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http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-765287.html
Cabbie, lacrosse case witness, cleared

By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun
August 29, 2006 9:58 pm

DURHAM -- An alibi witness in the Duke University lacrosse rape case was found not guilty Tuesday of aiding and abetting an unrelated shoplifting incident three years ago.

District Judge Ann McKown said the prosecution's case was not sufficient to find taxi driver Moezeldin Ahmed Elmostafa guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Several defense lawyers had accused District Attorney Mike Nifong of bringing the misdemeanor shoplifting charge against Elmostafa as a pressure tactic in the controversial rape case.

In April, Elmostafa signed a sworn affidavit saying he drove Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann to a bank machine, a fast-food restaurant and a campus dorm at about the time an exotic dancer claimed she was raped by Seligmann and two others at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-March.

A month later, Elmostafa was arrested on a 2003 warrant charging him with shoplifting at the Hecht's department store at Northgate Mall. The charge was reduced to aiding and abetting earlier this month.

The cabbie testified Tuesday that he merely gave a ride to a woman who later pleaded guilty to stealing several handbags from the store. He claimed he didn't know what the woman was up to.

Lawyer Kirk Osborn, representing Seligmann, said Tuesday's acquittal "certainly was the right verdict."

Elmostafa declined to comment.

But defense lawyer Thomas Loflin had much to say, contending he was "right on every single point" in the shoplifting case.

"It's gratifying to have Mr. Elmostafa found not guilty," Loflin added. "He is truly innocent."

In a written court motion, Loflin argued Tuesday that Nifong had used the shoplifting incident "to gain a tactical advantage over [Elmostafa], to try to pressure him into changing his evidence to favor the prosecution in the lacrosse case."

Otherwise, why did authorities wait almost three years to serve the shoplifting warrant, when Elmostafa could easily have been found earlier, Loflin asked.

The defense lawyer also produced typewritten notes, purportedly made by police investigator Benjamin Himan, to show that Nifong may have shown a high degree of interest in the shoplifting incident after the lacrosse case arose.

"The DA wants the [shoplifting] warrant served," the notes said.

According to Loflin, it was "extraordinary that the head DA would take such an interest in a rinky-dink larceny case."

Nifong could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

But Linwood Wilson, the district attorney's investigator, denied that the shoplifting case was used to pressure Elmostafa.

"There ain't no truth in that," he insisted.

Wilson said Elmostafa could not be found in 2003, partly because authorities had an inaccurate spelling of his name. However, Elmostafa's correct name turned up in a routine record check earlier this year -- a check sparked by the lacrosse case, Wilson added.

"We run a criminal record check on anybody that's a witness for either side in any case," said Wilson. "When we find an outstanding warrant, we have it served. ... It has nothing to do with putting any kind of pressure on [Elmostafa]."

Wilson also said that he, rather than Nifong, personally instructed Investigator Himan to serve the three-year-old shoplifting warrant on Elmostafa.

"It all came from me," said Wilson.

During Tuesday's shoplifting trial, two officers gave testimony contradicting that of Elmostafa.

Jonathan Massey, a Hecht's loss-prevention agent in 2003, said Elmostafa initially denied any knowledge about his passenger stealing from the department store. But the cabbie later changed his story to say he did know what was going on, although he claimed he could not legally refuse to give the thief a ride, according to Massey.

Durham Police Officer Vernon Harris corroborated that version of events.

A Hecht's security video, played in court Tuesday, showed the thief getting out of Elmostafa's cab, entering Hecht's and leaving about 41 seconds later with an armful of handbags.

Massey said the tape then showed Elmostafa speeding away with the woman inside his car, running one stop sign in the Northgate parking lot and failing to come to a complete halt at another.

But defense lawyer Loflin had the tape replayed repeatedly, attempting to demonstrate that the cab accelerated at a normal speed and did not ignore any visible traffic signs.

Loflin said prosecutor Ashley Cannon had not proved any "guilty knowledge" on Elmostafa's part.

Even if Elmostafa saw the handbags in his passenger's arms, he had no way of knowing they were stolen, Loflin added. But as a practical matter, Elmostafa could not see the bags because of a taxi security shield that blocked his view, the defense lawyer said.

Cannon disagreed in her closing argument Tuesday.

"If we use any common sense and take all the evidence, we can see he [Elmostafa] did know about this before the larceny took place, while it took place and after it took place," Cannon said.

URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-765287.html

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-765285.html
J.J. Redick to plead guilty to DWI

BY WILLIAM F. WEST, The Herald-Sun
August 29, 2006 9:36 pm

DURHAM -- National college basketball player of the year and former Duke star J.J. Redick intends to plead guilty to charges of driving while impaired and unlawful use of the highways resulting from an attempt to evade police.

Redick's attorney, Donald H. Beskind, stated his client's plea intentions in a letter to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong to which the prosecutor affixed his own initials, according to court records made public Tuesday.

Redick's case was on the District Court docket Tuesday, but the letter said the case had been continued until Oct. 24, when Beskind would be available.

Nifong, Beskind and the Duke University athletics officials all declined comment or were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Representatives of the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic, which drafted Redick with the 11th pick of the first round of the NBA draft days after his June arrest, referred questions to Redick's agent, Arn Tellem, who didn't immediately return calls for comment.

Durham police said they stopped Redick, 22, at Belmont Apartments on LaSalle Street shortly after 1 a.m. June 13.

Redick failed a sobriety test and registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.11.

In North Carolina, the legal limit for driving after consuming alcohol is 0.08.

Redick was charged with DWI and unlawful use of the highways. He was released on $1,000 secured bond and forfeited his driving privileges for 30 days.

Redick could face a a sentence ranging from community service and/or suspension of his driver's license to a maximum of two years in prison and a $2,000 fine, it has been reported.

After his arrest, Redick issued a brief statement expressing regret and apologizing to his family and the Duke community.

Police said Redick's eyes at the time of his arrest were "very glassy" and reported "a strong odor of alcohol" on his breath.

Police said the second violation was filed because Redick "made an illegal U-turn to avoid a license check" along South LaSalle Street at Kangaroo Drive.

Redick is the leading scorer in Duke and Atlantic Coast Conference basketball history.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who also leads the U.S. Olympic men's basketball program including the current Team USA playing in the world basketball championships in Japan, was not available for comment. Redick is on the Olympics roster, but a back injury kept him from participating with the team playing in Japan.

Coach K stood by his star in comments to The Herald-Sun a week after Redick's arrest.

"I'm not going to throw him down the drain," Krzyzewski said. "He's my friend, too."

The coach was on the West Coast when he saw the news reports with Redick's mug shot. He said he told Redick publicity goes with the territory.

"Thank goodness no one was hurt," Krzyzewski said. "He learned a lesson and he'll pay whatever price he has to pay, but I support him. He's a great kid. He's represented our school great. Kids make mistakes."

At the same time, Krzyzewski emphasized he didn't want anybody who drinks to drive.

"That's not acceptable, it's not legal and it's not smart and it's not fair. He understood that and has paid the consequences," the coach said.

-- Herald-Sun sports reporter Bryan Strickland contributed to this report

URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-765285.html

http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsedits/56-765212.html
Students work to improve relations

The Herald-Sun
August 29, 2006 5:36 pm
To all appearances, the unusually closely watched beginning of the school year at Duke is off to a smooth start.

With national media including The New York Times, ESPN and The New Yorker weighing in with hefty revisits of the lacrosse rape case and Duke-Durham community relations, the scrutiny our community is receiving seems to have picked up just where it left off last spring as the academic year wound down.

But amid all that, classes are getting underway with an air of subdued normality. The major hubbub has been a variety of efforts engineered by students, school officials and community members to help forge strong relations before any missteps can disrupt them.

The first weekend with all students back passed relatively quietly, with scattered concerns on community electronic bulletin boards about trash but few if any substantial complaints to police or others about raucous partying.

And certainly there was no replay of last year's school-opening alcohol-enforcement sweep that netted a host of underage drinking citations right off the bat.

Meanwhile, students were busy on Saturday helping residents with their yard work and other chores throughout several north Durham neighborhoods. While the "Into the City" effort had been in the planning stages before the rape charges and their tumultuous aftermath, organizers acknowledge that the events of last spring have brought even more attention to the effort.

Tonight, students from N. C. Central University and Duke will attend a Durham Bulls game in a cornerstone of efforts to bring together students from the two campuses. One offshoot of the lacrosse case last spring was to highlight the lack of contact, often translating into suspicion, between the two universities.

Duke freshmen were bused to another Bulls game last week, one of a series of efforts by the university and by community groups to expose the new students to the surrounding community.

We can think of a host of cautionary clichés here -- one swallow does not a spring make, there's a long journey ahead, and so on.

But we have to be encouraged by town-gown relations as they have shaped up in these first few days of school.

Slipups are inevitable, and we're sure there will be events that test the relationship. Students and Duke's neighbors alike should take heart, though, in this comment from Kaitlyn Shackelton, a freshman from Reno, Nev., who explained why she was taking part in "Into the City." She told reporter Ray Gronberg:

"Durham is going to be my home for the next four years. I figured, 'anything to pitch in.'"

URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsedits/56-765212.html

http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/
Nifong isn't believable

Whether you believe the Duke University lacrosse players or the accuser does not matter. District Attorney Mike Nifong must go. The citizens of Durham and the state of North Carolina who believe in justice must provide an open door and a hefty shove.

I'd like to ask Nifong point blank if he would like what he did to these young men to be visited upon his own son. Nifong is a magnificent liar when he says that he misjudged how the public would receive his multitudinous interviews. To the contrary, he judged just right.

Nifong rang a bell that cannot be unrung. It comes as no surprise that the New York Times would tap dance and tell us that there may be some plausible evidence for the prosecution without plausible elaboration. All else is secondary to the necessary removal of Nifong post haste.

Following his sick performances for the camera early on, the Times published a column by North Carolina writer Allan Gurganus, who is best known for long and tedious tales such as the 1989 "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" -- a book whose length is eclipsed only by its countless historical inaccuracies.

Gurganus' premature tried-and-convicted column combined smarm with the requisite julep fever.

Like Nifong, Gurganus is a Morris Deas wannabe without a Morris Deas case. When a political vulture roosts within camera range, reality always evaporates. Come trial time, Nifong can crawl out of the hole he has triangulated for himself and see if he is acceptable to an objective and intelligent jury. We'll see if the citizens of Durham will endure this man as their representative in the courtroom.

DEBRAH CORRELL
Chapel Hill
August 30, 2006

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/480475.html
Cabbie in lacrosse case acquitted in shoplifting

http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson139.html
Boulder, Durham, and Sham Justice

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/gaynor/060829
Let "60 Minutes" know you want it to do the right thing