Bryant Wants Trial Date Set

Kobe Bryant’s attorneys chimed in on an issue that legal analysts say has become a finger-pointing exercise, filing a motion Tuesday that said the Laker guard wants a trial as soon as possible.

The woman accusing Bryant of sexual assault and prosecutors also recently asked Judge Terry Ruckriegle to set a trial date. Now the sentiment is unanimous.

Bryant attorney Hal Haddon said the toll on his client “is as incalculable as it is indescribable. No one looks forward to this case being over more than Mr. Bryant.”

Legal experts say Ruckriegle and attorneys probably have already discussed potential trial dates.

First, Bryant must enter a plea. He has not done so because of Ruckriegle’s unusual policy of waiting until pretrial hearings are completed. The judge has said he wants to avoid prematurely triggering a Colorado law that requires a trial within six months of a plea unless the defendant waives the right to a speedy trial.

“In any other jurisdiction, they would have entered a plea,” said Karen Steinhauser, a law professor at the University of Denver and a former prosecutor. “I have never heard of a jurisdiction that waits for a plea until after pretrial hearings.”

Attorneys in the four-county district supervised by Ruckriegle say the policy exists because mountain courthouses have limited room and trials are sometimes delayed.

Bryant, 25, has said he had consensual sex with the 19-year-old woman June 30 at an Edwards, Colo., resort where she worked. He faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation if convicted.

Ruckriegle plans to hear oral arguments on the issue of a trial date only after three other pretrial proceedings are completed, either during the next scheduled court dates of April 26-28 or from May 10-12. Even if the judge determines at that time that Bryant should enter a plea, a trial would not take place until the end of summer at the earliest, legal experts said.

Bryant could enter a plea at any time, but Haddon wrote in his court filing that his client would wait to “enter his not guilty plea when the court determines the appropriate date for that event.”

Haddon took exception to assertions made by prosecutors and by John Clune, the attorney representing Bryant’s accuser, in their court filings.

Clune’s motion included a letter from the woman’s mother that said her daughter’s life was in danger. Haddon said the motion contained “incorrect and/or misleading claims about her personal situation that are calculated to create public sympathy.”

Haddon also countered an allegation by Eagle County Dist. Atty. Mark Hurlbert that the defense had slowed motions hearings, saying it was prosecutors who had prolonged the proceedings.

“It just seems like [attorneys from both sides are] taking turns pounding their chests and saying, ‘Bring it on,’ ” said Scott Robinson, a Denver attorney who has followed the case closely.

Steinhauser said the motions could have been contained to one or two sentences.

“All that needed to happen was for the prosecution to put in a request that a trial date be set and for the defense to respond by saying they are willing,” she said.

“I think relationships are deteriorating between these attorneys. Whatever relationship existed between the two sides has gone downhill.”