| The alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant sexual-assault case suffered obvious physical injuries that are still apparent three weeks after the incident, a friend told The Denver Post on Monday.
"She had been hurt, there's no question about it," said Luke Bray, a high school friend who said he has helped take care of the woman since the June 30 incident.
Bray's remarks are the first confirmation of the physical evidence that Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert alluded to when he charged Bryant with one count of felony sexual assault Friday.
Bray would not discuss the specific injuries because he said the woman's attorney, Rob Wheeler, advised him not to.
Attorneys representing Bryant - Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey - could not be reached late Monday.
The mother of the alleged victim has asked her daughter's friends to stop talking with reporters, but not before the woman's purported picture, address, phone number and e-mail address began circulating on the Internet. The photo being circulated, however, is actually of someone else, a former classmate said Monday.
"Her parents are afraid for her because she's received threats," said one family friend who asked not to be identified. "They've kind of asked everyone to step back a little bit and let things cool off."
Outraged basketball fans have e-mailed death threats to the woman, Bray said.
The 19-year-old woman has been the subject of intense media attention since July 6, when the Eagle County Sheriff's Office announced it had arrested Bryant two days earlier. The arrest stemmed from an alleged sexual assault at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, where Bryant was a guest and the woman worked.
Bryant said Friday that he had consensual sex with the woman.
The charge against the Los Angeles Lakers star carries a prison term of four years to life.
Family friends said the woman's mother called them Sunday to ask that they lower their profile. Some of the woman's friends began speaking out in her defense because they thought her side had not been fairly represented.
Mainly, her parents were concerned that a picture of the girl would eventually find its way into the public spotlight, the family friend said. After the request, the friend canceled three nationwide TV interviews and stopped speaking to print reporters.
Nearly a dozen of the woman's friends and former classmates have appeared on national TV news shows such as "Primetime," "Good Morning America," "Today," "American Morning" and "Fox News: Big Story Weekend with Rita Cosby."
Some of the friends have supported the woman, saying they believed her allegation. Others said they didn't think she was telling the truth and was just trying to grab her 15 minutes of fame.
Despite the mother's concerns, a picture that was purported to be of the woman began circulating as early as Friday on at least three websites.
But Janelle Medina, 19, who attended Eagle Valley High School and was in the choir with the alleged victim, said the photo is of another girl with the same first name.
Internet user "Dudemac" posted what he claimed are three pictures of Bryant's accuser on two websites. The pictures included two from prom night at Eagle Valley High School and one of the cheerleading and dance team of which the woman was a member.
In a chat room on the site, "Dudemac" refused to provide his name or a phone number.
"She is 19, and I really do not think it's cool for her to accuse him and not be in the news herself," Dudemac wrote.
While mainstream media outlets do not generally name victims of sex crimes, posting the woman's name or picture on the Internet does not violate the law, said Chris Beall, a Denver lawyer specializing in media law.
David Feingold, creator of the Boston-based website Freekobe.com, said he knows the woman's name and has seen pictures of her but chose not to publish them. Since Friday, he also has tried to immediately take down messages from bulletin boards if they include any reference to her name, her address or her picture. But the volume is so heavy, he hasn't been able to keep up, he said.
"I do believe that it's in wide circulation, but we try to take it down," Feingold said. "I don't want to have any part of that."
Even as her name spreads across the Internet, almost everyone in Eagle, a small town of 3,700 people, knows who she is.
Meanwhile, the Eagle County District Attorney's Office declined to comment Monday about revelations that the woman suffered a drug overdose in the months before the incident.
Bryant is due back in Colorado for an advisement hearing Aug. 6.
Source: Denver Post | |
