The clock was approaching midnight, but the date had gone well and the young couple were not ready to part. They went to a bedroom together, both testified later, shared drinks and marijuana, and eventually had intercourse. The next day, the woman reported that she had been raped.

The man was charged with Class 3 felony sexual assault under Colorado's tough new rape law -- the same charge brought last week against Los Angeles Lakers all-star Kobe Bryant.

In that case in Denver three years ago, the prosecution's only evidence was the woman's testimony. There were no injuries to suggest that force was used, no friends to testify that the woman had been distressed afterward. The victim was such a convincing witness that the jury rejected the defense of consensual sex. The defendant, who had no prior criminal record, is now serving a minimum 16-year prison term and faces years of closely supervised probation upon release.

Precedents like that case suggest the difficult legal road that could be facing the 24-year-old Bryant if he heads to trial on charges of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old hotel clerk at a Colorado resort on the night of June 30. Defense lawyers and victims advocates here agree that Colorado is a state where both the law and the public mood has grown significantly tougher for accused sexual offenders in recent years.

"You don't want to be charged with sexual assault anywhere, but Colorado is one of the worst places to be charged with sexual assault," said Craig Silverman, a criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor in Denver. "Over the past five years, the legislature has rewritten the statutes and beefed up the penalties. The goal is to isolate a sexual offender from society, and then keep him under tight supervision basically for life."

Meantime, news cameras will be allowed inside the courtroom at Kobe Bryant's hearing on a sexual assault charge on Aug. 6, a judge ruled yesterday.

After initial denials to the press, Bryant conceded last week that he did have intercourse with the 19-year-old in his hotel suite. The Lakers guard, who has had an impeccable image on and off the court, said the sex was consensual and he is not guilty of the criminal charge.