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.
Why would the lawyers, especially Robert's, would be so eager, then? (Just curious, since I know nothing about legal matters.)
I had to post this. I stole it from another person on another forum . It was too funny to ignore:
"Now if she took the bookkkeeping course that Kimmy offers, she could get $25,000, at least, maybe more."
Those lawyers are for show. They're looking for insiders information. Sharpton paid out some bucks in a defamation suit after the Tawana Brawley case. Buyer beware!!
My guess is that they're just making noise, possibly as a tactic to pressure the defense, or simply for publicity with an eye to Kim's financial future. I could certainly be wrong, but I'm doubtful that either one wants to testify under oath.
Ping to #1853.
Uh, we have already discovered that Kim Robert's brother may be.
That'll work! Kim and Crystal have enough skeletons in their closets to fill a wing of the Smithsonian.
I don't understand. The AV has a cousin named Jackie but you are saying that the person posting was not the cousin but rather some guy?
In any event it is interesting that he/she used the screen name Tates.
Yeah, I saw her on Hannity, although she's not 100% yet.
But I don't care. She was too stupid to see this for what it is when she should have, so I stopped watching her show and I won't be back. Susan Filan was the only pro-accuser who gradually came around and approached this case honestly, in terms of those prosecutorial types who were on the liar's side to begin with as a knee-jerk response stemming from their prosecutorial point of view.
Yes, but if she freshened her breath and kept her distance, he probably wouldn't because she was talking fine and wasn't the focus of the call.
She still got one or two digs in on Nifong's side, though. She's not a 100% yet. Anyway, I have no respect left for her legal acumen. FNC should dump her.
For all we know, Collin may have the best alibi of them all. His attorney is just not announcing it. Maybe that's because he doesn't want the witnesses tampered with or harmed by black Durhamites or Mangum's pimp.
Well apparently Colin's lawyers make a habit of never talking because they say that all it can do is hurt the client. So the fact that they aren't talking has nothing to do with his guilt or innocense. He wasn't in a single one of those photos.
I think that he is not hurt by his attorneys taking the quit road because the others have stepped out and fought the public perception.
Apparently you didn't follow the dialogue that led up to my post. Your comment is completely off-point. If you're going to comment on my posts, please take the time to read back to what I was replying to.
In context of the exchange, your post makes absolutely no sense.
Yes, we've heard her name, but I don't remember it.
I have never heard that either woman knew the guard.
The guard is young; clearly not a retired cop.
I think you may just be right. Ever since the alibi for Seligmann became public the silence from the Finnerty side has been deafening. It may be a joint defense plan to spring on the prosecutor. I think he may have absolute proof that he was never at the house that night. Think how this would play out. One defendent that has a documented alibi by witnesses, photos and phone records. Another the has passed a lie detector test. And the third that might have proof he was never in the vacinity of the alleged crime. Wonder how the rape nazis would spin that.
Bingo!
Nifong will try to shut them up, but he may not be successful in a getting a gag order, and there are ways around gag orders anyway.
I think he's hiding the medical report. I think Mangum lied about when she last had consensual sex, that the injuries aren't as extensive as he has implied, and that she refused to take a tox or BAC test.
Yep. Sounds about right.....for 1984.
With Seliegeman's lawyer talking and Finnerty's not, it locks Nifong's timeline and puts him in a trap. Now Seliegeman could not committed the crime after 12:07. So if Nifong tries to push the "rape" forward and Finnerty was at Cosmic Cantina before 12:07, Nifong's stepping into it again.
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