....4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Cousin Jackies/Jakkis:
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
Thanks
Some things that are in the discovery or likely in the discovery that I am interested in:
1. The details of the photo arrays. How many there were. Did she pick anyone out in the earlier ones. Did she fail to pick out anyone in earlier ones when she knew their were fillers. [She probably does not trust the cops and did not believe them when they said there were no fillers and waited to ID until study the team photos.] The chronology of these photo arrays.
2. What law enforcement officer was with her when she recanted. Did they say ok back to rehab then which prompted her recantation of her recantation?
3. What injuries she had at UNC hospital the next day that she did not have that night at Duke.
4. The chronology of her claims. When did she say 3. Was it her first claim of rape or her 10th statement?
5. The chronology of her claims about Pittman [aka Roberts.] What crimes she accused her of. Where this maybe we deposited the money statement came from, did Pittman tell her they had deposited her money so she would not know it was stolen?
6. Are there other clearly false statements like 4 dancers with names?
Four dancers,; Precious, Nikki, Angel and Tammy???
Five rapists???
Linwood may want his sister to write a letter. /sarc.
Do we know why she went to UNC hospital? Did they also do a rape exam?
Maybe I'm talking about the wrong media source? I'm a little brain-dead today. LOL!
Sounds like the 12 days of christmes!
Make the the five rapists of Duke-
... Five rapists raping,
Four dancers stripping,
Three players defending,
Two races dividing, and
One rodeo cowboy DA.
Here's channel 11's take. http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=4299691
After the exchange, Wilson told Eyewitness News that he personally read all 1814 pages of discovery documents and has not read that the alleged victim changed her version of the story.
We need music to go with those lyrics! ;>)
Or somebody is so disorganized they had to cherry pick the items they were going to release and couldn't afford to number until the last minute.
As I said before, this report should have been in the first tranche of documents.
....4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Cousin Jackies/Jakkis:
..and a DA who needs to go away!
ROFL!!
A woman who said she was raped by three Duke University lacrosse players was nervous when she spoke to an investigator and changed her story several times, according to a police report released Friday.
_____________________________________________
The police report said she was nervous? Or AP? Or the rape nazis?
Well, after reading Bates No. 1304, I can certainly see why Mike Nifong has no problem with inconsistencies in the AV's story. None of you locals told me the poor man was blind. Prior to Mr. Cheshire's letter to the Investigator, the AP story, the link to the chronology of his statements to the press before and after indictments were obtained, I had just thought he was stupid and corrupt when he expected the rest of the country to swallow the story. Poor man, blind and soon to be begging on the street. I don't think he should have to suffer so much -- he's just a lowly paid public employee -- and those rich folks whose kids can afford to go to Duke can afford the hit. After all they would have just spent the money on the remaining siblings' education. Yeah, yeah, that's it. They had it coming.
The reluctance to expose the duplicity of the DA and the possible misconduct in his office is almost palpable. There is no mention as to why Cheshire released this document. AP and Reuters are both part of the woeful MSM and are definitely no more objective than the NYT. Thank God for the WSJ.
Mangum claimed she fell into a sink and injured her head. As you know many prostitutes who don't come home with their pimp's money have unfortunate accidents with sinks.
And with Mangum there could be other versions of the story. This is one I heard and remember.
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