By Kimiko Martinez
Editor in Chief
he must be lying.
She’s out for the money, or the fame or something. But she’s got to be lying.
Since the sexual assault charges against Kobe Bryant surfaced two months ago, the psychological stability of the Lakers star’s accuser has been frequently questioned. This, of course, can only help Bryant’s case, and his lawyers must certainly be delighted by the public’s willingness to doubt the Eagle, Colo., woman’s claims.
But before the subpoenas for medical records were recently publicized and the mental health of Bryant’s accuser was called into question, I had my doubts.
It’s not like we haven’t heard the story before.
From boxing to baseball, it seems as though athletes from every sport have seen their stars in the legal hot seat after what could have easily been just a wild night on the town. When charges of sexual misconduct surface, no one bats an eye. Boys will be boys, after all.
And athletes, with all of their fame and fortune, seem to have an even greater range of freedoms when it comes to issues of this nature — some sort of free pass to do what they will. I mean, these guys live the “bling bling” lifestyles of rap videos with women, wine and whatever else all the time, right?
So, of course the sex was consensual, we think. Women must fling themselves at these athletes, so why on earth would they ever need to sexually assault a woman?
It’s easy to disregard the fact that public prosecutors must have a certain amount of evidence and a fairly high degree of confidence in the claims to pursue these cases. It’s easy to forget because hardly any of these cases are settled publicly.
When athletes plea-bargain their way to lighter sentencing, we assume they couldn’t have been as guilty as originally portrayed. When the hush-hush settlements between accuser and accused make the lawsuits seem to simply disappear, we assume that’s what the accusers were really after in the first place. We are a capitalist society, so isn’t it always about the money? Forget that criminal courts don’t actually award victims money.
In a recent commentary by lawyer Jeff Benedict, author of “Public Heroes, Private Felons: Athletes and Crimes Against Women,” he cited 1990 Justice Department statistics, stating that of the 32 percent of rape cases that result in an arrest, 54 percent of those end in conviction.
But according to Benedict, the numbers are nearly reversed when it comes to professional athletes charged with felony rape. Of 217 felony rape complaints brought to police between 1986 and 1995, 172 resulted in arrests. Of those 172, only 53 ended in convictions, 43 of which involved athletes pleading no contest or to a reduced charge. In the end, a mere 10, of 172 arrests, were convicted at trial.
With less than a 7 percent success rate, it’s no wonder prosecutors aren’t leaping at the chance to see justice served. And with the way the media jumps all over the women who have, gasp, accused their Nike-endorsing, Sprite-drinking, slam-dunking demigod, it’s no wonder more women don’t come forward.
Benedict stated that “interviews with prosecutors who opted not to press charges revealed that in many cases they believed the accuser and often had corroborating evidence to support her claim. Still, they felt the cases could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
That’s the catch. Athletes such as Kobe Bryant make millions of dollars a year in endorsements alone, so hiring big-gun defenders costs only chump change, especially compared to the $4 million he dropped on his wife’s ring.
And these over-priced lawyers don’t even have to prove he’s innocent.
All these guys have to do is create a reasonable doubt in the minds of the public — potential jurors — and the case is won. Yes, he might have been guilty, but he’s not going to be convicted.
The justice system, unfortunately, has gone from a truth-seeking service to a business that seems to hand out verdicts to the highest bidder. And although they may not have equaled the ranks of Bill Gates, athletes are certainly much further up the moneymaking ranks than, say, a 19-year-old working at a spa in Colorado.
So, when it comes trial time the defense has several months of a head start making their case. Regardless of what facts come out during the trial, the public has already decided that Kobe is not guilty.
This week’s USA Today poll found that 38 percent of Americans think the charges against Bryant are false. And although 41 percent think the charges are “definitely” or “probably” true, its those who fall in the “probably” category that will likely be swayed in the remaining time before trial.
If only 6-plus percent of athletes in these cases are actually “guilty,” then Kobe is probably innocent.
She must be lying, we think. They always are.
And so the seeds of reasonable doubt are sown.
September 11, 2003