Bryant's Legal Eagle

摘要

As kobe bryant struggled to get his head back into basketball for the NBA season tip-off , this week, the world's focus re-kmained on another match, this one in a small court in Eagle, Colo. On Monday, Judge Frederick Gannett announced that the basketball star would indeed stand trial for sexual assault. But in the same breath, he made it clear that he didn't think much of the evidence the prosecution had presented in the preliminary hearing. A chastened District Attorney Mark Hurlbert told reporters that he did have a strong case―then headed off to file a motion asking the court to sanction Bryant's legal team for conducting "a campaign," complete with alleged media leaks and dirty pool in court, to smear the 19-year-old accuser. By the time the dust settled, one tiling was clear: Kobe's legal team was doing a skillful job of getting him back in the game. In the three weeks since prosecutors introduced damning testimony that Bryant had grabbed his accuser by the neck, bent her over a chair and raped her, the defense team of Pamela Mackey and her mentor Hal Haddon has succeeded in shifting attention to the young woman's credibility. Despite initial furor over Mackey's questions about her recent sexual history, Judge Gannett agreed it was admissible. The result was a public discussion about a semen stain that wasn't Bryant's found on underwear the woman wore to a rape examination the day after the alleged June 30 attack. Bryant has maintained the sex was consensual, and Mackey elicited testimony from a detective that raised questions, as to just when the young woman said no.