearing

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
February 3, 2004

EAGLE - The mother of the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case testified for 2 ½ hours Monday at a hearing to determine whether the young woman's medical history should be admissible at trial.

The woman, who left court with no comment and an audible sigh, was one of seven witnesses called Monday to give testimony outside the presence of the media and public - or the famous defendant.

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Bryant was not present due to an unspecified illness, making this the first court proceeding in the Los Angeles Lakers star's case that he did not attend.

"Mr. Bryant is ill, and his lawyers have said he will waive his presence here at this hearing," Fifth Judicial Court administrator Christine Yuhas announced outside the courtroom at the start of the day.

He is expected in court today, however.

The entirety of Monday's hearing was devoted to a continuation of a proceeding that started Jan. 23, in which the Bryant defense team is trying to persuade District Judge Terry Ruckriegle to grant them access to the alleged victim's medical history and to allow it to be admitted at trial.

Specifically, Bryant's lawyers want jurors to hear about two suicide attempts by the 19-year-old Eagle woman in the five months preceding the alleged assault on June 30. In court filings, Bryant's lawyers have said those episodes, which occurred Feb. 25 and May 30, represented attempts to win the attention of an ex-boyfriend, and that her accusation against Bryant fits that same pattern.

To win on that point, Bryant's lawyers subpoenaed at least nine witnesses, including the alleged victim's mother, the resident adviser from her freshman dormitory at the University of Northern Colorado, ex-roommates and others.

The Bryant defense team contends that the young woman freely discussed details of those episodes and other health issues, and that by doing so she surrendered her rights of physician-patient confidentiality.

A lawyer for the alleged victim and prosecutors jointly convinced Ruckriegle to close Monday's hearing, leaving members of the media able only to watch witnesses enter and leave court, while under judicial order not to speak with them.

Witnesses known to have testified Monday, in addition to the alleged victim's mother, included Matt Herr, the ex-boyfriend whose attention defense lawyers say she was seeking, and Lindsey McKinney, a past roommate in Eagle who has spoken to the media on her friend's medical and emotional troubles.

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