Posted on 08/06/2006 12:27:52 AM PDT by abb
DURHAM - Investigator Michelle Soucie of the Durham Police Department was working the phones the afternoon of April 17, trying to set up DNA tests on evidence in the Duke lacrosse case. A private laboratory in Burlington gave a price, and Soucie immediately contacted District Attorney Mike Nifong.
- snip -
In examining the files Nifong has produced in the case, The News & Observer found that the accuser gave at least five different versions of the alleged assault to different police and medical interviewers and made shaky identifications of suspects. To get warrants, police made statements that weren't supported by information in their files.
- snip -
Much of the district attorney's evidence is contained in more than 1,800 pages of documents he has made available to the defense under a recent state law requiring prosecutors to open their files before trial. Those documents are only part of the evidence that could be introduced in a criminal trial. They do not include information still being gathered or testimony that might occur under oath.
But they offer the most complete picture thus far of evidence in the case that has put Durham and Duke in the national spotlight. The documents -- police notes, court orders, DNA tests, interviews and handwritten statements -- show what the prosecution has learned and how it conducted itself in State of North Carolina vs. Collin Finnerty, Reade W. Seligmann and David Forker Evans, who could face decades in prison if convicted.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Pinging the DukeLax list
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-758769.html
Prospective DA candidate to talk
Aug 5, 2006 : 6:16 pm ET
Prospective district attorney write-in candidate Steve Monks will be speaking at the Forest Hills Clubhouse at 1639 University Drive at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
Monks is chairman of the Durham County Republican Party, but will run as an unaffiliated write-in candidate if he can raise $50,000, he has said. Voters of any political affiliation can attend the event and ask questions.
Event organizer Charlotte Woods said Monks' "number one premise is to give voters a voice in who will serve as their district attorney."
If he runs, Monks will challenge current District Attorney Mike Nifong who is otherwise unopposed.
A gourmet meal with Monks will be served at 6:30 p.m. at a price of $13 per person. Reservations are required and must be obtained by 8 p.m. today.
For meal reservations or for more information, call (919) 430-0339.
-- From staff reports
bttt
Bryant hires former Duke lacrosse coach
http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060806_06brylax.1eee8a0.html
Smart Duke Case Defense Strategy: Level Playing Field; Inform People
http://www.webcommentary.com/asp/ShowArticle.asp?id=gaynorm&date=060806
This can't be right. Abb did you hack into the N&O's website?
I'll believe it when the paper arrives!
I don't think you went fishing. I envision you in the Mission Impossible position floating above the servers at the News and Observer.
Good Job!
Wasn't me. And I didn't even catch any fish yesterday...
Hmmm...Wonder what/who caused the N&O to finally perform some real journalistic investigation?
;-)
All of us, imo. They can only stand so much pressure. After a while, Melanie gets tired of be made fun of...
By golly, they've almost got it all down. Halledamnleujah!
And now it's time to put the pressure on Nifong and Titus...
Monks needs to roll it up and go away. ABN is the only way to go. He'll split the anti-Nodong vote and Nodong will still win. What an idiot.
This has got to make Nifong feel some pressure. He seemed to be saying that all the criticism of the case was coming from outside NC, so I think this is big. Hopefully, it will get Titus' attention as well.
A very significant (imo) item in the NandO story - aside from the fact it was actually written and printed - is that Crystial Mangum is no longer the VICTIM. She's now merely the ACCUSER...
Ruh-ro! Durham, we have a problem!
Finnerty is 6'4 (at least) and 175 lbs, yet he's called
Short and Chubby.
The AV says Matt is 270 pounds; From the published roster (published before the allegations), the Heaviest player on the team is 225 pounds - and he's Six foot Six, 6'6" !
The shortest player on the team is 5'8' and he's 160 pounds.
I will make it my personal mission to find these Short, Fat lacrosse players - if it's the last thing I do.
From the N&O:
"The woman described each of the men, according to Himan's handwritten notes.
Adam: "white male, short, red cheeks fluffy hair chubby face, brn"
Matt: "Heavy set short haircut 260-270"
Brett: "Chubby"
That evening, two officers -- Michelle Soucie and Richard Clayton -- showed the accuser photos of lacrosse players taken from the goduke.com Web site, according to notes taken by both officers.
The police had organized 24 photos into four sets of six photos each. The sets were labeled A, B, C and D. The police had put one named suspect in each group: Matt in A, Adam in B, Bret in C and a second Matt in D.
After each photo, the police asked: Is this the person who sexually assaulted you?
She did not identify any assailants. She did not recognize any of the players named Adam, Matt or Brett. She picked out four men with 100 percent certainty as being at the party, and one player, Seligmann, with 70 percent certainty as being at the party. She could not remember exactly where she saw each person at the party.
"This is harder than I thought," she said, according to Soucie's notes.
Five days later, the accuser showed up at the police station with her driver, Jarriel Johnson of Raleigh. She met with Himan and Clayton.
"I asked her questions trying to follow up on a better description of the suspects," Himan wrote in his notes. "She was unable to remember anything further about the suspects."
Police showed the accuser two more sets of photos, 12 players in all.
"She could not identify any of the pictures in the photo array," Clayton wrote in his notes. "She again stated the photos looked the same."
Police had shown the accuser photos of 36 of the 46 white lacrosse players. She had not identified anyone as her assailant.
Two days later, the district attorney's office asked a judge to order all 46 white players to sit for mug shots (for current hair styles and complexion), upper torso photographs (for evidence of scratches from the accuser) and mouth swabbings (for DNA testing).
The request -- searching a pool of 46 people for 3 suspects -- was unusual. To obtain the DNA and photos, the law requires reasonable grounds to suspect that the person named had committed the crime. By definition, 43 of the named people had not."
Wasn't me. And I didn't even catch any fish yesterday...
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Like you were going to admit it. Look, at this point, I'm down with it man.
If you need a driver, call me.
I'm still trying to grasp that on the very day he had Collin and Reade indicted, Nifong is telling the cops to find out what Precious did earlier on the day of the party so they could rule out any other causes of her "diffuse edema". Unbelievable.
And then there's the many line-ups, the false statements he made to the media, the mischaracterization of the medical report in a search warrant affidavit and so on. Nifong should be run out of town on a rail. As a law student, I find it totally demoralizing that he could be allowed to practice law anywhere. I pray for his disbarment. He should be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I don't see where they performed any actual investigation. They merely connected the dots on known information and evidence, thereby admitting those connections do indeed exist.
The N&O has come out of the closet.
The only way to do that is through defense maneuvers and filings.
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