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The Ultimate Winner
Like with Kavanaugh, Bryant and others, innocent until proven guilty.
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Kobe Bryant's Colorado prosecutor recalls the case that linked them
IN EARLY JULY 2003, Hurlbert's phone rang. It was a sheriff's deputy. Hurlbert was 34 and just six months into his job as DA, an appointee of then-Gov. Bill Owens. He had sandy blond hair parted to the right and intense blue eyes. Like Bryant, Hurlbert was a young father; he had a 3-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter. He had grown up in Dillon, Colorado, and graduated from Dartmouth and the University of Colorado Law School. He wanted to work for the government, standing up for the little guy.
The deputy had tough news. "Mark, we have allegations of sexual assault against Kobe Bryant," he said.
"Who?" Hurlbert replied.
Hurlbert knew who, of course, but he was hoping that, somehow, it wasn't that Kobe Bryant.
"The basketball player," the sheriff replied.
A 19-year-old woman had told authorities that on June 30, Bryant raped her in his room at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, where she worked at the front desk. On July 18, 2003, after two weeks of reviewing the case, gathering information and seeking advice from other prosecutors, Hurlbert stood at a curved lectern and announced on national television that Kobe Bean Bryant, then 24, would be charged with felony sexual assault, carrying a penalty that ranged from four years to life in prison. Bryant called a news conference the same day, confessing to adultery but emphatically denying the charges. Still, Hurlbert felt confident in his case. He had successfully gone up against rich defendants before, and he had successfully prosecuted sexual assault cases, even with scant physical evidence. "I feel that after reviewing evidence, I can prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt," he said at the lectern.
After the news conference, Hurlbert's mother called. "You did a good job," she said. "But boy, your hair is really receding."
He says his hairline receded more over the next 14 "crazy" months. Bryant was an international icon, a three-time NBA champion whose closest brush with controversy had been rooted in his own ambition, when he tried to wrestle the Los Angeles Lakers away from Shaquille O'Neal. Hurlbert's 35-person staff and $2.3 million budget wasn't prepared for the onslaught of attention. He received death threats. The 19-year-old woman received death threats. Worried that someone might try to steal and sell evidence, Hurlbert had the case file locked in a cabinet. Eventually, bulletproof glass was installed around the DA's office. Hurlbert estimates that at one point, around 3,000 people associated with the media were in Eagle, Colorado, roughly doubling the town's population at the time.
Then-Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert announced he was dropping all charges against Bryant on Sept. 1, 2004. He had decided he could not win the prosecution without testimony from Bryant's 19-year-old accuser. Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
Hurlbert says he felt a duty to speak to the media on the woman's behalf, so at the beginning, he was all over the airwaves, on ESPN and other national networks. But he quickly realized that he was overmatched. Bryant "had all these PR people," Hurlbert says. "We didn't have a PR team. It was me. It was overwhelming."
The frenzy overwhelmed his case too. Reporters would do their own investigations and "mess things up," Hurlbert says, by both interviewing potential witnesses and scaring off others. Most media didn't print the woman's name, but the Eagle County court, which Hurlbert did not oversee and was in a different part of county government, mistakenly released her identity to the media three times, and a sealed transcript of a closed hearing on DNA evidence was emailed to media outlets. Hurlbert believed that "it truly was an accident" by the court, but the damage was done. The woman's identity became the worst-kept secret around town. Pamela Mackey, Bryant's attorney, had disclosed the woman's name six times in a preliminary hearing and had cited her sexual history. "It was the start of a nightmare for this woman," says Mark Shaw, a lawyer and reporter who covered the case for ESPN. "It was the accuse-the-accuser defense. From that point on, she didn't have a chance. She was looked at as this person who was putting this poor celebrity through all of this anguish."
Some legal experts believed that the prosecution and court were overmatched by the magnitude of the case and by Bryant's resources. But Hurlbert tried his best to remember that, at its core, it was a routine sexual assault case, the kind he had prosecuted before. He assigned two prosecutors to it. "We felt we had a handle on it," he says.
But in late August 2004, just days before the trial was to begin, the woman, who declined to comment Wednesday through her attorney, informed Hurlbert that she didn't want to testify. He understood. He asked her to think about it for a few days. During that time, he called other prosecutors for their advice on what was left of a rape case if the accuser refused to testify. The consensus: The case was over. Hurlbert technically could subpoena her, but he felt that would be amoral. He called her, but her mind was made up. He respected her decision.
On Sept. 1, 2004, he dropped the case. Bryant released a statement, apologizing to the woman and her family while admitting no guilt. The two sides reached a confidential civil settlement in March 2005. "I was disappointed that we had to dismiss the case," Hurlbert says now. "I wish it had gone to a 12-person jury.
"But the victim was going through hell."
Kobe Bryant's Colorado prosecutor recalls the case that linked them
There was obviously sexual intercourse, which was an act of adultery for both of them. This explains his apology - not for RAPE, but for inappropriate sexual activity.
The recent culture dictates that "Women don't lie about these things." How often have heard this? It has become a mantra. Brett K had an accuser with no corroboration, no specifics, no NOTHING, and yet the Left has recorded for all time that he is a rapist, because Women Don't Lie about These Things. Harvey Weinstein has been accused copiously by millions of women that he raped or abused them - even though we know that MANY women - not stating any names now - MANY women are WILLING to sleep their way to Hollywood success. But he is guilty in every case because WOMEN DON'T LIE ABOUT THESE THINGS.
But now we have Kobe Bryant, who as a retired H.O.F.-caliber L.A. Laker is a deemed Darling of the Left, and in HIS CASE - well I'll be damned - women DO lie about this stuff!
Who woulda thunkit?
Since there are rarely witnesses, rape charges in many cases are hard to prove; sucks for women, but it also is why it's easy to falsely accuse people. I don't know of a good or fair 'solution' to the dilemma, and having been around 'athletes' and their mentality I don't find the charges at all hard to believe. When it came to my daughter, I believed her over her dates when she complained a couple of times about having to have a wrestling match with some punk, and handled it myself.
Since there are rarely witnesses, rape charges in many cases are hard to prove; sucks for women, but it also is why it's easy to falsely accuse people. I don't know of a good or fair 'solution' to the dilemma, and having been around 'athletes' and their mentality I don't find the charges at all hard to believe. When it came to my daughter, I believed her over her dates when she complained a couple of times about having to have a wrestling match with some punk, and handled it myself.
The prosecutor in the kobe bryant rape case said he had enough evidence to convict kobe but the girl simply did not have the courage to testify....being a teenager she simply could not get up in front of so many people and talke about it.....too humiliating and embarassing for her.
He married a girl who was still in high school...not sure of her age.
Since there are rarely witnesses, rape charges in many cases are hard to prove; sucks for women, but it also is why it's easy to falsely accuse people. I don't know of a good or fair 'solution' to the dilemma, and having been around 'athletes' and their mentality I don't find the charges at all hard to believe. When it came to my daughter, I believed her over her dates when she complained a couple of times about having to have a wrestling match with some punk, and handled it myself.
The prosecutor in the kobe bryant rape case said he had enough evidence to convict kobe but the girl simply did not have the courage to testify....being a teenager she simply could not get up in front of so many people and talke about it.....too humiliating and embarassing for her.
He married a girl who was still in high school...not sure of her age.
Sounds like a common tragedy; I'm not impressed with the character of 'athletes' in general, most are just thugs and sociopaths in my experience, and always warned my daughter and her friends against dating one. I know there are exceptions, of course, but not many.
instead of laughing why dont you prove what you claimed....i googled it could not find anything on that...And you know this, how? Please supply a link to this.He was a fan of killing police officers. Good riddance.
Look it up yourself, I'm not your Mommy. He luved himself some of that POS Kaepernick.
Since there are rarely witnesses, rape charges in many cases are hard to prove; sucks for women, but it also is why it's easy to falsely accuse people. I don't know of a good or fair 'solution' to the dilemma, and having been around 'athletes' and their mentality I don't find the charges at all hard to believe. When it came to my daughter, I believed her over her dates when she complained a couple of times about having to have a wrestling match with some punk, and handled it myself.
The prosecutor in the kobe bryant rape case said he had enough evidence to convict kobe but the girl simply did not have the courage to testify....being a teenager she simply could not get up in front of so many people and talke about it.....too humiliating and embarassing for her.
He married a girl who was still in high school...not sure of her age.
Sounds like a common tragedy; I'm not impressed with the character of 'athletes' in general, most are just thugs and sociopaths in my experience, and always warned my daughter and her friends against dating one. I know there are exceptions, of course, but not many.
Baylor moves to dismiss lawsuit alleging 52 rapes by 31 football players
instead of laughing why dont you prove what you claimed....i googled it could not find anything on that...And you know this, how? Please supply a link to this.He was a fan of killing police officers. Good riddance.
Look it up yourself, I'm not your Mommy. He luved himself some of that POS Kaepernick.
thats what i did dipshit...now why dont you back up what you said or are you just another asshole who cant back up what he says?...instead of laughing why dont you prove what you claimed....i googled it could not find anything on that...And you know this, how? Please supply a link to this.He was a fan of killing police officers. Good riddance.
Look it up yourself, I'm not your Mommy. He luved himself some of that POS Kaepernick.
I'm not your Mommy, either; call up one of your faggot friends and have them google for you if you can't handle it.
No voice recording or black boxes on the chopper, I think its very unlikely they discover cause of the crash.
WATCH: Stunning drone video shows devastation from helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, 8 others
thats what i did dipshit...now why dont you back up what you said or are you just another asshole who cant back up what he says?...instead of laughing why dont you prove what you claimed....i googled it could not find anything on that...And you know this, how? Please supply a link to this.
Look it up yourself, I'm not your Mommy. He luved himself some of that POS Kaepernick.
I'm not your Mommy, either; call up one of your faggot friends and have them google for you if you can't handle it.
you mean like what you are doing?....thats what i did dipshit...now why dont you back up what you said or are you just another asshole who cant back up what he says?...instead of laughing why dont you prove what you claimed....i googled it could not find anything on that...Look it up yourself, I'm not your Mommy. He luved himself some of that POS Kaepernick.
I'm not your Mommy, either; call up one of your faggot friends and have them google for you if you can't handle it.
Stop crying, tard; nobody gives a shit what you deviants think or demand, you're not here to actually discuss anything, just snivel like a little bitch.