Posted on 05/15/2006 7:14:12 AM PDT by pissant
DURHAM - A Durham grand jury is scheduled to meet today, and the session could mean new charges in the investigation of a reported rape at a Duke lacrosse team party.
Two of the team's players were indicted in April on charges of first degree rape, first degree sex offense and first degree kidnapping. They are accused of assaulting an escort service dancer in a bathroom of a house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. Their lawyers say the men are innocent, and lawyers representing dozens of team members say that no sex or assault occurred at the March 13 party.
But the woman says she was attacked by three men, and Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said he has been working on bringing charges against a third person.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TODAY? If Nifong decides to submit the case, police investigators and possibly other witnesses will try to convince grand jurors in a secret session that the state has probable cause to bring a case forward. Grand jurors will hear only the prosecution's side of the case. The standard required for a true bill of indictment is far lower than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard required for a conviction.
IF INDICTMENTS ARE ISSUED, WHEN WILL THEY BECOME PUBLIC? On April 17, a judge ordered the indictments in the lacrosse case sealed. The names of the players who were indicted were not released until 5 a.m. the next day when the players surrendered at the Durham County jail. If Nifong again requests that the indictments be sealed, the law allows a judge to keep them secret until the person is arrested or appears in court.
WHEN WILL ALL THE EVIDENCE BE REVEALED? State law requires prosecutors to turn over all of their case files to defense lawyers, but nothing requires the evidence to be turned over to the public. In open court hearings, lawyers often discuss some of the evidence, but the state's case may not be revealed until trial. No trial dates have been set. When a report on the DNA testing is complete, Nifong is required by law to turn it over to all 46 members of the lacrosse team who submitted DNA samples.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The cases against Reade William Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., are moving forward. Finnerty has a court date in June. Seligmann is scheduled to appear in court Thursday. His attorney, Kirk Osborn, has filed a series of motions challenging Nifong's handling of the case and asking a judge to bar the prosecutor from further involvement.
I'm a bit curious. Is there anyone among the FReeper commumity that knows how to alter the metadata in a digital image? I know it happes when you edit an image and save it, but then you have left a record of the edit.
Not only that, but after altering the metadata you would somehow have to upload the image file to the camera/phone without leaving evidence of the upload.
Anyone know how to do that?
Nancy Grace is a worthless twit.
Thanks. I guess that must be the source of this contention that the DNA is on the outside of the nail. So he hasn't actually come right out and said the DNA is on the outside of the nail, but he is strongly hinting that.
The warrant is to search the premises. It is specific in that the can't go beyond the scope of a "rape case".
I had been thinking of this. If it was a new nail, is it painted already? Or do you have to do this yourself?
You can buy them either way. I mostly buy the plain.
Thanks. Cheshire is so correct about the media grabbing onto something, jumping to a conclusion and then running like rabbits with it. The "broomstick molestation" is a perfect example of this.
Please don't insult worthless twits by including Nancy as one of them. ;)
Hmmmm....then why bother with the specific list of items to be seized?
Why not just say the warrant is for items possibly related to a sexual assault?
"Unless the three can come up with lots of money like Kobe Bryant, I see it going to court."
So you admit that False Accuser is in it for the cash.
Thanks for answering my question. Now I don't have to go to a drug store and pick up some nails and look like a freak. LOL
OK then - she's a poisonous toadstool.
How many nails did Crystal have ON when she met with the SANE people and the police?
bookmark
That is what I think. It certainly has given some in the media something to chew on, in any case.
Because you have to get a magistrate or judge to approve the issuing of the search warrant. A magistrate or judge acting properly will not approve a vague fishing expedition. The police need to be specific as to what the crime is they have probable cause to believe occurred, and what items connected to the crime they believe may be at the premises to be searched.
Once the warrant is approved and the search is underway, however, the police are allowed to lawfully seize any other contraband they may come across, including the cocaine in my example.
If the police lied to the judge about the basis for the warrant (for example, lied about the basis for having probable cause that a crime occurred), and did not proceed in good faith, then evidence seized can be suppressed, whether the evidence pertains to the sexual assault they are investigating or to another crime like cocaine possession, on the theory that the police did not have a lawful right to be in the premises conducting the search in the first place.
And, by the way, note that there was no coke or pot or anything else returned out of the house.
Wonder how many cell phones Crystal and Kim have between them. If Crystal left one behind (is that right), did she have another one? Whose name is it in? I can't imagine Crystal paying a bill associated with "Escort Service" phone calls.
#28 pills
No telling what they were or who they belonged to.
I am willing to bet they were the plain ones, and she was trying to do touch ups in the bathroom. It would be very interesting if there are tissues with nail polish in that bathroom trash they collected. Being as inebriated that she was, she had to be quite messy in the process.
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