The MIA Heat Show Thread

[DaKCMan AP]

LA will be dethroned. The LAC Lake Show will be dead. So it's time to create a thread to follow the new dynasty.

Going on tour starting this October.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Who do you think's nailed more random road beef - Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant? Kobe drilled the wrong crazy cocktail waitress.

Though as best I can tell, I haven't seen any divorce papers from Vanessa Bryant claiming that Kobe gave her Herpes...

damn for a lawyer you arent too good at this.

kobe was accused of rape. and probably paid quite a bit to get that dropped.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

so his actions AFTER the fact is proof enough? wow

So if after a shooting I'm found disposing of a body and cleaning my fingerprints off a handgun that happened to fire the round found in the corpse, none of that is good enough because it came after the fact?

Wow.

Like I said - just because someone once told you that circumstantial evidence can't make a case, doesn't mean it's accurate.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

damn for a lawyer you arent too good at this.

kobe was accused of rape. and probably paid quite a bit to get that dropped.

Indeed he was.

As I said - he nailed the wrong crazy cocktail waitress.

(Though for the record, it's okay for you to surmise based on absolutely nothing that Kobe paid to have the charges dropped, a federal offense BTW, but it's not okay for me to surmise that doucheoff kid was behaving like a doucheoff when an entire section of a baseball game was threatening to beat his ass? Gotchya)

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

So if after a shooting I'm found disposing of a body and cleaning my fingerprints off a handgun that happened to fire the round found in the corpse, none of that is good enough because it came after the fact?

Wow.

Like I said - just because someone once told you that circumstantial evidence can't make a case, doesn't mean it's accurate.

i think the scenario you have laid out is a little different than the one being discussed.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Indeed he was.

As I said - he nailed the wrong crazy cocktail waitress.

(Though for the record, it's okay for you to surmise based on absolutely nothing that Kobe paid to have the charges dropped, a federal offense BTW, but it's not okay for me to surmise that doucheoff kid was behaving like a doucheoff when an entire section of a baseball game was threatening to beat his ass? Gotchya)

EAGLE, Colo. - The sexual assault charge against Kobe Bryant has been dropped, but his accuser — whose reluctance to participate derailed the criminal trial before it ever really got started — isn’t letting the NBA star off the hook just yet.

With jury selection under way, the criminal case was dropped late Wednesday by prosecutors who said the 20-year-old woman accusing Bryant of rape had decided not to participate. Her exit followed gaffes that led to the public disclosure of her name and other personal details, and prosecutors said they would not carry on without her testimony.

But the Los Angeles Lakers star still faces her federal civil lawsuit seeking unspecified damages. That case is still on, said L. Lin Wood, the woman’s attorney.
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“There has been no settlement of the civil lawsuit, and there have been no discussions concerning a settlement,” he said.

The 26-year-old Los Angeles Lakers guard issued a written apology that stopped short of taking responsibility for his actions.

“Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did,” he said.

Bryant case
Kobe, accuser settle
Ventre: Kobe can redeem image
Vote: What's next?
Case timeline

Prominent defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School criminal law expert, said the sides might have made an "implicit" agreement on a settlement of the civil lawsuit, the Los Angeles Times said.

"A plaintiff cannot go to a defendant and say, 'If you pay me, I will drop the charges.' There can't be an explicit deal, but there may be an implicit one," he told the Times.

We are now involved in a very complicated game of chess," Dershowitz added. "It clearly is a negotiated statement. Not a word of that was written by Kobe. You can see the lawyers' hands all over that. It is very artfully done."

There have several previous cases in which the accused made a financial settlement with the accuser, i.e. singer Michael Jackson, who agreed to pay $15.3 million to a boy after being accused of molesting him in 1993, the Times said. The boy did not testify against Jackson.

In court, one of the Bryant accuser's lawyers, John Clune, said Bryant’s apology factored into her decision to drop out of the case. Defense attorneys Pamela Mackey and Hal Haddon said the accuser “insisted on that statement as a price of freedom,” according to a story posted on the ESPN network Web site Thursday.

Bryant tearfully admitted more than a year ago he had consensual sex with the then-19-year-old employee of a Vail-area resort where he stayed last summer. If convicted, the married father of a little girl could have faced four years to life in prison, or 20 years to life on probation, and a fine up to $750,000.

Instead, prosecutors dropped the case after spending at least $200,000 preparing for trial. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said he could have won the case, but he supported the woman’s decision to withdraw, with a stipulation that charges will never be refiled.

“Today justice is sadly interrupted. The casualty in this interruption has been a brave young woman who was grievously hurt,” Hurlbert said.

Victims’ rights groups said the way the case disintegrated could force states to take another look at rape-shield laws, which typically bar the sex life of an alleged assault victim from being admitted as evidence.

Wendy Murphy, a professor at the New England School of Law in Boston and a former prosecutor, said the case could shake many women’s faith in the justice system.

“The rules, the laws, the things that are supposed to make us treat each other with civility are a big joke, it doesn’t matter,” she said.

In this case, District Judge Terry Ruckriegle ruled that the woman’s sex life in the three days surrounding her encounter with Bryant could be admitted as evidence, which may have bolstered the defense contention that she slept with someone after leaving Bryant and before she went to a hospital exam — a potentially key blow to her credibility. The woman’s lawyers have denied the accusation.

And after mistakes that revealed her identity, at least two death threats and relentless media attention, she apparently had had enough.

“The difficulties that this case has imposed on this woman the past year are unimaginable,” said John Clune, one of her attorneys. He said she was particularly disturbed by mistakes including the release of her name on a state courts Web site and her medical history to attorneys.

Neither Bryant nor his accuser were in the courtroom as the judge threw out the case, blaming budget cuts in part for a lack of courthouse staff and the mistakes.

Outside the courthouse, Hurlbert said the decision to drop the case “is not based upon a lack of belief in the victim — she is an extremely credible and an extremely brave young woman.”

“A trial can be traumatic for any victim of any crime, more so with the victim of a sexual assault, and even more so with the victim of a sexual assault whose victimization has been subject to worldwide scrutiny,” the prosecutor said.

Bryant said the civil case against him “will be decided by and between the parties directly involved in the incident and will no longer be a financial or emotional drain on the citizens of the state of Colorado.”

“I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman,” Bryant said. “No money has been paid to this woman. She has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case.”

Larry Pozner, a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he did not think Bryant’s statement suggested an interest in settling the civil lawsuit.

“I would have guessed today would have been a global settlement (covering both cases),” he said. “If it isn’t, it’s because the defense has told them, ‘We aren’t paying you very much, and if you want to continue, bring it on.”’

The lawsuit, like the criminal case, accuses Bryant of attacking the woman in his room at the Cordillera resort near Edwards, causing her emotional and physical problems that linger to this day.

Prosecutors said Bryant flirted with the woman, a front desk employee, during a tour of the resort. After the two ended up in his room, they began to kiss, which she acknowledged was consensual. Investigators have said the encounter turned violent and that she told Bryant “no” at least twice.

In the civil suit, the attorneys said at some point during the kissing “Bryant’s voice became deeper and his acts became rougher” as he began to grope the woman. She asked him to stop, but Bryant allegedly blocked her exit, grabbed her and forced her over a chair to rape her. Bryant’s hands were around the woman’s neck, the attorneys said — “a perceived threat of potential strangulation if she resisted his advances.”

[SAUTO]

oh and here's the settlement announcment:



Posted 3/2/2005 7:17 PM Updated 3/3/2005 9:54 PM

RELATED STORIES
Bryant case dismissed
Bryant settles civil suit (March 2)
Bryant will answer questions in civil case (Feb. 25)
Conflicting accounts of accuser (Oct. 11)
Analysts question release of documents (Oct. 4)
Transcript: Accuser told Bryant 'No' (Oct. 1)
Defense drops bid to keep evidence sealed (Sept. 27)
Civil trial takes up drama (Sept. 2)
Bryant case thrown out (Sept. 1)
Despite dismissal, Kobe's image may take hit (Sept. 1)
Accuser files civil suit (Aug. 10)
Accuser's attorneys blast judge (Aug. 9)
Bryant pleads not guilty (May 11)
Mark Shaw analysis
All parties to blame in travesty of justice

Column
Saraceno: Dismissal hardly means closed case
Lopresti: Trial gone but stench lingers
BEYOND WORDS
Multimedia
Video: Hurlbert speaks after dismissal
Graphic: Bryant case timeline

A look back
Video: Bryant pleads not guilty on May 11 (AP)
Video: Alleged rape details revealed at Oct. 9 preliminary hearing (KUSA-TV)
Audio: Bryant claims innocence, proclaims love for wife
Video: Press conference announcing charge (KUSA-TV)
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Kobe Bryant, accuser settle her civil lawsuit
By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY
DENVER — Basketball star Kobe Bryant and the Colorado woman who accused him of rape 20 months ago have settled her civil lawsuit against him, their lawyers announced Wednesday.
Kobe Bryant did not comment on his settlement with his 20-year-old female accuser.
By John Bazemore, AP

Terms of the out-of-court agreement were not released. A two-sentence statement by the sides said only that the case "has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties." It said Bryant, his 20-year-old accuser and their lawyers "have agreed that no further comments about the matter can or will be made."

A motion to dismiss the case also was filed Wednesday in Denver federal court, where the woman sued the Los Angeles Lakers guard last summer. The civil suit was filed three weeks before a sexual assault case against Bryant was dropped. That followed the young woman's decision not to testify at the criminal trial.

Atlanta lawyer L. Lin Wood, one of the woman's attorneys, declined to comment Wednesday. Bryant's chief counsel, Pamela Mackey of Denver, could not be reached. A Lakers spokesman said Bryant, 26, in Boston for a game, also declined to comment.

The announcement came less than a week after the two sides called off a deposition by Bryant. It was to be his first statement under oath since the June 2003 encounter at a Colorado mountain resort hotel where Bryant was staying while having knee surgery at a Vail clinic. Lawyers for the woman, then employed at the resort, were likely to grill Bryant about his sexual history in the deposition, which was scheduled last Friday in Orange County, Calif., where he lives.

The woman, who is now married and expecting a baby in May, had sought unspecified damages. The case triggered a media frenzy around Bryant, then one of the NBA's brightest young stars. Bryant, married and a father of one, admitted having sex with her but said the woman, then 19, had consented.

Legal experts who had followed the case closely said the canceled deposition was a sure sign that a settlement was in the works. "The time to settle it was before that deposition was taken," said Karen Steinhauser, a University of Denver law professor. "When Kobe Bryant can write a check to make this ... go away, the question is, why take the risk of losing?"

Denver trial lawyer Larry Pozner said the case was too complex to estimate a settlement amount. "In Kobe Bryant terms, the check will be small," he said. "In her terms, the check will be gigantic. Kobe just bought her a home."

The settlement doesn't mean endorsers will flock to Bryant. Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nutella dropped him after the sexual assault charge was filed. Bryant's five-year, $45 million deal with Nike continues.

"Kobe Bryant is currently persona non grata to the endorsement party," Roy Clark of the Dallas-based endorsement firm The Marketing Arm said last fall.

Sports marketers have estimated Bryant lost $4 million to $6 million in endorsement contracts after his arrest.

Wendy Murphy, a professor at the New England School of Law and a former prosecutor, said the settlement suggests the rich can buy their way out of trouble. But she also criticized the woman's decision to drop the assault case last summer.

"No victim should be proud of herself for taking a dive in a criminal case, no matter how many zeros in a civil settlement," Murphy said.

Cynthia Stone, spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she hopes the settlement brings some sense of justice and closure for the woman, who moved from state to state to avoid media scrutiny last year.

"The defense team in the criminal case managed to get reams of paper filled with rumor and innuendo about this young woman's prior sexual history out into the public," Stone said.

As a result, victims' advocates are lobbying for a bill intended to tighten Colorado's "rape shield" law. The bill would clarify that nothing about an alleged victim's sexual history would be made public unless the judge determines it is relevant to the case.

***

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

i think the scenario you have laid out is a little different than the one being discussed.

You're correct, in situation the victim died. In the other he didn't.

It's called an analogy.

The conduct and the character of the idividual in question after the event in question are absolutely relevant to determining how he behaved during the event in question.

Like I said - you seem to be the only person actually defending the ****wit, so we see where the jury has fallen on this one.

[DJ's left nut]

So an article noting that the criminal matter was dismissed prior to the civil complaint being settled (6 months prior, in fact) somehow vindicates your position that the criminal matter was dismissed because the civil suit was settled?

Yup - that makes sense.

You're right - you are good at this.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

So an article noting that the criminal matter was dismissed prior to the civil complaint being settled (6 months prior, in fact) somehow vindicates your position that the criminal matter was dismissed because the civil suit was settled?

Yup - that makes sense.

You're right - you are good at this.

damn for a lawyer you sure dont get it.

the criminal charges were dropped because the plaintiff refused to cooperate.


then he paid her off.

use the circumstantial evidence here.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

You're correct, in situation the victim died. In the other he didn't.

It's called an analogy.

The conduct and the character of the idividual in question after the event in question are absolutely relevant to determining how he behaved during the event in question.

Like I said - you seem to be the only person actually defending the ****wit, so we see where the jury has fallen on this one.

no they are not. why? maybe he was pissed about the way the fans acted and THEN he acted out. are there any reports that he acted out PRIOR to being asked to leave?

[DJ's left nut]

Then there's the fact that the judge pretty much told the prosecutors that they don't have a case when he barely let it get past the preliminary hearing (which has an incredibly low standard of proof) and issued a written ruling stating as such.

That never happens. In fact, I'd say judges issue a written ruling in a preliminary matter less than 10% of the time (and only when they're essentially telling counsel to get this the **** out of their courtrooms)

When the judge is telling you that your case is based on weak evidence and hearsay, any DA in their right mind is going to pull the plug.

Then again, as a mechanic, I'm sure you knew that already. This was all about Kobe purchasing a dismissal...since you said so.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Then there's the fact that the judge pretty much told the prosecutors that they don't have a case when he barely let it get past the preliminary hearing (which has an incredibly low standard of proof) and issued a written ruling stating as such.

That never happens. In fact, I'd say judges issue a written ruling in a preliminary matter less than 10% of the time (and only when they're essentially telling counsel to get this the **** out of their courtrooms)

When the judge is telling you that your case is based on weak evidence and hearsay, any DA in their right mind is going to pull the plug.

Then again, as a mechanic, I'm sure you knew that already. This was all about Kobe purchasing a dismissal...since you said so.

why did they have no case? the plaintiff refused to cooperate. why? not worth as much in jail

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

damn for a lawyer you sure dont get it.

the criminal charges were dropped because the plaintiff refused to cooperate.


then he paid her off.

use the circumstantial evidence here.

6. Months. Later.

The timelines are completely out of whack (though again, as a mechanic, I'm sure you knew that).

If one was contingent on the other, there's no way in hell she 'refuses to cooperate' before the settlement is finalized. At that point, she uses her cooperation to its fullest extent to maximize her settlement leverage. Putting someone's freedom in jeopardy certainly carries a little bit of weight, don't you think?

The case had already been dismissed, she'd already been discredited. The DA already announced the case was over.

She had no criminal leverage left. The reason Kobe settled was that the civil trial would've continued to drag his name through the mud.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

why did they have no case? the plaintiff refused to cooperate. why? not worth as much in jail

I'd suggest you do some more reading. She sang like a bird in the beginning. The problem was that her 'cooperation' lacked consistency.

The woman's story changed every time she told it. Then there's that whole 'several people's semen in her underwear from that night" thing...

The judge cited inconsistencies in her testimony in the preliminary ruling.

Again - THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN.

Judges do not do that unless they are telling the prosecutor to get rid of this case.

The criminal matter was dead. Civil settlement or no, the criminal case was over.

You really don't know what you're talking about.

[BIG_DADDY]

Kobe made some big mistakes when he was young but defending what LeBron does now by going after what Kobe did a long time ago is just lame.

For the record we followed that case in detail here at the planet. There were tons of people who thought Kobe was guilty at first and I don't think there was even one who believed he raped her in the end. Katelyn Faber was a piece of work.