Kobe Bryant back in court

U.S. basketball star Kobe Bryant was set to appear in a Colorado courtroom on Monday for a pretrial hearing, but most attention is focused on whether the trial in the high-profile rape case will ever take place.

The case has been turned upside down in the past week. The 20-year-old who has accused Bryant of rape also sued him in civil court for monetary compensation, which could leave her vulnerable to suspicion she is looking for money and could undermine her credibility on the stand at the criminal trial.

On Friday, District Judge Terry Ruckriegle denied a prosecution motion to delay the trial's Aug. 27 start.

But the judge also gave prosecutors an important victory by ruling that evidence about the women's purported suicide attempts, medications or drug and alcohol use cannot be introduced at trial.

"Colorado courts are known for granting maximum protection to alleged victims of sexual assault," said Denver attorney and former prosecutor Craig Silverman.

Bryant's defense team of Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey has tried to undermine the woman's credibility at every turn.

The 25-year-old Los Angeles Laker has pleaded not guilty and said the two had consensual sex on June 30, 2003, in his hotel room at a Vail-area resort where she worked.

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The young woman's father, discouraged by a recent court ruling that will allow evidence to be admitted at the trial about his daughter's sexual activity around the time of the encounter, wrote the judge recently to say he has lost hope justice will be served.

Court staff has mistakenly left the woman's name in court filings posted on the court's Web site and also mistakenly sent a transcript from a closed-door hearing to seven media outlets. Mainstream media have not identified the woman.

Her attorney, John Clune, had strong words for Ruckriegle at the most recent pretrial hearing, which added to speculation the case against the NBA star, could be dropped.

According to police testimony, the woman freely entered Bryant's hotel room after giving him a tour of the resort. But things then went very wrong and he bent her over a chair and raped her, officials said.

In the last scheduled pre-trial hearing, both sides were to ask the judge to have criminal laboratory personnel testify in person at the trial on their findings. They will also take up issues regarding DNA and expert witnesses behind closed doors.