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.
Interesting. As to whether the AV was pushed down those back stairs at 12:32, or fell of her own accord, that tends to support her falling of her own accord, at least as far as Evans' knowledge of what happened is concerned.
I'll look and see if I can find it.
It isn't completely impossible, though, especially if they can get a factual finding of innocence. A court order directing the agencies would do it, and that would probably require a federal judge. It's a tall, tall order, but if they want it badly enough, it might be doable. It would take a lot of work and a lot of time.
OMG, we have the "rape jacket", the "rape broom", and now...the "rape moustache"! I should start selling them as a set on eBay.
I cannot watch these idiots on these shows anymore!!
They are still repeating the DNA under the plastic nail crap.
I still say Scuse Me is the pimp and/or boyfriend.
I'm just posting another rape case where the victim was examined by a Duke SANE nurse. That seems to be the key in the Duke Lacrosse case since there doesn't seem to be any other evidence. Here's another case with testimony by a Duke SANE nurse.
Lauren was examined at Duke University Medical Center by Wendy Craven, a sexual assault nurse examiner. Ms. Craven testified that she wrote down a description of what Lauren told her had happened the previous evening. Over objection by defendant, Ms. Craven testified that the injuries she observed were consistent with blunt force trauma to the genital and anal area.
Read the appeal at
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=nc&vol=appeals2006/&invol=050006-1
snip
Next, defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing a certified sexual assault nurse to testify that the victim's injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma and with the events described to her by the victim.
Q. [the State]: Based upon your experience as a sexual assault nurse examiner, were those injuries consistent with the information that you got from Lauren?
[defense counsel]: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: Overruled.
A. [Ms. Craven]: Those injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma to the genital and anal area, and were consistent with the events that Lauren stated to me in her actual statement.
Defense Attorney" Miss Roberts. Is it your professional opinion that rape and sodomy can be accomplished with a "limp dick?"
I wonder if her old land lord had a mustache...
http://www.co.durham.nc.us/departments/txad/TaxDB/P/Dsp001.cfm?P=107139
Evans lived in the house, used the bathroom daily, cleaned-up the bathroom (placing the fake nail in the trash), heard accusation, retrieved the nail and presented it to police. So unless the kid was wearing gloves then of course his dna would be on the fake nail.
Cheshire actually made an indirect point that the dna found on the nail was not just on the underside (fill in the blank) and chastised the press for running with the story that the dna was only found on the underside (while pointing out no blood from the "fierce fight" was found).
You don't have to be a forensics expert to know that if one grabs a small object like a fake nail that you have to grab both sides.
Yeah, even though the AV's ID statement is available to the public and she says what the guys used on her in front and in back and it wasn't a broom....
Do you think that one might become a "sexual assault nurse" because you have an AGENDA?
That is a fabulous question for Ms. Roberts.
It only requires 40 hrs. of training.
Yes, if the DNA was on not on the underside of the nail, it is even less than useless. But also I am saying one would think that it takes a tiny tiny tiny amount of material not to be able to find one cell to get a full profile from.
Rape jacket????
That is very interesting, well interesting to those of us here. Of course no DA would be interested in such an information.
I think she would have an automatic bias against the supposed perp.
Well, rape hoodie really.
That's how one of the talking female heads said the boys avoided being scratched.
They wore long sleeves for the occasion.
Despite the photo of RS in his red short sleeves....
I saw her doing some promos for her 8 PM (5 PM West Coast Time) show during her "Closing Arguments" show. She's licking her chops and looks like a kid that just got her Christmas present early. "And we've heard all this spin spin spin spin spin from the defense" complete with little finger-twirling dramatics in case you're sight-impaired.
BTW, I assume she'll follow the lead of Lisa Bloom, subbing for Catherine Cryer on CNN HNews this past hour. Bloom is pretending that "we are only hearing one side of the story" and had a black female Former Federal Prosecutor just come right out and say that since the FA made the accusation and Nifong believes her, then a rape must have occurred. Cross my heart! Then she resurrected the Rape Jacket theory. The defense attorney on the panel announced that the whole show was spent just trying to come up with stuff that would make the accusations plausible instead of following what has actually been alleged and stated -- he was quickly hooted down.
To take the heat off this main thread (if that's possible at this point) I'll start a separate Nancy Grace Live Thread at about 4:45 West Coast Time.
Does the defense have photos of her falling down the stairs? I thought they said they did, blunt force trauma could have happened then, if the report says "trauma" those photos would be interesting.
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