Cleveland Playoff Watch Thread

[slinslin]

Hawks and Wizards won last night.

Washington is a half game back and Atlanta 1 game back.

 

[George O'Brien]

Hawks and Wizards won last night.

Washington is a half game back and Atlanta 1 game back.

I certainly creates mixed feelings. My solution is to start Eisley - that WILL give us more ping pong balls.

 

[George O'Brien]

Kobe and the Trial: Get going with trial, accuser's mom says

Denver Post: Get going with trial, accuser's mom says

Harassment plagues daughter's every turn, Bryant judge is told

By Steve Lipsher and Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Staff Writers

EAGLE - Her daughter has been stalked by the public, harassed by the media and forced to move from state to state.

So on Thursday, the mother of Kobe Bryant's accuser asked a judge to hurry up and set a trial date in hopes of minimizing the threats and shadowing her daughter has endured since the 19-year- old said she was sexually assaulted by the basketball star.

"The defense begins to question everyone she meets. The media reveals her location," the woman wrote in a letter to District Judge Terry Ruckriegle. "Her safety is at risk, and she has to move again. She can't live at home. She can't live with relatives. She can't go to school or talk to her friends.

"When she moves to a new location she doesn't know anyone. As soon as she gets a job or makes a few acquaintances, someone figures out who she is and the media arrives. The last time she got a job, the second day she was there the media found her and began following her."

In an unusual legal request, the 19-year-old's attorney, John Clune, complained Thursday that the case had endured more than three months of motions hearings, yet Bryant hasn't been asked to enter a plea, and no trial date has been set - all while his client has been harassed and stalked continually.

The woman, according to a letter from her mother that was attached to the legal filing by Clune, "has lived in four different states in the past six months."

"She is followed everywhere by the defense and the media," the letter states.

Just Wednesday, hours after the accuser's first appearance in court in a closed-door hearing, the woman and some friends were at a restaurant when they were accosted by a man with a camera who would not leave them alone until the accuser pulled out a cellphone to call for help, Clune said.

The woman, a former front-desk employee at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, says Bryant sexually assaulted her in his room June 30. Bryant says the liaison at the upscale hotel near Edwards was consensual.

In her letter to the court, the accuser's mother described her daughter's life as one of fear, harassment and chaos.

Three people already have been arrested on suspicion of making threats against her, and she has received "literally hundreds" of other threatening and obscene phone calls, her mother wrote.

Additionally, she has difficulty getting a job because she is discovered within days in every new town, and employers are unwilling to deal with the issues surrounding her, the woman's mother wrote.

"The length of the process, combined with the crush of media, has made this woman's life a living hell," said Norm Early, a former Denver district attorney. "If this is dragged out for 12 to 18 months, she'd be a wreck."

Denver defense attorney Lisa Wayne, however, said the deliberative process is important.

"Mr. Bryant's right to have everything litigated before trial is crucial," she said. "Sometimes justice is slow. The emotional toll that Kobe Bryant is going through is just as painful."

Meanwhile, the closed-door hearing to determine whether the woman's sex life is relevant to the case continued Thursday, with testimony from the woman's ex-boyfriend, Matt Herr. Ruckriegle is not expected to rule on the issue for at least several weeks.

The judge also has scheduled additional hearings on motions well into May before Bryant is expected to enter a plea, a move that would invoke speedy-trial provisions requiring a trial within six months.

Bryant has not waived his right to a speedy trial, but his attorneys and prosecutors have agreed to follow the judge's plan to resolve motions before accepting a plea.

"Kobe Bryant could have forced the issue at any point. He could have stood up before Judge Ruckriegle and entered a not-guilty plea and said, 'I want a trial within six months,"' said former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman.

Concern for the fair-trial rights of defendants often overshadows the needs of alleged victims in sexual-assault cases, said Cynthia Stone, spokeswoman for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

"This woman's universe is the nation. The loss of privacy is one of the major reasons victims don't come forward. Our society as a whole still stigmatizes victims of sexual assault," she said.

The alleged victim's mother wrote that her daughter's life is on hold until the case is over.

"No one else involved in this case has had to make the life changes and compromises that my daughter has had to make and will need to continue to make until this case is over," the mother wrote. "Even the defendant is able to continue living in his home and continue his employment."

After Wednesday's court appearance, Bryant flew to Los Angeles, where he scored 36 points for the Los Angeles Lakers in a win against the Sacramento Kings. He then returned to Eagle for the 8 a.m. hearing Thursday.

The case, with its unusual complexities, has created its own delays, as prosecutors and defense attorneys argue over ground rules such as access to the woman's medical records and sexual history and results from DNA testing, said Andrew Cohen, a legal analyst with CBS.

"On one hand you understand her frustration. On the other hand, the process has to be thorough," Cohen said. "That takes time, and that time is frustrating the victim. She doesn't get to dictate when the trial takes place. The judge does."

Arguing over just such an issue Thursday afternoon, an Eagle County sheriff's detective, Daniel Loya, took the stand in a portion of the hearing devoted to determining whether statements Bryant made to investigators are admissible.

The defense team of Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey claims Bryant was tricked into giving statements to investigators late July 1 and then was improperly taken to a Glenwood Springs hospital for hair, blood and saliva samples.

Loya, the investigator who surreptitiously recorded Bryant's comments that night, was on the stand all afternoon.

The hearing on whether to suppress the evidence against Bryant was not completed and will be continued next Friday.

 

[Chaplin]

What does that article have to do with the Cleveland Playoff Watch?

 

[slinslin]

Chicago
@Miami L
@Orlando W
LA Clippers L
Miami L
@New York L
Atlanta W
@Toronto L
Orlando W
@Indiana L
23-59

Washington
@Sacramento L
@Phoenix W
New Jersey W
@Minnesota L
Boston W
@Milwaukee W
@Philadelphia L
New York L
@Detroit L
New Orleans L
27-55

Atlanta
Memphis L
Miami L
@Orlando W
@New Jersey L
Philadelphia W
@Chicago L
Boston W
New Jersey L
Boston L
27-54

Clippers
@Golden State W
@Detroit L
@Chicago W
Utah L
Houston L
San Antonio L
@ Phoenix W
Seattle L
30-52

Orlando , TMac out
Dallas L
Chicago L
Atlanta L
@Detroit L
@New Jersey L
Detroit L
Chicago L
Philadelphia L
19-63

Phoenix
Washington L , important game to lose but we would probably lose even if we try to win
@Memphis L
@Dallas L
Denver L
Sacramento L
Memphis W
LA Clippers L
@Utah L
26-56


Orlando 19-63
Chicago 23-59
Phoenix 26-56
Charlotte Bobcats
Atlanta 27-55
Washington 27-55
LA Clippers 30-52

 

[George O'Brien]

We are supposed to beat Memphis at home and lose to the Clippers?

 

[slinslin]

The Clippers always give us trouble.

 

[slinslin]

Jason Williams just hit a 3 to send the game against Atlanta to OT.

 

[slinslin]

Clippers lost in OT to the Bulls.... 10 game losing streak and they are only one game behind us anymore.

 

[slinslin]

Cavs are officially done.

Wizards won, they can still tie us at least if we lose the rest.

Atlanta is winning and Bob Sura has a triple double.

If we lose tonight we are already tied with Atlanta.

 

[George O'Brien]

The Cavs won on Sunday with the return of McInnis. If he had not been injured, it seems certain they would have made it.

At worst, the Cavs have provent they are quite likely to make the playoffs next season. The draft pick is no longer a faint "someday" pick.

I would expect that they will use most of their cap space to re-sign Boozer, McInnis and Nailon this summer.

There has been discussion that the Cavs may make a run at getting a SG and they would move LeBron to SF. Such a move would mean they decided that Wagner is a total bust.

 

[George O'Brien]

On Monday Cleveland won and Boston lost. If the Cavs beat the Knicks and the Celtics lose to the Hawks (improbably but not impossible), the Cavs would tie the Celtics but still miss the playoffs due to tie breakers.

 

[slinslin]

We are supposed to beat Memphis at home and lose to the Clippers?

We beat Memphis at home and lost to the Clippers.

 

[George O'Brien]

We beat Memphis at home and lost to the Clippers.

I know we've split with the Hawks. What is the next tie criteria for the tie breaker?

 

[slinslin]

There is no tie breaker.

All tied teams split the total ping pong balls evenly. If no team moves up they will have coin flips deciding the picking order.

 

[Chaplin]

Well, we can finally put this thread to rest, I guess.

 

[zett]

sooo How do you unsticky this thread?

 

[Joe Mama]

sooo How do you unsticky this thread?

thanks for reminding me. I guess we don't need this one at the top of the message board anymore.

Joe

 

[slinslin]

We need a draft, playoff and FA sticky thread now instead.