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American Morning

The People Versus Kobe Bryant

Aired October 09, 2003 - 09:09   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to Eagle, Colorado and the people versus Kobe Bryant. Today's much anticipated preliminary hearing in the sexual assault case could be much ado about nothing. Bryant's defense may decide to forgo the hearing altogether and proceed straight to trial. The NBA star has been in Honolulu where the Lakers are training and playing their first preseason games.
And CNN's legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us in Eagle, Colorado, for the Bryant hearing if or maybe when it happens.

Jeff, nice to see you. Thanks again.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If it happens.

Hi.

O'BRIEN: Let's start with a clarification. We have been talking about the sexual assault trial, sexual assault charges, sometimes using that interchangeably with rape charges. Is it in Colorado, legally are the definitions the same?

TOOBIN: It is interchangeable. Like a lot of states, in the past 10, 15 years, Colorado eliminated the word rape s from its criminal code, thinking that it had too many associations that were too emotional and moved to sexual assault. If you look at the legal definition of sexual assault, it's exactly the same as rape. So I think it is fair and accurate to use them interchangeably.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the hearing. Many in fact expect that the hearing will not happen, they'll go straight to trial. Where do you weigh in on this?

TOOBIN: It's a tough one. I think they will wind up waiving the hearing, because I don't see what the defense can possibly gain from this hearing. First, we know that the prosecution's going to win. We know that the judge will find probable cause. That virtually happens all the time in these cases.

Second, the government's evidence will be damaging to Kobe Bryant, and even though it won't be broadcast on television, all of us in the courtroom will see it, and that will include the statement on videotape by his accuser, the photographs of her injury, the audiotape of Kobe Bryant. I don't see why the defense wants that circulating in public, even secondhand, on behalf of us. So I think they will simply waive the hearing and move to the trial stage today.

O'BRIEN: In Colorado, there is a right to a speedy trial, which means that then the trial could actually start really get under way when?

TOOBIN: Well, there is a right to a speedy trial, but the defense will certainly not take advantage of that right. They don't want an immediate trial. There's a lot of legal work to be done. There are going to be motions perhaps about change of venue, about access to experts, about access to medical report records. All of that is going to take some time. Most of the experts I talked to here in Colorado think, based on prior experience, six to eight months to a trial. So in fact Kobe Bryant will probably be able to play the full basketball season, even if the Lakers go all the way in the playoffs, before this trial starts.

O'BRIEN: And I know obviously a gag order here. So we haven't gotten word exactly from defense in which direction they're going to go. But some of the evidence of what they have been requesting points the direction of maybe going after the witness, or the alleged victim, I should say, in this case. Is that what you would say?

TOOBIN: Absolutely. There's only one issue in this case, and that's the credibility of the accuser. Everything will come down to whether the jury believes her. So they will try to discredit her based on her prior medical and psychiatric history. They will try to discredit her perhaps on some financial motives, perhaps on attention- getting motives. You know, what is so -- why this trial is going to be so ugly is that the only way the defense can win is by portraying the accuser as a liar, and that's an ugly process, but that's how these cases are defended. When the defenses consent, it's one person's word against another. They will try to corroborate each other's stories, each side will try to corroborate its stories with medical records, with scientific records. But it's certainly going to come down to whether the jury believes the victim, and the defense is going to try to discredit her.

O'BRIEN: A long road ahead. Jeffrey Toobin for us in Eagle, Colorado this morning. Jeff, thanks.

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 9, 2003 - 09:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to Eagle, Colorado and the people versus Kobe Bryant. Today's much anticipated preliminary hearing in the sexual assault case could be much ado about nothing. Bryant's defense may decide to forgo the hearing altogether and proceed straight to trial. The NBA star has been in Honolulu where the Lakers are training and playing their first preseason games.
And CNN's legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us in Eagle, Colorado, for the Bryant hearing if or maybe when it happens.

Jeff, nice to see you. Thanks again.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If it happens.

Hi.

O'BRIEN: Let's start with a clarification. We have been talking about the sexual assault trial, sexual assault charges, sometimes using that interchangeably with rape charges. Is it in Colorado, legally are the definitions the same?

TOOBIN: It is interchangeable. Like a lot of states, in the past 10, 15 years, Colorado eliminated the word rape s from its criminal code, thinking that it had too many associations that were too emotional and moved to sexual assault. If you look at the legal definition of sexual assault, it's exactly the same as rape. So I think it is fair and accurate to use them interchangeably.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the hearing. Many in fact expect that the hearing will not happen, they'll go straight to trial. Where do you weigh in on this?

TOOBIN: It's a tough one. I think they will wind up waiving the hearing, because I don't see what the defense can possibly gain from this hearing. First, we know that the prosecution's going to win. We know that the judge will find probable cause. That virtually happens all the time in these cases.

Second, the government's evidence will be damaging to Kobe Bryant, and even though it won't be broadcast on television, all of us in the courtroom will see it, and that will include the statement on videotape by his accuser, the photographs of her injury, the audiotape of Kobe Bryant. I don't see why the defense wants that circulating in public, even secondhand, on behalf of us. So I think they will simply waive the hearing and move to the trial stage today.

O'BRIEN: In Colorado, there is a right to a speedy trial, which means that then the trial could actually start really get under way when?

TOOBIN: Well, there is a right to a speedy trial, but the defense will certainly not take advantage of that right. They don't want an immediate trial. There's a lot of legal work to be done. There are going to be motions perhaps about change of venue, about access to experts, about access to medical report records. All of that is going to take some time. Most of the experts I talked to here in Colorado think, based on prior experience, six to eight months to a trial. So in fact Kobe Bryant will probably be able to play the full basketball season, even if the Lakers go all the way in the playoffs, before this trial starts.

O'BRIEN: And I know obviously a gag order here. So we haven't gotten word exactly from defense in which direction they're going to go. But some of the evidence of what they have been requesting points the direction of maybe going after the witness, or the alleged victim, I should say, in this case. Is that what you would say?

TOOBIN: Absolutely. There's only one issue in this case, and that's the credibility of the accuser. Everything will come down to whether the jury believes her. So they will try to discredit her based on her prior medical and psychiatric history. They will try to discredit her perhaps on some financial motives, perhaps on attention- getting motives. You know, what is so -- why this trial is going to be so ugly is that the only way the defense can win is by portraying the accuser as a liar, and that's an ugly process, but that's how these cases are defended. When the defenses consent, it's one person's word against another. They will try to corroborate each other's stories, each side will try to corroborate its stories with medical records, with scientific records. But it's certainly going to come down to whether the jury believes the victim, and the defense is going to try to discredit her.

O'BRIEN: A long road ahead. Jeffrey Toobin for us in Eagle, Colorado this morning. Jeff, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com