Filing urges judge to gag attorneys for alleged rape victim

By Peggy Lowe, Rocky Mountain News
August 6, 2004

NBA star Kobe Bryant's attorneys went on the defense in the court of public opinion Thursday, slamming the alleged victim's attorneys for using the media to "launch vitriolic attacks" in an obvious attempt to poison the jury pool.

In an angry, 42-page court filing asking for a severe gag order, Bryant's lawyers said attorneys for the Eagle woman, John Clune and L. Lin Wood, are "deliberately and wantonly" attacking defense lawyers and Eagle County Judge Terry Ruckriegle, especially in the hometown paper in Vail.

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Citing 17 quotes by Clune taken from news reports, Bryant's attorneys said Ruckriegle should further tighten his pretrial publicity order and make it as strict as the one set for the two Oklahoma City bombing cases when they were held in federal court in Denver.

"With the trial less than 25 days away, the accuser's attorneys have thrown fair-trial concerns to the wind and opened a media campaign designed to poison the jury pool and prejudice Mr. Bryant," said the filing signed by Hal Haddon, a Bryant attorney, on Wednesday.

Haddon was also reacting to a nationally televised interview with Clune and Wood on Wednesday in which they said the alleged victim was reconsidering cooperating with prosecutors in Bryant's criminal sexual assault trial because of the many court mishaps revealing her name and sexual history.

Ruckriegle, who will begin hearing the trial on Aug. 27, obviously took Haddon's demands seriously. The judge issued a severe reminder late Wednesday telling "ALL participants" in the trial that they are already barred from talking to the media. He also expanded his order - as Bryant's attorneys said he should - to include even people who share an office with anyone involved in the case.

Clune and Wood were expected to file a motion later Thursday, objecting to the judge's gag order. Interviews they taped on Wednesday were still being played on morning TV shows the next day, with the lawyers saying their client may seek a civil case, where she could get a fair airing of her complaint, rather than bearing with the many mistakes made by the court hearing the criminal case.

"Doing nothing, going away, is not an option," Clune said on NBC's Today show. "Whether this proceeds criminally, civilly or both, justice is going to be had for this young woman."

Bryant may not be able to get a fair trial in Eagle County, Haddon's filing said, because of the many attacks Clune has launched, especially in the Vail Daily. Clune "impugned" Ruckriegle's integrity and "shamelessly" attacked Pamela Mackey, another Bryant attorney, Haddon's filing said.

Good luck trying to find an impartial jury anywhere, said Steven D. Penrod, a lawyer and professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. Penrod, who works on change of venue motions for cases covered heavily by the media, said for people like Bryant, O.J. Simpson and Martha Stewart "there's nowhere to hide."

Gagged

Here are the people involved in the Kobe Bryant rape case who are already barred from talking to the media under a strict order by Eagle County Judge Terry Ruckriegle:

• The district attorney's office.

• Bryant and his attorneys

• The alleged victim and her attorneys

• All law enforcement officers

• All witnesses, whether they will testify or not

• All persons who have attended closed hearings, including victims' advocates

• Attorneys for any of the above

• Partners, associates or employees of any of the above

• Persons who share offices with any of the attorneys or their employees

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.