By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
June 22, 2004

EAGLE - Kobe Bryant's rape trial could be under way by Labor Day, but a pretrial hearing ended on Monday with a firm date still in question.

Lawyers on both sides told Chief District Judge Terry Ruckriegle they could be ready to start the three-to-four week trial by late August.

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Former Denver District Attorney Norm Early, who attended Monday's session, predicted a start date of Aug. 23 or 30.

"I think it's a good bet the judge will set a date during that time frame, and that he'll announce it by the end of the week," said Early.

"I think witnesses will be testifying in September," said former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman, who was also at Monday's hearing.

Denver criminal defense lawyer Lisa Wayne predicted a mid-September trial launch.

But Monday's session made clear that much remains to be resolved by then - and that some concessions are being made to keep alive the hope of an imminent trial, something both sides have argued for.

Most notably, prosecutor Dana Easter said in court that on-again, off-again plans to re-test the DNA on sperm samples recovered on swabs during an examination of the 20-year-old alleged victim might be put back on the prosecution's agenda, if an early trial date is not forthcoming.

Last week, the prosecution had announced plans to abandon that re-testing, rather than prolong matters with legal arguments over whether or not a defense expert would have to be permitted to witness those tests.

"We are not trying to blackmail the court. We have 1,000 decisions to make," Easter told Ruckriegle.

Ruckriegle promptly reduced it to 999, by telling the prosecution team that the window has closed on their re-testing options.

"I don't think that's the kind of contingency that can be imposed on a court, 'We will back off, if you will give us what we want" with an early trial date, said Ruckriegle.

The defense suffered a minor setback of their own Monday, when Ruckriegle declined their request that he punish the prosecution for what defense lawyers considered inadequate evidence collection at the scene of the alleged assault.

Ruckriegle refused the suggestion that jurors be told to presume that better evidence collection in Bryant's hotel room would have produced evidence favorable to the defense.

Monday's session was split between open court proceedings and issues addressed later in the day outside the presence of the press and public.

Some discussion in open court was devoted to the issue of jury questionnaires. Lawyers hope to get a basic questionnaire, plus a second set of far more detailed questions - currently 115 in number - to a jury pool of 200 to 300 people in time to help improve the pace of jury selection.

Bryant, 25, pleaded not guilty in the case May 11 and is free on $25,000 bail. He has admitted to committing adultery with the woman, who was working as a concierge at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in nearby Edwards, at the time of the alleged assault. But the Los Angeles Lakers star has said their contact was consensual.

Several significant rulings are still due in the case. One, which is expected soon, is Ruckriegle's decision on a defense bid to have Bryant's statement to detectives - secretly recorded on a hidden microphone when they first contacted him at the Cordillera July 2 - thrown out as evidence.

Another is Ruckriegle's ruling on what details, if any, of the 20-year-old Eagle woman's sexual history will be admissible at trial. Under Colorado's rape shield law, that subject is presumed to be irrelevant, unless it can be shown to bear on the facts of the case at hand.

Final closed-door testimony on the rape shield question is to be heard in today's conclusion of Bryant's current hearing.

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