Posted on 07/23/2003 5:18:29 AM PDT by randita
Denver Post
Pal tells story of Bryant accuser
Says jury's 'jaws will hit the floor'
By George Merritt and Chris Frates
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - EAGLE - A close friend of the woman who claims Kobe Bryant raped her says the basketball star asked the woman for a tour of the mountain resort and invited her into his room shortly after he checked in.
Friend and former high school classmate Luke Bray and another friend said a casual conversation between Bryant and the woman on June 30 led Bryant to ask the 19-year-old hotel receptionist and concierge to show him around.
Bray said the woman was working the front desk at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards when Bryant, 24, a player for the Los Angeles Lakers, arrived about 10 p.m. The two had a friendly exchange as the woman processed Bryant's paperwork and handed him room keys, Bray said.
"She said she felt a certain amount of chemistry with him," Bray told The Denver Post.
A short time later, Bryant asked the woman - a 2002 Eagle Valley High School graduate and University of Northern Colorado student - to show him around the resort, said Bray, who has talked at length with the woman during her recent stays with him and his wife, Starlene, also a high school friend.
The woman, flattered by Bryant's offer, accepted. She was on duty but not busy because of the late hour. She was due to go off duty at 11 p.m.
"She said he was just really down to earth, and that he was acting like a great guy," Bray said. "He was easy to talk to."
The two of them strolled around the main lodge of the sprawling 56- room resort. At some point, Bryant invited her into his room, Bray said.
"She had thoughts of declining," Bray said. "But he had been nice. She felt safe about doing that."
The woman told Bray that she soon realized it was nearly time for a shift change and that she had to be back at the front desk to punch out.
"Once she told him she had to leave, his attitude started to change," Bray said. "From there the story gets crazy."
The next day, the woman went with her parents to the Eagle County Sheriff's Office to report she had been raped. That day, Bryant had arthroscopic surgery on his knee at a clinic in Vail. Bryant surrendered to authorities July 4, posted $25,000 bond, and on Friday was charged with felony sexual assault.
Lawyers for the five-time NBA All-Star have maintained their client's innocence, while Bryant himself has said he had consensual sex with the hotel employee. His attorneys have not returned phone calls this week.
Bray refused to give details of what he called "the attack" because of requests from the woman's family and her attorney. But Bray said the woman has obvious physical injuries that are still visible three weeks after the incident.
"I can't wait for this to get in front of a jury so they can see what happened," Bray said. "Their jaws will hit the floor, and they will convict him."
District Attorney Mark Hurlbert has refused to comment on the facts of the case but said there was "alleged sexual penetration or intrusion" and that Bryant caused "submission of the victim through actual physical force."
Accounts have varied widely about how the woman ended up in Bryant's room - one version put her in his room while helping bellmen bring in bags, while another version held that Bryant sent bodyguards to fetch her.
Bray said that whatever happened after the incident is unclear because the woman was "really emotional and upset" as she left Bryant's room. Some reports have said the woman was hysterical and visibly upset. Bray said the woman doesn't remember much. He said she made the 30-minute drive from the lodge to her home in Eagle by herself and was home by midnight.
The next morning she told her mother and a friend about what happened, Bray said.
"It was her mother that knew right away what happened," Bray said. It was her mother, Bray said, who told the woman, "You were raped."
That it took 12 hours for the woman to go to authorities could be a problem for prosecutors, one legal expert said Tuesday.
"You would always point to a delay in reporting to show weakness in the accuser's case," Denver lawyer Maureen O'Brien said. "It gives someone time to make things up or to embellish a story."
Bryant's lawyers also could argue that the woman inflicted bruises on herself during that 12-hour lag time.
"If the physical evidence is a bruise or scratches, then the defense could point to that delay," O'Brien said. "Those things could come from anywhere - bumping into a table, for instance. They could be self-inflicted. It all adds a reasonable doubt."
Cynthia Stone with the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault said it is not at all unusual for rape victims to wait before reporting a crime.
"It is very individualized how women respond to attacks," Stone said. "Women who accuse someone of rape have a lot to think about. Look at what this woman has been through."
Meanwhile Tuesday, more people jumped into a court case that will determine whether local authorities must release tapes of phone calls the woman made to police during the past year.
Authorities refused to release the tapes after the Vail Daily requested them. The newspaper also asked for all the police dispatches from the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera for the past 26 months.
All paperwork submitted by Tuesday afternoon was off-limits to the public. Local authorities have argued they will withhold the tapes in order to protect the victim's identity, while the newspaper argues that the tapes are public information.
Attorneys for the woman and the Eagle County District Attorney's Office filed first-time briefs. The Vail Daily and Eagle Police Department filed paperwork to supplement their original briefs.
Also, the woman who has been misidentified on the Internet as Bryant's accuser has hired an attorney, sources said. A number of websites show the woman's picture and mistakenly name her as Bryant's alleged victim.
!!?
Well *I* hadn't, this is news to me.
Now let's see how hard these people work to circulate their retraction.
I'll pass on your "suggestion". When someone goes on the record like this you can't just dismiss it. Especially when they purport to have seen physical evidence.
You are right that there may be some detached individuals that may just be talking to get a famous thrill. And what they say may be no big deal. If this woman was raped THAT is a big deal. I know someone that was raped and it's a horrible crime.
Note that you don't have a whole lot of people stepping forward and defending Kobe Bryant. Oh, his lawyers are and his wife is and people like Phil Jackson. People that get paid in some way by Kobe's "talents". But there are not a lot of vocal "friends" of his rising above the din declaring that Kobe is a good guy.
Anyone heard what Kobe's bodyguards have had to say? I have seen nothing. Isn't that interesting?
I realize this is a perfectly legitimate possiblility, but it is also a very convenient disclosure for her. How can we possibly fault the poor girl for her actions after the fact? She was confused, disoriented, and she doesn't even remember the details all that well...
Yes, being raped is a big deal. However, even if she were murdered, that wouldn't mean every story from everyone who knew her was true.
To me it's suspicious that the stories keep getting more detailed, more graphic, more damning to the accused. It's irrelevant to the validity of the accusation, but interesting to me from a "snapshot of society" or "medium is the message" perspective.
I have no opinion on the actual case, because the public has been told nothing that's really evidence.
Some people around here should be very very ashamed. Not that it wouldn't be reprehensible to post the true victim's picture and address but to do so thinking you're outing the victim when you're really making some innocent girl take grief is despicably atrocious.
At this point Kobe ought to waive his right to trial by jury and assert his desire to have this case tried in the media. It would just work out better for all concerned.
Looks like that's happening no matter what he (or she, or their lawyers) would prefer. I wonder whether everyone will have lost interest by the time it actually goes to trial.
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