Ken Papaleo © News Defense attorney Pamela Mackey confers with client Kobe Bryant as he leaves the Eagle County Justice Center for lunch Wednesday in Eagle. Bryant will be arraigned for trial on the sexual assault charge he faces within two weeks.

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
April 29, 2004

EAGLE - Kobe Bryant will be arraigned for trial on the sexual assault charge he faces within two weeks.

Bryant's next pretrial motions hearing is set for May 10-12, and Eagle District Judge Terry Ruckriegle on Wednesday ordered that Bryant's arraignment will take place during that three-day period.

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At his arraignment, Bryant will be asked to enter a plea. Once he does so, a jury must be empaneled and sworn in no later than six months from that date, meaning his case should go to trial by Nov. 12.

Each party to the case voiced hopes or expectations Wednesday for when a trial could or should take place.

Eagle District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said the alleged victim's family is hoping for July, but that he believed prosecutors might not be ready for trial until August.

Defense attorney Pamela Mackey said, "Late August or early September is the earliest that we could be looking at."

Denver defense attorney Lisa Wayne watched Wednesday's proceedings and has followed the case, which has been burdened with a flurry of motions filed by the prosecution, defense, the media and other third parties. Given that, she thought both sides were being overly optimistic.

"This case is not going to see the light of day until at least September, if then," said Wayne, who has handled numerous high-profile rape cases in Colorado.

"There are going to be a lot more motions filed before we get to trial."

Bryant defense lawyer Hal Haddon acknowledged that issues requiring attention before a trial can multiply at a prolific rate.

"I certainly haven't had a case with more complexity in my practice," Haddon told Ruckriegle.

Court officials continue to estimate that Bryant's trial could last three weeks, including jury selection - although prosecution spokeswoman Krista Flannigan admitted Wednesday that might be "optimistic."

Wayne considers it a fantasy. "I think jury selection alone could take six weeks."

The arraignment date was set by Ruckriegle in response to a March 25 request from John Clune, an attorney representing the alleged victim. Bryant has admitted to consensual sex with the 19-year-old Eagle woman but denies any criminal wrongdoing in their June 30 encounter

The woman's life, Clune told the judge Wednesday, has been turned upside down and made unbearable by the public scrutiny, harassment and "many, many threats" that have come in the wake of exhaustive coverage of the case in both the mainstream media and supermarket weeklies.

He recounted a March 24 episode in which the woman called him from a restaurant, where someone had followed and confronted her after her appearance in court that day.

"She called me, hiding behind a plant in this restaurant, almost hysterical," Clune told Ruckriegle.

"Some kind of endpoint has a tremendous benefit for her well-being, and I could imagine, would certainly benefit Mr. Bryant, as well."

Shortly after Bryant's arraignment date was set, court concluded, and Bryant was on his way to Eagle County Regional Airport, where a private jet was on standby to whisk him to Los Angeles for his team's Game Five playoff game versus the Houston Rockets.

Ruckriegle also scheduled another several days for pretrial motions, beginning June 21, which is one day after the latest possible date that the NBA Finals - in which Bryant's Lakers hope to participate - might conclude.

When the Bryant case returned to open court midafternoon Wednesday, it was the first time since March 1 that the parties were not convened behind closed doors. Since then, five full days and two half-days had been devoted to pivotal pretrial issues that Ruckriegle elected to hear outside the presence of the press and public.

Among them is a motion by defense attorneys to dismiss Bryant's pre-arrest statement to detectives because he had not been read his Miranda rights.

Also, they are hoping to overcome Colorado's rape shield statute by convincing Ruckriegle that some of the alleged victim's prior and subsequent sexual history should be admissible at trial.

Testimony on both those issues was heard in private Monday, Tuesday and into Wednesday afternoon, but neither one was concluded, due to the lack of availability of some witnesses.

Hearings on those questions will be resumed the week of May 10, with Ruckriegle's decisions coming sometime thereafter.

On Wednesday, Ruckriegle issued an order concerning two more pivotal issues, saying they will be heard without the public being present.

Prosecutors want to block defense plans to present any evidence at the trial of drug or alcohol use by the alleged victim. They also want to bar the defense from putting on evidence of her mental health history - specifically two apparent suicide attempts in the five months prior to her June 30 encounter with Bryant.

Last week Ruckriegle ruled that Bryant's team can't have access to her medical records, but that doesn't bar the defense from presenting such evidence through other means.

"The evidence sought to be admitted is sensitive and personal information which would no doubt be embarrassing to the victim if disclosed publicly," Ruckriegle ruled Wednesday.

He gave no indication, however, when closed-door hearings on those sensitive questions will take place.

David Lugert, a former prosecutor both at the federal level and in Eagle County, is not convinced the defense will prevail in its hopes of putting the alleged victim's mental health or possible substance abuse issues before a jury.

"I think it's completely irrelevant," Lugert said, "unless it can be shown that those circumstances existed at the time of the (Bryant) event or in a narrow window of time around it."

What's next?

• Bryant's next pretrial motions hearing is set for May 10-12.

• On Wednesday, Eagle District Judge Terry Ruckriegle ordered that Bryant's arraignment will take place during that three-day period.

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.