Gag order sought in lacrosse case (NAACP Wants Gag Order)

Durham Herald-Sun ^ | May 25, 2006 | PAUL BONNER

[abb]

DURHAM -- A lawyer with the state NAACP said the civil rights organization intends to seek a gag order in the Duke lacrosse case, and a journalist who participated in a forum with him on Wednesday said media coverage of the alleged rape may deprive the alleged victim of her legal rights to a fair trial.

Al McSurely, an attorney who chairs the Legal Redress Committee for the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he generally respects the defense attorneys in the case as colleagues. But they are violating the State Bar's rules of professional conduct that discourage comments outside court that are likely to prejudice a case, he said.

The NAACP will try to intervene in the case to file a "quiet zone/let's let justice work" motion. That is otherwise known as a gag order, he acknowledged, although he said he doesn't like that term.

McSurely's comments came amid the first-ever Durham Conference on the Moral Challenges of our Culture at First Presbyterian Church downtown. The session gave the approximately 150 people who attended a chance to hear a series of talks and discuss among themselves sexual and domestic violence, racism, class distinctions and the media.

[bjc]

My guess is that Cheshire does not want any statements to be lost. Timing is going to be important. I assume that we will see more vocal activity as we get closer to the next milestone set by the court. The exception would be the emergence of a "smoking gun" that could potentially blow the case out of the water.

[ltc8k6]

Maybe the info about CGM having had sex around the time of the incident with her boyfriend would have shut a few people up and calmed the race baiting a bit.

[GAgal]

Cheshire did make the point at their Friday night presser that the male genetic material found "on a vaginal swab" from a "single male source well known to the police" was new information not previously given to the defense.

Cheshire's comments about Nifong were unusually pointed and personal. I almost expected him to turn to the camera and say, "Mr. Nifong, I'll meet you at dawn. The choice of weapons is yours."

[GAgal]

... like the cell phone data, if it still exists.

[ltc8k6]

Good point, and Nifong would have known it after the first round of tests if the SBI had found it. The boyfriend was not swabbed right after the first round results came back, was he?

I think Nifong got preliminary info on the second round of tests early, and that's when CGM had to tell the truth. That's why the second round results were delayed. That's when the boyfriend was swabbed.

So, I still think the SBI found nada in the first round.

[Krodg]

if you were on the jury, would you believe that she was never asked that again?

I'm not sure why you are saying she wasn't asked again. The problem is the only reference to their descriptions was the officer's note asking a follow up question. The original description is what is missing.

District Attorney Mike Nifong gave defense lawyers nearly 1,300 pages of evidence last week, saying it was his complete case file. But lawyers for Collin Finnerty say those documents include only one reference to police asking the accuser for a description, in what appears to be an investigator's note.

"I asked her questions trying to follow up on a better description of the suspects, she was unable to remember anything further about the suspects," the note from Durham police investigator B.W. Himan says,

[ltc8k6]

When did the first round results come back compared to when the boyfriend was swabbed?

The first round came back around April 10th, I think, and the boyfriend is not swabbed until May 3rd, I think.

Unless I am remebering wrong, the BF should have been tested a lot closer to April 10th if the SBI had found DNA in CGM that did not match the LAX players.

[Mike Nifong]

Yes, there are many more like that. The Media promotes the notion that women don't falsely accuse rape or sexual assault and it's just not true. Not true at all.

It does happen and special laws passed to give people claiming sexual assault special privileges has contributed to the false claims. One such state law is the one prohibiting the authorities from drug testing a woman claiming sexual assault without her consent

[GAgal]

Key dates:
* April 4 - accuser IDs Seligmann, Finnerty, & Pancho Villa
* April 10 - defense releases DNA results they were given
* April 17 - Grand jury meets. Seligmann and Finnerty indicted.
* May 2 - primary election day
* May 3 - boyfriend DNA swab taken
* May 15 - Grand jury meets. Evans indicted.

The most important date imo is May 2, followed by the days the grand jury was scheduled to meet.

[ltc8k6]

So, if the first DNA tests found DNA that did not match the LAX players, why wait until May to ask CGM about it?

You could say Nifong waited due to the election, but I can't believe Cheshire wouldn't be hollering about it.

I think the first results showed nothing, so Nifong orders the second test because he believes CGM and he shot his mouth off about DNA.

Then I think the second lab told Nifong that they found DNA that didn't match LAX players around May 2nd. Nifong then questions CGM and swabs the boyfriend May 3rd.

Around that time, we hear that the second DNA results are delayed, but we don't know why. Later we find out, of course.

[GAgal]

Today's Durham paper has an article that shows an interesting look into the thinking of the Durham PD:

http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-738718.html

No charges at all, because he didn't mean harm and "showed remorse"? What about the fact that he stole the mercuty from his job site? I believe Woody Vann pointed to Crystal's remorse over the 2002 incident. If the accuser ever fesses up, I bet we'll hear that word often. We may even hear Baker using a variation.

[Mike Nifong]

The chief superior court judge is Orlando Hudson, who presided over the Michael Peterson trial. He is AA and seemed to me eminently fair.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

the Peterson trial had no race element whatsoever though.
Hudson has to run for re-election. Hudson is also black.

In this case, which Race was involved, Hudson was solidly behind the black convicted killer:

Summary:
Desmond Keith Carter went to the home of his 71 year old neighbor, Helen Purdy (who was white), and asked to borrow money. When she refused, he stabbed her 13 times and took $15. Carter confessed to the crime, at first claiming that Purdy got excited, attempted to push him and fell on the knife. At trial, Carter admitted the killing, but argued that he was intoxicated on alcohol, crack cocaine and tranquilizers when he stabbed Purdy. The jury did not buy either story. Carter was on Parole at the time of the Killing. Carter suffered a stab wound in the attack. Carter said that four white men had jumped and stabbed him.

Carter's defense lawyers argued to Judge Hudson that Carter's original lawyers weren't good enough and that racial bias against black defendants accused of killing whites made his trial unfair.

Durham Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson agreed to stay Carter's execution on 12/04/02.

Two days later Judge Hudson was overruled by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/carter814.htm

[Ken H]

Nifong, through no fault of his own through his own incompetence and venality, is under a cloud of suspicion for pursuing this case in light of what his critics view as flimsy evidence.

Fixed it.

[JustaCowgirl]

And if CGM turns up dead before trial who will they try to blame?

If I were a member of the Duke lacrosse team or somebody associated with them, I would make sure I have an alibi for every moment of the day, 24 hours a day.

That's hard to do, though.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation
The Molecular Genetics Section

http://sbi.jus.state.nc.us/sbimain/molecule.htm

snip:
The Section offers a full service DNA typing laboratory to provide state-of-the-art analysis PCR based STR typing procedures in casework. Evidence provided by this Unit has been crucial to solving some of the State's most violent rape and homicide cases. The Section is offering a PCR based typing system called STRs which has a faster turn around time for cases with a high probability of discrimination.
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

"...cases with a high probability of discrimination."

"...which has a faster turn around time..." - (with Nifongs election clock running, this might have been the most attractive option for him......)

[GAgal]

Did you watch the Peterson trial on CourtTV? I did. After reading the various arguments Hudson heard on the Carter case, I think he was right to order a stay (a temporary halt) to the execution, allowing a higher court to determine the outcome. Unlike Judge Ito, Hudson never seemed to revel in the limelight, or posture on the bench. He was even-handed. What more can one expect?

[JustaCowgirl]

No, they aren't Thelma and Louise, and definitely not Lucy and Ethel.

Based on what we know, I find Kim a lot more repugnant than Crystal, because I think the latter is just displaying the judgment that results from gross stupidity, a drug and alcohol habit and a bad upbringing. The former is a lot smarter and a lot snakier than that.

[Ken H]

I probably misunderstood what Tucker was saying last night. It appears she indeed did give a description, which is what the defense wants to know. It is possible she wasn't asked again until the lineup, but I don't think we know that.

[NeonKnight]

That article is silly. Just because there are not many black LAX players does not make them racist. It may simply mean that blacks have not taken up the sport, for whatever reason.

College basketball teams are disproportionately black.

Finally, if blacks are not playing LAX, there probably aren't many, or even any, black LAX coaches.

[Guenevere]

good points!