Testimony of Bryant's accuser delayed

Baltimore Sun ^ | March 2, 2004 | Steve Henson

[Smogger]

EAGLE, Colo. - Kobe Bryant's attorneys went on the offensive yesterday, making controversial allegations about the sexual activity of the woman who has accused the Los Angeles Lakers star of rape. The defense said during a pretrial hearing and in a court filing that the woman has had sex with two prosecution witnesses and that she also had intercourse only hours after her encounter with Bryant.

Early yesterday, Judge Terry Ruckriegle denied a motion by the prosecution to limit defense questioning of the woman. But after the lunch recess, the judge rescinded that decision.

It was not entirely clear why the judge had a change of heart, but some observers suggested he might have taken exception to defense attorney Hal Haddon's written motion.

Acting on a request from Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert, Ruckriegle said he would take the motion under advisement and postponed the woman's testimony until at least March 24, the date of the next scheduled hearing.

Haddon had told Ruckriegle that swabs of semen taken from the neck, thigh and vaginal area of the 19-year-old accuser during an examination 15 hours after the alleged rape were from a man other than Bryant.

Hurlbert objected to the comment, prompting an extended private conversation between the judge and attorneys.

Haddon did not mention the woman's sexual conduct again, but in a court document filed over the weekend and made public yesterday, he offered several reasons why it is relevant and should be an exception to the state's rape shield law.

[onyx]

sink, she wasn't raped. It was consenual with Kobe and he stopped when she asked him. NONE of the semen/DNA is his.

[mercy]

Torn?

More like so slightly abraded as to be negligible.

[sinkspur]

Common psychotic behaviour.

She was in the manic phase of bi-polar depression.

[sinkspur]

I know, but Hurlburt has characterized the injuries as "a torn vagina and bruises."

[onyx]

She was in the manic phase of bi-polar depression.

She has some other problems as well. She appears to be prone to histrionics and she's manipulative. Oh wait, I am that way too. Must be a female thang. :)

[Smogger]

I'm still trying to figure out how you show up for a rape exam with somebody else's sperm on your body........LOL.

Your being too kind. She showed up to a rape exam with someone other then the accused's semen ON HER FRIGGING neck and ALL over her body. Yuck and double yuck.

[Howlin]

According to Abrams Report tonight, the semen was on the thigh and vagina, not the neck. Don't know what was on the neck.

[TheSpottedOwl]

"Haddon had told Ruckriegle that swabs of semen taken from the neck, thigh and vaginal area of the 19-year-old accuser during an examination 15 hours after the alleged rape were from a man other than Bryant."

Interesting.

[aruanan]

Let's see if these reckless nasty attacks on the victim are ACTUALLY TRUE. The word of a scumbag attorney of at best a serial adulterer may not be the basis for assuming facts about a case.

Did you even intend the pun? If she had used a scumbag, there wouldn't have been 4 different samples available to defense from the evidence gathered by the prosecution.

[onyx]

Don't know what was on the neck.

A love bite mark? LOL

[TheSpottedOwl]

I don't know what to think about this case, except all this "evidence" against Kobe's accuser is starting to look like overkill.

[Howlin]

Dan Abrams says the prosecution will claim that the sperm/whatever is "weeks old."

YUCK.

[onyx]

LOL-LOL-LOL Good one.

[Howlin]

Well, Abrams didn't want to discuss the neck because he said it was not in the court documents; so, for all I know, it may still be semen.

[onyx]

Oh Lord. Spittle.

[Owen]

The prosecution would not proceed with the case if this stuff had any merit. Saying there are 3 samples and only one matched Kobe does NOT mean there are 3 men. It means only 1 sample managed to pass statistical muster and the other two did not. That does not mean they are from someone else.

[Howlin]

Maybe drool? :-)

[PRND21]

Don't know what was on the neck.

One of those number dispensers? Next!

[Mike Darancette]

The Prosecution should drop this loser case before it really gets embarrassing.

[onyx]

Drool, spittle, whatever.