Defense Pushes on Procedures

A rancorous debate erupted in open court Tuesday over the methods investigators used to interrogate Kobe Bryant the night after he allegedly raped a hotel worker.

Detectives Doug Winters and Daniel Loya testified that the Laker star willingly agreed to an interview in the early hours of July 2, greeting investigators amiably in the parking lot of a resort hotel, waving off his security guards and saying goodbye at a hospital five hours later by shaking hands with the detectives and urging them “to do the best investigation you can.”

Bryant’s attorneys countered by accusing the detectives of lying to cover their mistakes and getting them to admit during cross-examination that reports were changed weeks and months after the investigation.

The proceeding lasted more than eight hours before Judge Terry Ruckriegle called a recess until the next scheduled hearing, on March 1 in Eagle County court. The judge must decide whether the statements Bryant made to Winters and Loya should be suppressed.

Yet to be introduced is a 60-minute audiotape made by Loya of statements by Bryant -- who was unaware of the recording -- and testimony from witnesses about what he told investigators. That portion of the hearing will be closed to the public, and legal analysts say it is difficult to handicap the outcome without knowing what Bryant said.

The investigation was prompted by the accusation of a 19-year-old employee of the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera that Bryant sexually assaulted her in his room June 30. Bryant has said they had consensual sex; he is free on $25,000 bond.

Winters interviewed the woman July 1, then had three undercover officers keep Bryant under surveillance at the hotel until Winters obtained search warrants from an Eagle County judge about midnight. Winters and Loya arrived at the hotel a half-hour later and were surprised when Bryant approached them in the parking lot on crutches, having had knee surgery the previous morning.

“I stated there was an allegation of sexual assault and we’d like to talk to him further about it,” Winters said. “He said something to the effect it would be fine to talk alone.”

The detectives accompanied Bryant to his room for the hourlong interview, then Winters and Loya drove Bryant to Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs for a rape examination.

Bryant attorneys Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey, who took turns cross-examining Winters, Loya and the undercover detectives, sought to establish that Bryant was in custody at the time of the interrogation and therefore should have been read his Miranda rights.

Winters and Loya admitted that no rights were read but contend it was not necessary because Bryant consented to the interview.

The defense also asserted that one of the two search warrants used to obtain Bryant’s clothing and enter his room was illegal because it could only be used during the day. Prosecutors did not dispute that claim.

The lengthy proceeding capped two days of arguments and testimony that ultimately will determine two key issues. Monday’s hearing in closed court centered on whether the defense should gain access to the medical and psychological records of Bryant’s accuser that deal with two suicide attempts in the last year.

The consensus of legal experts is that Ruckriegle probably will not allow Bryant’s defense to have the medical records. A ruling is expected in writing in the next several days.

However, experts said, the defense has a better shot at getting at least a portion of Bryant’s statements and the collection of physical evidence suppressed because the battle is being fought on several fronts -- the custody issue, the illegal use of the search warrants and the conduct of the detectives.

Winters admitted that Judge Russell Granger had to remind him that two separate warrants were needed to gather the evidence, one for Bryant’s clothing and another for hair and similar evidence. Also, although the search warrant allowed for only two pieces of Bryant’s clothing to be taken as evidence -- the T-shirt and blue sweatpants he wore during the alleged rape -- detectives took five pieces.

Perhaps the most dramatic exchange came when one of the undercover officers, identified only as “Detective A,” testified from behind a screen that Troy Laster, an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer who was part of Bryant’s security team, distanced himself from the interrogation by saying, “If this is what I think it is, I don’t want to be involved anyway.”

Legal experts said the statement -- if admissible at trial -- could harm Bryant because it might suggest that Laster knew criminal activity had occurred.

However, Mackey told Detective A that Laster has called the statement “a complete lie.” Detective A said that he did not recall Laster’s statement until July 30, when he filed a second report at the insistence of Eagle County Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg Crittenden. His first report, filed July 3, made no mention of Laster, who did not testify Tuesday.

Loya twice has had to amend reports. He said he only recently remembered that Laster was present when he and Winters told Bryant in the parking lot that he was not in custody and was free to go at any time.

He also backtracked from his original assertion that a clicking noise on the surreptitious tape recording was caused by a button on his shirt. When photos revealed he was wearing a shirt with no buttons, he determined that a pen next to the tape recorder hidden in his shirt pocket caused the noise, which has made portions of the tape nearly inaudible.

Also, Winters said he executed a search warrant to take Bryant to the hospital because of something that occurred during the interview, an indication that perhaps Bryant did believe he was in custody.

“It’s how you perceive it, but there was an incident that occurred in the room that led me to execute the order and there was also a statement after that,” Winters said.

Winters admitted that he signed a document indicating Bryant had been held in custody and sent it to Judge Granger the day after the interrogation.

The defense, however, was thwarted in an effort to end the day with what legal expert Craig Silverman called “a Perry Mason moment that fell flat.” Haddon tried to establish that Winters and Loya lied when they said they did not return to the hotel after spending three hours with Bryant at his rape examination, that they actually took photos of Bryant’s room in violation of the search warrants.

Haddon submitted a photo that he believed included a portion of Loya’s arm and the same shirt he had said he wore that night.

However, Loya said the shirt was Winters’ and that the photo was taken by him weeks later.