Kobe Bryant’s influence on the world was immense. He was a superstar of the highest order, whose fame reached far beyond the sports world as the face of the NBA’s flagship team. In 2003, that fame and influence leapt into the national consciousness for different reasons. Bryant was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a hotel in Eagle County, Colorado.
Bryant’s stature and the nature of the case combined to make it into one of the most visible sexual assault cases of the decade — and one that would have a lasting effect on the way victims would be viewed and treated for years afterward.
The climate for sexual assault accusations in ’03 was harsher than it is today, especially for an otherwise anonymous 19-year-old.
“Victims had to overcome a lot more than, say if you were the victim of a robbery,” said former Colorado district attorney Mark Hurlbert, who was the prosecutor on the Bryant case. “There were all these myths that were out there, that people really believed and so it was a lot to overcome. Unfortunately, I think a lot of what happened in [Bryant’s] case reinforced some of those myths.”
Bryant’s defense trafficked in myth to protect its star client.
The defense presented evidence Bryant’s accuser used anti-psychotic medicine to treat schizophrenia, claiming it was proof that she “may have a reduced ability to correctly and accurately perceive and relate events.” It described her past suicide attempts as her effort to “[make] herself a victim” as a plot to “gain the attention of her ex-boyfriend without regard to the harm and worry that it causes to other people.”
Lacerations on her genitals that were “not consistent with consensual sex,” according to the nurse that examined her wounds, believed to be the cause of her blood on Bryant’s shirt, were explained away as the result from having other sexual partners. And the defense drew attention semen from another man found on the underwear the accuser wore to her medical exam — but not on the night in question — as evidence that having “multiple partners” could have caused the vaginal trauma.
In other words, Bryant’s accuser’s mental health should disqualify anything she said, and the fact that she had consensual sex with other men canceled out physical evidence of rape.
“It’s hard to go against a celebrity, especially a well-loved celebrity,” said Gloria Allred, a longtime discrimination attorney. “When an accuser is unknown, except by her friends and coworkers, to go against a celebrity who is adored by millions — fans will often defend the celebrity,” Allred told the Daily News.
The accuser’s identity was leaked repeatedly, exposing her to death threats and constant media scrutiny, which Hurlbert described to the Daily News as “18 months of…pure hell.”
Facing such unrelenting assault from the public, Bryant’s accuser inevitably declined to testify against the basketball star. Bryant publicly apologized for his conduct while acknowledging that “she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.” They went to civil court, where Bryant and his accuser settled for an undisclosed amount.
“I was disappointed with the outcome of it,” said Hurlbert. “I wanted to go to trial and take it to 12 Eagle County jurors. But I also completely understood why the victim did not want to go forward.”
Hurlbert added that the publicized nature of Bryant’s case momentarily changed how victims responded to their alleged assaults.
“In Eagle County, we saw a huge decrease in sex assault reporting,” said Hurlbert. “And when victims would talk to advocates, they would say that it was because they were afraid they’re going to be treated like the victim in Kobe Bryant’s [case.]”
According to statistics provided by the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the number of forcible rapes reported dropped 10 percent in 2003 from the previous year.
There was a “definite chilling effect” on alleged victims contemplating coming forward said Hurlbert. “Certainly in Eagle County.”
Hurlbert believes that if similar allegations against a star like Bryant were to surface in 2020 instead of 2003, the rise of social media would have cut both ways on the inevitable outcome.
“Social media is good, and it’s horrible, so there certainly would have been the horrible,” said Hurlbert. “But I think there also would have been the support that we’re seeing now with victims of the Weinstein case and the Cosby case, you would have seen that support. So I certainly think that that would have been a big difference.”
Hurlbert also believes a 2004 amendment to Colorado’s rape shield law closed a loophole the Bryant’s defense exploited to use the victim’s prior sexual history against her during the preliminary hearings.
Allred, who represents an accuser in Weinstein’s trial as well as 33 of Cosby’s victims, said “there’s been a seismic shift over the last 17 years” since Bryant was charged. “Women are more empowered and more willing to come forward.”
But, she added, “There [are] still many allegations against sports figures those in the entertainment world, religious world [and] business world,” that never reach trial. “Because there’s still a major difference in the power dynamic between those who are in power and those who are not.”
Bryant died a surefire Hall of Fame, a dutiful family man, a savvy entrepreneur, and even a recent Oscar and Emmy Award winner. Our collective memory reflects that when Kobe died, he died in power.
Nonetheless, said Allred, “I’m glad the alleged victim was able to resolve it [in civil court] and I’m glad Kobe was able to move on with his life.”
Indeed, Bryant’s rape case was not the sum of his brief existence. He made sure of it.
