by TChris

Notes made by a victim's advocate during a police interview with the woman who accuses Kobe Bryant of raping her cannot be released to Bryant's defense lawyers, according to a ruling by Judge Terry Ruckriegle on Friday. The judge wrote

that state law provides such strong privacy protection for communications between victims and victim advocates that he cannot even review the notes in private to determine whether they are relevant to the case.

It is difficult to understand how, at least under these circumstances, the public's interest in promoting honest communication between an alleged crime victim and a victim's advocate could outweigh Bryant's constitutional right to discover evidence that would assist his defense. This was not a private communication between the accuser and the advocate. Rather, the advocate was merely a witness to a conversation. How is justice promoted by treating her differently than any other witness who overheard a police interview, simply because of her status as a victim's advocate?