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Interview With Lester Munson
Aired August 06, 2003 - 14:17 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well the last time Kobe Bryant was in Eagle County, Colorado the picture taken was, it was his mug shot. Today the NBA superstar is back to hear a charge of sexual assault read in open court.
Also waiting for those proceedings to start, Lester Munson, "Sports Illustrated"'s legal analyst. Thanks for being with us here set today. We appreciate it.
LESTER MUNSON, LEGAL ANALYST, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Happy to do it.
PHILLIPS: All right, so looking through a number articles, reading different analyst's opinions, there's this talk about Kobe being the new O.J. Now you've had experience in a number of other cases. Do you think it's a little overboard?
MUNSON: I think that's a little overboard. I think the cases in the sports world that this compares to are the Mike Tyson rape case -- that was also in a hotel room. The Marv Albert sexual assault case was also in a hotel room. And then another similar case, Mark Chmura, tight end...
PHILLIPS: Packers. That's right.
MUNSON: ... Green Bay Packers, went to a party. A woman claimed to have been attacked in the bathroom at the party.
So I put Kobe in that category of case. It's obviously a case that involves sex, race, money, celebrity, violence. And that's why we're all talking about it.
PHILLIPS: And I'm trying to remember, all those three cases, all of them, of course, reprimanded. Did they -- we don't really hear much about any of those folks anymore do we?
MUNSON: Well Mike Tyson persists in finding ways to get into trouble. Mark Chmura was absolutely innocent of the charge. He has move on in life. he did leave football behind. Marv Albert, after pleading guilty to the sexual assault charge, has managed to put together a very career back in broadcasting after a couple of years out of work.
PHILLIPS: It doesn't necessarily mean Kobe is doomed, I guess, reputation of careerwise.
Let's talk about the lawyers and what they're going to face with regard to the evidence battle. How difficult -- do you present evidence that an accuser had mental problems prior to a situation like this? That's what everybody keeps talking about, that she had issues, mental issues.
MUNSON: The key law here is what we call the "rape shield law." It's a product of the feminist movement, and what that does is it prevents Kobe Bryant's lawyers from using virtually everything. They cannot use anything from her background.
PHILLIPS: Even her sexual history?
MUNSON: Her sexual history is completely forbidden from this case.
I'll give you an example. In the Mike Tyson rape case there was an allegation that the accuser, Desiree Washington -- she's allowed us to use her name. There was an allegation that she had cried rape in high school with a high school classmate. That was not admitted into evidence in the Mike Tyson rape case.
So the rape shield law protects the accuser from attacks on her background, from use of her love life, from use of her sex life. So what we're going to hear as evidence in the trial will be what happened in that hotel room, not three years before and not two weeks after.
PHILLIPS: So the only relevant aspect is her emotional state that day?
MUNSON: Her emotional state that day and more important than that is the physical injuries that she may have had that day. If there's medical evidence of forcible sex, as we had in the Mike Tyson case, as we had in the Marv Albert case, then Kobe Bryant has a real problem here.
PHILLIPS: So what do you think? As you look at this case and you sort of see what surfaced and what hasn't, also take into account the rape shield law, is there a case here? Who, I guess, has the stronger case?
MUNSON: This is going to be a very close case. I think Kobe is probably in more trouble than we all have thought.
I believe there's probably physical evidence, medical evidence that is going to be very incriminating for Kobe Bryant, for his lawyers. They are going to have real problems with that. This is not something that he can shrug off. He is not bulletproof here. I'm not sure that even Kobe Bryant understand how serious a degree of trouble he's in.
PHILLIPS: Real quickly, I know we were short on time here, but I'm just curious, looking at the history, obviously it's out there. Everyone's talking about, Oh, she attempted suicide in the past and she didn't make "American Idol" all these different things.
Taking that into account when you're looking at the emotional state, would lawyers have to prove, OK she may have had issues but she's been cured and here's the evidence that she was in -- she's OK, she's normal.
MUNSON: I'm not even sure they have to prove that. I don't think any of that is going to come in. Ninety percent of what we're hearing in the media right now is probably inaccurate. Even if it is accurate it's not going to come into evidence when the trial begins.
PHILLIPS: Mr. Munson, thank you so much.
MUNSON: Thank you.
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 August 6, 2003 - 14:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well the last time Kobe Bryant was in Eagle County, Colorado the picture taken was, it was his mug shot. Today the NBA superstar is back to hear a charge of sexual assault read in open court.
Also waiting for those proceedings to start, Lester Munson, "Sports Illustrated"'s legal analyst. Thanks for being with us here set today. We appreciate it.
LESTER MUNSON, LEGAL ANALYST, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Happy to do it.
PHILLIPS: All right, so looking through a number articles, reading different analyst's opinions, there's this talk about Kobe being the new O.J. Now you've had experience in a number of other cases. Do you think it's a little overboard?
MUNSON: I think that's a little overboard. I think the cases in the sports world that this compares to are the Mike Tyson rape case -- that was also in a hotel room. The Marv Albert sexual assault case was also in a hotel room. And then another similar case, Mark Chmura, tight end...
PHILLIPS: Packers. That's right.
MUNSON: ... Green Bay Packers, went to a party. A woman claimed to have been attacked in the bathroom at the party.
So I put Kobe in that category of case. It's obviously a case that involves sex, race, money, celebrity, violence. And that's why we're all talking about it.
PHILLIPS: And I'm trying to remember, all those three cases, all of them, of course, reprimanded. Did they -- we don't really hear much about any of those folks anymore do we?
MUNSON: Well Mike Tyson persists in finding ways to get into trouble. Mark Chmura was absolutely innocent of the charge. He has move on in life. he did leave football behind. Marv Albert, after pleading guilty to the sexual assault charge, has managed to put together a very career back in broadcasting after a couple of years out of work.
PHILLIPS: It doesn't necessarily mean Kobe is doomed, I guess, reputation of careerwise.
Let's talk about the lawyers and what they're going to face with regard to the evidence battle. How difficult -- do you present evidence that an accuser had mental problems prior to a situation like this? That's what everybody keeps talking about, that she had issues, mental issues.
MUNSON: The key law here is what we call the "rape shield law." It's a product of the feminist movement, and what that does is it prevents Kobe Bryant's lawyers from using virtually everything. They cannot use anything from her background.
PHILLIPS: Even her sexual history?
MUNSON: Her sexual history is completely forbidden from this case.
I'll give you an example. In the Mike Tyson rape case there was an allegation that the accuser, Desiree Washington -- she's allowed us to use her name. There was an allegation that she had cried rape in high school with a high school classmate. That was not admitted into evidence in the Mike Tyson rape case.
So the rape shield law protects the accuser from attacks on her background, from use of her love life, from use of her sex life. So what we're going to hear as evidence in the trial will be what happened in that hotel room, not three years before and not two weeks after.
PHILLIPS: So the only relevant aspect is her emotional state that day?
MUNSON: Her emotional state that day and more important than that is the physical injuries that she may have had that day. If there's medical evidence of forcible sex, as we had in the Mike Tyson case, as we had in the Marv Albert case, then Kobe Bryant has a real problem here.
PHILLIPS: So what do you think? As you look at this case and you sort of see what surfaced and what hasn't, also take into account the rape shield law, is there a case here? Who, I guess, has the stronger case?
MUNSON: This is going to be a very close case. I think Kobe is probably in more trouble than we all have thought.
I believe there's probably physical evidence, medical evidence that is going to be very incriminating for Kobe Bryant, for his lawyers. They are going to have real problems with that. This is not something that he can shrug off. He is not bulletproof here. I'm not sure that even Kobe Bryant understand how serious a degree of trouble he's in.
PHILLIPS: Real quickly, I know we were short on time here, but I'm just curious, looking at the history, obviously it's out there. Everyone's talking about, Oh, she attempted suicide in the past and she didn't make "American Idol" all these different things.
Taking that into account when you're looking at the emotional state, would lawyers have to prove, OK she may have had issues but she's been cured and here's the evidence that she was in -- she's OK, she's normal.
MUNSON: I'm not even sure they have to prove that. I don't think any of that is going to come in. Ninety percent of what we're hearing in the media right now is probably inaccurate. Even if it is accurate it's not going to come into evidence when the trial begins.
PHILLIPS: Mr. Munson, thank you so much.
MUNSON: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
