Duke lacrosse files show gaps in DA's case (DukeLax - NandO FINALLY tells the story)

Raleigh News & Observer ^ | August 6, 2006 | Joseph Neff

[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.

[maggief]

Tides a turnin' ... I think we'll be reading more this week.

[abb]

Looks like the CTV board has run out of steam. Maybe it'll die a natural death...

[jennyd]

As far as I know, the only persons that claimed she was beat up are her relatives.

[abb]

Stevenson for years ran a side business publishing a legal newsletter that detailed Durham trials for an audience of local attorneys--an enterprise even Stevenson (who has since sold the business) admits "might have been seen as a conflict of interest."

Now maggief, that's an outstanding catch. Not only is the SOB a part of the CourtHouse Crowd, he's been (and probably still is) on the payroll...

[Mike Nifong]

Thanks Maggief!

Someone had told me that two reporters on the Herald Sun staff were friends with someone close to the investigation (DPD/DA's office) and they socialized together after-hours.

Very interesting, indeed. Newport is now mentioning proof of a Prosecution Leak and attaching Stevenson's name.

[Hogeye13]

There has been discussion of her trip to the UNC hospital the next day where she complained of injuries including hitting her head on a sink. This has been known for sometime.

Again who, involved with an escort service, would be a witness to the swelling? That makes no sense at all. Now someone being a witness to trauma caused by a beating prior to the incident might be important and he might want to shut them up.

[JLS]

Looks like the CTV board has run out of steam. Maybe it'll die a natural death...

The early indications are that is was a boardicide. The evidence points to a Coldwater strangling it to death.

[maggief]

Just needed a reason to post that little gem. ;)

[maggief]

For rating$, CTV probably wanted the LAX case to go to trial. There's a conflict of interest there and their board reflects it. JMOO ;D

[jennyd]

She complained? She complained about a lot of things, as I recall, including a rape. Did UNC ever describe those injuries?
As for Nifong, he made that statement about Escort Services and witnesses to rule out trauma after DNA results came back. Just a coincidence? He wasn't interested in the trauma to her body before?

[Mike Nifong]

If one was hooked on Flexiril in combination with other drugs/alcohol, they may have occasion to visit health care facilities and a complain of sprains that ostensibily require more flexiril.

[TommyDale]

"For rating$, CTV probably wanted the LAX case to go to trial. There's a conflict of interest there and their board reflects it."

I think that was the case for all the media. It was all about dragging this out for more viewers/readers and ratings/circulation. It had nothing to do with actual facts.

[TommyDale]

There are more than just reporters socializing with them after hours. Ask regulars at Teasers and other "adult entertainment" clubs in the Durham area. We all know about the hobbies of the Assistant DA C. Destin Couch.

[SarahUSC]

I tend to agree. If she was beat up when she arrived at Duke Medical Center, none of the doctors or nurses who examined her seemed to notice.

If someone beat her up after she left Duke but before she went to UNC then where are those reports? If she had been beat up I think Nifong would have made a huge issue out of it with the media. And Dan Abrams would have seen something in the discovery. The pages were numbered and he was careful to make sure he didn't miss anything.

The only people I can think of who have said she was beat up were her father and some other family members, IIRC. And I don't think they're reliable.

As bizarre as it is, I'd have to conclude the same thing the N&O did - that Nifong was referring to the edema. I guess he wanted the cops to check out who her "customers" were and what kind of activities she'd been engaging in. Apparently he didn't think the accuser would give him the straight story. Gee, I wonder why.....

[JLS]

If someone beat her up after she left Duke but before she went to UNC then where are those reports?

Why would anyone have those reports. They are not evidence in this case.

BTW, I think Nifong did make a big deal out this. He showed how she was choked, etc. And Nifong never would have seen her before what ever happened that caused her to go to UNC. So he naturally assumed like he assumed the DNA in her came from the "rape" that the injuries he saw on her were from the "rape."

[Mike Nifong]

Why do I believe that too!

[jennyd]

Not evidence in this case? The accuser beaten up to a pulp is not evidence in this case?

[SarahUSC]

I thought you were saying that these injuries were evidence in this case and that Nifong's instruction to the police meant that they were supposed to find out if she had been beaten prior to the party.

If Nifong wants to introduce evidence of injuries in court he's going to have to produce medical reports and the only way to get them is to subpoena them. They would be included in the discovery that went to the defense. If he didn't turn them over to the defense then he'd run the risk of having the evidence excluded at trial.

Also - Nifong dropped the strangulation charge.

[TommyDale]

This is a story that could have been reported even before the C. Destin Couch website was revealed. In fact, the information was spoon fed to the press, even Matt Drudge, who all failed to investigate.

[JLS]

I thought you were saying that these injuries were evidence in this case and that Nifong's instruction to the police meant that they were supposed to find out if she had been beaten prior to the party.

Of course I said no such thing. I said, Nifong saw a beat up victim an assumed that was related to this case. Clearly the evidence from the Duke SANE report indicates like his assumption with the DNA, he was wrong.

As he was wrong the UNC ER report HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CASE AND IS NOT IN DISCOVERY. At the time we are talking about I wonder if Nifong did not know about the second UNC ER visit? The defense has asked for the report for that visit though.

You are confusing what Nifong thought early on in this case, ie the time frame discussed in the article v. what Nifong knew when he provided discovery. That is my whole point, Nifong saw a beat up Mangum sometime the day or so after the party after she had been to the UNC ER and she looked like she had been a rape victim. This made her more believeable to Nifong, but of course what sent her to UNC ER has nothing to do with this case.

Finally, there was never a charge of choking either. You can not drop charges that are not filed. But at the time Nifong claimed and maybe believed she was choked, just as he believed she had TRAMA from the "rape," not swelling. [What Nifong believed when is my conjecture which you can choose to believe or not, but since Nifong is a liar, we must conjecture to have any idea what he actually believed when.]