By Colleen Slevin, Associated Press
February 3, 2004

EAGLE - Hammering at the work of Kobe Bryant's interrogators, defense attorneys urged a judge Tuesday to bar his secretly recorded police statement and physical evidence including a bloodstained T-shirt from the NBA star's upcoming rape trial.

Prosecutors fought back, saying sheriff's investigators did nothing without Bryant's consent.

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The clash was one of the fiercest yet in the series of pretrial hearings that will help determine what evidence is admitted when the Los Angeles Lakers star is tried on felony sexual assault.

Bryant, 25, says he had consensual sex with the woman. He faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation if he is convicted.

Under sharp questions from the defense, lead investigator Doug Winters acknowledged that Bryant was subjected to a hospital examination in violation of state law.

Defense attorney Hal Haddon said the law calls for hair, fibers and other "non-testimonial evidence" to be obtained during daylight hours. Bryant's hospital exam was performed before dawn on July 2, little more than 24 hours after he allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old resort employee in his room.

Winters said he didn't know about the daylight rule. He also admitted that a judge had to remind him he needed two separate court orders to gather evidence: One for hair and similar evidence and another for Bryant's clothing, including the T-shirt.

Winters' testimony covered what happened before and after Bryant's 75-minute interview with investigators in his room at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera. State District Judge Terry Ruckriegle said the interview itself will be discussed behind closed doors because the material could harm Bryant's right to a fair trial and may not even be admitted as evidence.

Haddon said the evidence and Bryant's statement should be off-limits because investigators violated key rules. He said Bryant was effectively in custody and was being questioned without having been read his Miranda rights. He also ridiculed authorities' use of a small audiotape recorder in the shirt pocket of a detective.

But under questioning by prosecutor Dana Easter, Winters said Bryant was cooperative and always understood he was not in custody.

It was Bryant who approached the detectives in a resort parking lot, Winters said. He said Bryant casually walked with them to his room, talked with them for more than an hour, offered them clothing that was not mentioned in a search warrant and agreed to go to the hospital for a sexual assault examination.

Bryant, Winters and Detective Dan Loya rode in silence during an hour-long drive to a Glenwood Springs hospital. But after the exam, Winters said, Bryant turned to the detectives and said, "Do the best investigation that you can." They shook hands and he left with his bodyguards.

Legal experts said the judge will probably not throw out Bryant's statements and the physical evidence.

To suppress evidence, a judge has to determine there was a clear violation of a constitutional right or an intentional violation of a rule or law, said attorney David Lugert, a former prosecutor. He said a technical violation of a rule is not enough.

Another former prosecutor, Craig Silverman, said authorities made errors, but they weren't big enough to justify throwing out evidence: "It was hardly textbook work but probably good enough for government."

While Winters said he never intended to arrest Bryant that night or even use the court orders, he said he executed a court order to take the NBA star to the hospital because of an "incident" during the interview in Bryant's room.

Winters didn't explain further, and Haddon said he didn't want to get into more detail. But he asked Winters to clarify whether he had testified Bryant was not detained under a court order for the hospital exam.

"It's how you perceive it, but there was an incident that occurred in the room that led me to execute the order and there was also a statement after that," Winters said.

He later admitted he had signed an investigation document indicating Bryant had been officially detained.

The hearing included anonymous testimony from undercover investigators who were part of a surveillance team assigned to watch Bryant until Winters and Loya arrived.

One of the men, identified only as Detective A and speaking behind a screen to protect his identity in other cases, recalled how a member of Bryant's entourage asked whether Bryant would need legal advice.

The man, off-duty Los Angeles police investigator Troy Laster, later returned to the hotel lobby, where Detective A was standing.

"He told me, `If this is what I think it is, I don't want to be involved,'" Detective A said. During cross-examination, defense attorney Pamela Mackey said Laster later insisted he never made that remark.

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Associated Press Writer Colleen Slevin contributed to this report.

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