Accuser's sex life targeted by Bryant's attorneys

[CShine]

EAGLE, Colo. -- Attorneys in the Kobe Bryant rape case opened a three-day hearing Monday with more closed-door arguments over whether the sex life of his 19-year-old accuser can be used against her at trial.

Defense lawyers say injuries found on the woman could have been caused by sex with multiple partners before and after her encounter with Bryant. The prosecution says her sexual history is irrelevant in determining whether the woman was assaulted. Among those called to testify Monday were the woman's former boyfriend and an Eagle County sheriff's detective.

State District Judge Terry Ruckriegle has heard testimony from more than a dozen witnesses in previous hearings about the woman's sexual activities around the time of the alleged attack.

The judge has said he wants to end arguments this week on the relevancy of the woman's sexual history. Arguments have not yet been scheduled on a separate defense challenge to Colorado's rape-shield law, which generally bars the defense from introducing an alleged victim's sex life as evidence.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2532769

[opiate69]

1. As well they should be.

Simply put, if the prosecution intends to use the injuries to attempt to prove assault, the defense needs to be able to call said evidence into question.

[Gothmog]

2. Rape Shield Laws serve a purpose

Bryant's defense counsel want to go beyond looking at the cause of the victim's injuries and wants the Colorado Rape Shield law declare unconstitutional. That is going way too far and shows how desperate these attorneys are. There is no excuse for some of the tactics used by Bryant's counsel to date.

[truebrit71]

3. How can one defend onself against charges like this...

..without bringing her sex life into it??? She showed up for the rape kit and someone else's semen was in her panties...NOT Kobe's...If I was a defense attorney you better believe I'd like to know how and when that got there...

[TexasBushwhacker]

4. Fair is fair ....

Okay, let's put a call out to all the women that Kobe's nailed lately and find out the particulars about his sex life too, and no, I don't mean HIS WIFE. Let's find out if the alleged victim is the only one that said, "No." She may be the only one that pressed charges, that doesn't mean she's the only one that resisted.