Kobe Bryant Trial

Kobe Bryant was born on August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia to the former basketball player and coach Joe "Jellybean" Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant. His athletic skills were detected early in life. After having had a successful career in high school, Kobe Bryant made headlines when he decided to join the NBA directly after graduation. After the departure of his team mate Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe led the Los Angeles Lakers in three consecutive NBA championships from 2000-2002.

The Incident

On June 30, 2003 Kobe Bryant checked into the Cordillera Hotel in Eagle, Colorado. He had gone to Colorado for getting a knee surgery done at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic scheduled for the next day. However, on July 2, the basketball player was confronted by the Eagle County Sheriff with charges of sexual assault filed by Katelyn Faber, a 19 year old female employee at the Hotel. An arrest warrant was issued against Kobe on July 4, and on July 18 he was formally charged for sexual assault by the Eagle County District Attorney's office. If found guilty Kobe could face probation to life imprisonment. Soon after the arrest warrant was issued, Kobe flew back to Colorado and surrendered to the police. However, he was released on a bond of $25,000. During interrogation, Kobe admitted to a sexual encounter with Faber but he maintained that the act was consensual.

The Case

Although evidence of sexual encounters were found, a case of assault could not be conclusively established. Kate Faber stuck to her accusation of sexual misconduct by Bryant. However, her case weakened due to a number of reasons, one of them being her own statements varying over time. Although in her initial statements to the investigators Faber said that Bryant had forced her to wash her face to remove any trace of semen before she left his room, at a later testimony she said that she cleaned her face using a mirror near the hotel elevator. When Trina McKay, the hotel's night auditor was questioned, she said that Faber did not look distraught or bore any signs of having been victimized when she left the hotel that night. She was also alleged to have bragged about her 'night' with Kobe Bryant at a friend's party a few days before the charges were formally issued against the NBA player. All these inconsistencies on Faber's side made Detective Doug Winters, the lead investigator of the case suspicious of the allegations made by her. Pamela Mackey, Bryant's defense lawyer further weakened Faber's case by asserting that Faber was under medication for Schizophrenia at the time of the incident, and that she had also tried to kill herself twice before. Mackey also produced records from the hospital where Faber was admitted four months before the sexual assault as she was assessed to be a 'danger to herself'. The trial finally came to an end on September 1, 2004 when the County District Judge of Eagle, Colorado dismissed all charges against Kobe Bryant as Kate Faber refused to testify in court.

Settlement

Even before the trials of the case were about to begin, Kate Faber had filed a civil lawsuit against Kobe Bryant. Although the lawsuit was settled by the two sides with terms that were not disclosed to the public, Bryant issued a public apology through his attorney as a part of the settlement.

Effects

A superstar that he was, Kobe Bryant endorsed a number of brands like Coca Cola, Nike, McDonald's, Upper Deck, Ferrero SpA and many more. After the allegations against him went public, McDonald's and Ferrero SpA terminated their contract with him. Nike who had signed a contract with the NBA star just some time before the infamous incident took place did not cancel their contract. However, they did not use his image for any of their products, nor did they market his shoes for the whole year. The numbers of the rooms at the Cordillera Hotel were also shuffled in order to dilute the identity of the infamous room No.35 where the incident took place.

Though it was a traumatic experience, Kobe Bryant recovered quickly from it. He got back several of his endorsements and was nominated for the 2008 NBA's Most Valuable Player Award. He is still marred to his wife Vanessa Laine and was featured on the cover of the ESPN Magazine in February 2009.