Prosecutor Files Appeal

As he promised, Eagle County Dist. Atty. Mark Hurlbert filed an appeal Tuesday asking the Colorado Supreme Court to stop a rape-shield hearing that began last week in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case.

The high court is expected to decide Friday whether to hear the appeal. If it were rejected, the rape-shield hearing would resume as scheduled March 24-25, and the woman accusing Bryant of rape would have to testify in closed court.

If the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal, pretrial proceedings in the case would be delayed until a decision is issued.

Bryant, 25, is accused of raping the 19-year-old woman June 30 at a resort hotel. He has said they had consensual sex.

Hurlbert decided to appeal after a full day of testimony March 2 in the rape-shield hearing, where Judge Terry Ruckriegle must decide whether evidence of the woman’s other sexual conduct around the time of the alleged rape will be admissible at trial.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Hurlbert said Bryant’s attorneys asked witnesses questions about the woman’s sexual activity from the summer of 2002 to August 2003.

“The defense argument as to questioning the woman and her alleged partners about the many alleged incidents amounts to nothing more than she has said ‘yes’ to others, therefore it is more likely she said ‘yes’ to defendant,” Hurlbert wrote. “This is precisely the type of evil which the statute was enacted to eradicate.”