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."
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
From Dictionary.com
1. Of, concerning, or affecting the community or the people: the public good.
...
7. Open to the knowledge or judgment of all: a public scandal
So it would seem that the US Constitution as quoted by YOU, IN FACT says that the member of the public you were taken to task has a right in the trial. I did not bother to check to see if you got the ammendment correct, gee you could have at least read what you posted?
This is of course because the founder of the US were concerned with tyrants and thus did not want the government to be able to railroad someone on the testimony of unknown witnesses.
Above is the First Amendment. Now support the statement that you have a right to know the name of Kobe Bryant's accuser (the inverse of which you called "stupid") from that text. I'm waiting...
Thanks for your threat to us Coloradoans. You're not related to Kobe, are you? I could see the resemblance of your intimidating ways and the fact that you could say some of these things minus too much blushing.
By the way, if you think the ability for you personally to know the particulars of a case is the definition of "public" in that Amendment, then why don't you go sit in on a local juvenile court case tomorrow. Oh, and be sure and ask for the defendants name so you can publish it.
Kobe Bryant will get a public trial, as he is guarranteed. The woman's name will almost certainly be released then. But you have no right to know it beforehand.
Oh, I forgot, women with mental problems, recent/temporary or long-term, can't be raped...now can they? Is that your doctrine?
Amen. I wish all the celebrity worshippers could understand this. The right is for the accused to be confronted with the witnesses against him, not for the accused to be made known to the world so he/she can be pilloried by the accused's worshippers.
I used to follow pro basketball closely. Up until a few years back. I had no idea who Kobe Bryant was. I've heard his name somewhere but I didn't know if he played football or basketball or whatever. Honestly, I don't care about him or his wife or his kid or the girl he screwed or raped or whatever. Do you think most people do? Really? Oh, people get all excited and lathered about this "story". It's human nature. But seriously, it's not like any of us are going to have tea with Kobe or the DA or the girl or Kobe's wife, etc.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, discussions about things like the "Kobe" story happen because we have the time to discuss them. Is this a great country or what?
Just in case you missed it, my statement still stands. This Amendment declares Kobe Bryant's right to a public trial, not your right to know the name of the accuser. Public means transparent. Were her name to be omitted throughout (so long as Kobe and his defense knew it), the trial would still be public (hell, it's even going to be televised!).
Do you understand most folks who attempt suicide, or are you just pleased as punched to stereotype such folks.
I'm sure in threads such as these there are folks here who have either attempted it or have a family member who has. A word to the wise: When you point a finger at one such person, you aim at all who have been in her or her family's shoes.
Folks who attempt suicides are not in the vast majority of cases those who have some mental illness. They are usually suffering from despair, depression, etc...and is going through a temporary stage of their life. It doesn't preclude them from being a crime victim or reliable witness.
Does she look back at being violated and say, "Thank goodness I didn't make things worse by reporting the guy?"
Please understand that this is not a normal topic of discussion. We will not be discussing the Kobe Bryant case, in fact this subject rarely comes up...period.
You have no idea what a woman goes through when she files charges for rape. Better to be shot in a carjacking....
So if a KKK member heads into a black ghetto in the South for the purpose of nefarious activities, and is arrested, and is convicted...you're saying you'd come online and threaten those community members that if he was convicted, "things are going to get bad...it's going to be lose, lose, lose for you."
That sounds like a threat from someone who would be in league with the KKK.
I'm not about to label you a racist...but you're not making an argument on behalf of the race-card players, are you? You're not in league with racists are you?
Manic depression is...but not all bouts of depression are...otherwise, we'd have a 100% mental illness rate.
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