‘They’re Gaslighting Them’: Vanessa Bryant’s Lawyer Hits Back in Kobe Bryant Photo Trial

After two weeks of testimony and intense closing arguments, jurors began their deliberations Wednesday in the high-profile case involving claims Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and firefighters snapped and shared graphic “souvenir” photos showing the remains of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and others who died in a helicopter crash in January 2020.

Vanessa Bryant, 40, sued L.A. County eight months after the crash, and her claim was later consolidated with a similar suit from Orange County financial adviser Chris Chester, who lost his wife Sarah, and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Payton, in the tragedy.

Bryant was joined by her eldest daughter Natalia in court Wednesday after the singer Monica was by her side a day earlier. Seated in the front row, Natalia leaned her head on the shoulder of soccer star Sydney Leroux during part of the emotional closing presentation. Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka and his wife sat on the other side of Natalia and averted their eyes when media footage showing the helicopter wreckage was shown on several screens.

In her last words to the nine jurors, county lawyer Mira Hashmall said Bryant and Chester had failed to prove two necessary elements of their case: that “public dissemination” of the unauthorized photos ever occurred; and that the documented display of the photos by a deputy at a bar and a fire official at an awards gala “shocks the conscience.”

Hashmall said the county shouldn’t be on the hook for the combined $75 million in damages recommended by Chester’s lawyer due to the “mistakes of a couple” county employees “who had lapses in judgment.” She told jurors there’s no evidence that the close-up photos taken by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Doug Johnson and now-retired L.A. County Fire Captain Brian Jordan as they toured the wreckage have ever surfaced online, been shared with the media or even been seen by Bryant and Chester.

“It’s a pictures case with no pictures,” Hashmall said over and over. She argued the photo sharing by Deputy Joey Cruz at the Baja California Bar & Grill in Norwalk, Calif., and the display of photos by Firefighter Captain Tony Imbrenda at an awards dinner were instances where the images never left the county employees’ handheld devices. She argued the men were simply processing and commenting on their difficult jobs when they showed the images to others.

“Deputy Cruz made a mistake,” she said, claiming Cruz was “shook in the head” by what he witnessed at the crash site and sought solace from his bartender friend. “Does it shock the conscience that he needed to talk? Is that something depraved and cruel? Or is that just human error?”

She said Capt. Imbrenda admitted to the jury he “made a mistake,” but was adamant whatever image he showed to others “never left his phone, never left his hand.” She argued that first responders take “pictures as part of how they get better” at their jobs and set up a hypothetical where a paramedic might think twice before snapping a crash scene photo for emergency room staff if county guidelines about such imagery become too stringent.

Bryant’s lawyer Luis Li vigorously disputed Hashmall’s argument in his final words to the jury.

He said all his clients had to prove was that it’s more likely than not that Deputy Cruz showed his pictures to someone at the bar or that Capt. Imbrenda showed photos of remains to a group that included fellow firefighter Sky Cornell and his girlfriend at the gala.

He reminded jurors about testimony that claimed when Cornell walked away from Imbrenda, he said words to the effect of, “I can’t believe I’m about to go eat when I just looked at Kobe Bryant’s burned-up body.”  

“These are men who shared pictures of deceased loved ones like they were baseball cards,” Li argued. “How long do we want this practice to go on?”

Li said the lawsuit from Bryant and Chester revealed “pure chaos” when it came to training and guidelines related to sensitive photos taken by county officials for no legitimate purpose. He said Gianna was “lying in a ravine” and “utterly helpless” when Jordan allegedly hiked down to take photos “for no legitimate purpose.” He then blasted Hashmall for suggesting the lawsuit was misguided.

“It’s almost like they’re gaslighting them,” he said, referring to the county’s response to Bryant and Chester. “Mrs. Bryant is here today to seek justice and accountability for Kobe and Gigi. She is here today to expose the county sheriff’s department and fire department.”

It was Tuesday that Chester’s lawyer, Jerry Jackson, said he believes Bryant deserves a total of $42.5 million in damages while Chester deserves $32.5 million. He argued in his rebuttal closing argument Wednesday that Bryant and Chester can’t trust assurances that the unauthorized photos have all been deleted, especially considering an internal investigation never located Jordan’s missing hard drive or confirmed the identity of a “phantom fire captain” who received an air drop of 100 photos at the crash scene.

And Jackson reminded jurors that he himself received an voicemail message at his office during the trial from someone purporting to have possession of grisly crash scene photos for sale. He said fear that the images might one day pop up online will haunt Bryant and Chester for the rest of their lives.

“The fear of these photos will ruin every good day and make every bad day worse,” he said.