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By Jim Spencer
Denver Post Columnist
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~27772~1891620,00.html
Dr. Ed Casper, head of psychiatry at Denver Health Medical
Center, didn't mince words. Kobe Bryant's attempt to beat a
sexual assault charge by using his accuser's mental health
treatment as a defense is "the lowest of the low." "They are
going to go right to the prejudice of anyone on the jury,"
Casper said of a motion filed this week by Bryant's lawyers.
They want people to believe that "if you have a psychological
illness, you're a bad person and do bad things."
That comes through in the rape case motion. From a revelation
that Bryant's 19-year-old accuser may suffer from manic
depression springs a sleazy theory of the defendant's innocence:
"One of the common symptoms of mania is an 'increased sexual
drive' and engaging in 'sexual indiscretions,' which may be
connected to the general impulsiveness, poor judgment and
reckless behavior experienced during manic episodes " wrote
Bryant lawyer Pamela Mackey.
"The facts of this case strongly suggest the possibility that
the accuser was either in a manic state or experiencing rapid
cycling of manic and depressive states at the time of the
incident with Mr. Bryant." Oh, really? "I have no bias in the
Kobe Bryant case," Casper said. "But to bring up that her
manic-depressive illness somehow caused this is a real stretch."
When a person with manic-depressive illness is "hypersexual,"
Casper said, "they aren't predators. They are usually taken
advantage of. They are usually a victim." That's because the
over-the-top sexual behavior of mania is neither subtle nor
normal. The hypersexuality of mania, Casper explained, is not
the quiet seduction to consensual sex that Bryant's lawyers
hypothesize. Most of the time, Casper said, hypersexuality is
public. Almost always, it is bizarre. Think of someone stripping
naked in a bar or a mall or a street. Think of someone in
ridiculously inappropriate clothing and enough makeup to stock
the cosmetic counter at Nordstrom.
That didn't happen here. So the attempt to link mental illness
to this act - consensual or not - is just plain sick. Mackey
hopes to use the fact that Bryant's accuser once took the drugs
Wellbutrin and Seroquel to suggest that she is a psychotic who
might have suffered delusions at the time she had sex with
Bryant.
Wellbutrin is an antidepressant, Seroquel an antipsychotic.
Together, Casper said, they can control cycles of mania and
depression. Mackey claims Bryant's alleged victim had stopped
taking Seroquel and was taking only Wellbutrin when she had sex
with Kobe. Ergo, the alleged victim "might have been suffering
from a delusion - a false but strongly held belief - about what
occurred in Mr. Bryant's hotel room."
Yes, she might. And I, a 6-foot man in his 50s, might be able to
dunk over Ms. Mackey's client. The pandering to prejudice in
this motion is grotesque. Bryant's lawyers point out that the
alleged victim tried to kill herself twice before she had sex
with Kobe Bryant.
We all know what that means. Actually, we don't, and that's the
way Pam Mackey wants it. First, Bryant's lawyers use the two
suicide attempts as evidence that the accuser can't be believed.
Then, they point to the fact she took drugs to treat her mental
illness as proof that she can't be believed. Damned if she does.
Damned if she doesn't. Damned because she admitted to having
consensual sex on June 28 with someone who used a condom. Then,
she showed up at the hospital with another man's semen in her
panties on July 1, the morning after she says Bryant raped her.
Those three sexual encounters, Mackey argues in her motion,
might just suggest mania.
Mackey's argument suggests something else. It suggests
exploitation of the public perception of mental illness. Casper
has studied that for years. He's writing a briefing paper about
it.
The American public still looks at mental illness as the
patient's fault, the doctor said. Physical illnesses can produce
the same symptoms, and no one blames the person who's sick. "A
diabetic with high blood sugar can act confused, and people will
forgive him," Casper said. "We have a hard time believing
(mental illness) is a health issue rather than a character flaw.
"People see mental illness as behavior that people can control
if they try hard enough. The stigmatization is tremendously
alive." It will be kicking even harder because of the Kobe
Bryant case. Stereotypes reinforced in highly publicized
celebrity trials have long legs.
People already "resist treatment for mental illness because of
the stigma," Casper said. After this, he wondered, "who's going
to go in and get treatment?"
- Jim Spencer's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and
Thursdays in The Denver Post.
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