Defense says alleged victim had 'pattern' of seeking attention

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
December 16, 2003

The woman who has accused Kobe Bryant of sexual assault attempted suicide twice to win the attention of an ex-boyfriend, and her charge against the athlete is part of the same pattern of behavior, Bryant's lawyers claim.

In a motion filed in Bryant's sexual assault case Friday, which became available Monday, defense attorney Pamela Mackey asks that evidence of two suicide attempts and the woman's prescribed use of an anti-psychotic medicine be ruled admissible in Bryant's case.

Mackey's motion reveals for the first time that Bryant's alleged victim participated in a follow-up interview with Eagle County Sheriff's Detective Doug Winters July 9 - eight days after she initially reported her June 30 encounter with Bryant.

In that July 9 interview, according to Mackey's motion, "Detective Winters suggested that there was a pattern to the accuser's behavior in that when she 'attempts or thinks about committing suicide, she would call' her ex-boyfriend. The accuser apparently agreed with the detective."

Mackey's motion adds, "The pattern of attention-seeking conduct established by the accuser during the suicide attempts is substantially similar to her conduct of June 30," the date of the Los Angeles Lakers star's alleged assault on the 19-year-old woman.

Bryant, who is set for a motions hearing Friday in Eagle District Court, has admitted committing adultery, but said the sexual contact was consensual.

It has been reported that Bryant's accuser had been rushed to a Greeley hospital from her college dormitory Feb. 23, after police judged her to be "a danger to herself."

It also has been widely reported that, according to the young woman's friends, she had overdosed on pills just a few weeks before the date she was allegedly assaulted by Bryant at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, where she was an employee and he was a guest.

But Mackey's new filing represents the first time any participant in the case labeled those episodes as suicide attempts. It also provides the date of the second pill overdose: May 30, one month before the alleged sexual assault by Bryant.

Evidence concerning those overdose incidents should be admitted at trial, Mackey argues, because such acts demonstrate the young woman's "motive" and "scheme" for falsely accusing Mr. Bryant of sexual assault.

"Proof that the accuser makes herself a victim through purported suicide attempts in order to gain the attention of her ex-boyfriend without regard to the harm and worry that causes to other people is essential to the defense's theory" of the case, Mackey's motion argues.

Bryant's defense team also is asking that the trial judge admit evidence concerning the young woman's prescribed use of an anti-psychotic medicine because of its effects on her credibility as a witness.

Mackey's motion doesn't identify the medication, other than to say it is a drug approved by the Federal Drug Administration for treatment of schizophrenia.

Krista Flannigan, spokeswoman for Eagle District Attorney Mark Hurlbert, said prosecutors would make no comment on Bryant's latest shot across the prosecution's bow.

"We'll have to see what the outcome is on the 19th, and we'll have some decisions to make, at that time," said Flannigan.

The defense motion concerning the accuser's mental health history appeared the same day prosecutors filed a motion asking that Bryant's lawyers be made to comply with Colorado law in any potential efforts to present evidence of false sexual assault reports by Bryant's accuser.

There is nothing in either the open or sealed portions of the Bryant case file that spells out a defense plan to do so. But Denver criminal defense attorney Craig Skinner said the defense bid to include evidence of her drug overdoses sets the stage for exactly that eventuality.

"They are basically saying she has a pattern of false reporting, and false reporting doesn't just mean to the police, but also to her boyfriend," said Skinner.

"They're letting you know that part of their defense is that she has a habit of making false reports, whether it concerns suicide or rape, to get the attention of her boyfriend - without regard to whom she steamrolls."

In other new motions, the defense is asking for an evidentiary hearing to discuss admissability of the accuser's sexual conduct "prior and subsequent" to the night she met Bryant.

Introduction of such evidence is governed by Colorado's Rape Shield Law, which limits defense lawyers' exploration of a victim's sexual history to only that which is relevant to the case at hand.

Another new Bryant defense motion also seeks to strike down the state's rape shield statute as an unconstitutional limit on the athlete's ability to defend himself.

brennanc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2742

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