Posted on 07/26/2003 7:48:48 PM PDT by Recourse
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ESPN.com: NBA | |
Saturday, July 26, 2003
Teen craves spotlight, but friends say not like this
EAGLE, Colo. -- The profile of the young woman emerges as if in silhouette.
Kobe Bryant's accuser remains anonymous, her identity protected as an alleged sexual assault victim, her voice not heard to tell her side of the story. Details of her life, coming from friends and police reports and cast in the half-light of reflected celebrity, create an enigmatic image.
Some see the slender 19-year-old with shoulder-length blond hair and a sweet smile as energetic, upbeat and confident -- a peppy cheerleader and spirited singer in school shows who had aspirations of stardom.
Others in this middle-class, Rocky Mountain town of 3,500 -- where bored teens hang out at the Texaco station, then drive off to party through the night in the hills -- describe her as a showoff, "a total starve for attention," as one ex-boyfriend put it.
"It doesn't matter if (the attention) was good or bad," Josh Putnam said. "It was always good to her."
| “ | I correlate it to throwing a pebble into a pond and then you have a ripple effect. When something's high-profile, your ripples get bigger and bigger and bigger. The higher profile it is, the greater the potential victim base. ” | |
| — Attorney Krista Flannigan |
Friends call her honest, trustworthy and strong, "one of the toughest people I know," according to Luke Bray, a 21-year-old construction worker whose wife has known her since second grade.
"She can't believe the things that people in her own town are saying about her," he said. "She's going to be a victim a second time, a third time, a fourth time, every day for the rest of her life. But she knows the truth and can handle it."
Yet several former friends doubt her allegations against Bryant, saying she is impulsive, vindictive and emotionally fragile.
Her freshman year at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, a farm community 60 miles north of Denver, was interrupted Feb. 25 when she was rushed to a hospital by ambulance. Campus police chief Terry Urista said his office received a call about 9 p.m. that night regarding a woman in a dormitory room.
"An officer determined she was a danger to herself," Urista said, identifying the woman by name but refusing to characterize the episode as a suicide attempt. "It's classified as a mental health issue," he said.
Lindsey McKinney, who lived at the woman's family's house this spring before the two had a falling out, said her former friend tried to kill herself at school by overdosing on sleeping pills and overdosed again at home in May, little more than a month before she alleged Bryant assaulted her.
The woman was distraught over a breakup with her boyfriend and the recent death of a girlfriend in a car accident, McKinney said.
The contrast between the gregarious, seemingly happy image so many friends have of the woman and the histrionic, troubled side others describe is stark and hard to reconcile.
She is less visible these days, her friends say, staying home most of the time, unless she's driving to meetings at her attorney's office in nearby Avon. She still visits friends but has been warned by authorities not to talk about the case.
Sexual assault victims often worry about being blamed, said Krista Flannigan, an attorney and victim advocate working for the district attorney in the Bryant case.
"Fear, anxiety, some form of guilt, sadness, anger, vulnerability-- those come and go," Flannigan said. "Some are more intense than others, depending on what their past life experiences have been, what their current support systems are, what their past support systems have been."
A high-profile case, she said, affects the victim and her community with greater intensity.
"I correlate it to throwing a pebble into a pond and then you have a ripple effect," Flannigan said. "When something's high-profile, your ripples get bigger and bigger and bigger. The higher profile it is, the greater the potential victim base."
In this case, the ripples are reaching far beyond the woman's family -- her retired father and mother and two brothers. They are touching virtually everyone in this tiny town, down the valley from resort-rich Vail.
What everyone agrees on is that she had a passion and talent for singing. She wrote songs and kept telling people she would be famous someday.
She traveled with McKinney last fall to Austin, Texas, to audition for the TV show "American Idol." The two slept outside for 12 hours to win wristbands that ensured audition spots.
Involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with a boyfriend from Eagle, the woman chose a song by country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard called "Forgive," about a woman stung by infidelity, wondering how to respond when her lover asks her to say she forgives him.
The refrain of the song is: "Well, that's a mighty big word for such a small man, and I'm not sure I can, 'cause I don't even know who I am, it's too soon for me to say forgive."
McKinney thought her friend's rendition was beautiful, but neither of them got past the first round.
Though many friends believe the woman is telling the truth when she says Bryant assaulted her June 30 in his room at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, where she recently had begun working at the front desk, McKinney has her doubts.
"I almost think she is doing it for the attention," she said. "She craves attention like no other. This is the bad kind of attention that she's going to get. I'm not saying it didn't happen. But it just doesn't fit the puzzle."
But Sara Dabner, 17, sees it differently. To her, Bryant's accuser is like a big sister, befriending her on a high school choir trip to Disneyland and helping her through personal problems. She and other friends took the woman out to see the movie "Bad Boys II" after charges were announced against Bryant.
The notion that the woman would make up the allegations strikes Dabner as preposterous.
"Why would a woman put herself through all of this -- having people call her names?" she said, noting that her friend didn't even know who Bryant was when he first arrived at the hotel. "She's not trying to drag him through the dirt," Dabner said. "She just wants justice."
You're the one who failed to back up your statement, so it's amusing that you claim victory.
You have any data on this? Of course that would not matter to me either.
I saw that you'd responded to rolling_stone's post, though not to the substance of the issue at hand ("shall be withheld from public inspection" in Massachusetts and "[s]uch deletions are only required prior to providing access to a record for inspection by a member of the general public..." in Colorado; I could add similar text from numerous other states). You're indebted to that poster for doing your homework. Other states have the same features of victim privacy. Your obstinance is noted, and there's no need to respond since you say about the proof you were wrong, "...[T]hat would not matter to me."
COLORADO: Section 24-72-304(4), C.R.S. (Supp. 1992) requires courts to delete the names of victims of sexual assault or alleged sexual assault from records that pertain to the adjudication of criminal cases. Such deletions are only required prior to providing access to a record for inspection by a member of the general public and not when access is provided to a criminal justice agency or a party in interest.
MASSACHUSETTS: The Rape Shield Law provides: That (any) portion of the records of... any police department... which contains the name of the victim (of) rape or assault with intent to rape... shall be withheld from public inspection..." G. L. c265 s24c (1992 ed.)
Q.E.D.
...the attorney of the accused might tell the press who is accusing their client or the press might learn from a confidential source and publish the name.
A defense attorney might do that in violation of a gag order, which is called contempt of court. As officers of the court, defense attorneys are bound to the same laws to which other officers of the court are bound. That means the rape shield laws apply to them as well.
The media can learn the victim's name from a wide range of sources. Under most rape shield laws, those sources should NOT be law enforcement or prosecutors or defense counsel or court employees or anyone else with access to redacted files.
Franky, I would find no joy in such a result on the basis of the ignorant commnets of Hannity types.
Improper according to WHOM? How many laws were changed after the OJ Simpson criminal trial?
It is very F'ing important that since she was a recent mental patient under watch, that her history be brought to court.
Is it as "F'ing" important to judge the case on what actually happened that night, in that room, between those two people, in light of any actual evidence? I've duly noted the exceptions to Colorado's rape shield law, and I've also pointed out that the judge's discretion -- not public outcry -- is what determines which exceptions, if any, are granted to the defense. Her mental state may have been a factor, but I dare say at this point that it is the only one. In case you didn't know, people who have a whole range of issues and mental states can be, and are, sexually assaulted. The judge will no doubt consider the young lady's state of mind on that evening, but that does NOT mean he will allow any past history to be raised during trial.
Did you see my six-point litmus test for rape victims?
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!! Thank you, your Honor, for a good morning laugh!
I never said they don't.
Unfortunately, all it takes is a few manipulative, lying women to cast doubt on innocent accusers, but that is what happens.
No, all is takes is one manipulative...
Sorry, I do. And so does the common law.
Do you have any facts that support your opinion, or is it just a feeling?
Look, the issue here is consent to intercourse. How is it possible that you would think, even for a second, that one's tendency to consent to intercourse with strangers, or not to, was not relevant?
Sorry, I do. And so does the common law.
Do you have any facts that support your opinion, or is it just a feeling?
Look, the issue here is consent to intercourse. How is it possible that you would think, even for a second, that one's tendency to consent to intercourse with strangers, or not to, was not relevant?
It provides the defense the opportunity to identify witnesses who will testify as to the credibility of the accuser, who might otherwise not be aware of the case.
It is essential to the defense.
And, once again, an accuser is not a "victim".
An accuser is merely that. The trial will establish victimhood, or not.
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