Investigator Testifies at Bryant Hearing

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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.

[Peach]

I read it. She agreed to go to his room. She flirted and agreed to kissing. That's a big stretch from agreeing to consensual sex and ending up with bruises on her face and neck.

[jwh_Denver]

And with this one, she's an employee of the hotel, it would be natural for her to go into the room for a variety of reasons.

She went to his room when she got off work.

[Shermy]

What do you make of that $4 million ring he gave his wife? I doubt the Queen of England has a ring that valuable.

BTW, is wifey at the court?

[TADSLOS]

If it was just a matter of being desperate for sex, what was stopping him from hiring a prostitute?

Naivete and the fear of being found out - irrational, but understandable, considering his fame and image up to that point. I'm not an apologist for him. He needs to pay the price for crimes committed. He bought into the sports superstar bit, which led to this situation.

[Brandon]

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

Since when are criminal trials scheduled for the personal convenience of the defendant?

[Brandon]

How far was the consent?

According to Dan Abrams, who was in the court room and reported for MSNBC immediately after the detective's testimony, the accuser said she went along with hugging and kiss for a few minutes. When Bryant put his hands under her clothes, she asked him to stop. He didn't. If that story holds up, Bryant is going away for a long time.

[jimbo123]

Summary Of Accuser's Statement To Det. Doug Winter
Alleged Victim Tells Detective That There Was Mutual Flirting, Kissing

POSTED: 3:16 p.m. MDT October 9, 2003
UPDATED: 3:34 p.m. MDT October 9, 2003

Eagle County Detective Doug Winter said he interviewed the alleged victim at the sheriff's department.

The alleged victim told Winter that she was excited about meeting Bryant when she heard that he would be a guest at the resort. She said that while she was showing Byrant and two people in his entourage up to their rooms, he pulled her aside and asked her to give him a tour of the hotel.

She said there was "mutual flirting" during the tour, Winter said.

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 back. She lifted her skirt and showed him. When she thought she was leaving, she asked for his autograph in which he replied that he would give it to her later when she came back to his room.

She said he asked for a hug and she gave him one and then he began kissing her mouth, her neck -- actions she said she agreed to. She said the kissing lasted about 5 minutes. She said he then began to grope her breasts and butt. He began putting his hand under her panties, and she told him that she had to leave.

She said she was trying to leave when Bryant "grabbed her around the neck."

She said that he was trying to block her movement. She said she was afraid and he started to follow her as she moved toward the door. She said that he had both of his hands around her neck and was "controlling her movements."

She said he then bent her over a chair, pulled up skirt and pulled her panties down. She said that she told him that she needed to leave "and at one point, stated no," Winter said.

She said she began crying when the sexual intercourse started and didn't stop until it was over about 5 minutes later. She said the sex was painful.

She said that while the intercourse was occurring he asked if she was going to tell anyone about it. She said no. He asked her to look at him and again confirm that she would not tell anyone. She said she did that because she was afraid. She said when the incident was "about to end" she started prying his hands off her neck, and then she said he stopped.

She said she turned around and pulled up her underwear. He asked her to go clean up in the bathroom. She said before she left Bryant told her she shouldn't tell anyone. She said she then ran down to the front desk and told the bellman everything that had happened.

Winters said that while he was interviewing her, there was another deputy in the interview room as well as a victim's advocate. The interview was videotaped but the videotape was not allowed to be submitted in the preliminary hearing because it was deemed too prejudicial. An audiotape of Kobe Byrant's statement was also pulled from preliminary hearing.

Winter said that before she began telling her story, he told her that if this was a false accusation, that she would be in big trouble. She said that she understood.

[So Cal Rocket]

Kobe's gonna make some new friends in prison.

[KE]

According to CNN she had a laceration on her jaw,and her "privates".

Also from CNN Wolf Blitzer: Reporter said to have kids out of the room for this report: Kobe asked her to kiss his private parts and she said no, and then he MADE HER DO IT!

Clintons' legacy huh?

Karen

[ErnBatavia]

"consensual sexual encounter"

With this case coming on now, it's going to be a tossup as to what term has been more worn out by the media....that or, "(number of casualties goes here)since George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations".

[PRND21]

Eagle County Sheriff's Detective Doug Winters said the woman described a consensual sexual encounter that spiraled out of her control.

[Peach]

What is being portrayed by those who listened to the testimony is a woman who agreed she was flirting and agreed to kiss Kobe Bryant. If that is described by the Sheriff as consensual sexual encounter, then I had a lot more of those in high school than I thought. I thougt I was just kissing.

[riri]

The deputy also said the victim told him she had not showered since the alleged incident, so investigators retrieved the clothing she wore that night -- a dress, a coat, her shoes and underwear

This is pretty incriminating toward Kobe. But, the fact that she never showered and had preserved all the evidence tells me somebody was doing some number crunching.

I say call it a wash.

[riri]

Re: your 48. I think you probably are right on the money.

[Peach]

HUH? Every woman who has been raped understands the importance of not destroying the evidence/DNA. Some women can't stand it and bathe anyway.

[PRND21]

I thougt I was just kissing.

It may be, I'm just responding to the article and not trying to argue with you.

[MizSterious]

Please read the detective's summary in #67. Apparently, what a (stupid) reporter called "consensual sexual" encounter was actually a kiss and a hug. Not my idea of sex, but it's the media, no accounting for how they report things.

Given that it was a kiss and a hug (according to the summary), I don't think it's a given that he will "walk"--although anything is possible.

[Peach]

Ditto.

I just hadn't understood the new terminology, I guess. Consensual sexual encounter always meant intercourse when I was young.

[TheOtherOne]

"consensual sexual encounter"

That means just kissing to you?

[Porterville]

I don't buy it... the invetigator didn't notice the bruise the night before, but the nurse does the next day?? I am dubious to say the least...and....and... no jury will put Koby in jail with out more evidence.... It is just the way it is.