The attorney for the woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape in 2003 said his client will not be speaking publicly about Bryant.
“The events of this past Sunday are nothing but enormously tragic,” lawyer John Clune tweeted Friday morning. “And so, while we understand the interest, our client will not be speaking at this time. Thank you for also respecting her privacy.”
Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people died in a helicopter crash Sunday in Calabasas, California.
Bryant was 24 when he was charged with one count of felony assault after the then-19-year-old woman told the Eagle County Sheriff’s Department about the June 30, 2003, incident in Bryant’s hotel room at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, Colorado. Bryant was there to undergo knee surgery in nearby Vail.
Prosecutors in Eagle County dropped the criminal case on Sept. 1, 2004, after the accuser declined to testify. The woman filed a civil lawsuit in August 2004, and that case was settled out of court on March 2, 2005.
Bryant’s reputation took a massive hit after the accusation, but he rebuilt it over the next 16-plus years and was an advocate of women and women’s sports at the time of his death.
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