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Updated July 26, 2004, 10:16 a.m. ET

Media appeals to Supreme Court for publication of Bryant transcripts

DENVER (AP) — The judge and prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case have failed to show why the media should be barred from publishing material the court accidentally gave them, media attorneys argued Sunday.

In a filing with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, attorneys for seven media organizations that received transcripts of a closed court hearing said District Judge Terry Ruckriegle's order barring the groups from publishing the information is unconstitutional.

The attorneys asked Breyer to put Ruckriegle's order on hold while they prepare a petition asking the full U.S. Supreme Court to review it.

"(Attorneys for the judge and prosecutors) fail to make the extraordinary showing that is necessary to justify this court taking the enormously significant step of approving what the First Amendment has abhorred for two centuries — a governmentally imposed restraint on what the press may publish," the filing said.


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Several hours after a court reporter mistakenly e-mailed the transcripts to The Associated Press and six other media groups, Ruckriegle threatened a contempt citation against any news organization that releases details from the hearing. The order was upheld last week by the Colorado Supreme Court.

None of the media that received the documents has published information from them.

The transcripts are from a June 21-22 hearing that discussed the accuser's sex life and other issues. Ruckriegle ruled Friday that information about her sexual activities in the three days before her July 1, 2003, examination at a hospital can be introduced as evidence.

Bryant, 25, is charged with sexually assaulting the woman June 30, 2003. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he had consensual sex with the then-19-year-old worker at the Vail-area resort where he stayed last summer. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 27.

If convicted, the Los Angeles Lakers guard faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation, and a fine up to $750,000.

The Colorado attorney general's office, representing Ruckriegle, has argued publication of the material could violate the accuser's privacy rights and harm Bryant's fair-trial right.

"Even if true," the media filing responded, "these arguments demonstrate nothing remotely approaching the kind of imminent, certain and overwhelming harm to a competing constitutional interest that this court has hypothesized might, in theory, justify a prior restraint."

The filing warned that if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the order, other trial judges around the country could start issuing similar orders.

Besides the AP, organizations involved in the transcripts case are The Denver Post, the Los Angeles Times, CBS, Fox News, ESPN and the television show "Celebrity Justice."

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