By Jon Sarche, Associated Press
May 7, 2004

DENVER (AP) - Prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case have asked the judge to bar any testimony from defense experts on crime scene investigations, saying it would be "irrelevant and misleading at best."

In a court filing made public today, prosecutors said the NBA star's attorneys want to use John Ragle _ an expert from the O.J. Simpson slaying trial _ to discuss the investigation done at the Vail-area resort where Bryant allegedly raped a 19-year-old employee.

"There has been no showing of how any of his testimony would assist a jury," prosecutors said in arguing against all "expert" opinions on the issue by the defense.

Defense attorneys did not immediately return a call.

Bryant, 25, has said he had consensual sex with the woman last summer. The Los Angeles Lakers star faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation if convicted of felony sexual assault.

Also Friday, the judge cleared the way for media organizations to have a still camera and a video camera in the courtroom next week when Bryant formally enters a plea in the high-profile case. The arraignment will occur at some point during a three-day hearing that begins Monday.

Prosecutors said if state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle determines Ragle's testimony is relevant, they want a hearing to determine if Ragle can be qualified as an expert.

During Simpson's 1995 murder trial, Ragle said the Los Angeles police investigation was substandard and that the department ignored proper procedures for collecting evidence from the scene where Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ronald Goldman.

The former Orange County sheriff's forensics expert acknowledged, however, that he had not been to a crime scene since he retired in 1989. He later started a consulting business and testified as an expert witness in about 1,000 criminal cases. It was unclear whether the business is still operating.

Larry Pozner, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said previous testimony suggests the investigation in Bryant's hotel room might have been botched.

Investigators testified during Bryant's preliminary hearing that the woman had used towels in the bathroom.

"And then the cops didn't search the bathroom. That alone struck me as shoddy crime-scene work and I don't remember them taking carpet samples or chair samples," Pozner said. "It struck me as the amateur hour. When you search a crime scene you take everything that might be of evidentiary significance."

Bob Pugsley, a professor at the Southwest University School of Law, said the defense might want Ragle to testify nothing in the hotel room suggests "forcibility" as the accuser has alleged.

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