Friend of Bryant's accuser says he saw evidence of alleged assault By COLLEEN SLEVIN, Associated Press Writer July 22, 2003 EAGLE, Colo. (AP) -- The 19-year-old woman who accused Kobe Bryant of sexually assaulting her had ``visible evidence'' of the alleged attack a week later, one of her friends said Wednesday. Luke Bray declined to be more specific out of respect for his friend and her family. "There is visible evidence of what happened,'' he said. Eagle County sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Andree declined comment on Bray's statement. Neither prosecutor Mark Hurlbert nor Bryant's attorneys returned telephone messages seeking comment. Hurlbert has said he believes he has enough physical and testimonial evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The 24-year-old Bryant was charged with one count of sexually assaulting the concierge at an exclusive mountain resort last month. He said the sex was consensual and that he only committed adultery. The Los Angeles Lakers star is free on bond pending an Aug. 6 court hearing during which he will be formally advised of the charge against him. An Eagle County district judge has sealed most documents, including the arrest affidavit, details of the physical evidence and other information. The Denver Post, the Los Angeles Times, NBC and the Vail Daily have asked a district judge to release some of the material. The alleged victim is a college student who took a summer job at the Lodge & Spa at the Cordillera in nearby Edwards. Friends say she is an energetic former cheerleader known for her love of music. She once tried out for the television program, ``American Idol.'' Bray, 21, said he saw the woman about a week after the alleged assault on June 30. ``She was still shaken up. She was pretty much in denial,'' he said. ``She couldn't believe it.'' He said the woman was also at his house Friday to watch news conferences where Hurlbert announced the charges and Bryant admitted adultery and apologized to his wife. ``She couldn't believe that his wife was sitting there and apparently didn't care about adultery,'' Bray said. Sara Dabner, 17, who sang in the Eagle County High School choir with the woman, asked: ``Why would a woman put herself through all of this -- having people call her names? I think she just wants to see justice done. She's not trying to drag him through the dirt.'' Friend of Bryant's accuser says he saw evidence of alleged assault Bad news for the Bryant camp...my guess is that he claims to have seen bruises/cuts/scrapes.
This is the type of material that should come out in trial, not as reverse spin by the prosecution camp. We don't know whether this person is exaggerating, gaining his 15 minutes of fame or whatever. I wish the judge would have sealed everything and announced exclusion of the press until a verdict is rendered. This is radical for me because I am a great believer in freedom of the press. However, I hope the jury pool -- wherever the venue is set -- is not soiled.
Visible evidence, hmmm. I have not seen this mentioned anywhere but suppose he hit her or struck her during the alleged attack, that would certainly be tough evidence to refute. I hope justice is served either way.
It would have to be pretty bad bruises. I know myself when I'm wit my g/f that she bruises pretty easily as well. I expect to see bruises in places that they shouldn't be like wrists, neck, and maybe heavily bruising around the inner thigh area. If it's light bruising then it won't hold in court I don't think.
I'm not defending Kobe, but what kind of physical evidence could you believe as a juror. Anything on the outside could have been done by a cash cow. It would seem that even vaginal evidence could be faked. Now as a juror I would need to take in the whole picture before giving the physical evdience any credibility. And right now that picture is of a troubled girl who doesn't have a solid witness. Base on what I know so far, the physical evidence would not mean that much to me.
I'm guessing any physical evidence would be obvious to a physician which I believe she saw the day after the alleged attack. If it's there, it will be known in trial and you won't have to take some random friends word on it.
this could be big but this could also be posturing by the prosecutors who have been pounded by the media attacking the credibility of the girl. who knows how this is going to play out....only time will tell.
Occum's Razor. Presented with physical evidence consistent with a rape, should I believe a rape occured, or should I believe the victim engaged in a sophisticated plot of self-injury to make it look like a rape? The former is more likely because it doesn't ask you to believe as much. From where I see this whole thing, if she were conniving to make money off of Bryant, she wouldn't be able to plan ahead of time because she wouldn't know that Bryant would have sex with her. So, during or after having sex (less than a day of planning), she has to decide to use the evidence from sex to press rape charges and then, supposedly, sue later. She then has to create some rape evidence, like bruising or something, and then go to the hospital. The injuries she gives herself have to be consistent with a rape or the prosecution will bring it out. Oh, and she has to give Kobe some kind of injury as well that would send him to the emergency room, but not do it in such a way that he wouldn't finish his business. Then, when Bryant hires the best lawyers in the country to defend him and she is nationally vilified (by some), she has to push forward with the idea. And, she's 19 years old. I remember being 19; right now, I live with a sibling who's 18. She can be smart, but she probably doesn't know a lot about, well, much of anything. It seems to me that the cash-cow theory is asking me to believe way too much about the woman's competence at being an evil mastermind. Evil I can believe, mastermind is a little harder. I think it is on the fringe of possibility that she had sex consensually, and it happened to be rough, and she later regretted the whole thing and called it a rape. But, that wouldn't account for injuries to Bryant, may not account for some of her own injuries (depending), and wouldn't account for her resolve to see this through.
That's kind of my line of thinking as well Juan, if she has injuries consistent with a rape or sexual assualt believing Kobe's story will be much more difficult.
Not necessary. I believe it is more likely that a star could be the target of a plot by a currently anonymous and possibly desparate individual, than to believe a person with the reputation of a Kobe Bryant could be a rapist. Bruises are easy to self-inflict over the course of 12 hours.
Let's say that instead of sexual assault, the alleged victim just went public and claimed that Kobe Bryant had just had an affair w/ her. With what we knew about Kobe before, we would have all thought that that claim would be bogus as well. Our reasoning?...he just had a baby five or so months ago, he wore her birth band on his wrist during games, he's always talking about his devotion to his wife, he seems like a really upright individual, etc. Well, now we know that he is not as moral and upright as we thought he was. Therefore, we really know nothing about Kobe Bryant and his reputation was pretty much crafted and somewhat bogus.
Just posted this article in its entirety in the other thread: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/103148p-93361c.html
You pretty much summed up how i felt. before the incident i thought the guy would never cheat on his wife due to his "Public Persona", but we now all know how that turned out to be. Nobodody can claim that they know Kobe cause the only person who REALLY knows him is himself. If what is said in the article is true, there is no doubt the guy must have done something to her or she did it to herself. bruises from sex are understandable if they are from the inner thigh area and the buttocks, but bruises to any non-sexual places (like to the face) can be labeled as attacks. and isn't there a way detect the size or severity of the bruise? Kobe being a big guy, his hand/fist has to be tremedouslly larger than the victim's. like somebody already said, if kobe turns out to be guilty, i hope he rots in jail
She may not even be a cash cow, she could just be wanting revenge. Let's say they had rough sex and then he walked away saying "I just used you" or something like it. That's cause for one to come up with the rape charge too. Then she brusies herself and the deed is done. Young people do this all the time. This doesn't have to be about money. It could be simple embarassment at her predicament. Again, I don't know what happened, but the physical evidence doesn't lead me to any conclusions at all. For all we know she assaulted Kobe and he defended himself. We still don't know if that is a possibility.
isn't it logical thinking to say if Kobe was assaulted and he punched her to defend himself that he should have called the cops so that false accusations of rape or assault can't be charged? for all we know, that scenario is very unlikely, unless youre saying kobe is really stupid
