Updates on Kobe Bryant Case: As much as I don't like it (mostly because of the bad name it gives sports law), I realize that criminal law is still law and so it is probably time for an update in the Kobe Bryant case. The most interesting issue is still the application of Colorado's rape shield law and the information about his accuser's past sexual history. You can read more on that issue here and the law in this earlier post. CrimLaw also has some links.



In procedural matters, the Bryant has pleaded not guilty and a trial date has been set for August, which is convenient for the basketball player, though it could conceivably run into the start of the season.



In other news, the judge agreed to allow television cameras into the courtroom during the entering of the plea. This should be illegal. You can argue all you want about freedom of the press, but there is no reason that television cameras should be allowed. Television cameras, especially in a case like this, will turn the case into a spectacle, rather than the serious judicial proceeding it is. One need look no further than the OJ Simpson case to see that. Witnesses, lawyers and even the judge should be focusing on the legal issues, not how their hair looks and what the television audience will think. A current Supreme Court justice has said, "If they ever roll a camera into these chambers, it will be over my dead body." I wish that were true in all courtrooms, as the presence of cameras can only detract from the system of justice.

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