Kobe's Accuser Named — Twice

Syndicated talk radio host Tom Leykis says he revealed the name of the woman accusing Kobe Bryant of sexual assault because he doesn't believe "you can have a fair trial where you know the name of one person and not the other."

The Los Angeles Lakers star has been accused of sexually assaulting the woman at a Colorado resort June 30. Bryant has been charged with felony assault, but says the sex was consensual.

Leykis, whose Los Angeles-based show deals with sexual topics, named the 19-year-old Colorado woman while on the air Tuesday. Her name and other personal information has been posted on various Internet sites but not in the mainstream media.

Most news organizations, including CBS News and CBSNews.com, do not reveal the names of alleged sex crime victims.

Leykis' program is distributed by Westwood One, which has a relationship with Viacom, the parent of CBSNews.com.

Leykis said he found the woman's name by following clues in a newspaper story that did not name her.

"It included the names of friends, where they worked, how old they were," he said. "They gave us all the information we needed. We started going down the list of names."

This is not the first time Leykis has revealed the name of an alleged victim of a sex crime. He identified the accusers in cases involving sportscaster Marv Albert and Seattle schoolteacher Mary Kaye LeTourneau.

Leykis said he would continue to identify any adult involved "in any case that people are interested in."

At least one trauma counselor took issue with his action.

"This is a violation of privacy, and in that way, it is very much, psychologically, like a rape," said Patricia Saunders, director of the Graham Windham Manhattan Mental Health Center in New York.

Meanwhile, the family of a young woman wrongly identified on the Internet as Bryant's accuser has hired an attorney in hopes of stopping her image from being circulated online.

Attorney Sienna LaRene said the parents, Bob and Beth Matthews of Eagle, aren't looking for financial damages.

"They just want this to stop," LaRene said Wednesday. "This is a wildfire out of control, and the only way to stop it is people to do the right and responsible thing."

LaRene said she has sent "cease and desist" letters to several Web sites, asking them to stop using the woman's picture. If sites don't comply, she said she will get court orders and did not rule out libel lawsuits.

There are similarities between the woman named on the Internet and the alleged victim.

Both women are 19, have the same first name and attended Eagle County High School. While the young woman in the Bryant case was a cheerleader, the other woman was on the school's dance squad.

"Somebody put two and two together — these intersections of similarities — and came up with five," LaRene said.

Early on, there were two pictures, one of the woman's dance team and another with her standing next to a young man at a dress-up event. Also posted was the name, address, phone number and e-mail of the alleged victim in the Bryant case.

Since then, some Web sites have altered photos to put the wrong woman's face on nude bodies, she said, and others have attached text calling her every combination of profanity imaginable.

"The young woman is suffering. She's mortified and the family is under a great deal of stress," LaRene said. "They're using this girl's photograph and it's causing injury."

Terra Lycos said Thursday that the Bryant case is one of the most popular online search topics in its history. Only the Sept. 11 attacks, the Iraq war and the 2000 presidential election have drawn more interest, the Internet network said.