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Kobe Bryant Case
Aired October 15, 2003 - 13:28 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, we heard from our Gary Tuchman in Eagle, Colorado now. Our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us outside of the courtroom. He's also been sitting inside, listening to prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Jeffrey, what do you make out of this? So many, I guess you could say, pretty gruesome details. Prosecutors saying the defense is smearing the accuser. Is it misrepresentation? What's the strategy here?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, today, I have to say, I criticized Pamela Mackey a lot for what she did in court last week. Today, I thought it was an extremely effective, very professional cross examination that exposed real weaknesses in the government's case.
I mean, there were some really damaging stuff to the government's case here. The total absence of any injuries on Kobe Bryant's body, suggesting no struggle, no noise disturbing other guests. The fact that the accuser was so anxious to see Kobe Bryant that she took a back route to his room so his bodyguards wouldn't see him, the fact that there was other semen on her underwear, indicating sexual activity with someone else, apparently in the period right around the time she was seeing Kobe -- she had sexual contact with Kobe Bryant. The fact -- I mean, these are all very helpful facts for the defense.
PHILLIPS: So Pamela Mackey really trying to avoid any type of, I guess, empathy, sympathy, for this accuser.
TOOBIN: Absolutely -- but in a professional way. She was doing her job. Her job is not to generate sympathy for the accuser. Her job is to defend her client. And unlike last week, she did it, I thought, according to the way lawyers are supposed to behave. She pointed out just how anxious this accuser appeared to be with Kobe Bryant, how many aggressive steps she took to be with Kobe Bryant at a time she knew that he was going to, quote/unquote, "put the moves on her," something she said. I mean, these were positive facts for the defense.
PHILLIPS: So if you're the prosecutor, what do you do now, Jeffrey? How do you come back at this? What's the next step? What would you do?
TOOBIN: Well, I think -- this case -- you know, a preliminary hearing is fundamentally an unrealistic picture of what the trial will be, because here you have a detective testifying about what the accuser told him. When we have the trial in this case, it's going to be the accuser's testimony. She will be on the witness stand. And the case will largely rise and fall on her credibility. That of course is going to take a lot of witness preparation, and she's going to have to be credible for the government's case to stand up.
Just to mention another fact that came out today, very interesting fact that had not been disclosed before, which was the night auditor, a woman who worked at the hotel, was apparently the first person to see the accuser after she left Kobe Bryant's hotel room, and she reported in a letter to prosecutors, that she saw no sign of distress. So later -- last week, we heard that a bellman saw that the accuser appeared to be in distress, but the first person who saw the accuser said no distress. But again, a positive point for the defense.
PHILLIPS: We'll continue to check in with you. Our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin there, live in Eagle, Colorado.
Thanks, Jeffrey.
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 October 15, 2003 - 13:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we heard from our Gary Tuchman in Eagle, Colorado now. Our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us outside of the courtroom. He's also been sitting inside, listening to prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Jeffrey, what do you make out of this? So many, I guess you could say, pretty gruesome details. Prosecutors saying the defense is smearing the accuser. Is it misrepresentation? What's the strategy here?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, today, I have to say, I criticized Pamela Mackey a lot for what she did in court last week. Today, I thought it was an extremely effective, very professional cross examination that exposed real weaknesses in the government's case.
I mean, there were some really damaging stuff to the government's case here. The total absence of any injuries on Kobe Bryant's body, suggesting no struggle, no noise disturbing other guests. The fact that the accuser was so anxious to see Kobe Bryant that she took a back route to his room so his bodyguards wouldn't see him, the fact that there was other semen on her underwear, indicating sexual activity with someone else, apparently in the period right around the time she was seeing Kobe -- she had sexual contact with Kobe Bryant. The fact -- I mean, these are all very helpful facts for the defense.
PHILLIPS: So Pamela Mackey really trying to avoid any type of, I guess, empathy, sympathy, for this accuser.
TOOBIN: Absolutely -- but in a professional way. She was doing her job. Her job is not to generate sympathy for the accuser. Her job is to defend her client. And unlike last week, she did it, I thought, according to the way lawyers are supposed to behave. She pointed out just how anxious this accuser appeared to be with Kobe Bryant, how many aggressive steps she took to be with Kobe Bryant at a time she knew that he was going to, quote/unquote, "put the moves on her," something she said. I mean, these were positive facts for the defense.
PHILLIPS: So if you're the prosecutor, what do you do now, Jeffrey? How do you come back at this? What's the next step? What would you do?
TOOBIN: Well, I think -- this case -- you know, a preliminary hearing is fundamentally an unrealistic picture of what the trial will be, because here you have a detective testifying about what the accuser told him. When we have the trial in this case, it's going to be the accuser's testimony. She will be on the witness stand. And the case will largely rise and fall on her credibility. That of course is going to take a lot of witness preparation, and she's going to have to be credible for the government's case to stand up.
Just to mention another fact that came out today, very interesting fact that had not been disclosed before, which was the night auditor, a woman who worked at the hotel, was apparently the first person to see the accuser after she left Kobe Bryant's hotel room, and she reported in a letter to prosecutors, that she saw no sign of distress. So later -- last week, we heard that a bellman saw that the accuser appeared to be in distress, but the first person who saw the accuser said no distress. But again, a positive point for the defense.
PHILLIPS: We'll continue to check in with you. Our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin there, live in Eagle, Colorado.
Thanks, Jeffrey.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
