Rocky Mountain News: State

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URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3124492,00.html

Bryant judge rejects DA's jury consultant request

Judge says only attorneys allowed during questioning

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
August 20, 2004

The Kobe Bryant prosecution team has lost its bid to have a high-profile consultant in the room when individual questioning of potential jurors begins at the end of this month.

In a one-paragraph ruling made public Thursday, Chief District Judge Terry Ruckriegle affirmed an earlier order limiting both sides to two attorneys in the small room where one-on-one questioning of jury candidates will take place.

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Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert hoped jury consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, a veteran of the O.J. Simpson defense team, could be a witness to that part of the process.

Ruckriegle's latest rejection cited only his previously stated concerns about adequate space and preserving confidentiality.

Aug. 27 is the day those called for jury duty in Bryant's sexual assault trial - 999 summons were mailed out last month - are due to report to the Eagle County Justice Center in Eagle, where they will fill out lengthy questionnaires aimed at determining their suitability as jurors.

Then, starting Aug. 30, individual jurors will be questioned by the judge and attorneys in private.

When that portion of the questioning is completed, the balance of the jury selection process will take place in open court.

Also Thursday, Bryant's lawyers filed their opposition to an effort by media lawyers to get unsealed the statement Bryant made to Eagle County sheriff's detectives when they first approached him about the alleged assault June 30, 2003, against a then 19-year-old employee of the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards.

Bryant's defense team failed to convince Ruckriegle to rule it inadmissible, challenging on constitutional grounds the way it was obtained.

Defense attorney Hal Haddon argued that until or unless Ruckriegle rules that some or all of Bryant's statement is relevant and admissible at trial, Bryant's right to privacy and to a fair trial trumps any First Amendment arguments.