Rhune
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Judge rules Kobe must stand trial
« on: Oct 20th, 2003, 6:57pm » |
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EAGLE, Colorado (CNN) -- NBA superstar Kobe Bryant must stand trial on a charge of felony sexual assault, a Colorado judge announced Monday.
Judge Frederick 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 Associated Press reported that Bryant's next appearance, in district court, is set for November 10.
If tried and convicted, Bryant could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Bryant denies the charge, saying it was consensual sex -- not rape.
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.
But Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said judges require only a "very low standard" to move the case forward.
"I am confident the judge will find probable cause and will bind this case over, and I am confident in the people's case versus Kobe Bryant," Hurlbert told reporters last week.
Bryant 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.
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.
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 DNA material 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.
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. But Hurlbert said the woman had a bruise on her jaw from Bryant's thumb.
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.
Last week, Winters testified that blood from the woman was found on Bryant's T-shirt.
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.
Winters 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, the detective said the woman told authorities.
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