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Investigator Testifies at Bryant Hearing
Chippawa Valley ^

Posted on 10/09/2003 2:08:36 PM PDT by per loin

Edited on 10/09/2003 7:29:36 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

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URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2334846,00.html
Detective: Bryant's accuser protested during encounter

By Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press Writer
October 9, 2003

EAGLE - The woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape told police a flirtatious encounter quickly turned ugly when he grabbed her by the neck, bent her over a chair and attacked her, repeatedly asking, "You're not going to tell anybody about this, right?"

The 19-year-old woman was raped after agreeing to go to Bryant's suite at the resort where she worked, Eagle County Sheriff's Detective Doug Winters testified Thursday at a preliminary hearing to determine whether Bryant will stand trial.

Winters described in graphic detail for a packed courtroom how, according to the woman, an exciting, chance meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers' superstar led to a nightmarish assault that left her shaken and in tears.

She said she told Bryant "no" at least twice and he ignored her, pulling her dress up and her underwear down and raping her from behind.

At one point, the woman told police, Bryant forced her to face him and say "no" when he asked if she was going to tell anyone. After the attack, Bryant made her kiss his penis, Winters said the woman told investigators.

Bryant, 25, has insisted the sex was consensual. He sat at the defense table staring straight at Winters for much of the hearing, hands folded in front of him. Bryant occasionally clenched his jaw, but showed little other reaction.

Though the testimony was graphic, the most explosive statement came from Bryant's own defense attorney when she suggested under cross examination that the woman's injuries would also be "consistent with a person who has had sex with three different men in three days."

That led an angry Judge Frederick Gannett to empty the courtroom and summon the lawyers to his chambers. Gannett was also upset earlier when defense attorney Pamela Mackey said the woman's name four times when asking questions.

She apologized, saying she would write herself a big note not to say it.

"Or I could get you a big muzzle," Gannett said.

The hearing - expected to last only an afternoon - was finally adjourned after more than six hours, an indication the trial could be long and laborious for both sides. Gannett said it would continue next Wednesday, and the district attorney's office said Bryant had to appear.

Winters, the only witness of the afternoon, recounted what the woman told him in an hourlong interview the day after she met Bryant at the resort. It all began with a tour of the hotel on June 30 that led to some flirting. She went back to Bryant's room and showed him a tattoo on her ankle, then turned down his request to join him in the hot tub, Winters said.

Her shift at the front desk was ending and she wanted to go home, he said, and "she was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable."

Winters said she stood up to leave and Bryant gave her a hug that led to some consensual kissing, Winters said.

But when she turned to go, Bryant grabbed her by the neck, pulled up her black dress and raped her against a chair, Winters said. She told investigators she said "no" at least twice, before bursting into tears as the five-minute attack went on.

Bryant wasn't holding her neck so tight she couldn't breathe, Winters said, but enough to control her movement.

"She was afraid that he was going to choke her," he said.

Afterward, Bryant told the woman to clean up, Winters said. She fixed her hair, wiped her face and left after again promising to remain silent.

She went back to the front desk to finish up her work and finally left the resort with an unidentified bellman, Winters said. She told him what happened and he urged her to report it, later following her home.

Winters testified that the woman's blood was found on the inside of Bryant's T-shirt, based on DNA tests. The woman told him she had bleeding from the attack, he said.

The prosecution also presented photographs showing vaginal injuries and one of a bruise on the woman's jaw, and a rape nurse's statement that her injuries were not consistent with consensual sex.

Mackey, though, suggested Winters had no idea when the bruise occurred, and got him to acknowledge that the woman needed no treatment for injuries when she was examined. She also questioned him on whether he saw marks on her neck when he interviewed her the next day.

"She talks on how Mr. Kobe Bryant grabbed her neck and choked her," Mackey told Winters. "You looked at her neck to see?"

Winters said he had, then Mackey asked him if he saw any injuries on her neck.

"Not from the front, no," he said.

"Not a red mark?" she asked.

"That's correct," he said.

"Not a scratch?"

"That's correct."

Winters said the woman seemed serious when he first interviewed her with her parents at their Eagle home.

"I sensed a crackle in her voice," he said. "She stated that he raped her."

Bryant faces up to life in prison if convicted of a felony charge of sexual assault.

Legal experts had expected the defense to waive the hearing and head straight to trial rather than allow prosecutors to lay out their case for the first time _ evidence that will be discussed in public for months.

Gannett had rejected defense requests to have the woman testify and to see her medical records.

The hearing began as hundreds of reporters and a handful of spectators gathered outside the courthouse to catch a glimpse of Bryant as he arrived with his lawyers in a caravan of three SUVs. He said nothing to the crowd.

Bryant had to take off a necklace and was checked with metal detectors before walking into the courtroom.

Bryant, free on $25,000 bond, had been ordered to appear in court for a bond hearing even if the preliminary hearing was waived. He left the Hawaii training camp of the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.

Bryant has the right to go to trial within six months of entering a plea, but he could agree to push that back until later, perhaps after the NBA season ends early next summer.

Copyright 2003, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: kobe; kobebryant; rape
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To: Howlin
Sorry, I wasn't that clear in what I posted. I didn't mean to imply the statement was actually admitted at the prelim, just that the attorneys were told by the judge that it was too inflammatory to be admitted at this time. (I guess the judge just reviewed them independently, as you stated.)
301 posted on 10/09/2003 6:17:53 PM PDT by truthkeeper
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To: Toespi
The woman said that Bryant forced her to kiss his penis after the attack, Winters testified. He said a nurse who examined the woman later at a hospital found injuries consistent with a sexual assault.
302 posted on 10/09/2003 6:17:59 PM PDT by jimbo123
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To: Howlin
Furman: He says this is a fabrication or they would have paraded all three men in court today.
303 posted on 10/09/2003 6:18:10 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: truthkeeper
Who knows..........LOL.
304 posted on 10/09/2003 6:18:28 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Howlin
We'll have to see. If she had sex with 3 men in 3 days, I'd be shocked.
305 posted on 10/09/2003 6:19:01 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Howlin
If it's true she's in a heap 'o trouble!
306 posted on 10/09/2003 6:19:07 PM PDT by truthkeeper
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To: Peach
He's blowing smoke. The detective didn't produce the nurse, did he?
307 posted on 10/09/2003 6:19:22 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Howlin
Huh?
308 posted on 10/09/2003 6:19:58 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: truthkeeper
Art Black is saying that the detective didn't see the bruises on her NECK????
309 posted on 10/09/2003 6:20:01 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: RepublicanArmy
The pro-rape media is refusing to report that photos of her vaginal tears presented today.
310 posted on 10/09/2003 6:20:22 PM PDT by jimbo123
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To: Howlin
There was reporting there was bruising on her neck/jaw area. The nurse photographed them.
311 posted on 10/09/2003 6:20:37 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Peach
The detective testified to what the nurse did and said; they didn't bring her into the courtroom.

They don't need to produce the men now.
312 posted on 10/09/2003 6:20:43 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Peach
There is testimony of the bruising of the neck, but somebody else was saying it was bruising on the jaw.
313 posted on 10/09/2003 6:21:33 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Howlin
Oh, I didn't get it. Sorry.

About that - FNC has said they'd have to provide SOME evidence. The men, Their affidavits - SOMETHING.

You can't just go into court and state crap like that without some backup.

Well, OJ's lawyers did it but that's because Judge Ito didn't have all his male equipment, if you know what I mean.
314 posted on 10/09/2003 6:21:58 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Peach
Though the testimony was graphic, the most explosive statement came from Bryant's own defense attorney when she suggested under cross examination that the woman's injuries would also be "consistent with a person who has had sex with three different men in three days."

That led an angry Judge Frederick Gannett to empty the courtroom and summon the lawyers to his chambers. Gannett was also upset earlier when defense attorney Pamela Mackey said the woman's name four times when asking questions.

She apologized, saying she would write herself a big note not to say it.

"Or I could get you a big muzzle," Gannett said.

315 posted on 10/09/2003 6:22:39 PM PDT by jimbo123
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To: Peach
If she had sex with 3 men in 3 days, I'd be shocked.

I have a feeling there's a lot going on out there that would shock you and me...........LOL.

316 posted on 10/09/2003 6:22:41 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Howlin
FNC: Hearing to resume next Wednesday
317 posted on 10/09/2003 6:23:14 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Peach
Furman also said (quite astutely) that not only did they not produce the three men but got exactly what they had hoped -- all the media would be talking about the bombshell regardless of whether there's any validity to it.
318 posted on 10/09/2003 6:23:58 PM PDT by StarFan
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To: jimbo123
Rita mentioned that the defense attorney said the woman's name over and over. Disgraceful.

FNC: Marks on neck are consistent with forcible sex.

319 posted on 10/09/2003 6:24:28 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: StarFan
But the other guy said that if she can't produce, she'll be sanctioned.
320 posted on 10/09/2003 6:24:31 PM PDT by Howlin
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