Vanessa Bryant Sobs During Opening Statements in Kobe Bryant Photo Trial

Vanessa Bryant’s civil trial against Los Angeles County began on Wednesday, and she was seen in tears as her attorney Luis Li, addressed the jury for his opening statement. He said the worst day of Bryant’s life got “unbearably worse” when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies took pictures of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, and their daughter Gianna. The officers allegedly took pictures of the bodies at the crash scene and shared them with colleagues. 

“January 26, 2020, was and always will be the worst day of Vanessa Bryant’s life,” Li said, per USA Today. “The county did not cause the helicopter to crash … But county employees exploited the accident, took and shared pictures of Kobe’s and Gianna’s remains as souvenirs, and betrayed the sacred trust we place in them. They poured salt in an unhealable wound. When they did that, they violated the constitution. That is why we are here, you are here, we are all here in federal court today, to try to right that wrong.”  

The trial began with a graphic description of the crash scene as well as a testimony for Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who is a good friend of Kobe Bryant. During his testimony, Pelinka revealed that he and Vanessa Bryant visited the crash site six months after the accident and both paid homage to Kobe and Gigi. “Part of her journey of grief and healing was that she wanted to touch the soil from where they went to heaven,” Pelinka told the court, fighting back tears, per Insider. “We just knew that they were with us.”  

Vanessa Bryant was dressed in all black on Wednesday, and Pelinka said that she cared so much about the  “beauty she created around her children.” And when Pelinka heard the news about county officials taking photos of Kobe and Gigi’s bodies at the crash site, he thought about the photos  “juxtaposed by the ones she has up at home.”

County attorney Mira Hashmall told the jury that “there were mistakes,” including the one made by sheriff’s debut trainee Joey Cruz. Two days after the accident, Cruz showed the photos to a bartender at a bar, leading to the bar patron filing a complaint with the sheriff’s department later that night. USA Today says the trial could last two weeks or more.