Accuser's father says family has 'lost trust' in obtaining fair trial

By Tillie Fong And Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
August 12, 2004

The father of the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant sexual-assault case sent a sharply worded letter to Judge Terry Ruckriegle last week, expressing his concerns about the judge's actions during the past year.

"My family and I have lost trust that we can obtain a fair trial in your court," he wrote in the letter obtained Wednesday by the Rocky Mountain News.

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"I only hope that you can someday realize the devastating impact your decisions in this case have had on victims and victim's rights across the nation."

The letter, dated Aug. 7, was sent to Ruckriegle, who is presiding over Bryant's case. The letter was filed with the Eagle County Clerk's Office two days later.

In the letter, the father, whose name was redacted, blasted Ruckriegle's handling of the case so far.

"Over the past year, I have watched you in the courtroom with disbelief," he wrote. "I have watched as leak after harmful leak has gone unpunished. I have watched the defense attorneys manipulate the public opinion of my daughter with their pleadings on your Web site while you did nothing."

The father also took the judge to task for favoring defense attorneys.

"Your inappropriate and continual jokes with Mr. (Hal) Haddon (Bryant's attorney) on a matter so personal and traumatic to my family are insulting," he wrote.

"At the same time, you seem to take every opportunity to publicly criticize the prosecution and my daughter's lawyer."

The father said he was disappointed in Ruckriegle's decision to allow the continual electronic distribution of court documents without safeguards in place.

"One of the most recent mistakes regarding the transcript of the defendant's paid expert has been devastating to my daughter," he said.

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