US Media Scents a New Oj Trial As Basketball Star Faces Rape Charge

The largest concentration of the US media outside Iraq yesterday descended on the small Colorado town of Eagle for the first court hearing in a case being likened to that of OJ Simpson. The case has already prompted death threats to the local district attorney and is the main topic of conversation on talkshow radio across the country.

The reason for the arrival of hundreds of reporters and television news crews was to catch the brief, formal appearance of Kobe Bryant, 24, the star of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team who has been charged with raping a 19-year-old woman when he was staying in a local hotel in June.

Bryant has admitted having sex with the woman, a hotel employee, but claims it was consensual. The full trial may not take place until next year.

So many tents have been erected outside the Eagle courthouse that the media area was nicknamed Camp Kobe, in the same way that the press encampment in Los Angeles when OJ Simpson went on trial for murdering his wife was called Camp OJ.

Once again the prosecution of a black sports hero for his alleged attack on a white woman has polarised public opinion, with some talkshows naming the alleged victim, despite court orders protecting her anonymity, and claiming that "she asked for it" by going to Bryant's room late at night.

Some of Eagle's 3,500 inhabitants, many of whom know the young woman, have become increasingly irritated by the media presence. One signpost in the town yesterday read: "Support the family with No Comment," but others have sought to sell photographs and details of the woman's life to the highest bidders.

Reports that she had taken an overdose two months before the incident have been widely published. A photo of the woman, with her eyes covered but clearly recognisable, as already been published by a weekly tabloid.

Bryant, one of America's best-known, highest-paid and most-sponsored sports stars, gave a press conference last month in which he tearfully apologised to his wife, Vanessa, for committing adultery but said of the incident: "I didn't force her to do anything."

If convicted, he faces a sentence of four years to life.

The judge, Frederick Gannett, has already warned court officials about leaking details of the case to the media. Bryant's defence attorneys, who are Colorado-based, have asked for the full trial to be held in a different location, claiming that Eagle is so small that many people will know the alleged victim.

Security was tight at the courtroom yesterday because of a number of death threats against the local district attorney, Mark Hulbert. Some fans of Bryant claimed the prosecution has only been brought because of the celebrity of the accused.

Bryant, previously regarded as a Mr Clean of sport because of his young wife and baby, had been in Colorado for knee surgery during the close-season when the alleged incident took place.

The case could cost him millions of dollars in lost sponsorship. Currently, he has a $40m (£25m) contract with Nike but any conviction on a sex charge would end that.