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New Kobe Transcript Shows Prosecutor's Doubts

The Judge in the Kobe Bryant case released all but 68 lines of the 200 pages of sealed hearing transcripts from the rape-shield hearing. The transcripts address the accuser's sexual history and were mistakenly mailed to media outlets.

The Judge later ruled that evidence of her sexual activity within 72 hours of the time she arrived at the hospital for her rape exam, is relevant and admissible.

Ruckriegle late last month said the defense can present evidence about the woman's sexual activities in the three days before a July 1, 2003, hospital exam, saying it is relevant to help determine the cause of her injuries, the source of DNA evidence and her credibility.

Thus, by order of the Colorado Supreme Court, he had to make available the transcripts, striking only parts that pertained to information he ruled inadmissible. Here's one exchange that took place:

"If in fact you were to rule that all of the rape-shield evidence were going to come in in this case, I'm thinking the prosecution is going to sit down and re-evaluate the quality of its case and its chances of a successful prosecution," Prosecutor Ingrid Bakke told the judge.

Another section of the transcript contains:

....detailed comments from a defense expert who says she believes Bryant's accuser had sex with someone else after her encounter with the NBA star and before she went to police, a claim that has been vehemently denied by the woman's attorney.....Johnson, however, said the woman told police she showered the morning of June 30 and put on clean purple underwear. But she said her laboratory and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation both found genetic material matching Bryant and a man identified as "Mr. X" on that garment.

Mr. X's genetic material was also found on vaginal swabs and on the woman's thighs during the hospital exam, suggesting the two had sex after she was with Bryant, Johnson said. She said none of Mr. X's genetic material was found on Bryant, again suggesting her encounter with the other man followed her encounter with the NBA star.

To keep the underwear issue in perspective: The accuser wore purple panties the night she was with Kobe. They were clean when she put them on the morning of her encounter with Kobe. She gave them to the cops the next day when she reported the alleged assault. She wore yellow panties to her rape exam. She arrived for the rape exam about 15 hours after her encounter with Kobe.

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