Papers Reveal New Details In Kobe Bryant Rape Case
Newly released court papers in the rape case against Kobe Bryant suggest that
his accuser had sex with a second man not long after her encounter with Mr. Bryant. They also show that prosecutors were concerned that disclosure of that information could undermine their case.
The evidence was discussed in a two-day hearing in June in which defense lawyers sought to persuade the judge to allow testimony about the woman's sexual history. The judge last month ruled that much of the evidence was admissible. A transcript of the hearing, which a court clerk had mistakenly e-mailed to seven news organizations last month, was officially released late Monday.
The only witness to testify at the hearing, a defense expert, said that
DNA evidence strongly suggested that Mr. Bryant's accuser had sex with a second man not long after her encounter with Mr. Bryant. That conclusion is at odds with a statement the woman gave at the time and will doubtless be used by defense lawyers to provide an alternative explanation for the injuries she suffered.
At the June hearing, Ingrid S. Bakke, a prosecutor, argued that a Colorado law that generally bars admitting evidence concerning the sexual history of people who say they were sexually assaulted should apply in the case. Ms. Bakke also cautioned that a contrary ruling would do grave harm to the prosecution's case.
Were that to happen, she said, according to the transcript, ''I'm thinking the prosecution is going to sit down and re-evaluate the quality of its case and its chances of a successful prosecution.''
But last month the judge, W. Terry Ruckriegle, the chief judge of the district court in Eagle, Colo., did allow some evidence concerning the woman's sexual conduct to be presented, though he limited it to the 72-hour period that ended with her physical examination on July 1, 2003, the day after her encounter with Mr. Bryant at a resort hotel near Vail.
Judge Ruckriegle said he reluctantly released the transcript only because higher courts had ordered him to.
The trial of Mr. Bryant, a basketball superstar for the Los Angeles Lakers, is set to start Aug. 27.
While some legal experts cautioned against drawing conclusions from partial evidence, others said that the DNA evidence described in the transcript might irretrievably damage the prosecution's case. Craig Silverman, a former Denver prosecutor, focused on the expert's conclusion that the woman had had sex with another man after her encounter with Mr. Bryant.
''That is inconsistent with the way jurors could expect a true rape victim to act,'' Mr. Silverman said, ''and it is inconsistent with what she and her attorney have said.''
Others said the new information, even if true, might not be significant.
''Even if the alleged victim did have sex with someone after the incident with Kobe Bryant,'' said Karen Steinhauser, a former sexual assault prosecutor in Denver, ''it tells us nothing about whether she consented to have sex with Kobe Bryant.''
Some information remains sealed. It includes, Judge Ruckriegle wrote on Monday, the accuser's name, information concerning her sexual activities outside the 72-hour window, any use of drugs and alcohol and her mental health history. Those restrictions affected only a handful of passages in the transcript. The accuser was generally referred to as ''Miss ------------''; the second man as Mr. X.
The only witness to testify at the hearing was Dr. Elizabeth A. Johnson, a defense expert in forensic DNA analysis. Dr. Johnson said she had detected semen from a second man on various samples. The second man's DNA was present, she said, in and on the woman, on what prosecutors called ''the purple G-string'' she wore when she met Mr. Bryant and on yellow underwear she wore to the physical examination the next day.
Mr. Bryant has said he had consensual sex with the woman. His DNA was detected in several samples as well, though not on the yellow underwear.
Prosecutors maintain that old, dry semen from the second man on the yellow underwear accounted for its presence on the various samples.
Dr. Johnson said that theory was not plausible.
''I think is would be highly coincidental for someone in the act of putting on underwear to make three separate circular spots on their thighs,'' she testified in June.
''It is highly unlikely to explain how that material got internally,'' she continued. Dr. Johnson added that if sex with the second man had preceded the encounter with Mr. Bryant, some of the second man's genetic material would have been found on Mr. Bryant and his clothing.
In a statement issued in March, the accuser's lawyer, John Clune, called the accusation that his client had sex not long after her encounter with Mr. Bryant ''patently false.''
According to an earlier decision in the case by a different judge, Mr. Bryant's accuser gave an account of her recent sexual history at her physical examination a year ago. ''The alleged accuser,'' Judge Frederick Gannett, of County Court in Eagle, wrote, ''disclosed that she had engaged in sexual intercourse on June 28, 2003, and that her partner has used a condom.''
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/us/papers-reveal-new-details-in-kobe-bryant-rape-case.html
