By Rocky Mountain News
August 26, 2004

THE DEFENSE

Pamela Mackey

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When Bryant's people were seeking a well-qualified female attorney to defend their star client, Mackey was the obvious choice. A fierce advocate for her clients, Mackey had successfully represented many high-profile clients, including Colorado Avalanche star Patrick Roy.

Although she is well-respected in the Denver legal community, she was relatively unknown outside of it until the Bryant case broke last summer.

Now the tiny woman with the long name — she signs her briefs "Pamela Robillard Mackey" in a large flourish — is seemingly always appearing in a never-ending broadcast loop on cable television, squiring her client into the Eagle County Justice Center.

Mackey was vilified for using the alleged victim's name in open court but praised for turning the public relations tide to question the motivations of the young Eagle woman.

"She is not worthy of your belief," Mackey said during Bryant's preliminary hearing last fall, in a statement that some have since taken to heart.

Mackey, 48, lives in Jefferson County, is married and a mother, and is partner in the firm of Haddon, Morgan, Mueller, Jordon, Mackey & Foreman.

Hal Haddon

There are the eyeglasses and the mannerly demeanor and the stooped shoulders in the slightly rumpled suit jacket.
And now Haddon, a Denver lawyer, has a case that shares some similarities with that of the movie hero he is often compared to: Atticus Finch, the legendary lawyer in "To Kill A Mockingbird." Haddon is the other half of the legal team representing a black man accused of raping a white woman.

But this isn't Haddon's first big case. He has represented John Ramsey, father of JonBenet, and gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson. He has chaired former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart's unsuccessful presidential campaign. And he lent support to friend Michael Tigar when that other famed lawyer needed help defending Terry Nichols, one of the Oklahoma City bombers.

His friends portray Haddon as acting like a kindly gentleman lawyer who is a cutthroat courtroom strategist. He was one of three founders in 1981 in what has become Haddon, Morgan, Mueller, Jordon, Mackey & Foreman, one of the most powerful firms in the state.

Haddon, 63, lives in Denver with his wife.

THE PROSECUTION

Mark Hurlbert

This sandy-haired 35-year-old prosecutor is a hometown boy-made-good by an appointment by the governor. Gov. Bill Owens placed Hurlbert in the district attorney's job in December 2002 to fill the unexpired term of outgoing DA Mike Goodbee.

Hurlbert grew up in Summit County, but left Colorado for Dartmouth College, where he was a varsity team skier and intern for conservative U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong. Hurlbert graduated from the University of Colorado Law School in 1994 and he's worked in the 5th Judicial District DA's office — it covers four mountain counties — ever since.

He's praised for being deliberate — he took two weeks to file charges against Bryant after the NBA star's arrest — and smart enough to ask for the assistance of Denver-area prosecutors. Hurlbert has prosecuted two first-degree murder cases. He won his first trial in a skiing out-of-bounds case.

But he's also had his gaffes, from the large (he missed a filing deadline necessary to get a second testing of the DNA evidence) to the small (he called the purple thong underwear worn by the alleged victim on the night of her encounter with Bryant a "purple G-string").

Hurlbert, a daily runner, lives in Breckenridge with his wife and two children.

Ingrid Bakke and Dana Easter

These two respected veteran prosecutors are expected to do the heavy lifting in the case against Bryant. Hurlbert took a secondary role this year after saying he had an office to manage.

It's not the first time the two have teamed up. Bakke, 41, and Easter, 50, worked together in Jefferson County from 1990 to 2001, before Bakke took the job of chief of Boulder County's sex assault and domestic violence unit.

In addition to winning high-profile cases, both women are considered the pioneers in the specialty of sexual assault. Easter, who has been in Jefferson County for almost 17 years, was also on the committee that in the early 1990s developed Colorado's standardized sexual assault examination kit. She still trains advocates, prosecutors and sexual assault nurses.

Bakke prosecuted the high-profile case of Brandy Duvall, the 14-year-old who was raped and murdered. She most recently prosecuted the case of Boulder serial rapist Keith Schwinaman, who was sentenced last year to 32 years in prison.

Easter is divorced and lives in Lakewood. Bakke, who lives in Boulder, is single.

THE JUDGE

Terry Ruckriegle

When Ruckriegle, Fifth Judicial District chief judge, appointed himself to the Bryant case, he was called the "anti-Ito." Defense lawyers complimented him for the amount of control Ruckriegle held in his courtroom, unlike the judge in the infamous O.J. Simpson case.

But since last October, when he assumed the case, Ruckriegle has been criticized for his employees mistakenly allowing secret information to be released and for two severe media gag orders. He finally relented on the publication of sealed transcripts, after a U.S. Supreme Court judge urged him to, and then loosened a gag order on attorneys after many complaints.

Maybe now Ruckriegle wishes he would have left the case with Judge R. Thomas Moorhead, who had received the case initially under the district's rotation system. Ruckriegle claimed the Bryant case for himself, which is under his discretion as chief judge of his district.

Ruckriegle, 57, graduated from Indiana University with a business degree in 1969 and a law degree in 1973. He was a prosecutor in the Fifth Judicial District in Georgetown for nine years and has been on the district court bench since 1984.
Ruckriegle is married and lives in Breckenridge.

THE ACCUSER'S LAWYERS

John Clune and L. Lin Wood

Clune was a quiet local attorney who rarely talked to the media about his client. But in July, the alleged victim's parents added Wood to their team, which was akin to adding a jet turbo to a beige VW Bug.

Wood, 51, is one of the most celebrated libel lawyers in the country, handling such clients as John and Patsy Ramsey, accused Olympic bomber Richard Jewell and Gary Condit, the California politician whose former girlfriend was found dead. The Atlanta-based lawyer is often on television and his slick Web site opens with a large close-up photo of him and a quote by CBS' Dan Rather: "Attorney for the damned."

Now Clune, 34, is part of Wood's tag-team public relations defense for the young woman, going on national television and reacting to the judge's decision — and even an apology — with strong words. Clune slammed Ruckriegle when the judge apologized to the woman's parents, saying it was "self-serving" and should have been offered in private.

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.