Kobe case to be dropped!!!! (??)

[R-Tistic]

EAGLE, Colo. (Sept. 1) -- Attorneys in the Kobe Bryant case hastily assembled behind closed doors in the courtroom Wednesday amid reports prosecutors will drop the rape charges against the NBA star.

The prosecution will drop the case as early as Thursday, according to media outlets including MSNBC, ABC and Court TV, all citing unidentified sources.

District Attorney Mark Hurlbert scheduled a late afternoon news conference, but his spokeswoman declined to comment before that, as did attorneys for the 20-year-old accuser. Defense attorneys did not return calls seeking comment.

L. Lin Wood, an attorney handling the accuser's federal civil lawsuit against Bryant, said that case was intact Wednesday.

"There has been no settlement of the civil lawsuit and there have been no discussions concerning a settlement," he said. He declined to comment when asked about the criminal case.

Bryant, 26, has said he had consensual sex with a then-19-year-old employee of a Vail-area resort where he stayed last summer. If convicted, the Los Angeles Lakers star would face four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation, and a fine up to $750,000.

Reports that the prosecution was dropping the case surfaced as jury selection began to wrap up. Attorneys and District Judge Terry Ruckriegle had hoped to seat a 12-member jury this week, with opening statements coming next Tuesday.

Defense attorneys this week asked the judge to dismiss the assault charge, saying prosecutors had refused to turn over details that could suggest Bryant is innocent. Court rules require prosecutors and defense attorneys to exchange evidence and witness opinions before trial, a process called discovery.

In a motion made public Wednesday, defense attorneys said a forensics expert whom prosecutors had planned to call as a witness had information that "undermined the accuser's allegations and the prosecution's case, and corroborated Mr. Bryant's defense on a central issue -- the cause and significance of the accuser's alleged injuries."

The filing said those opinions were not disclosed to the defense until they contacted the expert Friday, despite repeated requests to prosecutors for the information. Prosecutors have said they have turned over all information they were required to.

"A person's life and liberty are at stake," the defense attorneys wrote. "The game of hide-the-ball, find-it-if-you-can discovery is intolerable. This court must vindicate Mr. Bryant's constitutional rights and impose meaningful sanctions against the prosecution."

The motion does not identify the expert, but prosecutors this spring had said they planned to call former New York City medical examiner Michael Baden to testify about the woman's injuries.

Hurlbert had said during a July 19 hearing he had decided against using Baden. He did not elaborate.

The defense motion was first reported by ABC News, which cited unidentified sources who said Baden told prosecutors the woman's injuries could have been caused by consensual sex. Baden did not return messages Wednesday.

The defense has also argued that injuries found on the woman could have been caused by sex with someone else in the time surrounding her encounter with Bryant, including someone afterward and before she went to a hospital. The woman's attorneys have denied that claim.

Defense attorneys asked the judge to either dismiss the case or bar prosecutors from introducing any expert testimony relating to the accuser's injuries. The judge gave prosecutors until Tuesday to respond.


09/01/04 18:26 EDT

[187Proof]

haha!!!! I just know in the end this bitch is gonna break down and tell eveyrone she's a liar. Fuck her!

[Trauma-san]

Yup, they just dropped all charges.  Wow, didn't see that coming. 

[Montana00]

of course they dropped the charges.

They were allowed to discuss her previous sexual encounters before kobe. And since shes a major slut, it would have made her look really bad.

but im sure she'll end up sueing him.

[Sikotic™]

She was out for loot. Crazy bitch.

[.:DayGoStyLz:.]

you all know im not a Kobe fan lol So fuck him. Cant say i really thought he was guilty (despite gettin under NIKs skin and calling him a rapist lol), but i also wouldnt have been surprised if he did do it. Fans always seem to assume they actually KNOW someone lol. But i am glad he wont be goin to jail. Regardless of what a bitch he is, i dont wanna see him get locked up. He is a good player, and good for the league. Plus, now the Lakers should make the playoffs. If he wasnt playing...they wouldnt, and i wouldnt get to see SA stomp the shit out of em in Round 1....SA( 1 )/LA( 8 ) 

[-VZA-]

Thank God... whether he did or not, he has learned a valuable lesson and will never be unfaithful to his wife again.  To me, ultimate justice is when somebody realizes their mistake, suffers a consequence, and will know better than to try it again in the future.  Rotting away in a cell for 25 to life wouldn't be close to justice in this case (and many other cases) whether he was guilty or not.

[.:DayGoStyLz:.]

Thank God... whether he did or not, he has learned a valuable lesson and will never be unfaithful to his wife again.  To me, ultimate justice is when somebody realizes their mistake, suffers a consequence, and will know better than to try it again in the future.  Rotting away in a cell for 25 to life wouldn't be close to justice in this case (and many other cases) whether he was guilty or not.

whoa lol. So assuming he DID rape her...going through this little embarassment would be justice? lol. Like i said, im glad he's not going to jail...but thats under the assumption that he DIDNT do it. If he did, send him to jail. Its rape. Probably the only crime where theres never an excuse to do it, and u wouldnt be "cured" of your sickness because u got exposed on tv lol.

[7even]

so are ALL charges dropped or is it still about the money, but not about jail etc no more?

[Don Jacob]

all criminal charges have been dropped, but she's still persuing a civil suit.....so in a way she dropped all charges that would have sent him to jail but kept the ones that'd make her $$$$

tell me how much sense that comes from a tramatized rape victim!?



anyways KOBE"S FREE!

[Black_Smoke]

nice 

[Trauma-san]

Thank God... whether he did or not, he has learned a valuable lesson and will never be unfaithful to his wife again. 

You sure about that?

[ecrazy]

MUTHA FUCKER IS GUILTY!!!!!!!!

Even as he was cleared of the criminal charge, Bryant apologised for his behaviour.

"Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognise now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did," he said in a statement read in court by his lawyer, Pamela Mackey. "After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter. I issue this statement today fully aware that while one part of this case ends today, another remains. I understand that the civil case against me will go forward."

Source:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/02/1093939073045.html?oneclick=true

[mikeOG]

MUTHA FUCKER IS GUILTY!!!!!!!!

Even as he was cleared of the criminal charge, Bryant apologised for his behaviour.

"Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognise now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did," he said in a statement read in court by his lawyer, Pamela Mackey. "After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter. I issue this statement today fully aware that while one part of this case ends today, another remains. I understand that the civil case against me will go forward."

Source:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/02/1093939073045.html?oneclick=true

wrong again..i bet anyone would agree to sign this apology (FYI bryant prolly didnt even look at the statement his attorneys wrote for him...he wasnt even in colorado at the time) instead of putting you're fate in the hands of 12 white jurors in a small colorado town..with a .3% black population (assuming you're black of course)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1872740

The statement, Bryant's attorneys Pamela Mackey and Hal Haddon told ESPN's Jim Gray, was a condition of the woman withdrawing her testimony.

"Kobe was facing life in prison for a crime he did not commit," they told Gray. "The accuser insisted on that statement as the price for his freedom. The statement doesn't change the facts: Kobe is innocent and now he is free."

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thats is why he made the statements

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

LMAO@Strong Bad thinking Kobe actually wrote that...