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To: subterfuge

I think the defense already has a pretty good idea what happened before the party ...

(JOSEPH CHESHIRE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY): Paula, well, first of all, let me say this for a living -- let me say this about what this woman does for a living.

Anybody that knows what she does for a living and the reality of what she does for a living knows that she could have received those injuries any time before 12:00 that evening. Now, as -- as this trial goes on, we will be able to discover exactly where she is. But the fact that she may have had sex with somebody after 6:00 or before 6:00 would mean, if she went to the hospital, they would show that she had -- quote -- "injuries," which is a word I don't like, but a medical condition, or things in her body, consistent with the fact that she may have had sex with somebody.

That does not prove that she...

ZAHN: Are you talking about consensual sex with somebody else, or do you think she was attacked by...

CHESHIRE: Oh, I -- I -- I...

ZAHN: ... some man not on the lacrosse team?

CHESHIRE: I don't think she was raped at all. I -- I don't think there's any evidence that she was raped at all.

ZAHN: I want to know why you think this woman, who you claim to know an awful lot about, would have made up this story... CHESHIRE: Oh, I -- I -- I...

ZAHN: ... and turned her life upside down.

CHESHIRE: I'm -- I'm not -- I'm not going to -- and turned her life upside down? How about the life of this entire community? How about the life of all these boys? How about the life of the university? How about the life of the racial relations in the city of Durham?

ZAHN: Well, what's in it for her?

CHESHIRE: I mean, I'm really -- I -- I have to tell you the truth.

Well, I mean, I could give you all kind of things that are in it for -- for her. I -- I don't know exactly what was in her that night, but she was clearly under the influence of something very strong when she got to the party.

ZAHN: Mr. Cheshire, you said you and your team know an awful lot about this woman, about her background, and this story will not stand up in court. What do you mean by that? What do you know?

CHESHIRE: Well, I'm -- I'm not going to say or share what we know about her. Obviously, we have done a lot of work on her.

And, when someone makes an accusation, that accusation has to stand up to the actual physical facts of what happened. First of all, hers will not stand up to the actual physical facts.

Secondly, you pointed out that they need to have no motivation to lie. I believe that the lawyers in this case will be able to show, on cross-examination and on the presentation of evidence, that she did have a motive to lie.

ZAHN: So, you can't clarify for us tonight what you think that motivation is, based on the research you have done in her background?

CHESHIRE: No.

And -- and I wouldn't do that. It would be wrong for me to do that at this point in time. We haven't tried to try this case in the public opinion. We have just said that these boys are not guilty, in response to what the prosecutor has done. But those things will come out in court. And, when the public sees her cross-examination, and sees her answers, and finds out about that motivation, it will prove what we have been saying all along. And that is that no rape happened in that house.



http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/17/pzn.01.html


477 posted on 04/20/2006 10:33:03 AM PDT by maggief ( ... and YOU know what I'm talkin' about.)
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To: maggief

Well thanks Maggie, but that didn't really answer any of my questions.

and the defense attorney sounds a little confused himself.


637 posted on 04/20/2006 11:40:41 AM PDT by subterfuge (Call me a Jingoist, I don't care...)
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