Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Lacrosse players' defense: Documents being withheld
HeraldSun ^ | September 1, 2006 | William F. West

Posted on 09/01/2006 10:19:41 PM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights

Lacrosse players' defense: Documents being withheld

 




By William F. West : The Herald-Sun
bwest@heraldsun.com
Sep 1, 2006 : 11:20 pm ET

DURHAM -- Attorneys for the three Duke lacrosse players charged with assaulting an exotic dancer claim District Attorney Mike Nifong and police still haven't provided several vital documents in the case, as required by law.

As a result, the defense lawyers have filed papers in Superior Court calling for Nifong to produce those documents.

The request to Judge Osmond Smith comes after Durham County's chief prosecutor told Smith and defense lawyers at a recent meeting that a toxicology report indicated the accuser's tested negative for the presence of controlled substances.

That undercuts public hints by Nifong in April that the woman might have been given a date-rape drug, defense attorney Kirk Osborn said.

In court papers filed this week, the defense argued it hasn't seen the written report despite indications Nifong would provide copies.

In addition, the defense is calling for Nifong to hand over complete copies of information regarding laboratory testing in the case by the State Bureau of Investigation and by the testing firm DNA Security Inc.

The Herald-Sun was not able to reach attorneys for the three indicted athletes -- Reade Seligmann, 20; Collin Finnerty, 19; and David Evans, 23 -- for comment Friday.

Seligmann, Finnerty and Evans maintain their innocence on all counts -- rape, kidnapping and sexual offense -- in connection with allegations surrounding events at the lacrosse team party March 13 at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., next to Duke's East Campus.

Nifong didn't respond to a request for comment left with his office Friday.

In its filing this week, the defense also is pressing for more information about what happened in the hours after the alleged attack, particularly information regarding the accuser's trip with police to the Durham Access Center, a mental health and substance abuse facility, for involuntary commitment.

The accuser reportedly began making rape allegations while at that center.

The defense cites the lack of a substantive report about the accuser's presence at the center, and the defense points to a blank check-in log as an example of inadequate information.

In addition, the defense wants to find out what was said at a meeting Nifong and police had with the accuser April 11 at the county courthouse.

The defense said Nifong argued to an earlier judge that such information was off-limits to the defense.

More specifically, the defense argues Nifong claimed at a case hearing June 22 that the defense was not entitled to know because facts regarding the legal action were not discussed with the accuser. And the defense adds that Nifong considers that to be a confidential communication.

Debunking that argument, the defense says, is that an investigator -- Sgt. Mark Gottlieb -- in a typewritten narrative said Nifong and the accuser met and talked about the case.

The defense points out, additionally, that a police major issued a memo stating all police personnel involved in the investigation were directed to produce all e-mails to and from one other about the case.

The defense said that while the message specified a June 5 deadline for compliance -- with threats of disciplinary action for failure to comply -- there is evidence police have not fully complied.

The defense argues that, in one instance, a crime scene investigator produced a number of e-mails -- but only after defense attorney Brad Bannon found them in the investigator's case file July 18 while at the police station.

The defense goes on to contend that nearly a dozen law enforcement officers who have been involved in the case have not provided all their handwritten notes.

The defense also wants to know more about what police have on file about the woman's background in Durham and about her interaction with the local criminal justice system.

The defense, again citing the July 18 date, argues that Bannon's review of an investigative file at the police station reflects the accuser was involved -- as a suspect, witness or otherwise -- in at least five other probes.

And the defense wants to see what police may have communicated to the Durham City Council.

According to the defense, Gottlieb, in a typewritten document, said that on April 4, he was asked by a captain to produce a timeline of events for the city manager, Patrick Baker, for possible presentation to the council.

The defense wants a copy of that timeline plus a report of the substance of any meetings between or among law enforcement officers, the manager and any council member.

Baker soon afterward briefed the City Council on several points about the case.
 



TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: duke; dukelax; dukerapecase; durham; durhamdirtbag; elmo; lacrosse; nifong
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 561-568 next last
To: Repub4bush

No need to MOO like a farm animal around here. ;)


101 posted on 09/02/2006 6:13:09 PM PDT by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: abb

Wow - thanks for the link! If Nifong and Gottleib had any brains (a doubtful proposition), when reading this New York decision they could just substitute DA Nifong's name for ADA Linda Farstein's name and Detective Gottleib's name for Detective Milton Bonilla's and they would shudder. Boys, here the rough beast slouching toward bethlehem is the civil suit you will be facing (and losing). Kiss absolute immunity goodbye, boys. Kiss qualified immunity goodbye, boys. Every day this malicious prosecution continues the Duke lacrosse players abuse of process/malicious prosecution grows stronger. Every day and every revelation strengthens that civil case.

So Nifong & Gottleib, kiss your pensions and your sunny retirements goodbye. TRUE JUSTICE is headed your way. And Durham, save a lot of your financial resources for the Duke Three; because you'll be in this mess also!

http://www.nylawyer.com/adgifs/decisions/082506crotty.pdf


102 posted on 09/02/2006 6:45:39 PM PDT by old whippersnapper (de oppresso liber)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: Repub4bush
not CTV no need for the MOO

I always wonder on CourtTV's board whose opinion those clowns think people are offering when they offer an opinion. Thus I never type that disclaimer. I haven't been banned much but I have pretty much left that place anyway.
103 posted on 09/02/2006 7:40:58 PM PDT by JLS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: Protect the Bill of Rights

[Unsolved mysteries of the Durham police department.]

The Alpine Road Townhouse Quadruple Slayings.

News & Observer, November 22, 2005 -- excerpt --

Chalmers said his detectives had several strong leads, but he would not give specifics.

District Attorney Mike Nifong said he could seek the death penalty against those responsible.

"It sounds to me like it would be a death penalty case, just based on the fact that you have four people that are killed execution-style," Nifong said.

Durham had the highest murder rate per capita of any large North Carolina city in 2004, according to FBI crime data. The quadruple killing makes a total of 33 homicides within the city limits in 2005, exceeding last year's total of 30 with six weeks left. Three other killings have occurred in unincorporated areas of Durham County.

City leaders stressed that many of those killings involved drugs and street gangs, and that law-abiding residents should feel safe.

"We're not giving up or giving the streets of Durham to the criminals," Chalmers said. "We do have innocent victims, but again, this particular crime certainly involved people who were involved in a certain type of activity that would bring this type of activity to their doorsteps. ... They didn't go next door. They didn't go to the next building."

Pistol tied to Durham slayings, News & Observer, July 21, 2006, Samiha Khanna; Staff Writer

DURHAM -- After numerous police promises of an arrest but little new information, the head of Durham's homicide unit said Thursday that forensic tests prove a handgun found at the scene of the killings of four men in November was one of the murder weapons.

Though Durham's police chief repeatedly has said arrests in the case were imminent, no one has been charged in the Nov. 19 shootings at 2222 Alpine Road that killed Lennis Harris Jr., Jonathan Skinner, Jamel Holloway and LaJuan Coleman, and injured Nacoree Upchurch and Allen "Alex" Shuler. All of the victims were in their 20s.

But Durham police Sgt. Jack Cates confirmed Thursday that tests showed the 9 mm pistol found at the crime scene was "one of the murder weapons."

According to a search warrant served at the two-story townhouse the day after the killings, police found a loaded 9 mm Ruger handgun that was to be tested by local and state forensic specialists to see whether it was linked to the deaths. Police also found several unfired .45-caliber bullets, and shell casings from fired .45-caliber rounds, but no corresponding pistol, the search warrant showed.

Cates would not say when forensics experts determined the 9 mm pistol matched bullets and fragments found in and around the victims or to whom the gun belongs. Despite pressure from the public and the victims' families, police have released little information on the case. But the detective has said in recent weeks that police have at least two suspects. Police say witnesses saw at least three suspects running from the scene.

The effort to build leads continued Thursday, as a team of investigators from Durham's homicide unit and community outreach workers with Project Safe Neighborhoods knocked on doors at the Oakley Square Apartments at 1835 Cheek Road.

The complex has been the scene of drug raids and homicides, and was at one time a field office for Durham's police gang unit. Some of the four men killed and two who were wounded frequently visited acquaintances there, Cates said.

Formerly known as Cheek Road Apartments, the complex has also been the home of Haywood Lynn Scott, 57, for the past 15 years, according to court records.

Less than two weeks after the killings, police received an anonymous tip that Scott had key information in the case, according to a search warrant served Dec. 1 at 1835 Cheek Road, Apt. 14-A, where Scott lived with his mother. Though they didn't call Scott a suspect, they searched his apartment, seizing a handgun and a 12-gauge shotgun along with boxes and ammunition for at least four other firearms, the warrant showed. They also took eight pairs of shoes and a half-dozen cell phones.

Police collected trace evidence from the floorboards and seats of Scott's blue 1989 Toyota Camry, the warrant showed. They soon learned Scott's fingerprints were found on the bedroom door of the Alpine Road townhouse, near the bodies of the victims, the warrant showed. Neither police nor the warrant called Scott a suspect.

Investigators returned to 1835 Cheek Road again Thursday to hand out fliers asking for information and remind residents of the $13,000 in reward money that has been posted by local and state authorities, Cates said. He said he likely won't know the success of the outreach until later.

"A lot of people won't feel comfortable talking right away but may decide to call later on," Cates said.

The detective said the investigation has never reached a standstill and reiterated that investigators were committed to charging the right people in the high-profile case.

"We want a conviction. We don't want to act prematurely," Cates said.

QUADRUPLE KILLINGS

At 9:44 p.m. Nov. 19, Durham police were called to a two-story townhouse at 2222 Alpine Road, a small subdivision off Hope Valley Road in southern Durham.

Upon arriving, police found Allen "Alex" Shuler, 22, on the townhouse's front step, with a gunshot wound to the face. Inside, officers rushed up the stairs to find four men lying across the carpet of a small bedroom, each shot in the head. A sixth man, 27-year-old Nacoree Upchurch, was discovered, having jumped through a second-story window to a patio below to escape death.

Killed were: Lennis Harris Jr., 24, LaJuan Coleman, 27, and Jamel Holloway, 27, all of Durham, and Jonathan Skinner, 26, of Raleigh. Harris and Skinner were cousins.

Police said the victims, all of whom had attended or graduated from college, were targeted in a drug-related robbery. Though traces of cocaine and marijuana were found throughout the Alpine Road home, families of several of the victims deny their sons were involved in the drug trade. However, Upchurch was on probation for maintaining a place for the sale of drugs and had previously served time for cocaine trafficking.

** The Alpine Quad Slayings remains first choice for local observers for AV connected probes. A simple glance at a map should get the thought processes going. Now we wonder, could this be the DA's October election surprise?

[The defense, again citing the July 18 date, argues that Bannon's review of an investigative file at the police station reflects the accuser was involved -- as a suspect, witness or otherwise -- in at least five other probes.]


104 posted on 09/02/2006 7:49:38 PM PDT by xoxoxox
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: JLS
I love FR!!! Besides politics, the posters here always rock!!!!

Now whree is that dang flag on ctv..... LOL

just kidding, long time poster here, and only a reader on ctv...LOL

105 posted on 09/02/2006 8:49:58 PM PDT by Repub4bush (Tony is the Best Press Secretary Ever!!!!! (Sorry Ari, I liked you too, but you ain't Tony!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

Comment #106 Removed by Moderator

To: old whippersnapper
"...when reading this New York decision they could just substitute DA Nifong's name for ADA Linda Farstein's name and Detective Gottleib's name for Detective Milton Bonilla's and they would shudder."

Wow. Gale force winds from New York headed toward Durham!

107 posted on 09/02/2006 11:18:32 PM PDT by Ken H
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: ltc8k6

The security guard is with a private security company. It may be that she's not real observant. Some of those people are as dim as burned-out bulbs.

But from the dialogue between the guard and the dispatcher, I got the impression that the guard was simply repeating what Kim was saying to her as she stood next to her and that she had no more knowledge of the situation than that.

They may have sat in the car with Kim trying to get Mangum out for several minutes before approaching the guard. She may also have made some phone calls while in the Kroger parking lot or some blocks away from the lax house to try to figure out where she could dump Mangum, and failing that, then took her to Kroger's lot just to leave her somewhere quasi-safe that was lit up and people were around and there would be a phone, etc., and failing that, too, went to the guard.

I think the reason she went to the guard is because she didn't want to make the phone call to the DPD because she was afraid they might match her cell phone number to that from which the 9-1-1 call regarding the alleged epithets emanating from the "big frat house" was made.

Personally, I think she waited up the street from the lax house to see what happned when the cops came as a result of her 9-1-1 call. She would have enjoyed seeing the boys get in trouble, but they were gone/didn't answer. The cops were there roughly 15 minutes, so add a couple minutes to that to make some phone calls, then to get to Kroger's, then to try to get Mangum out of the car, and you've easily got the 30 minutes.


108 posted on 09/03/2006 1:24:49 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Mike Nifong

I'm sure he's fully aware of the situation. It's what he will do about it that is in question.


109 posted on 09/03/2006 1:27:28 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Jezebelle

I read somewhere that Kim didn't go to the guard for help at all.

Supposedly Kim parked in the fire lane and the guard went out to investigate and then Kim got creative.


110 posted on 09/03/2006 1:31:35 AM PDT by ltc8k6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 108 | View Replies]

To: TommyDale

The taxable value is usually a small percentage of the market value.


111 posted on 09/03/2006 1:32:40 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Constitutions Grandchild

Because she had an active warrant for her arrest. She would have sought an environement with only one or two cops on the scene rather than run the risk of bumping into somebody who recognized her. Police departments in large cities are active places night and day, with many officers coming and going and hanging around, writing reports, etc..


112 posted on 09/03/2006 1:35:54 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: Repub4bush

Yes, it makes sense, and is not unlike the way many drugs interact with alcohol. Flexeril is a depressant, as is alcohol.


113 posted on 09/03/2006 1:43:48 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Mike Nifong

I saw that, too. Then she turned her face away from the camera. She was smoking a ciggie at the time, standing outside a store in her security uniform.


114 posted on 09/03/2006 1:45:35 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: Mike Nifong

"What JLS says above is lost on a lot of forums, because the media wouldn't touch it with the a 10 ft pole. Jarriel Johnson describes typical prostitution. That goes along with the many hotel rooms - dancers don't typically use hotel rooms.

The woman knew what to say - they were both quick to minimize their jobs. Crystal said she was new to dancing and had never danced for a group - and she added that she was afraid to go inside that night."

Mangum said in her N&O interview that this was her first private dance engagement. If true, that means that none of the "encounters" she had in hotel rooms prior to going to the lax house were dance engagements.


115 posted on 09/03/2006 1:48:33 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: Texas Mom2

I don't see one thing odd about Kim taking Mangum to Kroger's to get rid of her. It would be a quasi-safe place to dump her with a good deal of anonymity.


116 posted on 09/03/2006 1:50:07 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: Ken H

What John should also be asking is why the N&O didn't seek comments from any of the lax players, especially the captains who lived in the house.


117 posted on 09/03/2006 2:03:03 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: abb

The Guardian is Britain's premiere anti-American leftist rag.

But it's interesting that they've picked up on the story, although not the particular aspect of it the article addresses.


118 posted on 09/03/2006 2:09:52 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: pepperhead

LOL! :>


119 posted on 09/03/2006 2:11:01 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: old whippersnapper

Somebody should mail Nifong a copy of that case.


120 posted on 09/03/2006 2:12:07 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 561-568 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson