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.
LOL!
I may be hospitalized w/brain fever before this case ends.
I don't think you will be banned for calling Nifong a bastard.
Although in all fairness, we don't yet know if his mother and father were married.
Too late. Tell it to Nifong the publicity hound, lady.
The defense needs to hire Barry Scheck....he got OJ off with overwhelming DNA evidence.....this case is in the reverse...
I really hope it's a booger.
I am too, in that it gives some of us a flavor, distasteful as it may be, of how some in Black community want this to be the reverse of what happened in Scottsboro. Unfortunately the major networks cut off just before she began her rude, never-ending rant. Cheshire was quite the gentleman to put up with it and finally came out and said the case was not about race (though some would make it so).
Do lizards who live under rocks get married??
Who knew??!! ;>)
If we were to follow her ridiculous logic, shouldn't the strippers have decided to not "perform" once they learned it was an audience of all white group of athletes ?
LOL! I needed that laugh. Thanks. LOL
"I yelled out "yes, YES!" more than once! **blush**"
LOL, so good to know I wasn't alone in my reaction.
pattyjo
Bahahahaha :)
Missed the very end of the presser. 2 yr old insisted on playing internet bowling. Sent him into the back yard with the 11 yr old with an emergency stash of bubbles. I am so annoyed at the activist trying to shout down Cheshire I want to puke. These guys are guilty of rape because they gave a fake name to the escort service. Yeah, everybody wants their real name on the roles of an escort service--talk about unwanted Spam!! They specified the race of the escorts they wanted? Apparently the escort service offered that as an option, isn't that how most brothels work? (Not that I would know.)
I hope they did, too. However, they are instructed to NOT watch the coverage or discuss these cases. If it ever leaks out that they were discussing it outside the Grand Jury meeting room, or with their family or friends, there will be hell to pay.
Fortunately, the potential jury pool will know that Evans has already passed a polygraph. That alone should be enough to poison the jury pool, even if not admissable.
Absolutely NOT. These young men don't need to have even a hint of having been "got off" - they need to be completely and publicly cleared.
I tell you what, if Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan came down and started holding press conferences to support the Duke lacrosse players, I would have to give pause and say to myself, I wonder if maybe they ARE guilty!
I had some of those same kinds of students, and I know what you mean about lazy brainiacs and lovable workers who have succeeded beyond some people's/teachers' expectations.
This past week, it was reported that Nifong was "busy stuffing envelopes" and could not be disturbed to speak with a defense attorney. I suspect he was mailing out his resume to Aruba, applying for the job as their next Prosecutor!
You misunderstood my post.....Barry Scheck is an expert on DNA...he may be able to help the simpletons on the jury how DNA can be contaminated laying in a trash can that is used by several people.....
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