Posted on 06/22/2006 2:23:47 AM PDT by abb
DURHAM -- District Attorney Mike Nifong plans to give defense lawyers at least 300 additional pages of information about the Duke University lacrosse rape case, adding to 1,298 pages of documentation surrendered previously.
Without describing their contents, Nifong said the new documents would be handed over during a preliminary hearing today for three recently indicted lacrosse players: Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans.
The three are accused of raping, sodomizing and restraining an exotic dancer in a bathroom during an off-campus party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-March.
All are free under $400,000 bonds as they await a trial that, according to Nifong, might begin next spring.
None is expected to attend today's hearing.
In addition to a transfer of documents, the hearing will include a request from Seligmann's lawyers that his bond be lowered to roughly one-tenth its current level. The lawyers filed an affidavit in support of that request Wednesday.
Signed by Philip Seligmann, the defendant's father, the affidavit said that Seligmann had been recruited by every Ivy League university to play football or lacrosse, and that he accepted a 90-percent scholarship to be on the Duke lacrosse team.
"This case has taken an unbelievable and horrendous emotional toll on all my family, especially my wife," the elder Seligmann wrote. "We are committed as a family, along with Reade, to do everything necessary to restore our good name."
According to the affidavit, Seligmann's bail money was provided by a family friend whose "loss of income is substantial" as a result.
In a related matter, the News and Observer Publishing Co. moved Wednesday to make public certain documents -- reportedly pertaining to the alleged rape victim's medical records -- that were filed by defense lawyers under seal.
"In this case, the fact that there are charges of sexual assault is unfortunate and controversial -- either because a woman has been sexually violated or because the defendants have been wrongfully accused -- but neither is a justification for sealing a court proceeding," a lawyer for the newspaper wrote.
The lawyer, Hugh Stevens, also said the sealed documents raised questions about Nifong's handling of the case. He said that when the conduct of public officials is at issue, it is an added reason for making the pertinent files public.
Meanwhile, several defense lawyers predicted Wednesday that Nifong's latest 300-plus pages of documentation would do little to help him, since earlier paperwork -- in their view -- was more beneficial to the defense than the prosecution.
For example, attorneys Joe Cheshire and Brad Bannon have said the earlier documents showed a "very significant and disturbing deficiency" in Nifong's evidence.
Specifically, there were indications that Nifong began making public statements about the accuser's medical records even before they were in his possession, according to the two lawyers, who represent Evans.
Cheshire and Bannon said the District Attorney's Office subpoenaed the accuser's medical files from Duke Hospital on March 20 -- six days after the alleged rape.
However, the files were not printed out in compliance with the subpoena until March 30, and Police Investigator Benjamin Himan didn't pick them up until April 5, Cheshire and Bannon wrote in court paperwork last week.
But the lawyers said Nifong told a local television station on March 27 that he had no doubt the exotic dancer was raped, based on a "personal review" of her medical records. They quoted the district attorney as saying, "My reading of the report of the emergency room nurse would indicate that some type of sexual assault did in fact take place."
Citing the 1,298 pages of documentation given them by Nifong earlier, various defense lawyers also have contended there were numerous inconsistencies in the accuser's version of events, along with unacceptable omissions in a sworn affidavit prepared by police. The affidavit was used by Himan to obtain judicial permission for his evidence-gathering efforts.
Among other things, Himan failed to mention that a co-dancer had described the rape allegation as "a crock," even though she was with the accuser for all but about five minutes on the night in question, according to defense lawyers.
Nifong has bristled at that and other defense characterizations of his evidence, while attacking the national press corps for -- in his opinion -- blindly reporting the characterizations without checking their accuracy.
"Is anyone surprised that the defense attorneys are spinning this case in such a way that things do not look good for the prosecution?" Nifong wrote in an e-mail to Newsweek magazine last week.
"Their job, after all, is to create reasonable doubt, a task made all the easier by an uncritical national press corps desperate for any reportable detail, regardless of its veracity," the district attorney said.
The e-mail traffic was made public by Nifong on Monday.
URL for this article: http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-746370.html
is Fong NOT running some tests because he doesn't want the results to be out yet?......Is he purposively telling his detectives NOT to write up reports yet, so he doesn't have to turn more info over to the defense, or perhaps he wants to color the reports to his liking...
watch for certain promotions in the next few months.....
also.....the evidence is not the main problem with this case...the main problem is that you will have a majority black jury putting pressure on the weakling whiteys to convict these men just like a black jury exonerated Simpson.....there need be no rationale...
Exactly. I think the no notes or reports was a strategic move. It's deception. That office is supposed to seek justice.
They are talking on the Radio about the DAs own investigator acting unprofessionally and confronting Cheshire outside the court room. You can't make this stuff up.
Either he needs help with his reading comprehension or he's blowing smoke.. Ofc. Shelton's report says otherwise.
It's up on the CTV boards, too:
http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=8183731#post8183731
Looks like Nifong has bad Judgement all around. He hired this guy too. Created a new position for him, I believe.
Ted Williams on Greta saying that they still may be able to prove that she was slipped a Mickey.
-irresponsible news corpse-
' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' DURHAM, we have a problem !
Seems the Durham Police didn't serve outstanding summons on the Police Chiefs daughter and she didn't show up for court.
(they are too busy looking up Cab-drivers for 3 year old solved crimes!)
DURHAM - The daughter of Police Chief Steve Chalmers failed to appear in court Thursday, two days after her arrest on an unrelated felony assault charge involving an automobile.
Police also FAILED TO SERVE two outstanding criminal summonses on Stefanie Chalmers, 25, while she was in custody.
Stefanie Chalmers was arrested Tuesday on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury, court records show.
She is accused of striking a woman with a car the night of April 28 .......
http://www.newsobserver.com/215/story/453663.html
By Samiha Khanna, Staff Writer 6/23
I looked for a rap sheet on the daughter and came up empty.
http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/apps/offender/search2
There are log records showing her coming in, then leaving, nothing else. However, the staff on duty that night can and should be interviewed and subpoenaed, if necessary.
It was said that it was still at the lab.
Rose colored glasses ALERT!
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-746669.html
Survey finds Durham's image not eroded by Duke case
Jun 22, 2006 : 6:33 pm ET
DURHAM -- Heavy media coverage of an alleged rape by three Duke lacrosse players has not eroded Durham's image and actually may have provided a positive bump, according to a Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau survey conducted two months into the case.
The results mirror the findings of a DCVB study in April, as the case was beginning to unfold.
The second study says the positive bump may have resulted from a "perceived injustice" impact caused by "excessive misrepresentations" of Durham and Mayor Bill Bell's "emphatic response" to the media portrait of the Bull City.
(snip)
RE: NO ruling to unseal the AV's medical records
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-746681.html
In a related development Thursday, Stephens denied a written request from the News and Observer Publishing Co. -- filed a day earlier -- that medical records of the accuser be unsealed.
So the DA expedites the DNA tests but sits on the rape kit?
He's hiding exculpatory evidence, IMHO, and not just the rape kit.
Thanks! Durham is one cesspool of a place.
The National Media needs to pick this up and demand answers.
Why the cabbie? Why was he priority?
Seriously, how many times do you think Miss Chalmers' charges were dismissed immediately in court and struck from the record - and how many times do you think that Police on the beat went to arrest her and saw her ID and told her she better be careful and let her go.
Durham "justice" ...
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-746675.html
Last of five codefendants in Cannady case gets 10-13 years
By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun
jstevenson@heraldsun.com
Jun 22, 2006 : 8:06 pm ET
DURHAM -- The last of five codefendants in the 2002 fatal shooting of 89-year-old Lois Cannady received his punishment Thursday.
Little Jerome Freeman was sentenced in Durham County Superior Court to between 10 and nearly 13 years in prison.
Freeman originally was charged with first-degree murder, for which the only possible punishment would have been life in prison without parole. The death penalty was not being sought.
However, the charge was downgraded to second-degree murder in exchange for Freeman's promise to testify for the prosecution against two others.
Defense lawyer John Fitzpatrick, who represented Freeman on the homicide charge, and lawyer Mark Edwards, who represented him in the past, both had glowing words for the suspect on Thursday.
"He has shown true remorse," said Edwards. "In less than 1 percent of my cases have I run across someone like that. Usually, people are just sorry they got caught rather than being sorry for the victim. But Jerome [Freeman] is sincere. He has some mental issues, so I don't think he's smart enough to fake it."
Freeman apologized for the murder during his court appearance Thursday. In return, members of the victim's family thanked him for helping the prosecution bring others to justice in the case.
Freeman was one of five youths who barged into Cannady's Valleydale Drive home in June 2002, reportedly bent on stealing a car. The elderly woman was killed with an assault rifle as she called 911 for help.
The triggerman, Michael Bernard Sullivan, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2004 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. His conviction recently was upheld by the state Court of Appeals.
Another suspect, Gregory Jamar Lee, also took his chances with a jury. He was found guilty of first-degree murder last month and, like Sullivan, received a life prison term without the possibility of parole.
Lee had lived across the street from Cannady and was accused of leading the others to her house, even though she had befriended him and often cooked for him.
Lee admitted he was at the scene and kicked in Cannady's back door. But he claimed he acted under duress after his codefendants threatened to kill him if he didn't cooperate.
A fourth suspect, Ricky Evelon Morris, was sentenced earlier this week to between seven and 10 years in prison for his role in the crimes. Like Freeman, he originally was accused of first-degree murder but was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge as a reward for helping investigators.
Freeman wound up with a lengthier sentence than Morris because his previous criminal record was worse.
A murder charge against the fifth and youngest suspect, Marcus M. Hawley, was dropped last year. He received a 38- to 55-month prison term for related crimes: breaking into Cannady's house, attempting to rob her and possessing a car stolen from her.
What about Gotlieb's reports derived from his notes? Does Nifong have those? It's totally believable that Nifong doesn't have Gotlieb's notes, but not reports. Cops usually keep their notes for reference and they become part of the police investigative file. But one or more reports should have been generated as a result of those notes.
This just in...
http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/453751.html
Before the hearings Thursday, Nifong walked up to Susan Filan, a legal analyst for MSNBC who was sitting in the courtroom gallery. Filan, a former prosecutor, once characterized Nifong as a "rodeo cowboy" on the air, but Thursday she had asked for an interview with him.
Nifong told her this: "Two words: rodeo cowboy." "When he came out and said, 'Two words,' I stood up. I thought he was going to grant me an interview," Filan said.
No. There's nothing unusual about it being maintained by the agency that processed it, and they are required to maintain it a certain way. They generate reports based on their findings. They can also return it to DPD which would require them to maintain it a certain way.
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