Kobe Bryant Defense attorneys Hal Haddon, left, Mark Johnson, middle, and Ty Gee, right, enter the Eagle County Justice Center Monday for a pretrial hearing and jury section. Reprinted with the permission of the Vail Daily News
Few cases attracted more worldwide headlines than the 2003 sexual-assault charge leveled against Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant. Joining renowned criminal defense lawyers Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey in representing Bryant, Mark Johnson navigated through the media maelstrom to focus on defending his client’s rights.
As an integral member of the Bryant defense team, Johnson was instrumental in planning and executing the strategy that resulted in the dismissal of the charge lodged against the NBA star.The events in the final days of the case were chronicled in an in-depth article written by Jeff Benedict for the Los Angeles Times that appeared on November 6, 2004. The article was entitled, “The Case Against Kobe Bryant Unraveled in a Mock Trial,” and gave a detailed rendition of the intense negotiations that resulted in the dismissal of the criminal charges.