To the Point

Kobe Bryant Case and the Rape Shield Laws

One thousand potential jurors have been summoned for duty on Friday, when jury selection begins in Eagle County, Colorado and the trail where Kobe Bryant is accused of raping a 19 year-old woman. But the millionaire basketball super-star isn-t the only one suffering public humiliation. His accuser-s sexual habits and mental condition are big news. Have Colorado-s so-called -rape-shield- laws failed to protect a victim? Have they deprived a defendant of the presumption of innocence? Has massive, worldwide media coverage put the legal system itself on trial? Warren Olney hears from legal reporters, a sexual-assault victims' support group, attorneys and law professors. Making News: Bush Campaign Lawyer Quits over Swift Boat Veterans' Work The Bush campaign-s top outside lawyer resigned today after acknowledging that he was providing legal advice to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the supposedly -independent- group that-s attacking John Kerry-s record in Vietnam. Derek Willis, who tracks campaign issues for the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, says that while Benjamin Ginsberg's involvement with the group is a "public relations black-eye," it is not illegal. Reporter's Notebook: Army Investigation Blames Intelligence Unit for Iraqi Prison Abuse Yesterday, Donald Rumsfeld-s blue-ribbon panel reported that his leadership played a key role in shaping conditions that led to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. Today, the Army released a report based on the investigations of Major General George Fay. With seven low-ranking soldiers formally charged so far, Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor has more on far up the chain of command the report goes in assigning responsibility.