Kobe Bryant sexual assault case
Encyclopedia
The Kobe Bryant sexual assault case began in the summer of 2003 when the news media reported that the sheriff's office in Eagle, Colorado
had arrested NBA superstar Kobe Bryant
in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault
complaint filed by a 19-year-old hotel employee. Bryant had checked into The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, a hotel in Eagle County, Colorado
, on June 30 in advance of having surgery near there on July 2 under Dr. Richard Steadman
. The woman accused Bryant of raping
her in his hotel room on July 1, the night before the surgery. Bryant admitted to an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser, but denied the assault allegation. The case was dropped after Bryant's accuser refused to testify in the case. A separate civil suit was later filed against Bryant by the woman. This was settled out of court and included Bryant's publicly apologizing to his accuser, though admitting no guilt on his part.
Law enforcement officials collected evidence from Bryant and he agreed to submit to a rape test kit and a voluntary lie detector test. On July 4, Sheriff Joe Hoy issued an arrest warrant for Bryant. Bryant flew from Los Angeles back to Eagle, Colorado to surrender to police. He was immediately released on $25,000 bond, and news of the arrest became public two days after that. On July 18, the Eagle County District Attorney's office filed a formal charge against Bryant for sexual assault. If convicted, Bryant faced probation
to life in prison.
After he was formally charged on July 18, Bryant held a news conference in which he adamantly denied having raped the woman. With his wife at his side, he confessed, in tears, to having an adulterous
sexual encounter with her, but insisted that everything that happened between the two had been consensual. His accuser told a friend that "She couldn't believe that his wife was sitting there and apparently didn't care about adultery".
The evidence recovered by police included the T-shirt that Bryant wore the night of the incident, which had three small stains of the accuser's blood on it. The stains were invisible to the naked eye on the white T-shirt. The smudge was verified to be the accuser's blood by DNA testing and probably was not menstrual blood because the accuser said she had her period two weeks earlier. It was revealed that Bryant leaned the woman over a chair to have sex with her, which allegedly caused the bleeding. This was the sex act in question, as the accuser claims she told Bryant to stop but he would not, and Bryant claims he stopped after asking if he could ejaculate on her face.
Trina McKay, the resort's night auditor, said she saw the accuser as she was leaving to go home, and "she did not look or sound as if there had been any problem." However, Bobby Pietrack, the accuser's high school friend and a bellman at the resort, said she appeared to be very upset, and "told me that Kobe Bryant had forced sex with her."
A few weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin, the accuser wrote a letter to Gerry Sandberg apologizing for intentional misstatements and clarifying “mix-ups” she made when first interviewed by Colorado police. She wrote that she wanted to make the corrections because she was worried Detective Doug Winters, the lead investigator in the case, did not believe her story. The accuser wrote she lied when she told investigators that Bryant forced her to wash her face in his room before she was allowed to leave, stating she never washed her face in his room and instead wrote that she used a mirror near the hotel elevator to clean up her face. She said this was the only thing she “exaggerated.” She also admitted to lying about having car troubles the day of the incident. In the last paragraph, she wrote that Bryant asked if he could ejaculate on her face and that it was “a degrading comment” and “difficult to talk about” and concluded the letter with this statement:
Bryant's defense lawyer Pamela Mackey asserted that the accuser was taking an anti-psychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia
at the time of the incident. The accuser was hospitalized as a "danger to herself" four months before the alleged sexual assault. Lindsey McKinney, who lived with the accuser, said the woman twice tried to kill herself at school by overdosing on sleeping pills. Before the alleged incident, the accuser, an aspiring singer, tried out for the television show American Idol
with the song "Forgive" by Rebecca Lynn Howard
, but failed to advance. In addition to the woman's moral character and reputation being challenged by Bryant's defense lawyer, she received death threats and hate mail.
On September 1, 2004 Eagle County District Judge Terry Ruckriegle dismissed the charges against Bryant, after prosecutors spent more than $200,000 preparing for trial, because his accuser informed them that she was unwilling to testify.
Bryant signed a seven-year, $136 million contract a year after the allegations, and regained several of his endorsements from Nike
, Spalding
, and Coca-Cola
. He remains married to his wife Vanessa Bryant, and was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player
in 2008 and the Finals' Most Valuable Player in 2009
and 2010
.
Eagle, Colorado
Eagle is a Statutory Town in and the county seat of Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population was 3,032 at the 2000 census.The town was made famous as the location of the Kobe Bryant sexual assault trial.-Demographics:...
had arrested NBA superstar Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school...
in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
complaint filed by a 19-year-old hotel employee. Bryant had checked into The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, a hotel in Eagle County, Colorado
Eagle County, Colorado
Eagle County is the thirteenth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado in the United States. The county is named for the Eagle River. The county population was 41,659 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is the Town of Eagle...
, on June 30 in advance of having surgery near there on July 2 under Dr. Richard Steadman
Richard Steadman
J. Richard Steadman, M.D. is a specialist knee surgeon, practising in Vail, Colorado and a Clinical Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He is best known medically for his work in the area of microfracture surgery, and publicly for treating injured...
. The woman accused Bryant of raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
her in his hotel room on July 1, the night before the surgery. Bryant admitted to an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser, but denied the assault allegation. The case was dropped after Bryant's accuser refused to testify in the case. A separate civil suit was later filed against Bryant by the woman. This was settled out of court and included Bryant's publicly apologizing to his accuser, though admitting no guilt on his part.
Arrest
Eagle County Sheriff investigators first confronted Bryant with the sexual assault accusation on July 2. During the July 2003 interview with investigators, Bryant stated that the sex was consensual.Law enforcement officials collected evidence from Bryant and he agreed to submit to a rape test kit and a voluntary lie detector test. On July 4, Sheriff Joe Hoy issued an arrest warrant for Bryant. Bryant flew from Los Angeles back to Eagle, Colorado to surrender to police. He was immediately released on $25,000 bond, and news of the arrest became public two days after that. On July 18, the Eagle County District Attorney's office filed a formal charge against Bryant for sexual assault. If convicted, Bryant faced probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
to life in prison.
After he was formally charged on July 18, Bryant held a news conference in which he adamantly denied having raped the woman. With his wife at his side, he confessed, in tears, to having an adulterous
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
sexual encounter with her, but insisted that everything that happened between the two had been consensual. His accuser told a friend that "She couldn't believe that his wife was sitting there and apparently didn't care about adultery".
Hearings
As the hearings began, the prosecution accused Bryant's defense team of attacking his accuser's credibility. It was revealed that she wore underpants containing another man's semen and pubic hair to her rape exam the day after the alleged incident. Detective Doug Winters stated that the yellow underwear she wore to her rape exam contained sperm from another man, along with Caucasian pubic hair. Bryant's defense stated that the exam results showed "compelling evidence of innocence" because the accuser must have had another sexual encounter immediately after the incident. She told investigators that she grabbed dirty underwear by mistake from her laundry basket when she left her home for the examination. On the day she was examined, she said she hadn’t showered since the morning of the incident. The examination found evidence of vaginal trauma, which Bryant’s defense team claimed was consistent with having sex with multiple partners in two days.The evidence recovered by police included the T-shirt that Bryant wore the night of the incident, which had three small stains of the accuser's blood on it. The stains were invisible to the naked eye on the white T-shirt. The smudge was verified to be the accuser's blood by DNA testing and probably was not menstrual blood because the accuser said she had her period two weeks earlier. It was revealed that Bryant leaned the woman over a chair to have sex with her, which allegedly caused the bleeding. This was the sex act in question, as the accuser claims she told Bryant to stop but he would not, and Bryant claims he stopped after asking if he could ejaculate on her face.
Trina McKay, the resort's night auditor, said she saw the accuser as she was leaving to go home, and "she did not look or sound as if there had been any problem." However, Bobby Pietrack, the accuser's high school friend and a bellman at the resort, said she appeared to be very upset, and "told me that Kobe Bryant had forced sex with her."
A few weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin, the accuser wrote a letter to Gerry Sandberg apologizing for intentional misstatements and clarifying “mix-ups” she made when first interviewed by Colorado police. She wrote that she wanted to make the corrections because she was worried Detective Doug Winters, the lead investigator in the case, did not believe her story. The accuser wrote she lied when she told investigators that Bryant forced her to wash her face in his room before she was allowed to leave, stating she never washed her face in his room and instead wrote that she used a mirror near the hotel elevator to clean up her face. She said this was the only thing she “exaggerated.” She also admitted to lying about having car troubles the day of the incident. In the last paragraph, she wrote that Bryant asked if he could ejaculate on her face and that it was “a degrading comment” and “difficult to talk about” and concluded the letter with this statement:
Bryant's defense lawyer Pamela Mackey asserted that the accuser was taking an anti-psychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
at the time of the incident. The accuser was hospitalized as a "danger to herself" four months before the alleged sexual assault. Lindsey McKinney, who lived with the accuser, said the woman twice tried to kill herself at school by overdosing on sleeping pills. Before the alleged incident, the accuser, an aspiring singer, tried out for the television show American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
with the song "Forgive" by Rebecca Lynn Howard
Rebecca Lynn Howard
Rebecca Lynn Howard is an American country music artist. She has charted seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and has released three studio albums...
, but failed to advance. In addition to the woman's moral character and reputation being challenged by Bryant's defense lawyer, she received death threats and hate mail.
On September 1, 2004 Eagle County District Judge Terry Ruckriegle dismissed the charges against Bryant, after prosecutors spent more than $200,000 preparing for trial, because his accuser informed them that she was unwilling to testify.
Settlement
Before the case was scheduled to go to trial, his accuser filed a civil lawsuit against Bryant over the incident on August 10. The two sides ultimately settled that lawsuit, with specific terms of the settlement being undisclosed to the public. Bryant did, however, issue the following statement through his attorney, as part of an agreement with the accuser to dismiss the sexual assault charge:Aftermath
Eight months after the initial incident the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera remodeled and as part of that sold some furniture. There was speculation that some pieces included in this sale were from "Room 35" where Kobe Bryant had allegedly stayed at the time. The lodge denied this and stated they had disposed of the furniture from that room separately.Bryant signed a seven-year, $136 million contract a year after the allegations, and regained several of his endorsements from Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
, Spalding
Spalding (sports equipment)
Spalding is a sporting goods company founded by Albert Spalding in Chicago, Illinois, in 1876 and now headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The company specializes in the production of balls for many sports, but is most-known for its basketballs...
, and Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
. He remains married to his wife Vanessa Bryant, and was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player
NBA Most Valuable Player Award
The National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1955–56 NBA season. The winner receives the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which is named in honor of the first commissioner of the NBA who served from 1946 until his retirement...
in 2008 and the Finals' Most Valuable Player in 2009
2009 NBA Finals
The 2009 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association championship series for the 2008-09 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Los Angeles Lakers, champions of the Western Conference and defending Western Conference champions, and the Orlando Magic, champions of the...
and 2010
2010 NBA Finals
The 2010 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association championship series for the 2009–10 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Los Angeles Lakers, champions of the Western Conference and defending NBA champions, and the Boston Celtics, champions of the Eastern Conference...
.