Posted on 07/20/2004 4:50:04 AM PDT by Hawk44
Eagle - In emotional arguments today, the lawyer for Kobe Bryant's accuser said the woman and her family felt betrayed by the people she trusted most - the judges presiding over the sex-assault case and the district attorney's office.
The lawyer, John Clune, said at a pre-trial hearing today that this lack of faith in the system had previously caused the now-20-year-old woman to consider whether she should go forward with the case.
The woman claims that the basketball star raped her on June 30, 2003, in his Edwards hotel room. Bryant has pleaded not guilty and alleges the woman was a willing sex partner.
Bryant arrived this morning in Eagle for what is expected to be a daylong pretrial hearing. The 25-year-old Bryant faces a possible sentence of four years to life in prison if convicted.
"The only time (the alleged victim) has considered not going forward is when the people that are sworn to protect her rights" have failed to do so, Clune told state district judge Terry Ruckriegle. "That is the only time she has ever considered removing herself from the case."
Clune cited two mistakes that he said have devastated the alleged victim: the release by the court of her name on a state-run website last September and the June 26 release of sensitive transcripts of a closed rape-shield hearing by a court reporter.
Those mistakes have resulted in the victim and her family losing trust in the criminal justice system, Clune said.
The insight into the emotional toll on the alleged victim and her family came today as Clune asked Ruckriegle to close down the state-run website and an e-mailing system that permitted the leaks.
Not to do so, he said, might result in more devastation for the woman.
Clune said that while he believes that the releases were "honest mistakes," it is hard to convince the young woman and her family of that when they've had to deal with constant intimidation, harassment and death threats because of the release of her name and the rape-shield transcripts.
"I want you to understand what she was dealing with on a daily basis," Clune said. "She and her family were receiving two to three calls a minute over five or six weeks," many of the calls from people threatening to kill her. They sounded capable and deranged enough to carry it out, Clune said.
But Bryant's defense lawyer Hal Haddon today accused Clune of trying to influence the judge in how he should rule on critical issues in the case, including how much of the alleged victim's sexual history will be heard by jurors at Bryant's sexual assault trial, scheduled to start Aug. 27.
"It is a transparent and outrageous attempt to influence this court," Haddon said of Clune's argument. "This may very well be about Clune's desire to make a ringing speech about victim's rights."
In a filing prior to the day's hearing, Clune had written that the "worldwide publication of the victim's name potentially jeopardized the victim's safety and greatly contributed to her already existing fear for her own physical well-being.
"Three days prior to the County Court's worldwide publication of the victim's name, (I) had met with the Lost Angeles (office of the) Federal Bureau of Investigation and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office regarding what those agencies considered to be a credible plan to kill the victim in the Bryant case for financial gain. The information gathered to plan such a crime was acquired from the Internet."
Clune said he doesn't want to stop distribution of information about the case. He said the public should still be able to go to the clerk's office of the Eagle District Court and obtain the information.
But he wants the website shut down, noting that the elimination of Web postings will not only give the judge greater control over the potential for accidental distribution but will also limit the harm done should another error occur.
Bryant, meanwhile, is fighting a request that cameras be permitted in the courtroom - including the request by the Court TV cable channel for two cameras in the courtroom.
Haddon argued in a motion filed with Ruckriegle that cameras in the courtroom present a "dangerous harm" to Bryant's fair trial rights.
"As the court is aware, this prosecution has engendered a media frenzy, physical threats against trial participants - including Mr. Bryant and his counsel - reluctance by at least one witness to provide potentially relevant evidence to the defense ... " Haddon said.
The reluctant witness wishes to keep his personal life and sex life private, Bryant's lawyer said.
Haddon also fears that the presence of cameras may make jurors feel pressured to deliver a verdict that is "popular."
Further, Haddon argued that both Bryant and his accuser oppose cameras because there will be testimony about the sexual encounter the two had - she claims it was rape, Bryant claims it was consensual.
"It is difficult enough to testify about the details of a private sexual act in the confines of a solemn and dignified courtroom," Haddon said. "All pretense of privacy and dignity is abandoned by allowing verbatim, televised coverage of such testimony for transmission to the world."
Haddon said that in two high-profile cases in California, those of Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson, the respective courts have rejected media requests for cameras in the courtroom.
Also, a lawyer for Matt Herr, a friend of the alleged victim, is expected to argue today that four pages of text messages sent and received by Herr be returned to Herr without being disclosed to others.
Keith Tooley, who represents Herr, said in a motion filed with Ruckriegle that there were no text messages between the accuser and Herr on the date of the alleged rape at the upscale Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, where the woman was a front desk employee.
Tooley said there were also no text messages between the alleged victim and Herr during the morning hours of July 1, 2003.
The first and only text message between Herr and the woman on July 1, was a text message from Herr to the alleged victim at 3:51 p.m., the lawyer said.
Bryant's trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
Neither do I but Kobe could have saved himself all this grief if he had remembered that he was married and left that other girl ALONE!
Who can blame her for wanting to get out? This whole thing has been like getting assaulted all over again.
Of course.Possibly reparations are due bryant also.We cannot expect him to act out of nature and the fault was clearly somewhere else.
I believe Bryant is a rapist. Further, I believe the young woman.
I'm also entirely confident that the public worship of sports celebrities will shield him from the conviction he so richly deserves.
And one of these days, when your daughter, sister, or friend is raped by a sports star, remember your defense of "R" Bryant and put some ice on it.
The "hope you get what's coming to you" retort is worthless, it cuts both ways.
None of us can know the whole story from leaks to the press. But there are some troubling aspects to this case, I don't think it's a clear cut case of guilty sports star "getting a walk".
Of course this poor fool could have avoided the entire controversy by keeping his trousers zipped. But with the groupie culture out there, that's hard to do. Necessary, though.
...isn't that what she asked Kobe to do?
She may as well have gotten into a vehicle with a total stranger. We just don't DO that!
What did she think would happen? That they would sit down and have tea? I don't think so.
Now we know why Bill Clinton was never convicted of a crime, much less removed from office. Too much of the country is complicit in his crimes, which they blame on the women.
Clinton went to Juanita's hotel room, not vice versa.
Ooohhh, look how they spin for Kobe ...
"Star Struck" comes to mind.
There has to be a song in there ...
Clinton could never be removed from office because too much of the country is "Star Struck." Too many people develop an unseamly attachment to perps. I was surprised David Westerfield did not walk too. Fortunately they found the body first.
We talked about this at great length yesterday.
Kobe Lawyers Seek Accuser's Phone Messages
A gal just doesn't put herself into that situation. I think she had an agenda all her own.
Fact, not spin.
All the Clintonistas claimed the same. You know what they used to say about Bill Clinton.
Exactly! She knew what she was doing.
Is it any wonder why with the media out to make her the villan. Another VIP gets to walk with his pants around his ankles.
If that were the case, the defense would have leaked that by now.
Your probably right.
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