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American Morning

What Will We Learn About Bryant Case if Court Documents Unsealed?

Aired August 22, 2003 - 08:16   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the Kobe Bryant case. What will we learn more about that case if those court documents are unsealed and released to the public prior to that preliminary hearing in early October?
Criminal defense attorney Mickey Sherman back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Always great to see you, Mickey.

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good to be here.

HEMMER: How are you?

SHERMAN: Good.

HEMMER: Good that it's Friday, huh?

What's in these papers? What's in these documents?

SHERMAN: Well, it's going to be all the bad stuff as far as Kobe Bryant is concerned. It's a summary of all the evidence that they needed to get an arrest warrant for Kobe Bryant. It's a bunch of paragraphs which is the summary of the state's case. It has nothing exculpatory, nothing that may tend to show that maybe he didn't do it. So all you're going to hear is all the bad stuff about Kobe Bryant and Kobe Bryant's people are not going to be able to answer that over the many months before the trial. And that's going to have a pretty negative effect on the jury box.

HEMMER: So if we had these documents laid on the table in front of us, would we know everything about the case, if we could see them now?

SHERMAN: No, because things happened after the arrest and also sometimes the state's attorney doesn't put everything in the arrest warrant because they want to hold stuff back. But basically you're going to have the entire...

HEMMER: You have a pretty good idea, right?

SHERMAN: Yes, but usually you're going to have a pretty good idea of the blueprint of the state's case. This person said this, that person said that, the evidence was this, the physical evidence was that. And that's what's going to be out there. And everyone also will micro analyze that. People like us will go over each paragraph, wow, her dress was torn, this, there was a bruise here, there was a torn piece of flesh here. And we will give it perhaps more attention than it should be given, because we haven't heard the other side.

HEMMER: Go back to your first answer. You say it could hurt, essentially, the defense more, knowing there's a gag order in place right now.

SHERMAN: Without a doubt.

HEMMER: And knowing that the defense will not get a chance publicly to respond.

SHERMAN: If you can picture both sides coming out giving a press conference, here's why he's guilty, here's why he's not guilty, essentially that's what it is. You're going to have by document all these papers saying this is why he's guilty or probably guilty. And the defense is not going to be heard.

HEMMER: The judge kind of went halfway on this, right?

SHERMAN: He did.

HEMMER: He said, you know, I'll go ahead and release it, but I'm going to give you 10 days to appeal.

SHERMAN: Yes, and, you know, I think -- I really believe that this judge is doing everything he possibly can to give everyone a fair shake here.

HEMMER: You like what he's doing so far?

SHERMAN: Yes, he doesn't seem to be enamored with the celebritydom of the case. But I think he probably should be a little more aware of it. I mean I don't think you can use a one size fits all in the criminal justice system when it comes to the big case.

HEMMER: Are you suggesting he has not been aware of it to this point?

SHERMAN: I think that he's probably underestimating the impact of the media-ization of these documents. What he's doing is what he should do. Generally, you give out the documents. But this isn't the regular case. You've got to kind of take it into consideration.

HEMMER: I can buy that. What he's trying to balance, though, if you listen to some of his words and his decision yesterday, is the right to a fair trial.

SHERMAN: Right.

HEMMER: Trying to balance the rights of the defendant, in this case, Kobe Bryant; the accuser, a woman we have not and will not identify at this point. But he's also trying to balance the public's right to know.

SHERMAN: Right. HEMMER: If we're going to know this in October anyway, what's our right to know about it now?

SHERMAN: We have the right, but it ain't that important, Bill. It's just not as important as giving someone the right to a fair trial.

HEMMER: We're just curious about the juicy details, right?

SHERMAN: We are dying to know. We can't, we're insatiable. We have an insatiable hunger for these lurid details.

HEMMER: Yes, there was also a story, quite disturbing, that broke yesterday. The man in Iowa has been picked up by police. Some sort of threat he's made to actually kill, police say, kill the accuser in this case. You've worked on some high profile cases.

SHERMAN: Yes.

HEMMER: Surprise you at all?

SHERMAN: Not in the slightest. Let me tell you, that's the nut you know about. I've got to tell you, in the big case, the nuts come flying out of the woodwork. They come out by letter. They come out by e-mail. They come out by telephone calls. You learn to weed them out.

The only reason you're hearing about this one, it got attention. It's as simple as that. For this one there's 20 more out there who are just as crazy.

HEMMER: Well, don't like to hear that. That's the nut you know about. We'll live with that statement for the weekend.

Thanks, Mickey.

SHERMAN: It's a good quote.

HEMMER: Good to see you.

SHERMAN: OK.

HEMMER: 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





Unsealed?>


Aired August 22, 2003 - 08:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the Kobe Bryant case. What will we learn more about that case if those court documents are unsealed and released to the public prior to that preliminary hearing in early October?
Criminal defense attorney Mickey Sherman back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Always great to see you, Mickey.

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good to be here.

HEMMER: How are you?

SHERMAN: Good.

HEMMER: Good that it's Friday, huh?

What's in these papers? What's in these documents?

SHERMAN: Well, it's going to be all the bad stuff as far as Kobe Bryant is concerned. It's a summary of all the evidence that they needed to get an arrest warrant for Kobe Bryant. It's a bunch of paragraphs which is the summary of the state's case. It has nothing exculpatory, nothing that may tend to show that maybe he didn't do it. So all you're going to hear is all the bad stuff about Kobe Bryant and Kobe Bryant's people are not going to be able to answer that over the many months before the trial. And that's going to have a pretty negative effect on the jury box.

HEMMER: So if we had these documents laid on the table in front of us, would we know everything about the case, if we could see them now?

SHERMAN: No, because things happened after the arrest and also sometimes the state's attorney doesn't put everything in the arrest warrant because they want to hold stuff back. But basically you're going to have the entire...

HEMMER: You have a pretty good idea, right?

SHERMAN: Yes, but usually you're going to have a pretty good idea of the blueprint of the state's case. This person said this, that person said that, the evidence was this, the physical evidence was that. And that's what's going to be out there. And everyone also will micro analyze that. People like us will go over each paragraph, wow, her dress was torn, this, there was a bruise here, there was a torn piece of flesh here. And we will give it perhaps more attention than it should be given, because we haven't heard the other side.

HEMMER: Go back to your first answer. You say it could hurt, essentially, the defense more, knowing there's a gag order in place right now.

SHERMAN: Without a doubt.

HEMMER: And knowing that the defense will not get a chance publicly to respond.

SHERMAN: If you can picture both sides coming out giving a press conference, here's why he's guilty, here's why he's not guilty, essentially that's what it is. You're going to have by document all these papers saying this is why he's guilty or probably guilty. And the defense is not going to be heard.

HEMMER: The judge kind of went halfway on this, right?

SHERMAN: He did.

HEMMER: He said, you know, I'll go ahead and release it, but I'm going to give you 10 days to appeal.

SHERMAN: Yes, and, you know, I think -- I really believe that this judge is doing everything he possibly can to give everyone a fair shake here.

HEMMER: You like what he's doing so far?

SHERMAN: Yes, he doesn't seem to be enamored with the celebritydom of the case. But I think he probably should be a little more aware of it. I mean I don't think you can use a one size fits all in the criminal justice system when it comes to the big case.

HEMMER: Are you suggesting he has not been aware of it to this point?

SHERMAN: I think that he's probably underestimating the impact of the media-ization of these documents. What he's doing is what he should do. Generally, you give out the documents. But this isn't the regular case. You've got to kind of take it into consideration.

HEMMER: I can buy that. What he's trying to balance, though, if you listen to some of his words and his decision yesterday, is the right to a fair trial.

SHERMAN: Right.

HEMMER: Trying to balance the rights of the defendant, in this case, Kobe Bryant; the accuser, a woman we have not and will not identify at this point. But he's also trying to balance the public's right to know.

SHERMAN: Right. HEMMER: If we're going to know this in October anyway, what's our right to know about it now?

SHERMAN: We have the right, but it ain't that important, Bill. It's just not as important as giving someone the right to a fair trial.

HEMMER: We're just curious about the juicy details, right?

SHERMAN: We are dying to know. We can't, we're insatiable. We have an insatiable hunger for these lurid details.

HEMMER: Yes, there was also a story, quite disturbing, that broke yesterday. The man in Iowa has been picked up by police. Some sort of threat he's made to actually kill, police say, kill the accuser in this case. You've worked on some high profile cases.

SHERMAN: Yes.

HEMMER: Surprise you at all?

SHERMAN: Not in the slightest. Let me tell you, that's the nut you know about. I've got to tell you, in the big case, the nuts come flying out of the woodwork. They come out by letter. They come out by e-mail. They come out by telephone calls. You learn to weed them out.

The only reason you're hearing about this one, it got attention. It's as simple as that. For this one there's 20 more out there who are just as crazy.

HEMMER: Well, don't like to hear that. That's the nut you know about. We'll live with that statement for the weekend.

Thanks, Mickey.

SHERMAN: It's a good quote.

HEMMER: Good to see you.

SHERMAN: OK.

HEMMER: 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





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