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CNN Live Today
Kobe Bryant Case
Aired July 10, 2003 - 10:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The legal case of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant grinds on, more in the media in than in the courts, though. A Colorado detective says the NBA player was taken to a local hospital hours after a 19-year-old woman accused him of sexual assault. Bryant has not been charged, and a decision by prosecutors could be days away.
But in the meantime, let's seek some legal perspective on this. Jeffrey Toobin, our legal analyst, joins us now from New York.
I know you've been talking about this case for quite a bit, but let's talk, first of all, about the case of the killings in Bakersfield. Vincent Brothers, arrested or, actually, turned himself in and then is released. He was sought after for some time and then, all of a sudden, now they say they don't think he's the guy, or don't have enough evidence? What do you make of that?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Leon, one of the things cops are great about, is they always say, this is routine, this happens all the time, and the police made an effort to say that about this situation. But I assure you, it is not a normal practice to arrest someone for a quintuple murder, and then within hours, let him go.
I mean, obviously, it's a fast-developing investigation, but this is certainly a bizarre turn of events, where you arrest someone for a crime of this magnitude, and then just suddenly let him go without even bail, just you know, see you, have a nice day. Very strange.
O'BRIEN: He was arrested in North Carolina, and as I read the reports this morning, his car was parked at an airport back in California, and I guess the stamp on it said it had been parked there since July 2, which is a day before the murders.
In your mind, do you think this is the reason they're letting him go, perhaps he was out of the state the entire time?
TOOBIN: That is, of course, the ironclad alibi that every defendant would want to have. I mean, if, in fact, they can establish that he was in North Carolina at the time these victims were killed by gunshot, then, obviously, he can't have done it.
But this is something that you're going to want to have to -- usually, you wouldn't arrest someone if that issue was still up in the air. So at some point, they must have thought they had something on him. Interestingly, another thing said by the police was that they have no other suspects, that this new information did not point to someone else. So it's hard to follow what exactly is going on, but certainly, the arrest and immediate release is an unusual way of going about this.
TOOBIN: All right. Well, also taken into custody, for a while at least, was Kobe Bryant. Let's talk about this case. The latest is a cabby is coming out and talking about some events that took place shortly after he was taken into custody.
Let's listen to this response here from a cab driver who said he'd driven around some of Bryant's friends that night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY O'BRIEN, TAXI DRIVER: They asked me to turn on the radio so I couldn't hear what was being said. So I just got bits and piece of their dialogue, and I heard mention that they were from L.A. I heard mention of a name Kobe. It was just pretty suspicious. I heard mentions of police. They all had cell phones. They were all ringing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOOBIN: I'm not going to jump to any conclusions, and I'm not going to ask you to either. However, I must ask you this, how do you think particular person's testimony could possibly be used for the story that he has right now? What does it actually mean?
O'BRIEN: Obviously, what the police have to do is redo the steps of where Kobe Bryant was, with whom, over the course of this whole evening. And obviously, they are going to want to know why he went to the emergency room, what happened there, who he was with.
Remember, this whole disclosure of the fact that he had a -- quote, unquote -- entourage, that's relatively new. They'll want to talk to all these people. And obviously, the cab driver is -- will be an important person in putting together his travels. You know, he can put a suspicious spin on what they were saying, but, you know if you want privacy in a cab, that's not necessarily proof that you committed a crime. I mean, all the stuff has to be put together in context, but he will be one part of the puzzle. And obviously, the police have spoken to him.
O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact, you're right about the fact that this is just now coming in, at least in my eyes, the first reading this morning of these other people being involved in this case. I don't know. Is it possible here, from what I'm reading here, these men were basically trying to protect Kobe? Is this something that could actually, I don't know, imply guilt on his part?
TOOBIN: Well, sure, that is the spin that the cab driver was putting on it. But, you know, it's only a matter of basic fairness that you try to get the whole picture before you accuse anyone of anything. And, you know, the important point to remember about an investigation like this is Kobe Bryant is not going to be a fugitive. You obviously know he's not going to disappear.
So it seems to make a certain amount of sense to wait a few days, investigate, obviously, another thing going on now, very important, is evaluation of the physical evidence. If there's blood, if there's fiber, if there's DNA evidence, all of that is in process. There is no -- it is far, far worse to make an incorrect assessment on Friday than it is to do something on Wednesday. And why not wait till Wednesday?
O'BRIEN: Got you, unless you see him driving real slowly in a white Bronco somewhere.
TOOBIN: But that would never happen.
O'BRIEN: No, never. Jeffrey Toobin in New York, see you later on, all right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 10, 2003 - 10:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The legal case of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant grinds on, more in the media in than in the courts, though. A Colorado detective says the NBA player was taken to a local hospital hours after a 19-year-old woman accused him of sexual assault. Bryant has not been charged, and a decision by prosecutors could be days away.
But in the meantime, let's seek some legal perspective on this. Jeffrey Toobin, our legal analyst, joins us now from New York.
I know you've been talking about this case for quite a bit, but let's talk, first of all, about the case of the killings in Bakersfield. Vincent Brothers, arrested or, actually, turned himself in and then is released. He was sought after for some time and then, all of a sudden, now they say they don't think he's the guy, or don't have enough evidence? What do you make of that?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Leon, one of the things cops are great about, is they always say, this is routine, this happens all the time, and the police made an effort to say that about this situation. But I assure you, it is not a normal practice to arrest someone for a quintuple murder, and then within hours, let him go.
I mean, obviously, it's a fast-developing investigation, but this is certainly a bizarre turn of events, where you arrest someone for a crime of this magnitude, and then just suddenly let him go without even bail, just you know, see you, have a nice day. Very strange.
O'BRIEN: He was arrested in North Carolina, and as I read the reports this morning, his car was parked at an airport back in California, and I guess the stamp on it said it had been parked there since July 2, which is a day before the murders.
In your mind, do you think this is the reason they're letting him go, perhaps he was out of the state the entire time?
TOOBIN: That is, of course, the ironclad alibi that every defendant would want to have. I mean, if, in fact, they can establish that he was in North Carolina at the time these victims were killed by gunshot, then, obviously, he can't have done it.
But this is something that you're going to want to have to -- usually, you wouldn't arrest someone if that issue was still up in the air. So at some point, they must have thought they had something on him. Interestingly, another thing said by the police was that they have no other suspects, that this new information did not point to someone else. So it's hard to follow what exactly is going on, but certainly, the arrest and immediate release is an unusual way of going about this.
TOOBIN: All right. Well, also taken into custody, for a while at least, was Kobe Bryant. Let's talk about this case. The latest is a cabby is coming out and talking about some events that took place shortly after he was taken into custody.
Let's listen to this response here from a cab driver who said he'd driven around some of Bryant's friends that night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY O'BRIEN, TAXI DRIVER: They asked me to turn on the radio so I couldn't hear what was being said. So I just got bits and piece of their dialogue, and I heard mention that they were from L.A. I heard mention of a name Kobe. It was just pretty suspicious. I heard mentions of police. They all had cell phones. They were all ringing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOOBIN: I'm not going to jump to any conclusions, and I'm not going to ask you to either. However, I must ask you this, how do you think particular person's testimony could possibly be used for the story that he has right now? What does it actually mean?
O'BRIEN: Obviously, what the police have to do is redo the steps of where Kobe Bryant was, with whom, over the course of this whole evening. And obviously, they are going to want to know why he went to the emergency room, what happened there, who he was with.
Remember, this whole disclosure of the fact that he had a -- quote, unquote -- entourage, that's relatively new. They'll want to talk to all these people. And obviously, the cab driver is -- will be an important person in putting together his travels. You know, he can put a suspicious spin on what they were saying, but, you know if you want privacy in a cab, that's not necessarily proof that you committed a crime. I mean, all the stuff has to be put together in context, but he will be one part of the puzzle. And obviously, the police have spoken to him.
O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact, you're right about the fact that this is just now coming in, at least in my eyes, the first reading this morning of these other people being involved in this case. I don't know. Is it possible here, from what I'm reading here, these men were basically trying to protect Kobe? Is this something that could actually, I don't know, imply guilt on his part?
TOOBIN: Well, sure, that is the spin that the cab driver was putting on it. But, you know, it's only a matter of basic fairness that you try to get the whole picture before you accuse anyone of anything. And, you know, the important point to remember about an investigation like this is Kobe Bryant is not going to be a fugitive. You obviously know he's not going to disappear.
So it seems to make a certain amount of sense to wait a few days, investigate, obviously, another thing going on now, very important, is evaluation of the physical evidence. If there's blood, if there's fiber, if there's DNA evidence, all of that is in process. There is no -- it is far, far worse to make an incorrect assessment on Friday than it is to do something on Wednesday. And why not wait till Wednesday?
O'BRIEN: Got you, unless you see him driving real slowly in a white Bronco somewhere.
TOOBIN: But that would never happen.
O'BRIEN: No, never. Jeffrey Toobin in New York, see you later on, all right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
