No Major Security Changes for Bryant

Despite concern about threats against Kobe Bryant, there will be no major changes in security at the courthouse today for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case.

Extra precautions, however, will be taken during the trial, which is expected to take place this summer and, sources say, is looking increasingly as though it too will be held in Eagle County.

Officials responsible for providing security and other logistical support have been told by the court not to expect a change of venue, the county’s chief administrator, Jack Ingstad, said this week.

Bryant could request a change of venue at the end of motions hearings, which will run at least through the end of March. But recent polls commissioned by his defense team indicated he would receive a fair trial here, several sources said.

Members of the Laker star’s legal team can’t comment on case issues because of a gag order, but Ingstad said that based on the instructions he had received from the judge in charge of logistics for the case, “There doesn’t seem to be any information to justify a change of venue.”

A more immediate concern to some is Bryant’s safety when he appears for proceedings that are scheduled to begin at 8 PST this morning. A source close to the Laker guard said two weeks ago that “recent and credible” threats had been made against Bryant, and that his security team had requested changes to procedures in and around the courthouse.

Of particular concern to Bryant’s security team was that the arrival and departure of Bryant and his attorneys had become too predictable.

Jose Revilla, part owner in O+R Protective Services, the firm employed by the Lakers and Bryant, met with Eagle County Sheriff’s deputy Ken Wilson on Jan. 9. Wilson said he knew nothing of any threats and emphasized that he welcomed input from Bryant’s security team.

“We aren’t going to let them walk into anything,” Wilson said. “We do a critique of security after every hearing and we listen to what they have to say. Patterns are always a concern.”

Ingstad, who is responsible for Bryant’s safety at Eagle/Vail Airport and the area surrounding the courthouse, said measures today “won’t be much different than previous hearings.

“We’ve talked about how there might be some changes at the trial,” he said, “that’s it.”

Much of today’s hearing will be closed to the public. Terry Ruckriegle, the presiding judge, decided Wednesday that testimony pertaining to the medical privacy rights of Bryant’s accuser would be taken in private.

Bryant, 25, faces one count of felony sexual assault stemming from a June 30 encounter with a 19-year-old Eagle woman at a mountain resort where he was staying. He says he and the woman had consensual sex.

Since the last hearing Dec. 19, Bryant’s attorneys have attacked his accuser’s credibility in a barrage of court filings.

They contend that alleged suicide attempts on Feb. 23 at the University of Northern Colorado and May 30 at her parents’ home are part of a pattern of “attention-seeking” behavior that casts doubt on whether she was sexually assaulted.

Bryant’s attorneys assert that they should gain access to medical records pertaining to the suicide attempts because the woman discussed them with others, thereby waiving privilege.

They have asked to see medical records from the North Colorado Medical Center and North Colorado Psych/Care Recovery Center as well as from Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs.

They have subpoenaed the woman’s mother, her former boyfriend, several of her acquaintances and two employees of a dormitory where she lived while attending Northern Colorado last year to testify today.

Although that testimony will be closed to the public, other issues will be addressed in open court.

Ruckriegle indicated in a court filing Thursday that he plans to issue a reprimand, writing, “in light of circumstances which have come to the court’s attention concerning failures to communicate and unnecessary gratuitous comments made by counsel in some motions and responses, the court will address such conduct.” It was not clear which side, if not both, he was referring to.

In addition, prosecutors must submit a list of Eagle County Sheriff’s Department employees who ordered T-shirts that depicted a hangman on the front and ridiculed Bryant as an adulterer on the back. Dist. Atty. Mark Hurlbert initially denied that anyone from his office ordered a shirt, then apologized in a news release for being “misleading” after Bryant’s attorneys revealed at the Dec. 19 hearing that Hurlbert had been given a shirt and that several employees of the district attorney’s office ordered shirts.

Ruckriegle also wants to know the status of testing of physical evidence by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. A hearing is expected regarding testing procedures and whether Bryant’s experts can conduct their own tests.

Additional pretrial hearings are set for Feb. 1 and 2, March 1 and 2 and March 24 and 25. Legal experts believe more hearings will be necessary because Bryant’s attorneys are challenging prosecutors at every stage.

A change-of-venue motion would not come until after motions hearings are completed and Bryant is arraigned. Several legal experts who last summer believed he would want the trial outside Eagle County have changed their mind as details of the case have emerged.

“I don’t see the defense being interested in a change of venue,” said Larry Pozner, a Denver attorney who has followed the case closely. “It would take something profound to change their minds. The pretrial publicity, especially in Eagle County, has been exceedingly anti-prosecution.”

Should a change of venue be sought and approved, Ruckriegle would decide where to move the case, and experts speculate that he would simply move it to another mountain county in the 5th Judicial District.