Trial date set for Duke lacrosse witness (DukeLax Cabbie to be Nifonged)

Raleigh News and Observer ^ | August 15, 2006 | Staff

[abb]

DURHAM, N.C. -- A cab driver who has supported an alibi offered by one of the three Duke lacrosse players charged with rape had his own court appearance Tuesday for a larceny charge.

Moezeldin Elmostafa, 37, appeared briefly before a Durham County District Court judge who set a trial date of Aug. 29. Prosecutors also changed the charge against Elmostafa to aiding and abetting misdemeanor larcency.

Elmostafa was arrested in May after he surfaced as a potential alibi witness for Reade Seligmann, one of three players charged with raping a woman at an off-campus party the night of March 13.

The 2003 warrant accused Elmostafa of stealing five purses worth about $250 from a Durham department store. Elmostafa denies the charge, and has said he helped store security locate a woman after he picked her up from the store and drove her home. The woman later pleaded guilty to larceny.

Durham prosecutors said in May the warrant for Elmostafa's arrest was discovered in a routine background check of witnesses in the Duke lacrosse case.

Mostafa has said Seligmann, of Essex Fells, N.J., called for a ride at 12:14 a.m. on March 14, and was picked up five minutes later. The defense has argued those times help establish that Seligmann left the party without having enough time to participate in the 30-minute assault described by the accuser. Seligmann's attorney has also presented cell phone, ATM and dorm keycard records to help establish that timeline.

[maggief]

Something from the upcoming "60 Minutes" piece???

[TommyDale]

"Something from the upcoming "60 Minutes" piece???"

I hope so! ;-)

[abb]

I can't stay up any longer. Y'all are gonna have to stand watch. see y'all in the morning...

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Interesting post from roper on the abc board:

It is common knowledge on the street that a person can avoid bloodwork, and the risk of having drugs or alcohol detected, by claiming to be a victim of a crime. If the complainant can convince the police that they have been victimized, they then gain a privacy right to their bloodwork, buying themselves 48 hours or so while the police investigate the allegation. The objective is to have "dried-out" by the time the police determine there is nothing to the complaint.

I believe that this is a more credible explanation for the AV's claim than the possibility she was interested in revenge for racial slurs, etc. According to the police report, she was mentally "out-of-it" at the time she was picked up. It subsequently was determined that she had admitted to drinking alcohol on the day of the event, and to have taken flexeril, a muscle relaxant that this not supposed to be mixed with alcohol. She also supposedly was on probation, and thus would have had a motivation to avoid the blood-test that she would have been forced to take had she been hauled into the police station.

It has interested many that there is no toxicology report from the AV's visit to the hospital. The explanation is simple... when requested to take a blood test at the hospital, she declined, as she was entitled to given her status as the possible victim of a crime.
Posted: 8/24/06 2:44 PM

[Ken H]

I haven't totally ruled out a tox screen of some sort at Durham Access - perhaps something as simple as a breathalyzer. Here's what that slimy DA said.

Nifong declined to comment to The Herald-Sun.

But he told WRAL: "If there was a toxicology report available, it would've been included in the discovery I handed over to the defense."

The above quote originally came from the following URL, which has expired - http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-737491.html

[SarahUSC]

I've always suspected she lied to get herself out of a jam at Durham Access. She didn't want to be committed. The bloodwork angle may be part of it too. I also suspect there was something cruising around her system that she didn't want anyone to know about. And I'm sure Durham Access would have run some sort of bloodwork on her.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

If Shelton took her to Durham Access would she be in charge of her care? Would she have the right to refuse?

Common sense says if Shelton took her because she was passed out drunk, there would have to be some sort of documentation, correct?

I hope we haven't reached the point were any of us can be thrown in the tank just because the cop thought we were drunk.

[SarahUSC]

I think Shelton took her to Durham Access because she was out of it and refused to answer any of their questions. They asked her name, where she lived and she wouldn't answer. They opted for Durham Access because they couldn't figure out anything else to do with her.

Shelton probably thought she was a disturbed person who was on something. Which would be correct actually.

[darbymcgill]

It is common knowledge on the street that a person can avoid bloodwork, and the risk of having drugs or alcohol detected, by claiming to be a victim of a crime.

He's a bit late to the dance, some of us on these threads surmised long ago this was in the pimp handbook we just weren't sure which chapter. ... ;)

Maybe we should send him a link, we could keep him a bit more ahead of the curve than his DBM research team.

[CondorFlight]

Slightly OT,
but now the President of Israel is accused of rape;
the victim is saying she's being demonized, and
the police have siezed the president's computer. . .

(I guess they've been taking lessons from the Durham PD?)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3295491,00.html

[darbymcgill]

Interesting... could A be Anita?

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Maggief and I did a bit of digging today.

Brian Taylor (OUR Brian Taylor) had a fenderbender in the parking lot of Kinko's on August 14, 2006.

Brian has moved to a new address.
Honda's seem to be the car of choice in the sex worker industry (wonder if they have a fleet?)

Brian had a new passenger.
Accident Date: 08/14/2006
Medina Mahaya Clark 21 yrs old

Ms Clark is an acting student at NCCU.

One article states she is from Atlanta.Upon further research we discovered she was not from Atlanta, but Hackensack, NJ.

Looking at her family, maggief wondered why he would be driving her?


Why would he be driving her ...

Note Tuskegee:

CLARK, SULAYMAN 52 Available Available TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, AL
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA
LINCOLN UNIV, PA
HACKENSACK, NJ
DURHAM, NC CLARK, SALAZNA (age 52)
CLARK, SULAYMAN (age 52)
CLARK, MEDINA MAHAYA (age 21)
CLARK, MEKKA ANGELICA (age 20)


http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:6lQSwjjEwjcJ:www.tuskegee.edu/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D1142285+%22SULAYMAN+clark%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9&client=firefox-a


The possibility of receiving federal funds is great news to Tuskegee’s Vice President for University Advancement, Dr. Sulayman Clark.

"We are delighted that the nation is turning its attention to its most precious educational resources – HBCUs like Tuskegee," said Clark who, along with Tuskegee President, Dr. Benjamin F. Payton, is championing a $60 million Legacy Campaign for the University.
-------
But wait,there is more!
:-)
http://www.facultyvoice.com/News/news2003/10-October/Newarrivals.html

North Carolina Central
DURHAM, NC - Sulayman Clark has joined the administrative staff as vice chancellor of institutional advancement. Clark formerly served as vice president for university advancement at Tuskegee Institute and as vice president of development at Hampton University. At Hampton, Clark directed the university’s $200 million capital campaign. Clark received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and community mental health from Cheyney University, a master’s degree in educational research from Stanford University and a doctorate in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University.


http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:ogOfELI2WtgJ:www.nccu.edu/publicrelations/archives/128.htm+%22SULAYMAN+clark%22+durham&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a

---

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Damn, I guess I missed the dance all together, LOL!

[darbymcgill]

Why would he be driving her ...

That sounds like an insinuation......

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Just curious.

[Neverforget01]

Drudge has an alert up for breaking Duke details. Anyone have any guesses? TIA

[SarahUSC]

No one seems to know what it is. It's been "developing" for hours now with no updates.

[GAgal]

Drudge is probably referring to this NYT 8-25 article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/us/25duke.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=us

[maggief]

Thanks for the post.

If that is indeed the Brian Taylor, driver/boyfriend/??? of the AV, why would his recent passenger be the daughter of the NCCU vice chancellor of Institutional Advancement?

What's the connection?

[CondorFlight]

Snippets from the NYT article posted at Talk Left :

"Crucial to that portrait of the case are Sergeant Gottlieb’s 33 pages of typed notes and 3 pages of handwritten notes, which have not previously been revealed. His file was delivered to the defense on July 17, making it the last of three batches of investigators’ notes, medical reports, statements and other evidence shared with the defense under North Carolina’s pretrial discovery rules. "

(snip)

"In several important areas, the full files, reviewed by The New York Times, contain evidence stronger than that highlighted by the defense:

Defense lawyers have argued that the written medical reports do not support the charge of rape. But in addition to the nurse’s oral description of injuries consistent with the allegation, Sergeant Gottlieb writes that the accuser appeared to be in extreme pain when he interviewed her two and a half days after the incident, and that signs of bruises emerged then as well.

The defense has argued that the accuser gave many divergent versions of events that night, and she did in fact give differing accounts of who did what at the party. But the files show that aside from two brief early conversations with the police, she gave largely consistent accounts of being raped by three men in a bathroom. "