By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
May 5, 2004

Kobe Bryant's lawyers are asking a judge to order that his alleged victim's name be used during the basketball star's upcoming sexual assault trial, and to bar the use of the term "victim" to describe her.

Those requests are made in a motion filed by defense lawyer Hal Haddon on Monday and made public Tuesday.

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The Bryant team was already on record as stating its belief that the 19-year-old Eagle woman should be referred to as a "complaining witness" rather than "victim."

The term "victim," Bryant's defense lawyers argue, creates a presumption that a crime occurred and robs the Los Angeles Lakers star of his constitutional presumption of innocence.

"In many criminal cases - for example, in most homicide cases - there is no dispute about whether a crime occurred," Haddon's new motion states. "By contrast, in a sexual assault case where the defendant asserts consent, the core dispute is whether a crime occurred at all, and therefore, whether the complaining witness is a 'victim' or not."

Bryant, 25, has admitted having sex with his alleged victim in their June 30 encounter at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, but said their contact was consensual.

Haddon's motion goes on to argue that by addressing Bryant at trial by his name, rather than as "the defendant," and also calling the alleged victim by her name, both parties would have the benefit of being addressed in a "polite, proper and content-neutral" manner that would also prevent confusion in the court record.

Karen Steinhauser, a Denver University College of Law professor and formerly a sexual assault prosecutor in Denver for 20 years, called the motion "very unusual" and "a little bit overboard."

"The person who is accused of a crime and has been charged with a crime is referred to as 'the defendant,' " she said. "That's how they are defined in the rules of evidence and criminal procedure rules. And I would find it very unusual for the judge to say 'In this particular trial now, we're not going to call the defendant a defendant.' I've never had that issue come up."

Steinhauser added, however, that before juries, she often chose to refer to the alleged victim by name, as a way of humanizing the person.

"That tells the jury, 'This is about a person that this happened to, or allegedly happened to,' " said Steinhauser.

She would not forecast, however, how Eagle District Attorney Mark Hurlbert intends to refer to the alleged victim at Bryant's trial.

Steinhauser said, "I think we're going a little bit overboard, right now. I think it's much ado about nothing, and there's a lot of bigger battles to fight over."

Eagle District Judge Terry Ruckriegle "will continue to do what he's doing, which is to not treat this case any different because he's Kobe Bryant," she predicted. "And, I'm not sure it should be."

The latest defense motion was also panned by Cynthia Stone, spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

"That's against the spirit, if not in direct violation, of both the court rules that deal with protecting the privacy of victims of sexual assault and new legislation that was just enacted this session," said Stone.

Her reference was to Senate Bill 46, signed into law April 8, which underscores the ability of judges or prosecutors to protect the name of sexual assault victims as their cases are adjudicated.

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.