Here's the latest on the alleged murder for hire plot in the Kobe Bryant case, including a rare public statement by Kobe's lawyers.

Bryant’s attorneys made a rare public appearance Thursday night. They wanted to emphasize that the threatening letter was sent to the Lakers, who gave it to Bryant. Bryant and his security alerted the L.A. County sheriff’s department. ...During the tape-recorded conversation which the L.A. sheriff's department recorded, this gentleman repeated his offer to make the problem go away for three million dollars,” Bryant attorney Hal Haddon said.

“This atmosphere not only threatens Mr. Bryant, threatens his lawyers, threatens the accuser, but it threatens the fundamental right of a fair trial before an impartial jury,” Haddon added.

“Our concern about this is that this is not only going to create a side show, but that this is going to create a wave of sympathy that is going to prevent us from having an impartial jury who will simply judge the allegations on their facts.” Haddon said.

They are in a bizarre and difficult situation. They have repeatedly said they do not want to try the case in the media. They have declined interviews, but felt this time it was important to explain publicly what happened. “He is outraged of the making of these kinds of threats and these offers are made. He's afraid for his family. His first reaction was that he was terribly afraid for his family and he wanted to leave his house and he's also very concerned that he can't get a fair trial in this atmosphere,” Haddon said.

We are scheduled to discuss this and other new developments in the case tonight on Hannity and Colmes and tomorrow night on Rivera at Large (always subject to change due to breaking news events.)

Update: There's breaking news in the Laci Peterson case. We'll be talking about Kobe on Rivera Sunday night instead of tonight.