Bryant prosecutors
quit DNA retesting try

D.A. accuses defense
of wasting too much time

Pool via Getty Images

Prosecutors have abandoned their bid to retest DNA evidence in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case.

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updated 8:57 p.m. ET June 18, 2004

DENVER - Prosecutors have abandoned their bid to retest DNA evidence in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case, accusing the NBA star’s defense team of wasting so much time that to start testing now would delay the trial.

In a court filing made public Friday, District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said the results would be irrelevant anyway.

Details of what was to be tested have not been publicly disclosed. The defense has argued that Bryant’s accuser had sex with multiple partners in the days surrounding her encounter with the Los Angeles Lakers star, apparently hoping to undermine her credibility.

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Bryant, 25, has pleaded not guilty to felony sexual assault. He has said he and the then-19-year-old woman had consensual sex last summer at the Vail-area hotel where he stayed. The accuser turned 20 on Friday.

Prosecutors had said they wanted new DNA tests because of the differing results obtained last fall by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and this spring by an independent laboratory hired by the defense.

New testing had been scheduled to begin at a Virginia lab this month but was halted when state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle ordered prosecutors to explain they weren’t letting a defense expert observe the tests, as the judge had ordered. Prosecutors said last week they thought the judge had made only a suggestion, not an order, and that the lab has policies against outsiders observing tests.

If convicted, Bryant faces mandatory prison time of four years to life, 20 years to life on probation.