By The Associated Press
October 15, 2003

EAGLE - Kobe Bryant's lawyers argued in court papers that tests on his accuser's underpants revealed "compelling evidence" the NBA superstar is innocent of rape and accused prosecutors of ignoring it.

The defense said the tests found "substances" - later described by the lead investigator as semen - from a man other than the Los Angeles Lakers' guard. The lawyers argue that injuries to the woman may have been caused by previous sexual partners.

The details were released in a court filing Wednesday, the same day Judge Frederick Gannett rejected a prosecution request to close the remainder of a preliminary hearing to protect the 19-year-old accuser.

The hearing will determine whether Bryant, 25, will stand trial on a felony charge of sexual assault. He has said the sex with the resort employee June 30 was consensual.

After meeting with attorneys Wednesday morning, Gannett admonished the news media to exercise restraint in drawing any conclusions from testimony.

"Understand you have been privy to only a portion of the information," Gannett said.

The hearing then resumed with the defense questioning of the lead investigator, sheriff's Detective Doug Winters.

Winters said the Eagle woman told him she had consensual sex on June 27 or June 28 and used a condom, backing earlier defense suggestions she was sexually active before her encounter with Bryant.

Winters also said two pairs of panties from the woman were tested - one from the night of June 30, the other being the one she wore to a hospital for an exam the next day.

The latter pair contained blood and semen, Winters said.

"The accuser arrived at the hospital wearing panties with someone else's semen and sperm in them, not that of Mr. Bryant, correct?" defense attorney Pamela Mackey asked.

"That's correct," Winters responded.

Pubic hair samples from the woman also turned up Caucasian hairs that could not have come from Bryant, who is black, Winters said.

In Wednesday's court filing, defense attorney Hal Haddon said prosecutors misrepresented blood evidence found on the underpants.

"The clear implication of this testimony was that the accuser was bleeding due to the alleged sexual assault," he said. The prosecution deliberately failed to "put before the court all of the evidence concerning those panties." The defense said that evidence had been given to Gannett, under seal, and it provided "compelling evidence of innocence."

Stan Goldman, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said: "It's a very strong bit of evidence for the defense to argue that the victim's injuries may have been caused by someone else." However, he said it does not prove Bryant's innocence and may not be admissible at trial.

"It's startling, it's impressive but its negative public relations value for the prosecution is more significant than its legal value." Prosecutors have accused the defense of a "deliberate and calculated" attempt to dredge up testimony about the woman's sexual history that is irrelevant at such an early stage of the case.

"What was even more unexpected was her conscious misrepresentation of the evidence in order to smear the victim publicly," prosecutor Ingrid Bakke wrote in a court filing Tuesday.

Bakke said Colorado's rape shield law bars the use of an alleged victim's sexual history in rape cases, with few exceptions.

Last week, the hearing began with testimony from Winters, who said Bryant attacked the woman from behind and raped her.

The defense then suggested in open court the accuser may have had sex with other men. Prosecutors responded by asking for the hearing to be closed - a request ridiculed by the defense.

"Now after damaging information about Mr. Bryant essentially unchallenged by cross-examination has been heard in open court and distributed worldwide as the prosecution intended, the prosecution now seeks to close the hearing," Haddon wrote.

"The defense never wanted this hearing to be open," he added.

"Now that it has begun in open court ... Bryant's right to a fair trial will be eviscerated if the prosecution is able to achieve what it clear intended all along." The judge is expected to issue a written ruling on whether the case will go to district court for trial. If it does go to trial and Bryant is convicted of the sexual assault charge, he faces up to life in prison.

Bryant, free on $25,000 bond, was at Wednesday's hearing.

Also Tuesday, prosecutors said they had received medical records mistakenly released by a Glenwood Springs hospital where the woman was examined - and had shared them with Bryant's lawyers.

Prosecution spokeswoman Krista Flannigan said the records had been returned and copies destroyed at the request of the hospital.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought the medical records from a number of places, including a clinic and a student health service at the University of Northern Colorado. The woman was treated earlier this year for an undisclosed mental health problem.

The judge threw out defense subpoenas for the medical records, saying the issue should be determined by the trial judge if the case goes that far.

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