The trial judge in the Kobe Bryant case denied the prosecution's request for a trial delay today. Jury selection is set to begin August 27. He also denied a defense request to admit evidence of the accuser's alleged suicide attempts and alcohol, drug and medication usage--or her mental health issues.

The timing is curious. The prosecution requests a trial delay based in part on the fact that the Judge hadn't ruled on the defense request to admit the mental health and medication evidence, saying it needed more time to prepare for trial if this evidence was going to come in. The Judge was able to refute the prosecution's need for a delay by ruling the evidence couldn't come in.

The prosecution's request was a bogus one. It didn't need more time to prepare its case if this evidence came in. It would have come in through defense witnesses after the prosecution rested. The prosecution is well aware of the defense witnesses on the topic and should have been prepared to cross-examine them at trial. Or to have its own experts ready in rebuttal.

Also, the prosecution made a lame argument that releasing the one-sided transripts of the accuser's alleged post-Kobe but pre-rape exam sexual activity prejudiced its case. What the district attorney avoids mentioning is that at that hearing, it had the opportunity to cross-examine the defense expert on the issue--and chose not to--despite having two of its own experts present in the courtroom (pdf). So the reason the transcript was one-sided is because that is the strategic choice made by the prosecution.