With tears in his eyes, a quiver in his voice but resolution in his face and his wife, Vanessa, at his side, Kobe Bryant, in an emotional Friday evening news conference at Staples Center, conceded he was guilty of adultery, but he declared he was innocent of charges of felonious sexual assault.

Bryant, the Lakers' superstar guard, was charged earlier Friday in Colorado's Eagle County with assaulting a 19-year-old woman on June 30, an offense that could lead to a prison term of four years to life.
   
"I didn't force her to do anything against her will," Bryant said of the alleged victim. "I'm innocent. You know, I sit here in front of you guys, furious at myself, disgusted at myself for making the mistake of adultery."

Bryant turned to his wife, who was tightly clasping his right hand in both of her hands, and told her, "You're a blessing. You're a piece of my heart. You're the air I breathe. You're the strongest person I know and I'm so sorry for having to put you through this, and having to put our family through this."

Speaking in front of a standing-room-only media crowd in the Chick Hearn Press Room and a row of cameras stretching almost from wall to wall, Bryant spoke without the benefit of notes, pausing at times when his eyes watered.

Although she did not speak at the news conference, Vanessa issued a statement earlier in the day that read, in part, "I know that my husband has made a mistake ? the mistake of adultery. He and I will have to deal with that within our marriage, and we will do so. He is not a criminal I will stand by him and we will face this together. I will give him all the strength and support he needs to face these false accusations. I will not let him face these accusations alone."