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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: cyncooper
Thanks for that info. Some reporter gave a more confusing accounting.
581 posted on 10/09/2003 9:17:47 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Jorge
Probably didn't occur to her that she would be choked and raped.

...by a guy that some NFL linebackers would have trouble fighting off.

582 posted on 10/09/2003 9:18:48 PM PDT by alrea
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To: Howlin
Remember we were told there was "jaw-dropping" evidence? Who said that? Prosecutor?
583 posted on 10/09/2003 9:24:06 PM PDT by PRND21
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To: PRND21
jaw-dropping" evidence

There are bite marks?

584 posted on 10/09/2003 9:25:32 PM PDT by Torie
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To: Torie
and the woman has a history of sex with various and sundry on a frequent basis(which would be relevant given the time lag)

This was proven today?

585 posted on 10/09/2003 9:26:37 PM PDT by Dolphy
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To: PRND21
Remember we were told there was "jaw-dropping" evidence? Who said that? Prosecutor?

The prosecutors there might not be too swift but even he knows you offer only what is necessary at this stage. Who knows what's to come?

586 posted on 10/09/2003 9:28:14 PM PDT by Dolphy
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To: Dolphy
If there is evidence of that, given the context of the balance of the evidence as I understand it, and my understanding is thin, if that is excluded, that stikes me as reversable error. If the state law excludes that nevertheless, that strikes me as unconstitutional, as a denial of due process.
587 posted on 10/09/2003 9:28:54 PM PDT by Torie
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To: Torie
That was Marv Albert. ;)
btw, My Pop died in 92 and I enjoyed your earlier post. Cheers.
588 posted on 10/09/2003 9:30:29 PM PDT by PRND21
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To: Dolphy
There were statements made that her visable injuries would make your jaw hit the floor. Doesn't seem to be the case.
I'll try to find the source of that quote.
589 posted on 10/09/2003 9:32:32 PM PDT by PRND21
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To: Dolphy
Link to article that describes timeline, when she went to the sheriff's office and hospital. Bottom of page has links to all stories written about this matter in the local newspaper.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/2544380/detail.html
590 posted on 10/09/2003 9:33:04 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: All; cyncooper
"This is interesting. The AP repeats the tattoo on the ankle testimony."

I posted the below information on another thread earlier and decided to post it here also.

Did anyone listen to Michael Savage this evening? He was flipping his cookie over this case. He was reading from the Denver Channel and they had a paragraph in the article that said something like this: (paraphrase) They chatted about tattoos and he asked her to show the tatto she said she had on her back. She then turned around and lifted her skirt to show him.

Michael Savage went balistic saying she was white trash and led him on etc, etc.

I went to the web site and read it and after reading it I made the decision it was a typo error, because if it was on her back she sure as heck would not have lifted her skirt, but she would have lifted her shirt.

It has amazed me how different papers are giving the details on this. Anyway I went back to The Denver Channel to read their article again and I discoverd this:
POSTED: 3:16 p.m. MDT October 9, 2003
UPDATED: 8:01 p.m. MDT October 9, 2003

They have completely changed the area on her body as to where the tattoo was located.

This is how it reads now:

She said Bryant invited her back to his room and she went in and sat on a couch while he sat on a chair nearby. They chatted about tattoos and he asked her to show the tattoo she said she had on her ankle. She did. He asked if she wanted to go in the hot tub and she said no.
The Denver Channel

Here is the link to the previous thread see #14

Previous Thread
Dectective Details Alleged Rape in Kobe Hearing

591 posted on 10/09/2003 9:34:57 PM PDT by Spunky (This little tag just keeps following me where ever I go.)
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To: STFrancis
In other words it took around 12 hours from the time that she left the hotel up to the time the police got to her house. This is what I have gathered so far out of all of this media nonsense... Your Milage may vary...

Amazing how it turned into two days. lol

592 posted on 10/09/2003 9:40:37 PM PDT by #3Fan
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To: PRND21
There were statements made that her visable injuries would make your jaw hit the floor. Doesn't seem to be the case.I'll try to find the source of that quote.

I remember something similar but they didn't show their entire hand to day or at least they shouldn't have.

593 posted on 10/09/2003 9:41:57 PM PDT by Dolphy
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To: Toespi
The victim was bragging at a party several days after the alleged rape about Bryant's anatomy. Three different men in three days could also account for physical damage to her.

Other witnesses at the get-together said she wasn't bragging. You seem to be biased in what you choose to believe.

594 posted on 10/09/2003 9:43:49 PM PDT by #3Fan
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To: katiebelle
Thanks for posting the "nightmare scenario." Could have been exactly as you posit. Unfortunately her history of mental derangement may be downplayed or excluded.
595 posted on 10/09/2003 9:45:15 PM PDT by 185JHP ( "This Train don't carry no scammer)
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To: Toespi
BUT, there are always behavioral precursors leading up to the actual act of rape. Rape is not a sex crime but an acting out of rage and control. I have yet to hear one person from his past indicate he had problems.

A couple of 911 calls from the Bryant home aren't suspicious?

596 posted on 10/09/2003 9:45:25 PM PDT by #3Fan
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To: PRND21
Fair enough. But did she say "Stop"? We'll never know.

Unbelievable. This 19 year old girl gets strangled by a stranger (a strangulation expert is expected to testify to same for the prosecution) and you say "we'll never know" if she said "stop"!

I suppose you think kids today just love to get strangled when having sex with a stranger. One can never know for certain if they ever want such an delightful experience to end! Why would they ever say "stop"?

You know, I stood up for Bryant for a week or so after this broke, but soon thereafter a little bell went off in my head and I realized this couldn't be a case of consensual sex. Unless you are calling her a hooker, the timeframe alone should let you know that consent to full blown intercourse with a man she just met would not have been granted by this girl.

Today we see damaging hard evidence --- including her blood on his shirt --- that seals Bryant's fate. This dude is guilty as hell. It's time for Bryant's defenders to suck it up, realize they were wrong, and change their minds.

597 posted on 10/09/2003 9:47:22 PM PDT by beckett
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To: Peach
"Link to article that describes timeline, when she went to the sheriff's office and hospital.

Peach, see my posting at #591 just below yours.

The Denver Channel doesn't always get things correct.
At least the first time around.;-)

598 posted on 10/09/2003 9:49:14 PM PDT by Spunky (This little tag just keeps following me where ever I go.)
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To: beckett; Howlin
Blood on the shirt is the smoking gun? Comments? I am way out of league here. As a true confession, I normally don't wear a shirt in even remotely, very remotely, similar circumstances.
599 posted on 10/09/2003 9:53:00 PM PDT by Torie
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To: Spunky
Michael Savage went balistic saying she was white trash and led him on etc, etc.

I heard Savage, he was like an unleashed Clinton team after another bimbo eruption. I wonder if it's an age thing...Michael should remember "a kiss is just a kiss."

600 posted on 10/09/2003 9:56:19 PM PDT by Dolphy
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