Bryant Motions Made

Kobe Bryant’s attorneys requested Monday that the courtroom be closed during a February pretrial hearing that will address statements the Laker star made to investigators the day after he allegedly raped a 19-year-old woman.

In a court filing, attorney Hal Haddon said that the evidence might not be admissible at trial and that the jury pool would be tainted if the public heard the statements.

“Some of [Bryant’s] statements are irrelevant to the charges in the case and are of an intensely personal nature,” Haddon wrote.

What Bryant said to investigators was heard in closed session by an Eagle County Court judge during the October preliminary hearings, leading Haddon to conclude the statements “are not in the public domain.”

The admissibility of Bryant’s statements, which were surreptitiously recorded by an investigator the day after the alleged rape, will be determined at hearings in Eagle County court Feb. 2 and 3.

Additional pretrial hearing dates were set Monday for March 1 and 2, and for March 24 and 25. The defense has challenged the legality of the Colorado rape shield statute in court filings, and one of those hearings is expected to tackle that topic. A trial will not be scheduled until the hearings are completed and is unlikely to occur before midsummer. The NBA Finals will end, at the latest, by June 20.

Bryant, 25, is charged with felony sexual assault stemming from a June 30 encounter last year with the woman at an Edwards, Colo., resort where he was a guest and she worked. He says they had consensual sex.

The next scheduled hearing is Jan. 23, when Judge Terry Ruckriegle is expected to rule on a defense request to use the alleged victim’s medical records as evidence.

Whether testimony during that hearing will be open to the media and public is being debated in court filings. Prosecutors and attorneys representing Bryant’s accuser argued at a December hearing that statements from witnesses ranging from the woman’s mother to her ex-boyfriend be taken behind closed doors. Attorneys representing a media group that includes The Times contend that pretrial hearings must remain open.

“Criminal proceedings in which a court determines the admissibility of evidence that is important to either the prosecution’s or defense’s theory of the case are trial-like adjudications that invoke the strongest presumption in favor of public access,” media attorney Thomas Kelley wrote.

Media attorneys also said the hearing Feb. 2 and 3 can be conducted without disclosing the content of Bryant’s statements.