The Accused

I'm very annoyed that the media are choosing to go into a frenzy about the whole Kobe Bryant sexual-assault thing, but I'm really annoyed (although not surprised) that the fact that this woman apparently attempted suicide two months before the alleged incident is being used to sway the court of public opinon.

Some friends of the accuser said they believed the overdose was an accident. Not McKinney.

...According to the newspaper's report, Bryant's accuser was going through an extremely difficult period in her life at the time of the overdose. She returned home from her freshman year of college to find out her ex-boyfriend had taken up with another woman. Also, around the time of the overdose, close friend Nicole Clements died in a road accident while returning from high school graduation ceremonies.

"It was kind of boom, boom, boom," McKinney told the Register. "I think the things that happened to her in the past had a lot to do with what [she said happened the night of the alleged assault]."

I don't know whether or not this woman is telling the truth when she accuses Bryant of assaulting her, and I really don't care that much. Celebrity crime has never been that much of an interest of mine.

But it seems to me that this woman was probably in a very vulnerable place at the time, and Bryant, as a big famous person, was in an obvious position to take emotion advantage of her. Have people in positions of power ever taken advantage of weaker people before? Surely not!

I really don't think the fact that this woman was depressed enough to try to kill herself discredits her that much. For one, it happened two months before the night in question. But what's more important to remember is that even a suicidal person can be raped.