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ducks
09-03-2004, 03:25 PM
Civil Case Looms, But Is a Deal In the Works?


With Bryant charge dropped, door may open to settlement
By Paul Nussbaum, Inquirer Staff Writer


EAGLE, Colo. - Is a deal in the works?
The collapse of the criminal case against Kobe Bryant leaves the NBA superstar still facing a civil suit by the woman who accused him of raping her, with the same disputed facts and the same incendiary mix of money, sex and fame.
The civil suit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Denver, requires the woman to meet a less demanding standard of proof than in a criminal case. But it could subject her to exactly the kinds of personal questions and media exposure that she hoped to avoid by refusing to testify in the criminal case.


On Wednesday, the criminal sexual-assault charge against Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star and former Lower Merion High School standout, was dismissed by District Judge Terry Ruckriegle at the request of the local district attorney.


That dismissal, and an apology issued by Bryant immediately afterward, prompted speculation that a settlement of the civil case was pending. The woman is seeking unspecified financial damages in the civil suit.


In his written apology, issued through his attorneys, Bryant seemed to fuel the speculation by saying: "I understand the civil case against me will go forward. That part of this case will be decided by and between the parties directly involved in the incident... ."


"I've never seen anything like his statement in a case like this," said Karen Steinhauser, a former prosecutor who is a University of Denver law professor. "His statement means to me there is something else going on behind the scenes.


"I'd be shocked if it went to trial. My gut feeling is there will be a settlement."


The woman's local attorney, John Clune, said in court Wednesday that the civil case would proceed and that no settlement had been discussed. Neither Clune nor L. Lin Wood, the high-profile Atlanta libel lawyer who joined the woman's legal team in July, could be reached for comment yesterday.


"The smart money would suggest a confidential settlement," said Craig Silverman, a defense lawyer and former prosecutor in Denver. "But I don't think it's imminent." He said the strategy for how to proceed with the civil case "becomes a business decision for Wood and Clune. It's expensive to put together this kind of litigation."


Colorado law limits the amount of money that can be awarded for noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, to about $360,000, or in egregious cases to about $750,000. But there is no cap on economic damages, and Silverman said lawyers could seek millions of dollars by arguing that a rape victim's future earning power was seriously diminished by physical or psychological effects of the assault.


In a civil lawsuit, the woman would not have to persuade a jury of her case "beyond a reasonable doubt," as she would have in the criminal trial. She would have to convince a jury only that the "preponderance of the evidence" supported her case, that is, that she was more right than wrong.


"But it's still a he-said-she-said case," Silverman said.


In a civil lawsuit, both Bryant and his accuser could face questions that were off-limits in the criminal case.


Bryant would not have had to testify in a criminal case, but in a civil suit, the woman's attorneys could ask to interview him under oath about many things, including his sexual history. And the woman could be asked about issues deemed not relevant in the criminal trial, such as her psychiatric history or drug use.


The federal rape-shield law, rather than Colorado's shield law, would apply in the civil case, and that could work to the woman's advantage, said Michelle J. Anderson, a Villanova University law school professor who is an expert on rape law. Rape-shield laws are designed to limit questions about a rape victim's sexual history.


The federal law "is a stronger rape-shield law - it bars evidence [of past sexual activity] with narrow exceptions," Anderson said.


The accuser's history became a key element in the criminal case, as defense attorneys were permitted to use evidence about the woman's sexual activity in the three days before she was examined at a hospital the day after the encounter with Bryant.


A DNA expert for Bryant contended that the woman had sex with someone other than Bryant in the 15 hours between the alleged rape and the medical exam, a contention the woman's attorneys denied. And sperm and semen from a man other than Bryant were found on the underwear she wore to the exam.


"The crucial element is the sexual history," Anderson said. "The evidence for the prosecution was not weak. The rape-shield law was weak. It did not protect the complainant as I believe it should have. That's why the criminal case was deemed weak."


If the woman is required to answer the same kinds of questions about her personal life in the civil case as in the criminal case, she will probably balk at going forward, legal observers said.


"I predict there will be a confidential settlement," said Perry Binder, a professor of legal studies at Georgia State University, "because I think it's inconsistent that she would say she doesn't want to testify in a criminal case but is willing to give a deposition in a civil action."


With the same kind of media scrutiny and legal probing as in the criminal case, the woman would probably reach the same decision - not to go through it, Silverman said.


"You have to wonder, if she's unwilling to testify before a jury in September, why would she be willing to do so at some later date?"


Contact staff writer Paul Nussbaum at 215-854-4587 or [email protected].

ducks
09-03-2004, 03:27 PM
Case's price tag: $400,000

By Monte Whaley
Denver Post Staff Writer


Eagle - The cost of pressing the case against NBA superstar Kobe Bryant is an estimated $400,000 so far - and that price tag is likely to go up as the final bills roll in.

The price of erecting phone lines and setting up other resources for the national media that descended on Eagle during every Bryant proceeding has yet to be calculated, said Karen Salaz, spokeswoman for the state court system.



The Eagle County Sheriff's Office carried the brunt of the security for each proceeding and is likely to have high overtime costs, she added.



Even so, District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said Thursday that his department tried to keep costs low without sacrificing the case.



Some experts he was going to bring in to help with the case were not charging fees or were offering their services at a cut rate.



"We really did do this on a shoestring," Hurlbert said.





Hurlbert drew help from an expert on sexual assault and domestic violence from the Boulder District Attorney's Office and from Jefferson County and the Denver District Attorney's Office.



Hurlbert had informed the four counties he represents - Eagle, Summit, Lake and Clear Creek - that he would spend $45,000 on expert witnesses, and he requested another $248,000 for staffing. He said he would pay a jury consultant $20,000, while the fees for authorities in strangulation, rape and trauma ranged from $1,000 to $3,000.



The trial's cost would have been the same as for a first-degree murder case, Hurlbert said Thursday. "It's really not that far out from some of the other bigger cases we do," he said.



Few here in Eagle thought it was worth the money, especially since Hurlbert didn't get a chance to pitch his case to the jury.



"That is what's so surprising, because they let it get so far and then to drop it," Eagle business owner Peter Sharpe said Thursday. "It was a major waste of money. The burden to the taxpayers is huge."



All the police who were put on duty during the Bryant saga could have been better used elsewhere, Sharpe said.



"Every time Kobe showed up, every police officer had to be there," he said. "Those guys could have been doing something productive."



Downtown businesswoman Terri Edwards said the whole Bryant ordeal was a "painful process."



"That kind of money, $400,000, is a lot of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to cough up," said Edwards, who acknowledges she has become cynical about the criminal justice system.



"I don't think the DA had much choice but to pursue this case if you have the victim come forward," she said. "But was justice served?"



Staff writer Steve Lipsher contributed to this report.


Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 303-726-8674 or [email protected] . www.denverpost.com/Storie...22,00.html (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0...2377122,00.html)

ducks
09-03-2004, 03:28 PM
Bryant Case Is Called a Setback
Bryant Case Is Called a Setback
Recent Rape Victims Cite Confidentiality Breach, Advocates Say

By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 3, 2004; Page A08





Rape victim advocates say the experience of Kobe Bryant's accuser -- whose name and sexual history were disclosed in the past year -- signifies a major setback in a three-decade effort to persuade women to report rape and to stop defense lawyers from attacking a victims' credibility with details of their sexual histories.



"I feel like we have stepped back in time 30 years, back to a time when confidentiality was not guaranteed and when the victim's sex life was up for scrutiny," said Diane Moyer, legal director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, a 29-year-old group.



The case has exposed loopholes in rape shield laws in Colorado and across the country, according to the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault. As a direct result, California this summer passed a tougher shield law that prevents defense lawyers from disclosing a rape victim's sexual history in pretrial motions.


Already, however, young women in Chicago who have been sexually assaulted are telling counselors they are afraid to go to the police as a result of what happened to Bryant's accuser. Moyer predicts that fallout from the Bryant case will "create an atmosphere that will allow sexua

The most serious consequence of the Bryant case, Moyer predicts, will be the unwillingness of women to come forward with accusations because of the fear of losing confidentiality.

"Perception is often as good as reality in America, especially among people who are victims of trauma," Moyer said. "If women think their personal information is going to become public, then that is their new reality."

After more than a year of pretrial arguments and sometimes sensational publicity about the case, a single charge of rape against the Los Angeles Lakers superstar guard was dropped Wednesday when his accuser decided she did not want to testify. Bryant apologized to the woman, who is still pursuing a civil lawsuit against him.

Because of mistakes by court staff in tiny Eagle, Colo., information about the accuser was inadvertently released.
At Rape Victim Advocates, a Chicago group that serves 16 hospitals and is the largest rape crisis center in the Midwest, some rape victims are bringing up Bryant in their initial counseling sessions, according to Sasha Walters, director of advocacy services.

"They say, 'I don't want to talk to the police because I have seen what has happened in the Bryant case, and I don't want to put myself in that position,' " Walters said.
"It already has had a chilling effect on reporting rape," Walters said, though she acknowledged that her group has no figures yet to back up the impression of its rape counselors. "The visibility of this case in particular has made it obvious that victim-blaming is a real problem."
Walters and other victim advocates singled out for criticism the decision by the Colorado judge in the Bryant case to allow into evidence information about the accuser's sexual activity in the days surrounding her encounter with Bryant on June 30, 2003.

"This decision will be seized on by defense attorneys around the country," Walters said. "It will take us back to when the emphasis in a trial was on the actions of the victim."

The Bryant case resonates with large numbers of women because of the prevalence of sexual intimidation and violence against women in the United States.

A National Violence Against Women Survey in 1998 determined that 18 percent of American women have been raped, with six out of seven rapes involving people who knew each other. The Justice Department has estimated that about 28 percent of rapes are reported to police. Other studies put the figure at just 5 percent to 16 percent.
Lesser sexual offenses against women are relatively common occurrences, with nearly half of the women in the United States reporting that they have encountered indecent exposure during their lifetimes, according to a 1999 study.
Mary P. Koss, a University of Arizona professor of public health who specializes in sexual violence, says that in the real world of non-celebrity sex crimes, assaults against women are usually not reported and those that are reported are frequently not prosecuted.

"In some ways, it would be hard for the atmosphere in rape prosecutions to get more chilled than it already is," Koss said. "It is important for women to understand that very few complaints go to trial; they usually result in a plea agreement."

Koss's research in Pima County, Ariz., found that of the 709 sexual assaults reported in 2000, half were investigated and 18 percent resulted in arrests. Recent research in Minnesota has determined that when rape cases reached prosecutors, only 25 percent were accepted for prosecution.

Koss said that the Bryant case, for all its faults, did produce something that almost all victims of sexual abuse desperately want but rarely receive: a public apology.

On Wednesday, after the charge against Bryant was dismissed, his attorney read the apology, in which Bryant said, "I can only imagine the pain she [his accuser] has had to endure."
"Typically, women who are raped by someone they know do not want to see the guy go to prison," Koss said. "They want to feel safe, they want to be able to tell their story, and they want an apology."

While legal scholars agree that sexual assault is an under-reported crime, they note that laws against rape have been toughened considerably in recent years and that there is research showing a high percentage of false accusations.

"You have a terrible combination, and that can create a very frightening situation for an accused man," said Paul Campos, a University of Colorado at Boulder law professor who has been studying sexual assault law in the state for five years. "Overzealous prosecutors of sex crimes are legion because of political pressure."

Campos said that the Bryant case, as much as anything, is a "cautionary tale" about prosecutorial excess. Campos said the district attorney in the case, Mark Hurlbert, had "an extremely thin and dubious case" but pressed forward anyhow.
"If you are not Kobe Bryant, if you don't have unlimited resources for lawyers, you could find yourself in a case where you may well have to negotiate a plea in order to avoid spending the rest of your life in prison," Campos said.
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