Kobe to enter
plea in mid-May

EAGLE, Colo. - The judge in the Kobe Bryant case said Wednesday the NBA star will formally enter a plea in his high-profile sexual assault case during a three-day hearing that starts May 10.

State District Judge Terry Ruckriegle granted a prosecution request to have a plea entered and said he would have liked to do it Wednesday. But the judge said he needed to give the media time to file a request to have a camera in the courtroom for the procedure.

The Los Angeles Lakers star hasn’t spoken in open court since August, when he answered “No, sir” to a simple question from the judge handling his preliminary hearing.

Bryant is accused of raping a 19-year-old employee at a Vail-area resort last June. Bryant, who has said he and woman had consensual sex, would face four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation if he is convicted of felony sexual assault.

Once a not guilty plea is entered at an arraignment, a trial must be held within six months unless the defendant waives the right to a speedy trial.

Attorneys for both sides told Ruckriegle the earliest they could be ready for trial would be late August or early September.

After Bryant enters a plea in the second week of May, his next court date after that would fall on June 21, a day after the last scheduled NBA playoff game, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"I don't know if it was intentional or coincidental, but the schedule is great news for Lakers fans," Craig Silverman, former chief deputy district attorney of Denver, told the Los Angeles Times.

The woman’s attorney, John Clune, asked the judge last month to set an arraignment date, saying she has been threatened and is constantly fearful.

“If the case can’t be tried within six months, then we have significant other problems,” Clune said Wednesday.

The arraignment was set as a three-day pretrial hearing wound down without resolution of two key issues: whether the accuser’s sexual history can be used against her at trial and a defense request to dismiss evidence that includes a hospital exam of the NBA star.

More than 2½ days of the hearing were held behind closed doors, with sheriff’s investigators, a nurse and others trooping into the courtroom to testify.

There was speculation that Ruckriegle would wrap up arguments on the sexual history and evidence-suppression issues. But more witnesses are expected to testify next month.

The issue is important because the defense contends that injuries found on the woman during a hospital exam could have been caused by other sexual partners around the time of her encounter with Bryant.

Prosecutors say the details are irrelevant in determining whether the woman was raped.

Ruckriegle has already barred defense access to the woman’s medical records, except for those from her sexual assault exam. Experts, however, say the defense will probably call witnesses to testify about her purported suicide attempts and prescription drug use.

The judge ruled Wednesday that hearings on the relevancy of the woman’s medical and mental health history, and any evidence of alcohol or drug use, will be closed. He rejected suggested alternatives from media groups, including open-court discussions without specific details.

Meanwhile, two detectives who spoke with the NBA star shortly the alleged attack testified Wednesday.

The defense says sheriff’s investigators Dan Loya and Doug Winters improperly questioned Bryant and botched the execution of a court order to gather evidence last July. Loya also taped Bryant’s statements with a miniature recorder in his shirt pocket.

The defense wants Ruckriegle to toss out the secretly recorded statements, a T-shirt stained with the woman’s blood and the results of a hospital exam performed on Bryant.

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