The woman who accused one of America's biggest sports stars of sexual assault learned yesterday that she will likely have to endure months of public humiliation and harassment in a lurid trial that has galvanized the U.S. public.
Lawyers employed by Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers guard who is accused of raping a 19-year-old woman in a Colorado hotel room last June, have spent weeks bringing intimate details of the woman's sexual history before the courts in one of the most unscrupulous and closely watched celebrity trials of recent memory.
Although Colorado's rape laws are designed to protect alleged victims from publicity and to keep the victim's sex life from being publicized, the laws appear to have collapsed under the press of high-priced lawyers and inquisitive media outlets, especially tabloid newspapers, consumed by the case.
While major media outlets have avoided revealing her identity, the woman's name, photo and biography have been splashed across supermarket tabloids and Internet sites, and talk-radio hosts have made sport of her florid sexual reputation.
Fans of the basketball player have besieged her with angry phone calls and visits, forcing her to live on the run, moving to four states in the past six months.
On Thursday, the alleged victim's mother sent a letter to the judge urging him to bring the trial to a quick conclusion because "her life is on hold and her safety is in jeopardy." The woman's lawyer said that she has been besieged with hundreds of threats of physical violence.
"She can't live at home, she can't live with relatives, she can't go to school or talk to her friends," the mother wrote. "Even the defendant [Mr. Bryant] is able to continue living in his home and continue with his employment."
But there was little indication yesterday that the judge intended to intervene. Mr. Bryant's lawyers have asked the judge to waive the "rape-shield" law that prevents personal history from being used as testimony in sex-assault trials, on the grounds that rape is not dependent on the promiscuity or virtue of the victim. In order to determine whether her history and reputation are relevant, the judge has put the woman through a week of closed-door hearings in which she has been interrogated about her sexual history.
Lawyers say that the sexual-history questioning is likely to continue through May. A trial date has not yet been set.
The lawyers for Mr. Bryant, who is married, argue that he had consenting sex with the woman, and that the rape-shield law should be waived to prove that the encounter was part of a weekend-long string of sexual incidents.
Both parties agree that Mr. Bryant greeted the woman in his hotel room after a game and that they began kissing. He claims they then had consenting intercourse; she says he forced her onto a chair and forcefully raped her.
The judge was also asked to decide on Thursday if a bloody T-shirt of Mr. Bryant's can be admissible as evidence.
Judge Terry Ruckriegle has been criticized for allowing the pretrial hearings to drag on for so long and the complainant's past to be scrutinized in such detail. But the Colorado Supreme Court has refused prosecution requests to intervene.
"As each month passes, more dates are scheduled for motions, and more death threats are sent to a 19-year-old girl who has been forced to leave everyone who has the ability to protect her," John Clune, the alleged victim's lawyer, argued in a motion this week. "The victim asks this court to force the parties to select a trial date."
If he is found guilty, Mr. Bryant, 25, could face four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation.
