Defense Can’t See Counselor’s Note

A rape counselor who met with the woman accusing Kobe Bryant of rape does not have to turn over a one-sentence note to the Laker star’s attorneys, a judge ruled Friday.

However, the larger issue of whether Bryant’s accuser has waived her medical and mental health privilege by discussing her treatment with others has not been determined. A closed hearing that includes testimony from several friends and acquaintances of the woman began Jan. 23 and will continue Monday in Eagle County court.

The ruling issued by Judge Terry Ruckriegle on Friday was a victory for the Resource Center of Eagle County, which successfully argued that the note written by a victim advocate was protected by the same privilege that applies to therapists and their patients.

Not only is the defense barred from viewing the note, Ruckriegle said that he was prohibited from reading it as well.

Bryant, 25, is accused of sexual assault stemming from an incident June 30 at a resort in Edwards, Colo. He says he and his 19-year-old accuser had consensual sex. Bryant is free on $25,000 bail and will be in court Monday for the fourth of six scheduled pretrial hearings.

Legal sparring at the last hearing between Resource Center attorney Inga Causey and Bryant attorney Pamela Mackey over the one-sentence note culminated in a heated exchange.

Causey argued that one reason the note written by the victim advocate should be kept secret is to avoid deterring other victims from reporting sexual assaults. Bryant’s accuser, Causey said, “is the most searched [name] on the Internet. Her name, home address, phone number have been passed around like a dirty postcard.”

Mackey responded by questioning the “political agenda” of the Resource Center, telling Ruckriegle, “There is lots of history of black men being falsely accused of this crime by white women,” and that the court needs to determine the truth in Bryant’s case rather than protecting the accuser at any cost.

However, in his ruling Ruckriegle concluded that Bryant’s attorneys did not “present any evidence which supports a conclusion that the victim waived her advocate privilege.”

The note in question was written by a rape counselor after she sat in on a July 1 interview of Bryant’s accuser by Eagle County Sheriff’s investigators. The counselor did not take any notes during the interview.

“Any records of contact made by the victim advocate were done at a later date,” said Beverly Christiansen, executive director of the Resource Center.

Besides continuing the closed hearing on the medical records, Monday’s proceeding is scheduled to include a hearing on whether statements made by Bryant during a 75-minute July 2 interrogation conducted by two investigators should be suppressed.

Ruckriegle on Thursday ruled that Bryant’s statements would not be revealed to the public, but that other portions of the hearing -- which is expected to last two days -- would be open.

In a separate filing Friday, attorneys for a media group that includes The Times charged that the court has kept a separate nonpublic docket on the case and has failed to make public a complete record of filings by prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Media attorney Chris Beall requested that Ruckriegle direct the court clerk to make public the filing of “every pleading, paper, order or other material,” even if the content of certain documents is kept under seal.