Kobe Bryant rape case: Will the 2003 scandal remain a blot on the legend's otherwise spotless legacy?
Kobe Bryant's death has left an undeniable void in Los Angeles, the city where he spent the entirety of his playing career, as well as the rest of the country, and the world. While his legacy to the game cannot be questioned, it was tainted by a 2003 rape allegation.
The topic is a touchy one, as Washington Post reporter Felicia Somnez found out to her peril, though the case merits a revisit considering how it was not without controversy, including Bryant's lawyers repeatedly attacking the victim's credibility.
It all started on July 1, 2003, at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, a hotel in Edwards, Colorado, where Bryant had checked in before a surgery that was to take place nearby. The sexual assault in question took place the night before and involved a 19-year-old employee of the hotel who immediately reported it to the authorities the next day.
He was confronted with the allegations by Eagle County Sheriff investigators the same day, and initially denied having sexual intercourse with the teen but was forced to admit to it after he was confronted with physical evidence.
He maintained, however, that the intercourse was consensual, something that became the focus of the case as it headed towards a highly-charged and public trial.
There were signs that the victim had been forced into the act. She had bruises around her neck, something Bryant said had happened when he was "strangling" her as he held her "from the back" and "around her neck." He insisted strangling women during sex was "his thing" and that he had done so with other partners as well.
He said that, while the victim explicitly did not give consent, he assumed she had it because of her body language, her putting her hands on his penis, and the fact that he believed she was capable of saying no because she refused when he asked her if he could "cum on her face."
The accusations hit national headlines after formal charges were announced against him on July 18.
During the pre-trial hearings, Bryant's defense team questioned the veracity of the accusations and brought up how the victim had worn underpants containing another man's semen and pubic hair to her rape exam the day after the alleged rape.
Detective Doug Winters testified as such and said the yellow underwear she wore to her rape exam contained sperm from another man and Caucasian pubic hair, something the defense said was "compelling evidence of innocence" as the victim must have had another sexual encounter immediately after the incident.
They also said the vaginal trauma she had suffered was consistent with having multiple sexual partners and questioned her mental health. Defense lawyer Pamela Mackey said the teen was taking an anti-psychotic drug for the treatment of Schizophrenia at the time of the incident.
The evidence against Bryant was aplenty too. The evidence police had recovered included a t-shirt that he wore on the night of the incident which had three small stains of the victim's blood on it that was verified through DNA testing. It was revealed the bleeding had been caused by him leaning the victim over a chair to have sex with her despite her objections.
"He held me by my neck and physically forced me over to the side of the couch," she had told police. "That’s when he continually had one hand around my neck and with his other hand pushed me over to the side of the two chairs um, turned me around and bent me over and lifted up my skirt."
She had also told them that "at that point, I was just kinda scared and I said no a few times," adding that, contrary to his claims, she said no "when he lifted up my skirt" and again "when he took off my underwear."
Ultimately, the case never headed to trial because the victim refused to testify at the trial. We can speculate why, but it probably had to do with her moral character and reputation being repeatedly questioned, and also because she received death threats and hate mail in the thousands.
(Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)
However, the ordeal was not quite over yet. In August 2004, the accuser filed a civil lawsuit against Bryant over the incident. It was settled out of court in March 2005, and while the terms were not revealed to the public, it was reported that the figure amounted to $2.5 million.
The scandal had seen Bryant's reputation tarnished and public perception of him at an all-time low, with brands such as McDonald's and Nutella terminating their endorsement contracts with him over it. Fans had even stopped buying his replica jerseys.
But that bad rap did not last too long. Shortly after the case wrapped up, Bryant signed a seven-year contract valued at $136 million and regained several of his endorsements with Nike, Spalding, and Coca-Cola.
He also reached his basketballing peak and was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2008 and the Finals' Most Valuable Player in 2009 and 2010 after the Lakers both the titles during both years.
His death has seen the case once again make its way to the spotlight, where it is likely to remain for some time as questions are thrown around about whether the outcome would have been different if it had happened today when #MeToo and cancel culture have ensured celebrities accused of sexual assault do not walk away scot-free.