[Rule 5, C.R.Crim.P.] The preliminary hearing shall be held before a judge of the county court in which the criminal action has been filed. The defendant shall not be called upon to plead. The defendant may cross-examine the prosecutor's witnesses and may introduce evidence. The prosecutor shall have the burden of establishing probable cause. The judge presiding at the preliminary hearing may temper the rules of evidence in the exercise of sound judicial discretion.

We anticipate that the Judge may close portions of the hearing that pertain to details of the accuser's sexual conduct. The defense had repeatedly asked that the entire hearing be closed, and the Court refused. If the Judge does close further portions of the hearing, it will mean that the prosecution got to detail the accuser's allegations, but Kobe's rebuttal will be kept under seal. We don't think that's fair, but we'll wait and see how the Judge rules. So far, we give him high marks for trying to be fair, as have many local analysts.

We think the defense had witnesses planned for the last hearing. Remember, at the hearing last Thursday, it took almost all afternoon to complete the direct examination of the police officer and conduct in-chambers conferences. Pamela Mackey only began her cross-examination of the officer 20 minutes before the hearing abruptly ended--well after 5:00 pm.

Right before the hearing began, we were listening to Fox reporter Carol Mckinley say that the defense might call witnesses on the issue of the accuser's credibility. We remember hearing or reading the night before the hearing that the defense wanted to call witnesses but that the People were objecting.

This says to us that not only did Pamela Mackey have a good faith basis to raise the issue of almost contemporaneous (within 3 days) sexual activity of the accuser, she had the goods to back it up.

Kobe Bryant is charged with sexual assault through the application of physical force. The Prosecution opened the door to the testimony by presenting hearsay evidence of a nurse's assertion that the accuser's injuries were not consistent with consensual sex. They showed photographs of the injuries, presumably to satisfy the Judge who had indicated previously that he expected some non-hearsay evidence to be presented.

We have lots more to say on the topic, and we'll do exactly that tonight, Wednesday and Thursday night on MSNBC's The Abrams Report. Dan is already up in Eagle. We'll be commenting from Denver.

Thanks to reader Steve P. for alerting us that NPR's Morning Edition this morning quoted TalkLeft as saying, "This case has gotten ugly very fast." Libby Lewis had called us yesterday to appear live this morning, but we were at the dentist (great way to spend the work holiday) and didn't get the message until too late. But listen to the audio report here, as fellow criinal defense lawyer Larry Pozner did an excellent job, as he always does, discussing the issue. We recommend fast-forwarding past the former proseuctor's remarks