Chris Schneider © News Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant returns to the Eagle County Justice Center Tuesday after a lunch break in a motions hearing. The woman at right, part of his security team, didn't give her name. Bryant is accused of raping a woman at an Edwards resort.

Detectives testify at hearing to decide if Bryant tape is admissible in court

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
February 4, 2004

EAGLE - Detectives who interviewed Kobe Bryant and collected key evidence from him testified Tuesday that they were armed with a search warrant and judge's authorization, but those weren't needed because they had the athlete's consent.

Eagle County Sheriff's Detectives Doug Winters and Dan Loya opened and closed the testimony in Tuesday's hearing to determine whether Bryant's tape-recorded statement and other evidence should be allowed at his sexual assault trial.

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Their testimony book-ended the appearance of three undercover Eagle County investigators who answered questions from behind a black curtain, under the names of detectives A, B and C, to preserve their anonymity for future undercover operations.

The three unidentified investigators were assigned the evening of July 1 only to keep Bryant under surveillance at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards - where he was a guest and where the alleged sexual assault took place.

In the meantime, Winters and Loya secured a search warrant for Bryant's clothes, plus a "41.1 order," a judge's authorization to collect non-testimonial evidence such as scalp hair, pubic hair, saliva and other forensic evidence that is part of the standard physical examination of a rape suspect.

The undercover trio was sitting in a pickup truck in a parking lot of the Edwards resort about 12:45 a.m. July 2, when they were finally joined by Winters and Loya, who pulled up alongside them in Loya's unmarked purple Dodge minivan.

The undercover team was out of the vehicle, chatting with Winters and Loya and arranging their gear, when one looked up and saw that Bryant, their surveillance subject, had suddenly appeared and was standing behind Loya's van, on crutches, a bodyguard at his side.

"It took us a little bit by surprise," Winters admitted on the witness stand.

"Truthfully, he caught us off-guard," said "Detective C," referring to the unexpected appearance in the parking lot of the 6-foot-6-inch superstar, who was limping slightly from his previous day's knee surgery in Vail.

Bryant, according to Winters, said "What's goin' on, fellas? What's up, fellas?"

Loya said that promptly, "I told Mr. Bryant that he was not under arrest, and that he was free to leave, but we needed to speak with him."

Loya that night was carrying a Sony micro-cassette recorder in his breast pocket, and he testified Tuesday that he turned around briefly to turn it on. Loya said the 60-minute tape was running through almost the entirety of the detectives' visit with Bryant - save for when he had to duck into Bryant's bathroom, to flip it over after 30 minutes' conversation filled the first side.

At the start of their visit with Bryant, the detectives told Bryant that they preferred to speak with him alone, at which point Bryant sent his bodyguard away.

"I believe he said (to the bodyguard), 'I'm okay with these guys,' " Loya said.

Bryant spent about the next 10 minutes speaking to Loya and Winters outside, before the three went to Bryant's ground-floor room and continued their conversation there until about 2 a.m.

During the time Loya and Winters were still outside the lodge with Bryant, the three undercover detectives were in the lobby, as were the three members of Bryant's entourage.

In the lobby, "Detective A" testified, he was approached by the bodyguard who'd previously been seen with Bryant, outside.

"You're going to figure this out sooner or later," the bodyguard told "Detective A," then showed identification revealing him to be Troy Laster, an off-duty Los Angeles police officer.

Laster, "Detective A" said, asked if Bryant might need legal help.

"I told him, 'If you'd like to give Mr. Bryant legal advice, you go right ahead," the undercover detective testified.

"Detective A" said Laster walked out in front of the lodge, but was back in the lobby moments later.

Laster, according to "Detective A," said, "If this is what I think it is, then I don't want to be involved, anyway."

Former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman, who is watching the Bryant proceedings, said, "That's a bombshell statement, for an L.A. cop, that indicates he might have known of an incident" involving Bryant.

"If he really made that statement, that's not a good thing for Kobe Bryant."

Defense lawyer Pamela Mackey, in cross examination of "Detective A," noted that the investigator had made no mention of that exchange with Laster in his initial report on the case, completed July 2, and that it surfaced only in his second report, which was dated July 30 - a full month after the fact.

She also said that Laster recalls making no such remark.

"He says that's a complete lie," said Mackey.

Loya and Winters both said Bryant was cooperative throughout their interview and the completion of his rape-suspect examination that same night at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs.

District Judge Terry Ruckriegle had granted a defense motion that no testimony involving the actual content of Bryant's contested statement would be heard in open court. Therefore, all testimony presented Tuesday related only to the circumstances under which it was obtained.

Testimony about its content, and a playing of the tape in its entirety, will take place outside the presence of the press and public when the hearing resumes March 1. A decision on the issue of whether the alleged victim has waived her rights to confidentiality of her medical records - debated in a closed hearing Monday - is expected at any time.

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.