Wrong click sent closed-door hearing transcript to media

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
June 26, 2004

Media lawyers are planning to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court a judge's order that reporters must destroy copies of a transcript in the Kobe Bryant case that should have remained under seal but was distributed by mistake.

Court reporter Michelle Goodbee had intended on Thursday to send a 206-page transcript of a closed-door hearing held Monday and Tuesday to Chief District Judge Terry Ruckriegle, who presided over that session.

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Instead, according to court spokeswoman Karen Salaz, Goodbee clicked on the wrong mailing list, and the transcript was inadvertently sent to seven news organizations covering Bryant's sexual assault case.

The transcript includes Tuesday's testimony by a key defense witness, California-based forensic consultant Dr. Elizabeth Johnson about vaginal injuries. Prosecutors attribute the alleged victim's vaginal injuries to forced penetration by Bryant, but the defense argues that they were the result of the alleged victim having multiple sexual partners in a three-day period.

Tuesday's hearing was held by Ruckriegle to help determine what part, if any, of the alleged victim's sexual history should be admissible at Bryant's trial, which is to begin Aug. 27.

Late Thursday afternoon, the news organizations that received the errant transcript were sent an e-mail by Goodbee stating the document was meant to be sealed and should be deleted.

Before the day was over, Ruckriegle also issued a brief order saying the transcripts were not for public consumption.

"Anyone who has received those transcripts is ordered to delete and destroy any copies and not reveal any contents thereof, or be subject to contempt of court," Ruckriegle ordered.

The Rocky Mountain News was not among the news organizations that received the transcript.

John Clune, an attorney representing Bryant's alleged victim, wouldn't discuss Goodbee's mistake.

"Depending on how things go in the media, I may say something at a later time," said Clune.

Denver lawyer and First Amendment specialist Tom Kelley on Friday issued a prepared statement saying Ruckriegle's order will be appealed in a petition to be filed Monday.

"The order is a classic example of a prior restraint, which the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly declared to be the most pernicious and least tolerable form of government interference with rights guaranteed by the First Amendment," Kelley said.

Describing the transcript as likely "intimate, personal and sensitive," Denver criminal defense lawyer and legal analyst Scott Robinson said, "For that information to be made public, it would throw the rape shield law on its head, and make a mockery of the confidentiality intended."

Robinson added that if the transcripts were published, "it might make picking a jury and getting a fair trial, not just in Eagle County, but anywhere, a practical impossibility."

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.