By News Staff
November 19, 2003

Prosecutors have filed a motion asking a judge to order Kobe Bryant to be tested for HIV/AIDS, News 4's Rick Sallinger reported Tuesday night.

Judge Terry Ruckriegle has yet to rule on the filing, made under seal, News 4 said. But the law the motion invokes mandates that a defendant in a case such as this submit to a test for the HIV virus after being bound over for trial.

Bryant, who plays guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, is accused of forcing a 19-year-old woman over a chair and raping her at the Cordillera Lodge & Spa in Edwards on June 30. Bryant maintains the encounter was consensual.

Krista Flannigan, spokeswoman for the Eagle County district attorney's office, refused to comment on News 4's report.

The state law requiring the test was passed in 1999. It applies to defendants in sex assault cases where penetration is involved.

Test results are sent to the alleged victim and to the district attorney. The law spells out tougher minimum sentences if the defendant is convicted, found to have HIV at the time of the assault, and knew about it beforehand.

The filing is made under seal to protect the alleged victim as well as the accused; there is no reason to believe Bryant has HIV.

The test can be administered orally or by drawing blood.

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