Bryant Faces Shrewd, Media-Savvy Attorney

[KoriEllis]

Bryant Faces Shrewd, Media-Savvy Attorney

By Jon Sarche, Associated Press Writer
Sep 27, 2004

DENVER (AP) The Kobe Bryant defense team that saw rape charges against the NBA star thrown out three weeks ago faces a tough new challenge in civil court: L. Lin Wood, a fearless, media-savvy Atlanta lawyer once called the "attorney for the damned."

Wood is representing Bryant's 20-year-old accuser in a lawsuit in which the woman is seeking an unspecified amount of money, as well as public vindication.

"If you're going to go to war and I do adopt the philosophy that every lawsuit is a war and each step along the way can be described as a battle then you've got to believe in what you're fighting for and in the person you're fighting for," Wood said in a recent interview. "I do that."

The federal lawsuit against Bryant is unusual territory for Wood, who is best known for bringing libel and defamation cases on behalf of the accused.

Tall, with silvery blond hair, Wood is known for wearing pressed jeans and cowboy boots everywhere except the courtroom. But then, his cases often end before he ever has to stand before a judge.

Wood can point to a long list of settlements he has wrung from high-powered defendants for clients such as former Rep. Gary Condit, Richard Jewell and the parents of JonBenet Ramsey.

"I don't think there's any question that Lin's presence in the Kobe Bryant case has turned the heat up several notches for Kobe and his legal team," said Wayne Grant, Wood's former law partner. "The only thing that I can say is Kobe better be well-prepared for his deposition."

The 51-year-old Wood earned his law degree from Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and began his legal career in 1977 as a medical malpractice attorney. He started specializing in defamation lawsuits after he was hired by an attorney for Jewell, the man falsely suspected in the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Under Wood's fierce attacks, the Justice Department issued a letter exonerating Jewell, and several media organizations settled defamation suits. Wood, years ago dubbed the "attorney for the damned" by Dan Rather, is still involved in litigation against the Atlanta Journal-Cons ution over its reporting on the bombing.

In representing the parents of JonBenet, Wood has won settlements in a string of defamation lawsuits he has filed and dismissals of all lawsuits brought against John and Patsy Ramsey, who have come under su ion in the death of the 6-year-old beauty queen found beaten and strangled in the family's Boulder home in 1996.

Wood used one of those lawsuits to force the first judicial review of the case. The judge said the evidence suggested an intruder killed the girl.

Last month, Wood won a libel settlement for Condit against three tabloid newspapers that connected the former congressman to the disappearance and death of Chandra Levy.

In the Bryant case, the woman accusing the basketball star of rape watched months of unflattering news reports about her sex life and her mental health. In July, her family and her lawyer John Clune decided to bring in outside expertise. Wood's name kept coming up.

Within a month, Clune and Wood had sued Bryant for damages and launched a media blitz on her behalf. The woman later refused to go ahead with the rape case, and the criminal charges were dropped. But the lawyers are pressing ahead with the civil case.

Wood said his goal in working for clients such as the Ramseys and Bryant's accuser is not only to obtain financial compensation for what they have been through, but also to help polish their damaged images.

"You can't restore a client whose reputation has been damaged solely with (financial) compensation," said Grant, the former partner. "That's what our system provides, but Lin goes a step further and gets the message out there that what was said was wrong, what was portrayed was false."

John Ramsey recalled contacting Wood, a married father of four, three years after his daughter was slain.

"There's two types of attorneys: one that you'd use to review contracts, and the other you'd use to fight for your rights and for what's right and he's the latter," Ramsey said.

Peter Canfield, the lawyer defending the Journal-Cons ution in the Jewell case, said Wood's tough questioning amounts to "a lot of theatrics but not a lot of substance."

"If you want publicity, he's your lawyer," Canfield said. "Clients sort of have to figure out whether that's what they want or not."

Wood's sometimes abrasive style is "absolutely" the kind of advocacy Bryant's accuser needs, said Neville Johnson, a libel attorney who represented Condit's wife in a 2003 lawsuit against a tabloid.

"What you have to recognize is he is for the most part fighting giant ins utions or very wealthy adversaries who are used to intimidating or attempting to intimidate the other side," Johnson said. "He is fearless and cannot be intimidated."

[KoriEllis]

Kobe's attorneys drop bid to seal evidence

EAGLE, Colo.(AP) - Kobe Bryant's attorneys abruptly dropped a bid to seal evidence in the NBA star's rape case Monday, saying the details will be leaked anyway and releasing all the do ents would reveal just how unprofessional the prosecution really was.

In a scathing court filing, defense attorney Pamela Mackey cited what she called "unlawful or improper conduct" by law enforcement officers and prosecutors throughout the case, including the suppression of evidence suggesting Bryant was innocent.

Prosecution spokeswoman Krista Flannigan did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

District Attorney Mark Hurlbert dropped the felony sexual assault charge against Bryant at the accuser's request Sept. 1. He recently said evidence and do ents in the case should be released, saying the public's interest in reviewing actions and decisions by prosecutors and the judge outweighs Bryant's privacy concerns.

While the case was pending, Hurlbert had said releasing the information could make it difficult to find impartial jurors to decide whether Bryant assaulted a 19-year-old woman at a Vail-area resort last year. Bryant admitted only to having consensual sex with the resort employee, now 20.

News organizations including ESPN and The Associated Press have filed requests to obtain the evidence and sealed court filings. District Judge Richard Hart sealed the information pending the court fight, and there was no immediate indication on whether he would open the files after Mackey's court filing.

The defense had asked Hart to seal the evidence and do ents, saying it includes "highly sensitive, confidential, embarrassing and private" matters of interest only for "salacious and other improper purposes."

Mackey reversed course Monday, saying releasing every do ent would allow full scrutiny of decisions made by Hurlbert, prosecutor Dana Easter and others in pressing their case against the Los Angeles Lakers star.

She said a transcript of Bryant's initial interview with sheriff's deputies that was published in the Vail Daily appeared to have been prepared by the prosecution.

"Mr. Bryant has concluded that one or more individuals associated with the prosectuion intentionally and criminally violated" a court order by leaking the transcript, Mackey wrote. And she said those same people will leak information to the media even if the details are sealed.

She singled out Hurlbert in a letter that was part of her court filing.

"t would be wholly improper — it would defeat the very public interest you claim you are attempting to advance — to shield the fatal flaws in the prosecution of which your office was aware early on, and to shield your own office from public and media scrutiny," Mackey told Hurlbert last week.

In a written response, Hurlbert asked Mackey to "let me do my job as custodian of records."

"Be assured, I do not have any agenda to discredit you or your client," he wrote.

Bryant still faces a federal civil suit filed by the accuser seeking unspecified damages for pain, suffering, "public scorn, hatred and ridicule."

Her attorneys have sought the public release of details in the case, except for records dealing with her sexual activities, allegations of drug or alcohol use, her mental health and other information that was ruled inadmissible in the criminal cas