D.A. Won’t Take Part in Bryant’s Trial

The prosecutor who charged Kobe Bryant with felony sexual assault and has played a prominent role during a full year of battles in the case announced Wednesday that he would not take part in the upcoming trial.

Dist. Atty. Mark Hurlbert said in a statement he would leave the day-to-day prosecution of the basketball star to three underlings because he must shift his focus to other cases in his Colorado mountain district.

The prosecution team will consist of Ingrid Bakke, Dana Easter and Gregg Crittenden. Hurlbert said they would be assisted by the Colorado attorney general’s office.

“I have a duty to every citizen in the 5th Judicial District” of Clear Creek, Eagle, Lake and Summit counties, Hurlbert said. “If I maintain a high level of involvement in this case, I would be neglecting that duty.”

Bakke and Easter have more experience prosecuting sexual assault cases than Hurlbert and were brought to Eagle County to help with the Bryant case. Crittenden is the top deputy on Hurlbert’s staff

Hurlbert and Easter, who joined the prosecution team in November, have made most of the arguments in open court. Crittenden’s primary contribution has been to examine witnesses at the October preliminary hearing. Bakke, who has been on the case since last July, has extensive experience prosecuting rapes.

“There is no dearth of trial experience in the three remaining members of the team,” legal analyst Scott Robinson said.

Nevertheless, the reaction of other experts to Hurlbert’s departure ranged from surprise to outrage.

“He started this on July 18 when he filed charges and made it clear he was going to prosecute the case,” legal analyst Craig Silverman said. “Leaving can’t inspire much confidence. You have to believe that if he was sensing a big victory, he would have stayed as part of the team.”

Said David Lugert, a former state and federal prosecutor in private practice in Eagle: “A seasoned prosecutor is supposed to do justice in every case. We take the lead and charge forward. At this point, a year into the case, as appointed D.A., he has to be accountable to the people.”

Hurlbert, 35, will face an election for the first time in November -- he was appointed as district attorney by Colorado Gov. Bill Owens in December 2002. Running against him will be Bruce Brown, a former public defender in Los Angeles who is in private practice in Clear Creek County.

The attorneys representing Bryant’s accuser, John Clune and Rob Wheeler, attended a cocktail party for Brown at an Edwards, Colo., restaurant Tuesday evening. Eagle County attorney Bruce Carey said Wheeler is a strong supporter of Brown but that Clune has not made an endorsement.

A call to the parents of the 20-year-old woman who accused Bryant of raping her at a mountain hotel a year ago was not returned.

Bryant, 25, has pleaded not guilty and has said he and his accuser had consensual sex. The trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 27 and expected to take most of September to complete.

“No person running for elected office doesn’t have winning that office as a priority,” said Silverman, who unsuccessfully ran for Denver district attorney in 1996. “Mark Hurlbert doesn’t want to lose the election. Leaving the Bryant case eliminates the possibility of him making a fool of himself in court.”

Karen Steinhauser, a University of Denver law professor, said there were not enough hours in a day for Hurlbert to prosecute Bryant, oversee the estimated 12,000 criminal cases filed each year in the 5th Judicial District and campaign for reelection.

“He’s in a political campaign and now can avoid having people say he prosecuted Bryant only because he’s running for office,” Steinhauser said.

However, Lugert said politics should not be Hurlbert’s first priority. “It’s more about doing the right thing in the courtroom than pressing flesh and kissing babies in order to get elected,” he said.

The judge presiding over the case, Terry Ruckriegle, also will be on the November ballot. A nine-person committee will make a recommendation on whether he should be retained, and the recommendation is printed on the ballot. Serving on the committee are Hurlbert and his spokeswoman, attorney Krista Flannigan.