Kobe’s accuser has court appearance delayed

Judge Terry Ruckriegle decided late Monday to postpone the appearance until the March 24-25 hearings. The decision to delay her day in court was based on the prosecution’s request to limit the range of questions that the alleged victim can answer.

Bryant’s accuser was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. The hearings are now expected to concentrate on whether the Lakers superstar was illegally questioned by investigators in the days following the incident.

Attorneys argued on Monday that the sex life of the woman accusing the Lakers’ star of sexual assault should be admissible during the trial.

The defense hopes to circumvent Colorado’s "rape shield" law, which prohibits using an alleged rape victim’s sexual history to discredit one’s case.

The defense insists that the accuser had sex with someone else soon after her alleged assault by Bryant and that she had "multiple acts of sex" in the three days prior to her encounter with him.

The 25-year-old Bryant is accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman on June 30 at a Colorado resort, a Class 3 felony with penalties ranging from four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation.

Bryant, who was in Colorado for surgery on his right knee at the time of the alleged assault, claimed the two had consensual sex.

The filing by Bryant’s defense team on the first of the two-day closed-door hearing was revealed shortly after the judge ordered prosecutors to turn over two pairs of underwear belonging to the accuser.

Defense attorneys Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey hope that this evidence will help exonerate Bryant by proving that the woman had sex with other people around the same time as her encounter with the All-Star guard.

The prosecution urged the judge in the case not to allow any evidence regarding the woman’s sexual past, stating that it has no impact as to whether she was raped.