| EAGLE, Colorado -- NBA superstar Kobe Bryant must stand
trial on a charge of felony sexual assault on 19-year-old woman, a Colorado judge
announced Monday October 20, 2003.
"The court finds that the evidence, taken in a light most favorable to the
prosecution, is sufficient to 'induce a reasonable belief' that defendant committed sexual
assault as charged," Eagle County Judge Frederick Gannett wrote in his nine-page
ruling.
If convicted of one count of sexual assault, Bryant could face a maximum
sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $750,000. Bryant denies the charge, saying
it was consensual sex -- not rape.
Gannett will next set a date for an arraignment, where the accused Los Angeles
Laker guard must enter a plea, and then set a trial date. The case is not expected to go
to trial until next spring.
Bryant, who practiced with the Los Angeles Lakers Monday, said shortly before
the ruling: "I've pretty much done all I can here and, you know, God will carry me
the rest of the way, so I'm pretty comfortable with that."
Bryant, 25, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman on June 30. The alleged
victim was a clerk at a mountain lodge in Edwards, west of the Vail ski resort, where
Bryant was a guest.
During last week's preliminary hearing, Bryant's lawyers raised questions about
the alleged victim's sexual history.
Defense lawyers argued in court papers that they have "compelling
evidence" of Bryant's innocence, and spent about two hours Wednesday cross-examining
a detective who investigated the case.
The two-day preliminary hearing was interrupted after Bryant's lawyer, Pamela
Mackey, suggested the alleged victim's injuries were consistent with having sex with three
men in three days.
The investigator, Doug Winters, an Eagle County sheriff's detective, testified
the underwear the woman wore to a hospital on the day she went to police contained semen
and pubic hair that came from someone other than Bryant.
He said the alleged victim told him she had sex with a different man three days
before the day she alleges Bryant raped her.
In court papers filed last week, his office accused Mackey of trying to smear
the alleged victim by making a "conscious misrepresentation of the evidence."
But defense lawyers said evidence "from the prosecution's own
laboratory" has been submitted in a sealed motion that could clear the NBA All-Star.
"She is not worthy of your belief," defense attorney Pamela Mackey
told the judge at the end of last week's pretrial hearing referring to Bryant's accuser.
She also called the prosecution's evidence "an extremely thin case based almost
entirely on hearsay."
In his Monday ruling, the judge said: "Although defendant presented
evidence attacking the credibility of the alleged victim, the court cannot conclude that
the hearsay statements of the alleged victim should be disregarded."
In testimony during the preliminary hearing last week, Winters said none of
Bryant's clothes had any rips or tears, and investigators found no marks on Bryant that
would indicate someone had resisted a sexual assault. He also testified that blood from
the woman was found on Bryant's T-shirt. But Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert
said the woman had a bruise on her jaw from Bryant's thumb.
Detective: Bryant and accuser
flirted
Winters said the woman told him that she and Bryant flirted when they first met
and engaged in mutual kissing later, but that he wouldn't stop when she tried to refuse
his attempts to go further.
The detective said the woman reported that she was scared and that Bryant
grabbed her with both hands around her neck.
He then forced her over a chair, raped her despite her protests, and then told
her repeatedly not to tell anyone about it, Winters said the woman told authorities.
At one point in the pre-trial audience, the defense introduced evidence about a
letter from a co-worker of the alleged victim, who said in a written statement that the
woman "did not look or sound like there had been any problem" when she returned
to her post as a concierge at the hotel.
But a bellhop who said he encountered the woman shortly after the alleged
attack told police Bryant's accuser was so distraught he followed her home in his own car
to make sure she was fine. |
