The attorney for the woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape in 2003 said his client will not be speaking publicly about Bryant.
“The events of this past Sunday are nothing but enormously tragic,” lawyer John Clune tweeted Friday morning. “And so, while we understand the interest, our client will not be speaking at this time. Thank you for also respecting her privacy.”
Bryant was 24-year-old when he caught a charge of one count of felony assault after the then-19-year-old woman told cops about a June 2003 incident in Bryant’s hotel room at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, Colorado. The case would be dropped September 2004 after the accuser declined to testify.
The woman filed a civil lawsuit in August 2004, and that case was settled out of court on March 2, 2005 for an undisclosed amount.
Earlier this week, Vanessa Bryant made her first public comment since the helicopter crash that killed her husband Kobe Bryant, one of their daughters and seven others, taking to Instagram to thank people for the global outpouring of support since the tragedy.
“Thank you for all the prayers. We definitely need them,” Vanessa Bryant wrote. “We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe — the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna — a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri. We are also devastated for the families who lost their loved ones on Sunday, and we share in their grief intimately.”
The Bryant’s would have celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary this April.
WANT MORE FROM TOTALPROSPORTS? FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS.“There aren’t enough words to describe our pain right now,” Vanessa Bryant wrote. “I take comfort in knowing that Kobe and Gigi both knew that they were so deeply loved. We were so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives. I wish they were here with us forever. They were our beautiful blessings taken from us too soon.”