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Bryant case could hinge on recording Lakers star wasn't read his rights before conversation
USA Today ^
| 03/09/2004
| Tom Kenworthy
Posted on 04/10/2004 6:11:06 AM PDT by Therapist
DENVER -- Shortly after midnight July 2, two detectives with the Eagle County Sheriff's Department arrived at the Colorado mountain resort where basketball star Kobe Bryant was staying to recuperate from knee surgery.
Six other officers were already at the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, which bills itself as ''one of the most luxurious retreats in the world.'' They were keeping an eye on the Los Angeles Lakers guard. He was suspected of raping a 19-year-old concierge at the resort the night of June 30.
Detectives Doug Winters and Daniel Loya were sitting in a van in the lodge's parking lot. They were startled when Bryant, on crutches, approached them. ''What's going on fellas?'' Bryant asked, according to Winters' testimony at a pretrial hearing in February.
Bryant then talked with the detectives for about 75 minutes. He wasn't read the Miranda warning that he had a right to remain silent and to have a lawyer present during questioning. And he didn't know Loya had a tape recorder in his pocket and was taping the conversation that began in the parking lot and continued in Bryant's room.
What Bryant told the detectives is unknown to the public and the media. But that conversation is part of the fierce battle between prosecutors and defense lawyers over what evidence can be used during Bryant's trial on a charge of felony sexual assault. If convicted, he faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: California; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: mirandawarning
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To: DustyMoment
"...suspect's prior approval." He's not a suspect until he is so notified. Until then, he is only a source for 'fact finding'.
21
posted on
04/10/2004 6:51:39 AM PDT
by
harpu
To: harpu
Thanks, I've saved that! No matter how law-abiding one tries to be, in our current regime, you can never quite be sure.
22
posted on
04/10/2004 6:56:56 AM PDT
by
Tax-chick
(See baby pictures on the Tax-chick page!)
To: Therapist
If I ever decided to commit a crime I'd go Colorado home of the most apparently inept police in the nation.
To: Therapist
Tape is in.
Random thoughts:
Colorado statutes mentioned in the thread permit taping with the consent of a party to the conversation. The officer consented.
Bryant apparently invited (or permitted) the officers into his room. He could have asked the officers to leave at any time. If he did, and they refused to leave, then he would be in custody.
Even if the tape (and poisoned evidence) is suppressed, the testimony of the accuser will be unrefuted. It will be questioned and challenged but totally unrefuted. If Bryant takes the witness stand, and tells a different story than what is on the tape, it will come in to impeach him.
Gwjack
24
posted on
04/10/2004 7:01:08 AM PDT
by
gwjack
(Will Rogers never met the current democrats.)
To: gwjack
Great summation...I think you're 'smack on!'
25
posted on
04/10/2004 7:06:31 AM PDT
by
harpu
To: harpu
I've read elsewhere that the biggest problem is that Winters had signed paperwork before that effectively detained him... look here
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/03/nfcnn.02.html there was also the whole warrant being served at the wrong time fiasco. Detective Winter is really incompetent.
26
posted on
04/10/2004 7:08:38 AM PDT
by
Malchus
To: Therapist
Why were the six other officers at the hotel for the so-called fact finding? What were their instructions prior to arrival at the hotel? Had the police obtained a warrant to collect physical evidence from the alleged crime scene?
If they were there prepared to arrest Bryant or serve a warrant, then they should have read him his rights.
Also, I'd pay particular attention to how the detectives advised Bryant that he was the suspect in a sexual assault investigation as it should be part of the recording.
It would have to be very evident that Bryant understood that he was being questioned as a suspect in order for me to allow the tape into evidence.
To: Poodlebrain
Thanks to the intelligence of the posters at Free Republic, I think the tape is out.
To: gwjack
Bryant will not take the stand. Make book on it!
To: Therapist
The tape is in. And Kobe won't take the stand because he's guilty. Funny how the Kobots aren't the least bit interested in what Kobe told the police on tape. Only how they want it excluded so their hero can go free.
30
posted on
04/10/2004 7:27:27 AM PDT
by
jimbo123
To: Therapist
We'll see. The time thing is ridiculous. I assume a judge signed the warrant and if time was not restricted in that warrant, the judge had given permission for a search at any time.
31
posted on
04/10/2004 7:31:39 AM PDT
by
Sacajaweau
(God Bless Our Troops!!)
To: jimbo123
He risked it all. Tough sh** Mr. Bryant. It shows that "star" quality outranks morals anyday.
And poor Janet, the boob bomber, her new recording isn't at the top like she thought. Too bad!
32
posted on
04/10/2004 7:35:35 AM PDT
by
Sacajaweau
(God Bless Our Troops!!)
To: Sacajaweau
It only sounds reasonable that a rape would be legitimized by the policeman questioning the rapist. Makes you proud of the justice that we enjoy in the US. We need to export our brand of democracy all over the world. That they should be so lucky.
33
posted on
04/10/2004 8:27:31 AM PDT
by
meenie
To: jimbo123
I think he's off like a prom dress.
To: jimbo123
I think he's off like a prom dress.
To: jimbo123
Just when should the police have given Bryant the warrant to gather evidence? To my thinking that was their official purpose for being at the hotel, and their first duty should have been the serving of the warrant and collection of the evidence. Had they done so they would have been obligated to inform Bryant of his rights rather than treating it as a situation where Bryant was privileged to protect his rights.
In effect the police played games with Bryant's Constitutional rights, and I do not think they should be rewarded for their gamesmanship. Rights are too important to be left to the whims of law enforcement to test how far they can go before violating them.
To: harpu
He's not a suspect until he is so notified.
This could be one of those "what the meaning of 'is' is" kind of arguments. IMO, the fact that the police officers were sitting in the parking lot, apparently staking him out, suggests that, at some level, he was considered a suspect. The formal determination of whether he is a suspect could be based on the filing of the complaint by the victim. Otherwise, they have no basis for sitting there.
This is probably getting into some pretty gray areas of the law and, not being a lawyer, I am pretty much over my head.
37
posted on
04/10/2004 10:07:37 AM PDT
by
DustyMoment
(Repeal CFR NOW!!)
To: Therapist
Detectives Doug Winters and Daniel Loya were sitting in a van in the lodge's parking lot. They were startled when Bryant, on crutches, approached them. ''What's going on fellas?'' Bryant asked Wonder why Bryant was in the parking lot? And if he just happened to be walking through the parking lot---say to or from his car or a cab---why would he approach a (presumably unmarked) van with two men in it? He singled out this vehicle in a parking lot of a (presumably not small) resort?
Does that strike anyone as weird? Had he been tipped off he was undersurveilance and he went out to the van to pre-empt or attempt to resolve the situation?
38
posted on
04/10/2004 10:22:53 AM PDT
by
gg188
To: Therapist
In
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