By Peggy Lowe And Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
November 14, 2003

EAGLE - They wanted to put a face on a young woman who wants to remain faceless and nameless.

The family of the young woman who has accused Kobe Bryant of rape came to court Thursday.

After more than four months of media coverage, three hearings, salacious Web postings, death threats and even an "outing" in a supermarket tabloid, there they were.

The 19-year-old Eagle woman's mother, father, two older brothers and a cousin sat quietly in the front row of Courtroom 1 in the Eagle County Justice Center.

On one end of their bench sat their lawyer, John Clune, and on the other end was an Eagle County district attorney's victim's advocate.

"The family decided to come today because they felt it was important to address the serious nature of this crime, to tell people that there actually is a victim - a real victim - and to show their support," said Krista Flannigan, a district attorney's spokeswoman.

There they were, for the first time seeing the NBA superstar who allegedly raped their daughter, or sister or cousin, and watching Pamela Mackey, Bryant's attorney, who had used the young woman's name several times during an earlier court appearance.

Whatever family members might have felt, they sat stoically through the 12-minute hearing and left by a side exit to meet with District Attorney Mark Hurlbert.

"It was a really good first step for them," said Cynthia Stone of the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "It was an incredible show of support and love for their daughter."

Although the young woman's identity has been widely circulated on the Web, and her picture was featured prominently on the cover of the Globe supermarket weekly last month, Flannigan said that to many people following the case, the alleged victim is known only as a label, not a person.

"Sometimes, it loses that kind of human element," she said. "So they wanted to make sure there is a human being who is attached to the label of 'victim.' "

She said there has been no indication whether the family will attend future hearings set for Dec. 19 and Jan. 23.

Flannigan said the family was heartened by Thursday's appearance of members of the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance and the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

At a news conference before the hearing, advocates said people must remember that this is a sexual assault case, not "fodder for entertainment."

Still in its relative infancy, the Bryant case - after courtroom revelations about additional sexual activity by the alleged victim close to the time of her encounter with Bryant - has set back the cause of rape victims, said Robin Finegan of the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance.

"What this says to me, and I think all of us, is that it's scary to report a sexual assault, and when that sexual assault becomes high profile, it's particularly scary," she said.

"You are putting yourself out there for the world to make judgments about your human frailty, and for you to then become either a victim or a villain."

Flannigan said that Bryant's alleged victim, who was a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado last year but isn't attending that school now, is "doing well."

She wouldn't disclose any other details about the young woman's current circumstances.

Copyright 2003, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.