A sheriff’s detective testified Thursday that a 19-year-old resort worker had told him she had been forced to have sex with Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant despite her protests and tears.
Eagle County Sheriff’s Detective Doug Winters, questioned during a preliminary hearing in Bryant’s rape case, said the NBA star repeatedly asked the employee not to tell anyone about the encounter and made her promise to do so before letting her leave his room at a resort in Edwards, Colo.
The hearing featured riveting testimony from Winters and contentious questioning from one of Bryant’s attorneys, Pamela Mackey. It lasted more than five hours before being continued until Wednesday. Judge Fredrick Gannett will ultimately determine whether Bryant will be charged with felony sexual assault.
Bryant has admitted having sex with the woman but says it was consensual.
In his testimony, Winters gave the first detailed account of what happened in Bryant’s hotel room June 30, based on a videotaped interview he made with the woman the following day.
According to his testimony, the woman said her encounter with Bryant began with mutual flirting during a resort tour. Bryant then invited her to his room, where he asked to see a tattoo on her ankle and invited her to join him in a hot tub, Winters said.
The woman said she declined his offer, telling Bryant her shift was about to end and she wished to go home, Winters said. She said Bryant then hugged her, which led to consensual kissing, the detective testified.
The woman said that after she turned to leave, Bryant grabbed her around the neck from behind with his arms, Winters said. According to the woman’s account, Bryant then pulled down her underwear, pushed her against a chair and assaulted her, the detective testified.
She told Winters she broke into tears after twice telling Bryant to stop.
The woman said she was allowed to leave after promising not to tell anyone what happened, an agreement she made only because she was afraid Bryant would physically harm her, Winters testified.
The woman told Winters that she had bled during the attack, and he testified that the woman’s blood was found on the inside of Bryant’s T-shirt.
After leaving the room, the woman said she then ran downstairs to the lobby and met a bellman who had seen her with Bryant earlier, Winters said.
Winters was the day’s only witness, and his testimony was aggressively challenged by Mackey.
She also challenged much of the prosecutor’s evidence, including three photographs presented by Deputy District Attorney Gregory Crittenden. One photograph showed a small bruise on the accuser’s left jaw. The other two were of vaginal injuries the prosecution said were the result of the rape.
During cross-examination, Mackey brought the proceeding to a halt when she suggested that the woman’s injuries might also be “consistent with a person who has had sex with three different men in three days.”
Prosecutors objected and Gannett angrily called a recess, emptying the courtroom and telling lawyers from both sides to meet him in his chambers.
The judge earlier had scolded Mackey when she used the woman’s name six times during her cross-examination. She told the judge she would write herself “a big note” not to use the name again. The judge replied, “Or I could get you a big muzzle.”
Mackey pressed the detective, particularly about the bruises on the woman’s neck. Winters said he did not know when she had suffered the bruising and did not initially see the injuries.
“She talks [about] how Mr. Kobe Bryant grabbed her neck and choked her,” Mackey said to Winters. “You looked at her neck to see?”
After Winters said he had examined the woman, Mackey asked if he could see the bruises.
“Not from the front, no,” Winters said.
“Not a red mark?” Mackey asked.
“That’s correct,” he said.
“Not a scratch?” she asked.
“That’s correct,” he said.
Some legal experts had predicted that the defense would waive the public hearing and go directly to trial. They had speculated that lurid testimony in open court would damage Bryant’s defense.
Gannett had denied an earlier defense request to force the accuser to testify.
Bryant, who had been in Hawaii at Lakers training camp, arrived at the courthouse in a three-vehicle convoy. He did not speak to people outside.
Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom.
Bryant, 25, has been free on $25,000 bond. If convicted, he faces a sentence of four years to life.
The Lakers have stood by Bryant, who had arrived a day late to training camp because of an undisclosed illness. He practiced with teammates for several days but did not play in the Lakers’ first two exhibition games.
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There was no word about when he would rejoin the team, although he vowed last week to play this season. He also said he was “terrified” about the prospects of the case moving forward.
There were some 300 reporters and camera crews stationed in Eagle, with TV satellite trucks parked in a lot–at $555 a space–near the court.
Heightened security was evident. Everyone involved in the case, including Bryant, his accuser and lawyers on both sides, has been threatened by e-mail, letter or telephone.
A man pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he asked for $3 million to kill Bryant’s accuser.
Armed guards were outside the Eagle County Justice Center, and only one entrance was open.
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The courtroom players
The prosecutor
Mark Hurlbert
Eagle County district attorney
Age: 34
Education: B.A., Dartmouth College, 1991; J.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1994
Experience: District attorney of 5th Judicial District, an office where he’s worked as a prosecutor since 1997. Prosecuted Chuck Garrison, a self-made millionaire convicted of beating his wife to death in a rage.
The defense attorneys
Pamela Mackey
Age: 47
Education: B.S., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1981; J.D., George Washington Law School, 1985
Experience: Deputy state public defender, Colorado 1989-94. Clients have included former Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy and Jeane Newmaker, charged in the death of her 10-year-old adoptive daughter during a “rebirthing” session.
Harold A. Haddon
Age: 62
Education: B.A, Albion College, 1962; M.A., University of Michigan, 1963; J.D., Duke University, 1966
Experience: Federal Judicial Selection Commission of Colorado, 1994 (chairman) and 1998. Chairman U.S. Attorney Selection Commission of Colorado, 1993. Special Prosecutor for the State Grand Jury, 1976 and 1977. Adjunct Professor of Law, Criminal Trial Advocacy, Denver University School of Law 1972-1973. Chief Trial Deputy, Colorado State Public Defender’s Office, 1970-1974. Ran Gary Hart’s 1988 presidential campaign. Clients have included John Ramsey, father of slain 6-year-old JonBenet, and writer Hunter S. Thompson.
The judge
Frederick Gannett
Presiding over preliminary hearing.
Age: Born in 1953
Education: Undergraduate degree from Lawrence University in Wisconsin, law degree from Willamette University in Oregon
Experience: Served as a Pitkin County sheriff’s deputy, Basalt municipal judge and assistant municipal judge in Vail before being appointed Eagle County judge in 1987. In 1993, he returned to private law practice. Returned to the county court bench in 2002.
— Associated Press