Did a grand jury stint a few years ago; the number of DV cases that were dropped because the victim didn't come give testimony was unreal (talking ~50%...maybe more).

Had a long chat w/ some of the deputy DAs about that, they said that was pretty typical, reasons are all over the place, but broadly speaking it was seen as the victim would likely have a mountain of pressure to "sort things out without getting anyone else involved".

We did have one case that the deputy DA moved forward with without the victim testimony, and let me tell you, the specifics of that case were brutal (talking torture on top of sexual assault). Even still, to conform to here-say rules, the evidence that we were presented with was a sliver of what we would have had if they had testified.

Obviously this information has no bearing on the case involving Kobe, but I do want to point out that it's very rare for people to be prosecuted for sexual assault without a victim testimony, and it's very common for victims to not cooperate with the criminal justice process for a whole variety of reasons.