Accuser Tells Detectives Bryant Raped Her From Behind

EAGLE, Colo. -- A 19-year-old woman who has accused Kobe Bryant of rape told investigators that the NBA star grabbed her by the neck, pulled up her dress and raped her against a chair in his hotel room, according to the lead investigator who testified at a preliminary hearing Thursday.

Eagle County Sheriff's Detective Doug Winters took the witness stand outlining for the first time in public what the alleged victim said happened on the night of June 30. Winters has the primary responsibility in the prosecution's effort to convince Eagle County Judge Frederick Gannett that the evidence proves Bryant should stand trial for sexual assault. (Read summary of what Winters said in court .)

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Prosecution Lays Out Case Against Kobe Bryant Raw Video: Kobe Arrives In Eagle Courtroom Star Witness In Preliminary Hearing Is Detective

"There's tremendous pressure on detective Doug Winters. After all, he's going to be essentially the whole show," said 7NEWS Legal Analyst Craig Silverman. "If he says something wrong, it's going to be transcribed and he's going to have to live with it for a long time."

According to Winters, the accuser said that there was "mutual flirting" when she gave Bryant a tour of the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera. Bryant invited her back to his suite, where they talked for a few minutes. She said she showed him a tattoo on her ankle but turned down his request to join him in the hot tub, Winters said.

As she was turning to leave the room, she gave him a hug, and that led to some consensual kissing, Winters said. When she turned around to leave, Bryant grabbed her by the neck, pulled up her black dress, pulled down her panties and raped her against a chair, Winters said.

The woman told investigators she told Bryant "no" at least twice, before bursting into tears as the five-minute attack went on.

During and after the attack, he said, Bryant kept asking, "You are not going to tell anyone, right?"

She said she agreed at one point and just as he asked, she turned her face around to look at him and told him again that she would not tell anyone.

"She said the reason she told him no was for fear of -- she didn't want him to commit more physical harm to her," Winters said.

The woman said that Bryant forced her to kiss his penis after the attack, Winters testified.

Winters also said a nurse who examined the woman later at a hospital found injuries consistent with a sexual assault.

Winters also said a blood stain on the inside of Bryant's T-shirt belonged to the alleged victim, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's DNA testing. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert also showed photographs of the accuser's injuries to her jaw and vaginal area.

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Defense attorney Pamela Mackey suggested Winters had no idea when the bruise occurred. He said a nurse told him it came during the attack. Mackey asked Winters how he knew if the bruises in the woman's vaginal area were consistent with nonconsensual sex. He had said that the nurse told him. She then asked if Winters asked the nurse if the bruises were also "consistent with a person who has had sex with three different men in three days."

That blockbuster of the afternoon may explain why the defense team moved forward with the preliminary hearing instead of waiving it, 7NEWS reported. With that suggestion out there in the public arena, the defense team has planted a nugget of doubt about the alleged victim's story, 7NEWS reporter Tony Kovaleski said.

However, victims advocates are upset with that contentious tactic, saying that Mackey violated the rape shield law.

An angry Gannett then immediately emptied the courtroom and summoned all of the attorneys into his chambers for a private discussion.

Gannett was also upset earlier when Mackey said the woman's name four times when asking questions. She apologized, saying she would write herself a big note not to say it.

"Or I could get you a big muzzle," Gannett said.

During Winters' testimony, the 25-year-old Bryant stared at him stone-faced, occasionally clenching his jaw. Bryant faces up to life in prison if he stands trial and is convicted of the single felony charge of sexual assault.

The accuser wasn't inside the courtroom. The judge had previously ruled she didn't need to testify for the hearing, leaving Winters to share her version of the events.

"The entire nation is waiting to hear this story and he's going to be basically the first one to let out the evidence," said Jim Fahrenholtz, a former Eagle County deputy district attorney, of Winters. "He's a pretty low-key detective. He isn't a bunch of hype. He hasn't testified that often. There haven't been that many cases that he's done that have gone to trial. So he may be a little bit nervous on the stand."

Mackey, on cross-examination, got Winters to acknowledge that the accuser needed no treatment for injuries when she was examined. She also questioned him on whether he saw marks on her neck when he interviewed her the next day.

"She talks on how Mr. Kobe Bryant grabbed her neck and choked her," Mackey told Winters. "You looked at her neck to see?"

Winters said he had, then Mackey asked him if he saw any injuries on her neck.

"Not from the front, no," he said.

"Not a red mark?" she asked.

"That's correct," he said.

"Not a scratch?"

"That's correct."

Bryant arrived with his attorneys at the Eagle County Justice Center just before 11:30 a.m., not saying a word to the throng of reporters and spectators at the scene. At 12:15 p.m., Bryant's defense team met with prosecutors and Gannett in the judge's chambers to lay out the ground rules of what would happen in the preliminary hearing and what, if any, portions of the hearing would be closed to the public.

"I think the defense is particularly concerned about the possibility of Kobe's rambling, secretly recorded statement. The judge has already expressed concern about the omission of that tape," said Silverman.

Legal analysts thought that Bryant's attorneys would waive the preliminary hearing and proceed straight to trial because they didn't want evidence to come out publicly -- evidence that will be discussed for months. Those legal analysts were wrong.

The advantage of holding a preliminary hearing is that the defense team can see what evidence the prosecution has on the table, and be prepared for it during trial, Silverman said. Mackey's bombshell during the end of the day was also meant to rattle the alleged victim -- showing her that they will not tread around her lightly.

When the preliminary hearing abruptly wrapped up around 6:30 p.m., Bryant left the courtroom and flew back to California.

The hearing -- expected to last only a day -- will be continued next Wednesday at 9 a.m. Bryant is required to appear. Afterward, Gannett will issue his ruling in a written statement. If the case goes to trial Bryant must appear in district court to enter his plea.

While the testimony inside was grim, outside the courtroom there was a circus-like atmosphere. Roughly 300 media organizations had planted their crews in Eagle to cover the story. There was also a protest group outside the Justice Center, handing out condoms and "sexual consent forms," which asked for the signatures of both participants before engaging in sex.

Bryant is currently free on $25,000 bond. He maintains the sex was consensual. The NBA All-Star has the right to go to trial within six months of entering a plea, but he could agree to push that back until later, perhaps after the NBA season ends early next summer.