NEW O.D. SHOCK ON KOBE ACCUSER

New York Post ^ | 7/25/03 | BARRY BORTNICK and DAN MANGAN

[dennisw]

You're presuming he's not a moron. I've lived up in ski country, he may well be that stupid................




This DA is supposed to be no dope. In his photo he looks pretty sharp. Plus he's a ......Republican.

[LanPB01]

Amen to that!

[dennisw]

Many thanks for *elucidating* the rape shield laws of Colorado.

[kevao]

He said rape shield laws would keep her two ODs out of the courtroom.

So an accuser's mental condition has no bearing at all on his/her credibility? That's astounding.

[over3Owithabrain]

This DA is supposed to be no dope. In his photo he looks pretty sharp. Plus he's a ......Republican.

No matter to the Kobe sycophants. He'll get his turn getting trashed if need be. If this actually gets to trial, he will be smeared a la Ken Starr. We'll have another Javert going after Val Jean.

[ValerieUSA]

You forgot to mention Mike Tyson's rape CONVICTION.

[Skywalk]

Yes, with evidence of a prior rape allegation in Ms. Washington's past excluded from his trial.

[Skywalk]

And really, you want to put Jerome Bettis and some of those other guys in with Mike Tyson, who at minimum has a long history of lashing out and being unstable himself?

[J. L. Chamberlain]

In his photo he looks pretty sharp.

Oh, great qualifications. I have an old photo where I look like quite a stud...so, where are all the chicks?

Seriously though, this case is a mess from start to finish. This DA is basically a local kid (34), who has spent his whole career in the high country prosecuting B&Es and pot busts, he's not ready for prime time and he'll more than likely get his clock cleaned.

J

[Skywalk]

Wait, you can tell how swift-witted someone is by looking at a photograph?

Snap, I guess we can dispense with tests, interviews and normal conversations then.

[Lonely NY Conservative]

I know a woman who was raped and didn't report it (despite my urging) because she thought no one would believe her. I also knew a girl in college who was mad at her boyfriend so she had her friend beat her up in the ladies room of a bar and reported him to the cops for battery (I was at the bar at the time and witnessed/heard about it from her friend as it was happening). Now if she accused somebody of rape later on in life do I think that the jury should hear of her earlier false allegations? Of course.

I don't know whether Kobe raped this girl or not, but to say that we would be wrong to consider two previous suicide attempts due to boyfriend trouble, bragging to her friends about Kobe's manhood, and, yes, even auditioning for American Idol when speculating (which is all we can do at this point) on her credibility is naive. We make judgments about people all the time based on how they dress, how they act, how they speak, how they treat those around them, etc. These judgments aren't always perfect, and a good judge of character knows that, but they are a necessary mechanism for living in a world in which we do not have all the facts all the time.

[AmishDude]

The Bettis case was even worse. The accuser had conspired with her uncle, a comm. college professor who earlier bragged to a class about how to extort money through blackmail. All very bizarre, but it was quite clear that Bettis was being set up.

I don't recall if anything happened to the accuser. This does explain why Kobe got the benefit of the doubt, however.

[Skywalk]

This is Nick's find, so he gets full credit, but it needs posting. But I'm sure the FBI Behavioral Sciences unit is biased towards rapists. THOSE KOBOTS!

---

I don't believe that 15% is the number "used by the FBI." I think that might be Ms. Barry trying to be helpful.

In C.P. McDowell, & N.S. Hibler, False allegations, Behavioral Science Unit, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA, 1985 they examined 556 cases. They used a very tight criterion for determining that an allegation was false: the accuser herself had to recant the charge and admit that she had made it up. Under that criterion, 27% were found to be fraudulent allegations. They then gave the pile of less certain cases to a panel of three independent investigators. Their conclusion was that 60% of those were false as well.

E.J. Kanin, "False rape allegations." Archives of Sexual Behavior, 23(1) 1994 reports a study done at a university using similar citeria and concludes "false rape allegations constitute 41% of the total forcible rape cases reported during this period." Another done at two midwestern universities found 50%.

Whatever the number is, it is non-zero and large enough to give pause to anyone tempted to jump on every allegation of rape as if it must be true.

Here's another thing the FBI says, on a slightly different aspect of the problem: "Every year since 1989, in about 25 percent of the sexual assault cases referred to the FBI where results could be obtained (primarily by State and local law enforcement), the primary suspect has been excluded by forensic DNA testing."

They also say this:

The fact that these percentages have remained constant for 7 years, and that the National Institute of Justice's informal survey of private laboratories reveals a strikingly similar 26-percent exclusion rate, strongly suggests that postarrest and postconviction DNA exonerations are tied to some strong, underlying systemic problems that generate erroneous accusations and convictions.

[StolarStorm]

The goal of the Kobe defense team is to cause so much dirt to be dug out that the accuser kills herself.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Just a note. I was speaking with regard to Rape Shield Laws in general. I haven't looked at Colorado's specifically. (i.e. Some states allow introduction of prior false allegations of rape, some do not.)

[HurkinMcGurkin]

So an accuser's mental condition has no bearing at all on his/her credibility? That's astounding.

In a rape case, if there is physical evidence of forced sexual intercourse, why on earth would the mental condition of the accuser matter? If there was no evidence, and its "he said-she said", then I am with you. But some people are talking as if a persons past should negate physical evidence. Makes no sense.

[lawdude]

"The DA had to know about this."

Not necessarily. The med records wouldn't be relevant unless they asked her and she admitted the incidents. Besides, I am not sure they have been shown to be true. So much rumor...

[ValerieUSA]

So an accuser's mental condition has no bearing at all on his/her credibility?

There is more to this case than credibility - there is evidence. If she was raped, her mental condition is irrelevant.
If someone famous runs a red light and smashes into your car late at night and you sue for damages, is it relevant whether or not you have a dozen unpaid parking tickets? Is it fair for the celebrity's fans to paint you as a golddigger who had no business out on the road at that hour except to set up their hero and take him to the cleaners, and to celebrate a revelation that you once were treated for anxiety attacks?

[dennisw]

Eagle County, Colo., District Attorney Mark Hurlbert responds to questions about Kobe Bryant's arrest.
 

[kevao]

This DA is supposed to be no dope.

That the DA has reviewed the evidence and filed charges has led many on this site to form the opinion that Bryant is probably guilty. This is reasonable, but I'm still not rushing to judgement.

It would be interesting to know whether this same DA would have filed charges if the accused were not a national celebrity. This whole thing could be just a shot in the dark, after which there will be great book deals to be made, a la Chief Moose.

I make no accusations here. It's just one more unknown that prevents me from stating so confidently, as some are doing here, who's lying and who's telling the truth.