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.

[libbylu]

No, you are uninformed. when the woman says stop the guy has to stop, it's the law.
i am most definitely prejudiced, my opinion is he is a spoiled brat who thinks the world owes him and he can do anything he wants.

i was almost raped once. the guy was later convicted for rape of several women. it was nasty. i was fortunate, though, fought him off. he didn't pick a very smart place with me.

[Porterville]

I was groped by Gray Davis... can't prove he didn't...

[Dante3]

Just because a woman does something stupid does not given anyone the right to rape her. The accuser's story rang true and is supported by the nurse's testimony.

Everyone I've heard so far thinks the defense made a big mistake in agreeing to the hearing. A bad day for Kobe.

Incidentally, a couple of months before this incident, Kobe went to see a divorce lawyer.

[Peach]

NO!

I have heard Dan Abrams and other reporters say that the woman agreed to she was flirting and agreed to kiss Kobe Bryant. It then turned violent and hence the bruises on her face and neck.

A Freeper on this thread said the Sheriff testified that what began as a "consensual sexual encounter"...

I expressed surprise the Sheriff would testify to this because it was very different story that I was hearing on television.

I then said if this is the new terminology, then I've engaged in more of it than I thought. I thought I was just kissing. Is that clear?

[maxwellp]

Before this incident I never heard of Kobe Bryant - I'm not a basketball fan. However, if I were a judge I'd throw this case out of my court. I would tell the young lady she was wrong to go to his room and I'd tell Kobe he was, well what was he? I think he was just a man who received an invitation from a woman and he acted on it. They are both young, foolish individuals who both behaved badly.

[Peach]

See my #78. Quite the opposite. I don't know where you got that, but incorrect!!!

[PRND21]

Fair enough. But did she say "Stop"? We'll never know.

[Peach]

They have pictures of the bruises - taken the night of the attack! WHere are you getting your information - it clearly isn't up to date on what was reported on CNN and Court TV.

[TheOtherOne]

There is a question. If the sheriff described it as a "consensual sexual encounter" that obviously means more than kissing to most people (you and me for starters). If he said that, it needs an explanation.

[TheOtherOne]

They have pictures of the bruises - taken the night of the attack!

Really? Who took the pictures?

[Peach]

So a woman who goes to a man's hotel deserves to be raped? She had pictures taken at the Sheriff's office of the bruises on her neck, face and other private areas.

Thank goodness you aren't the judge, as in your own words you'd throw it out of court. I can guarantee you, that WILL NOT happen here.

[Mr Crontab]

I take it you don't have a daughter or sister.
> I'd tell Kobe he was, well what was he?
Try 'rapist'. That might be the word you're looking for.

[jimbo123]

The sheriff did NOT say it was a consensual sexual encounter. The AP reporter (pro-rape liberal) characterized the sheriff's description of what happened as a consensual sexual encounter. The AP reporter is deliberately distorting the sheriff's comments.

[aristeides]

Aren't these Kobots incredible?

[Peach]

I think it's fair to say that someone with bruises on her face, neck and private areas was not a willing participant and she says she did tell him to stop.

Reporters in court today were stunned by the testimony (their words) and they said the evidence was far more damaging than they had been led to believe.

[Porterville]

"Three photos were shown by Doug Winter. One showed a small bruise to her face the other two showed her vaginal area. Pamela Mackey objected to the photos. The detective said he never noticed the bruise on her face during his interview with her. A nurse the next day who documented her injuries noticed it. The nurse stated that the injuries were consistent with genital trauma and not consensual sex."

A quote from javdanreport.com (a new source of dirt) I have no emotion attached to this case, just a hunch... Kobe will go free... watch

[jimbo123]

The Kobots supported Clinton's rape of Juanita Broaddrick, too. Maybe Kobe should have bit through her lip to subdue his victim and rape her twice like the Kobot's hero, Bill Clinton did to Juanita.

[Peach]

I haven't heard that the Sheriff said that; another Freeper says he did. IF the SHeriff said that - he has some explaining to do as it contrasts directly with other testimony.

Everything I've read and heard today describes an entirely more innocent scenario that included flirting and kissing, but definitely not anything further.

[Peach]

CNN and Court TV said the Sheriff's office, I believe. SHE did not take them on her own - they were taken in an official capacity.

[Porterville]

I think it is also fair to say, someone who would try to mutilate their body through suicide twice in 6 months isn't necessarily the type of person you'd trust with a corpus at all.