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Kobe Bryant's Judge: Effect of Criticism

The New York Times reports on the toll the Kobe Bryant case is taking on Judge Terry Ruckriegle.

...its burdens have taken a toll on the judge, say acquaintances and lawyers who have worked in his courtroom over the years. Usually by this point in the summer, they say, the 56-year-old judge - an avid biker, hiker, camper and hunter in the mountains around his home in Breckenridge - would be at his lean and tan fittest. This summer, they say, he has been a shadow, often seen working at his office late at night and on weekends, or commuting to the courthouse in Eagle, 90 minutes away, where the Bryant case has unfolded.

"I haven't seen him on his bicycle once all summer, and he is as pale as I've ever seen him," said Dave Drawbert, a friend and local lawyer in Breckenridge. "I told him this case wouldn't be good for his health or his family, but his sense of duty prevailed."

But what a difference a day makes.

Yesterday, as the New York Times reports, I said (in an interview Wednesday):

"This case has run its course - it's closing time and people are looking for the exits," said Jeralyn Merritt, a criminal defense lawyer in Denver.

Compare that with what I said on TalkLeft yesterday , after the Judge's ruling preventing the defense from introducing evidence concerning the accuser's emotional state, alleged prior suicide attempts, medication, alcohol and substance usage:

My predictions: The accuser will participate now that the most potentially embarassing information about her won't be publicly aired...the remainder we have all heard already. The Supreme Court will decline to hear the DA's appeal. The trial will proceed August 27. Eagle residents, get ready. The circus is coming to town.

In other words, none of us know. Stay tuned.

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