Anybody who's watches "Law and Order" or saw the movie "My Cousin Vinny" knows you have to turn over evidence or risk a mistrial.
What a total joke, Barney Fife and the rest of the fame seeking buggers of Vail County should be flogged!
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/n...orts-nba-lakersBryant Defense Team Seeks Evidence from Prosecution
By Steve Henson, Times Staff Writer
Frustrated by what they believe is an unwillingness by prosecutors to share evidence, Kobe Bryant's attorneys Monday asked the judge in the Laker guard's sexual assault case to order the material turned over to the defense.
Bryant attorney Hal Haddon wrote in a 17-page court filing that seven letters since September were sent to prosecutors requesting evidence that the defense says must be shared under rules of discovery.
"Not only has the prosecution failed to provide the requested material, it has failed to provide any response at all to the requests," Haddon wrote.
"The prosecution may not shirk its constitutional disclosure obligations like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand."
Bryant is accused of raping a 19-year-old woman June 30 at a Colorado mountain resort. He says they had consensual sex. The case is in the midst of pretrial hearings, including a crucial proceeding on the rape-shield law that will reconvene March 24 and 25 in Eagle County court.
Haddon enumerated 21 items he believes prosecutors must turn over to the defense. Included:
• Information regarding compensation paid to Bryant's accuser and to anyone in her family by any state or local government agency.
• Information regarding payment for the woman's therapy and counseling, including her stay at the Arizona-based Meadows drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. The defense believes her rehab might have been paid for by law enforcement funds or through the Colorado Victim Compensation Fund.
• Information regarding possible plans by the woman to file a civil suit against Bryant, including information concerning contingency fee arrangements with her attorneys.
• Information regarding her possible plans to write a book, and any notes, diaries or memoirs about the case.
• Information about her sexual activity, mental health treatment, and drug and alcohol use, "the relevance of which is for the court and not prosecutors to determine."
• Information relating to Bryant's alleged contacts with women other than the accuser.
• Reports on laboratory testing of body swabs taken on the accuser's thigh and perineum at her rape examination the day after the encounter with Bryant.
Also Monday, Judge Terry Ruckriegle admonished attorneys on both sides to abide by his gag order.
The action was prompted by two recent news releases. On March 2, the woman's attorney denied defense claims that she had sex with someone else hours after the alleged attack. And last week Dist. Atty. Mark Hurlbert responded to the Colorado Supreme Court's rejection of his appeal to limit defense questioning of the accuser by saying he has "great concern about the humiliation the victim is being asked to endure at the hands of the criminal justice system."
