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.

[Mike Nifong]

If they were all 270 lbs like shes claims (or all short and fat) - they would've need 3 team buses.

Not one player on the team is 270lbs.

The heaviest is 225 and he's 6'6"

Lacrosse players run as much as Soccer players. Video of the team games will show the athletic prowess possessed and needed by the players.

It's totally incredulous that no one in the investigation - said hold on - she's so far off on the descriptions - this can't be right. (But an election was days away)

[Hogeye13]

Here is the link to the Newsweek article stating she went to UNC hospital. See third paragraph, last sentence.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13249625/site/newsweek/

[Mike Nifong]

Here's a fundamental question - do any documents or statements of Defense/Prosecution allude to injuries she presented at UNC? We know from the N&O article today that she said she had a sprained neck.


I have no clue, but wonder if it's akin to the broom attack.

[jennyd]

On March 29, while talking to Dan Abrams, Nifong mentions trauma to her genital region, and does not mention any other trauma.
The note says Nifong wants police to investigate Escort Services and their business, in relation to her trauma.
N&O claims that Nifong wants to to know about her activities prior to the party to rule out those activities as source of her vaginal swelling.
Seems rather simple to me.

[Mike Nifong]

Her father changed his tune.

Initially, when caught off guard by the media, he was perplexed and indicated she seemed fine - and she didn't say anything about it to them.

Later, Pops has her beaten like Rocky and she's draggin her leg because it was pulled out of joint - and she told him things that made him sick.

With every interview, Pops remembered more details and more horrors.

Eventually, it was reported in the media that Mark Simeon went to her Father's house and asked her parents to shut up.
He told them they were hurting their daughter.

Simeon or someone close - seems to allude to the crazy stories from the Father - when they said, he thought he was helping his daugther. It sounded like a tacit admission to me that he was embellishing and being creative.

[Hogeye13]

There has been a previous discussion on this topic. I will see if i can find it.

[JLS]

I need a refresher couse, so much of the early reports have vanished from my little brain

Yep, it has gone on and on and it is easy to forget what happened when. And Nifong was such a liar early on we must rely on conjecture often. Plus now we have LGF getting death threats and Reuters printing photoshopped pictures of the war to keep us busy too.

In a nutshell: She is at Duke ER and then goes to UNC ER the next day? (How did I miss the UNC part? rhetorical question only)

I believe it was the very next day, as Lashawn Barber says on her website. And I believe next day means maybe within 12 hours of her being admitted to Duke.

IIRC, Travis said she also had to have her leg pulled back into place, her eyes were swollen, blah, blah, blah. Consistent with a beating.

I know I read she said she fell into a sink. I do not remember what injuries she actually had when she went to UNC.

Could the defense get the records from UNC for comparisons as a matter of investigating the case or would it be contingent upon Nifong making charges of the physical assault aspects (choking, etc)

I am not an attorney. I would guess that Nifong would not be allowed to introduce this at trial. The evidence is that it came post lacrosse party and it would be very prejudical. And I suspect that Mangum has not waived her privacy rights on this and this should be private information. It has nothing to do with this case. Nifong could go after whomever pushed her into the sink, but she claims she fell and I guess he believes whatever she says?

[JLS]

So, I think Nifong had to know what the basic conclusions of the report were - edema, cuts on the leg and a cut on the foot.

He was playing Sgt. Schultz. He did not have to know anything. He was trying NOT to know anything at all costs. He may well not have known was edema meant, I didn't prior to this case.

And I still see no reason her physical state had to be presented. The grand jury was going to indict. You don't have to present evidence to the grand jury to get it in at trial. If Nifong knew about them as you think and he presented that evidence, it might have cause someone on the grand jury to ask why so few injuries? So why open that up when you can just go with her claim as relayed by a cop?

[Wild Irish Rogue]

You beat me to it.

Nifong was on the Abrams Report March 29 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12065803/ and April 7 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12135342/.

He spoke only of vaginal " trauma " in the first appearance and demonstrated the clawing choke hold and the broken fake fingernails in the second.
He did not mention any other injuries.

The Abrams Report , March 26

NIFONG: .... There is evidence of trauma in the victim’s vaginal area that was noted when she was examined by a nurse at the hospital.

Abrams Report, April 7

NIFONG: .... But let me point out that the evidence that she would present with respect to that particular situation is that she was grabbed from behind.
So that in essence, somebody had an arm around her like this, which she then had to struggle with in order to be able to breathe,and it was in the course of that struggle that the fingernails—the artificial fingernails broke off.

[jennyd]

If Nifong saw her badly beat up, and thus believed she was raped, why didn't he ever mention her beat up condition?
He talked about truama to her vaginal region. Did he ever say she had a black eye, or a swollen lip, or anything of the sort?

[maggief]

Flash back ...

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/425344.html

Father: Injuries were telling

Published: Apr 05, 2006 12:30 AM


Samiha Khanna, Staff Writer
The father of the woman who said she was raped at a party near the Duke University campus said in an interview Tuesday that when he saw her the day after the party, her eyes and face were swollen, her arms were scratched, and she was complaining about her leg.

She told him she thought some part of her leg had slipped out of joint, he said.

The woman told her father that she had been dancing at a party and that someone had hit her. It wasn't until the next day the woman told her father she had been raped, he said.

"I think she was ashamed. ... I just felt numb, angry," the father said.

The party was at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. and was attended by Duke lacrosse team players. Lawyers for players deny the woman's allegations. No charges have been filed.

In an interview March 25, the woman told The News & Observer that she hesitated to report her story to police but that thinking about her father helped her make the decision.

"I knew if I didn't report it that he would have that hurt forever, knowing that someone hurt his baby and got away with it," she said in the interview.

It is the policy of The News & Observer not to identify people who report sexual assaults to police, or the names of their relatives, in an effort to protect the victims' identity.

The father said Tuesday that early on the morning of March 14, he went to Duke Hospital with his son and waited more than two hours to see his daughter. Doctors wouldn't say why she was there, he said.

The father went home and waited for word from his daughter. Later that morning, she came to her parents' house with her boyfriend.

"After she came home, that's when I knew she had been beaten up," her father said.

His daughter had kept private several details of the attack, he said. It was only through reporters and articles that he learned his daughter told police she had been threatened with assault with a broomstick and that fake nails police say were ripped off the victim's fingers during the attack were found in a police search March 16.

Since news of the woman's reported attack, she has been approached by several lawyers wanting to represent her, her father said. He didn't know who, if anyone, had been chosen.

With local and national news crews staked out at the home where she lives with her two young children, the woman, 27, has been staying elsewhere, her father said.

"I don't think she wants to go home," he said. Meanwhile, the woman's two school-age children are trying to keep their routine, spending parts of each day with their grandparents, he said, as he waited for the children to arrive in their school bus.

The father said his daughter can identify the men she says attacked her. "She said ... 'I'll never forget those faces,' " he said.

[jennyd]

Of course. N&O also explains what the note meant. I have no idea why I have to debate something that appears so obvious to me.

[JLS]

Did you even read the sub-headline on your own link?

We are back to guessing whether Nifong was hoping to get someone to testify Mangum had not visible evidence of being beaten on her or someone to testify that Mangum's privates were not swollen prior to the lacrosse party. I know which any sane DA would have hoped to get testimony on. But then again you have the fact that it is Nifong on your side.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

OT: Reuters printing photoshopped pictures of the war to keep us busy too.

I saw that thread last night. That one was child's play, LOL!

[Mike Nifong]

. . . . . . . EVERYONE CHECK THIS OUT!

http://www.meshsf.com/blogs/2004/05/flexiril-and-forget-it.html

[Hogeye13]

JLS, below is a link where your referred to a report by Dan Abrams that she had new injuries when she went to UNC. I don't know if there is any record of the Abrams show that this was on but there was some continuing discussion of this subject.



http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1653541/posts?q=1&&page=1101

[JLS]

I have taken flexiril as a muscle relaxer and it does help one sleep too. I have on a different occassion mixed alcohol and cold medicine. It is a powerful mix and my cold medicine was over the counter. I would not be surprised if flexiril and alcohol were not very powerful together.

[SarahUSC]

I don't think so. Also at a rape exam they take photos to document injuries so I think Nifong had to know what her general status was at DMC on the day the indictments were handed down.

[JLS]

Thanks for the link. While I am interested in what injuries she had then, my view on this subject is:

1. We know she went to UNC ER the following day for some injury[ies].

2. We know it is likely that Nifong first saw her after that UNC ER visit.

3. From here we have a number of possible forks in the road:

A. When Nifong first saw her, Mangum said, I was raped but please Mr. Nifong don't consider these injuries you see on me because I got them falling into a sink this morning.

B. When Nifong first saw her, Mangum had visible injuries but did not mention them to Nifong, but they affected his belief in her claim that she was raped. [Alternatively she said see these injuries from when I was raped. It does not matter for this issue.]

C. When Nifong first saw her, Mangum had visible injuries but he did not give a damn because he was going to run with this case to win the primary whether she had injuries or not.

D. When Nifong first saw her, Mangum did not have any visible injuries that had caused her to go to UNC eithe because her injuries were not visible or they had healed by the time she met with Nifong.

I don't think A is very likely, do you? I guess D could be possible, but I would say claiming you fell into a sink likely means there was some visible evidence if Nifong saw her soon afterwards which we don't know. Still I think the most probable are B and C. I took B, the one that gives Nifong the benefit of the doubt. I could be wrong.

[JLS]

I think Nifong had to know what her general status was at DMC on the day the indictments were handed down.

You keep saying this. I keep pointing out that Nifong was avoiding all the evidence he could in his strategy to not violate the ethical duties of a DA. Nifong did not have to know ANYTHING. He did not want to know ANYTHING. He could get an indictment on her ID. He was worried if he learned any thing about other evidence, he would have to not indict and he needed those indictments to win the primary.

So continuing to tell me what evidence they had does not advance the conversation. Nifong did not "have to know" ANYTHING "on the day the indictments were handed down."