Lacrosse players' defense: Documents being withheld

HeraldSun ^ | September 1, 2006 | William F. West

[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.
 

[Jezebelle]

I got banned for suggesting that black Durhamites share a hand in bringing about this disgraceful miscarriage of justice because Cash Michael was blaming the whole thing on Nifong and saying that black Durhamites are owed an explanation because they voted for him.

Excuse me???!! They're equally guilty!

[Jezebelle]

Have you ever read their political forum? It's comical. It's full of grossly uninformed and misinformed leftwing harpies supported by the forum management.

[Jezebelle]

Then she would have known the color of the car if she was standing right there by it. Standing right there next to it wouldn't have required her to have remember the color or to ask Kim what color it is.

[ltc8k6]

Yep, I can't remember where I read that theory but it doesn't look like it fits.

Does anyone know why Crystal's kids had to be checked on when they were safe and sound at their grandparent's house?

[Locomotive Breath]

There is a police substation in Northgate Mall at the north end of N. Buchanan Blvd. This is the same mall involved in Elmo's case. But it's really not on the way to Krogers which is more to the west. But if Kim were looking for the cops she certainly could have easily found them.

[CondorFlight]

Interesting comments at :

http://snarkybastards.com/index.php/2006/08/31/the-duke-case-and-academia/#comments

The New Yorker has an excellent story about the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, which in a just world would be referred to as the Durham Prosecutorial Misconduct Case.

(snip)

And the primary reasons they assumed the players’ guilt? They are almost uniformly white and mostly come from wealthy backgrounds.
In academia these days “privelege” has become a secular equivalent to original sin.

[bjc]

You are absolutely correct. Never, ever trust the Guardian. It is the UK equivalent to the NYT. It leads with it's political agenda.

[bjc]

Apparently this lawsuit is still awaiting trial.

http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/week34/index.html

[maggief]

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/370032.html

Published: Nov 22, 2005 12:30 AM
Modified: Nov 22, 2005 06:19 AM

Slayings leave families stunned

Michael Biesecker, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Benjamin Niolet, Staff Writers
DURHAM -- Four Triangle families struggled Monday to come to terms with the deaths of their loved ones Saturday night in what police describe as a drug-related robbery.

Family members said the victims, all men in their 20s, had spent the day at an N.C. Central University football game before gathering to hang out at a two-bedroom townhouse in the quiet Breckenridge complex, where two of them lived.

Some parents expressed doubt Monday that their sons were in the drug trade. All had four-year degrees or had attended college. Among their parents are a schoolteacher and a Durham fire marshal. One was the nephew of a retired Durham police captain.

(snip)


RE: Retired DP Captain Sonny Harris


http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?archive_id=0&page_id=632589556&page_url=%2f%2fwww.durhampolice.com%2fpress%2farchive%2f04_30_01_01.asp&page_last_updated=11%2f23%2f2005+6%3a22%3a12+PM&firstName=Sonny&lastName=Harris

April 30, 2001

Captain Sonny Harris will take over as Commander of District 4, which covers the N.C. Central University area and southern Durham. Harris, who joined the department 1976, is currently the Community Services Division Commander, where he oversees the Public Housing Unit, C.O.P.S. in Schools, DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), and parking ticket enforcement. He is also responsible for the Citizens Police Academy.

[Hogeye13]

"Now we wonder, could this be the DA's October election surprise?"

Do you think the DA and police will be able to find someway to indict additional members of the lacrosse team for this crime as well? We all know that they are such heinous criminals (noise violations, underage drinking, peeing on bushes, etc.) that this is a logical connection.

"The Alpine Quad Slayings remains first choice for local observers for AV connected probes."

Actually I am more interested in the source for this part of your post. Can you enlighten us a little? This could be a very interesting connection. I haven't found anything in other places making this connection.

[gopheraj]

mark

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

http://www.ancestry.com/search/obit

Mr. Jonathan LaRon Skinner was born on March 7, 1979 to Linwood S. Skinner, Sr. and Claudia Hayes Skinner in Winston Salem, NC. Jonathan was the younger of two sons; brother, Linwood, Jr. God called one of his precious angels home on Saturday, November 19, 2005.
Jonathan attended Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools where he excelled in sports. He was an active member of various AAU basketball teams and was an outstanding player on R.J. Reynolds High School basketball team. Jonathan loved basketball and football. He was an avid New York Giants fan. Jonathan graduated from R.J. Reynolds High School in 1997. He attended St. Augustine College in Raleigh, NC.
Jonathan had a deep love for his family and friends. He was especially close to his brother and first cousins, with one first cousin, Lennis Harris, Jr. preceding him in death. Jonathan never met a stranger. He was a loving and caring individual and had many devoted friends.
He was preceded in death by his grandmothers, Dora Elizabeth Michaux Hayes and Evelyn Sanderlin Skinner.
He leaves to cherish his memories; his loving parents, Linwood S. Skinner, Sr. and Claudia Hayes Skinner of Raleigh, NC; his devoted brother, Linwood S. Skinner, Jr. of Winston-Salem, NC; grandfathers, Nathaniel W. Hayes, Sr. (Priscilla) of Thomasville, NC and John H. Skinner, Jr. (Aretha), Virginia Beach, Va. He also leaves to cherish his memories two uncles, John H. Skinner, III of Virginia Beach, Va. and Nathaniel W. Hayes, Jr. (Patricia) of Stafford, Va.; three aunts, Jackie Skinner (Milton) of Silver Spring, Md., Marsha Harris of Durham, NC, and Natalie Hayes Dixon of Washington, DC; first cousins, Kevin Hayes and Randy Hayes of Stafford, Va., Staci Harris of Durham, NC, John H. Skinner IV (family friend Charvaun, and daughters Ajai and Eynda) of Virginia Beach, Va., Jason Skinner (Sheron, and son Tyree) of Portsmouth, Va., Rikayla Dixon, and Ricardo 'Little Nate' Dixon of Washington, DC; great-aunts, Lona (Sherley) Hayes of Greensboro, NC and Beulah Hilliard of Ft. Washington, Md.; second cousins, Debra Hayes-Hughes, Alesia Hayes Fleming (Deymon), Norman Hayes (Nikki) of Stone Mountain, Ga., Teresa Crawford (Gerald) of Washington, DC; Milton Hilliard (Walayna) of Ft. Washington, Md., and a host of other relatives and friends.
Funeral services will be held at 12 Noon Saturday, November 26, 2005 at St. James AME Church with the Rev. Dr. Raymond C. Pittman, officiating. Interment will follow in Evergreen Cemetery. Family visitation will be held from 11 a.m. until 12 Noon Saturday at the church.

---

http://www.ancestry.com/search/obit

Herald-Sun, The (Nov/24/2005)

DURHAM - Lennis Warren Harris, Jr. was born on January 29, 1981, to Mr. and Mrs. Lennis W. Harris, Sr. in Winston-Salem. Lennis was the only son and leaves behind a younger sister, Staci Lynnette Harris. Lennis departed this life on November 19, 2005.
Lennis attended Durham public schools, and he was an outgoing individual. He attended Pearsontown Elementary School and Merrick-Moore Elementary School. He won the fifth grade Spelling Bee and represented his school in the Durham County Spelling Bee. Lennis loved to read and with his Spelling Bee prize of one hundred dollars, he purchased more books. Lennis enjoyed and excelled in sports. Lennis entered Neal Middle School and played football, basketball and ran track. He was a member of the Durham Striders Track Club and was an active member of various AAU basketball teams. Lennis was an outstanding player on Hillside High School's basketball team. Lennis graduated from Hillside High School in 1999. He attended St. Augustine's College in Raleigh and North Carolina Central University in Durham.
Lennis had a deep love for his family and friends. Lennis always had a laugh or smile for anyone in his presence. He was especially close to his cousins. His immediate family includes his parents, Marsha Hayes Harris, of Durham, and Lennis Warren Harris Sr. (Donna-maria), of Wake Forest; his sister, Staci Lynnette Harris, of Durham, NC; step-brothers, Gary Collins and Blair Williams, of Wake Forest; his grandfather Nathaniel W. Hayes Sr. (Priscilla), of Thomasville, Sonnie Harris, Sr.; step-grandmother, Portia Harris, of Durham; grandmothers, Dora Elizabeth Hayes and Mearl Parker Harris; uncles, Nathaniel W. Hayes Jr. (Patricia), of Stafford, Va., Sonny Harris Jr. (Martha), of Durham, Frank Harris, of Durham, Andre Harris (Phyllis) of Kennesaw, Ga.; aunts, Claudia Skinner (Linwood Sr.) of Raleigh, Natalie Hayes, of Washington, D.C., and Veronica Hopkins-Garrett, of Durham; cousins, Linwood Skinner Jr. of Winston-Salem, Johnathan Skinner, Kevin Hayes, of Stafford, Va., Randy Hayes, of Stafford, Va., Andrea Harris, of Durham, Malcolm Cook, of Tulsa, Okla., Andre Harris Jr., Ryan Harris, and Ariel Harris, all of Kennesaw, Ga., Randy Garrett, Miranda Garrett, Devin Hopkins, all of Durham, Torico Carr, of Maryland, and Takierra Hopkins, Charlotte; Rikayla Dixon and Little Nate Dixon, of Washington D.C., Debra Hayes-Hughes, Alesia Fleming (Deymon), Norman Hayes (Nikki) all of Stone Mountain, Ga.; Teresa Crawford (Gerald), of Washington, D.C., Milton Hilliard (Wylana), of Fort Washington, Md.; great-aunts, Shirley Hayes, of Greensboro, Beulah Hilliard of Ft. Washington, Md., Lillian Turrentine, Eunice Dunn, Gaynelle Cates, Lois Jean Roberts, Annie McBroom, and Gladys Davis, all of Durham; Eunice Parker, of Bahama; Juanita Taylor, Wanda Lewis, Josephine Apperwhite, of Boston, Mass.; a very special cousin, Larry Turrentine (Venice), of Greensboro, and a host of other family and friends.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at White Rock Baptist Church, 3400 Fayetteville St. Family visitation, one hour prior to service. Burial, Glennview Memorial Park. Public viewing is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at Fisher Funeral Parlor.
 

[xoxoxox]

Digging for roots
Woman takes up mother's genealogy work

BY DAWN VAUGHAN , The Herald-Sun, Sunday August 27, 2006

If you meet Shirley Jones Mallard, she has a few questions for you: Where are you from? If the answer is Durham or Orange County, she has another question. Could you be related?

For more than 30 years, the local historian and genealogist has been researching her ancestry in Durham County going back to when it was part of the old Orange County of the early 1800s. She focuses a lot on one family name -- a name recognizable to anyone who has spent time in Durham -- mangum. But other branches on her family tree include Harris, Tilley, Holsomback, Jones, Roberts, Forsythe, Parrish and Goss.

Mallard, 71, has spent countless hours poring over old records, looking at screen after screen of microfilmed old newspapers and talking with anyone and everyone who might know something about her kin.

It all began in 1972 with the death of her mother and a tiny notebook. Mallard was a teacher in Long Island at the time. Her mother's death prompted her to toss that life in the briar patch, she said, and head back South. Now she lives in southwest Durham in Falconbridge, but with a Chapel Hill address according to the post office. Remarried to retired Marine Col. John F. Mallard, their living room is furnished with heirlooms passed down by Shirley Mallard's mother.

Inside a drawer in a formal desk, Mallard found a little blue notebook with a few pages of notes of Holsomback family history. That was all it took to catalyze her quest. She knew her mother -- Dora mangum Jones -- was interested in family history and would want her daughter to be so as well.

Saving history

Mallard started with "walking encyclopedia" Mildred mangum Harris, approaching her after church one Sunday at Mount Bethel United Methodist. The women collaborated on a short history of the church and Mallard learned all she could from Harris until her death in 1989. Harris kept mental notes for her genealogical knowledge, but the papers she did keep ended up in the trash after being passed on to relatives, Mallard said. She doesn't want the same to happen with her research.

"I put it in book form because I don't want it to die with me. It's too good," she said.

Mallard has self-published several collections of records. Not self-published like through her own company, but self-published like photocopies she bound in her kitchen. There's "Bahama Heritage," a history of the northern Durham County community where she lived as a child. She compiled "Freedman's Marriage Records: 1866-1868" for Orange County. She also compiled the obituaries and marriage and death notices that ran in the Hillsborough Recorder from 1820 to 1879.

Her latest is "Our mangum Cousins," tracing the mangum line from Jesse mangum, born about 1800 in old Orange County, who married Mary Parrish, who was born about 1800 in Granville County.

Mallard has connected with several hundred mangums -- men and women, black and white. She can talk for hours on the phone with a near or distant relative.

"We talk about what mangums are like, see how much further back I can go, see if they have children, because they're my cousins, too," Mallard said.

Place in history

Not everyone wants to learn about his or her family tree or discuss it, though. Of her two grown children, her daughter, has no interest. Her son, however, while not interested in doing research, loves to hear the latest bit Mallard has uncovered. The mangum branches closest to Mallard on her tree have great senses of humor, she said.

"People say, 'You have the most familiar face.' I have a plain ole North Carolina face. I'd say mangums have a North Carolina face," she said.

Mallard said she is fascinated by genealogy. She is a charter member of the Durham-Orange Genealogical Society.

Richard Ellington creates the society's newsletter. Like Mallard, his desire to trace his ancestry was prompted by the death of a parent. When his father died, he realized that he was the last of a family generation that had never been documented. Ellington wanted to be the one to do it.

"I think that knowing about one's roots is important today because we are such a mobile society that it is hard to maintain family ties with the current generation," Ellington said. "There is a lot of peace and serenity associated with knowing your various ethnic backgrounds, knowing where you came from and your family's place in the whole scheme of history."

Joyce Harshaw encounters a lot of folks seeking family ties, most of whom are middle age or older, she said. Harshaw is the supervisor of vital records and deputy register of deeds for Orange County. In her 27 years at the Hillsborough offices, only the nature of correspondence has changed. Amateur genealogists have done enough Internet searches that they already know the names they are searching for, as opposed to only knowing the locality, she said. She still receives inquiries every day, with an upsurge in the summer during family reunion season.

Primary sources

Harshaw said she recognizes Mallard as a frequent visitor to the register of deeds. Mallard also spends time at the Wilson Library at UNC and Durham Department of Vital Records. She doesn't use the Internet and says there is no need to because she can just go see the original records in Hillsborough. She also loves to go to cemeteries and read the names on tombstones. Her local history knowledge has also been gleaned from local historian Jean Bradley Anderson and others who are knowledgeable about Durham County.

"Our mangum Cousins" was mentioned in the North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal of May 2006. The journal also notes a recent publication by another local historian, retired N.C. Central University professor Barnetta McGhee White, who wrote "In Search of Kith and Kin: The History of a Southern Black Family."

Along her path to genealogical enlightenment, Mallard has collected more than just names from records. She has old family photos and even letters written by her great-great-grandmother, Parthenia Duty Ellis Harris, to her first husband, a circuit rider preacher in Oxford. Mallard learned that most of her ancestors who lived during the 1800s were farmers, and some served in the Civil War. Mallard's great-great-grandfather Allen Tilley joined the Confederate army in his 40s, reportedly saying, "Men who declare war should have to fight it."

The oldest photo she has is of her great-great-great-grandmother Frances O'Kelly Harris, born in 1795 in North Carolina. While Mallard is ever eager to learn more about her family, she doesn't feel the need to trace her roots all the way back to Europe.

"This area wasn't developed until 1750. Some people want to go back across the sea. I'm content with those that came to North Carolina and stayed."

Mallard said she never cared much about history before her mother's death, but she does now. She spent her career teaching high school French.

"You reach an age and want to know where you fit into the scheme of things," she said. "When I get to heaven, there will be some people I'm looking for, because I just want to talk to them."

[Mike Nifong]

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.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

EXCELLENT POINT! From her own mouth.

[Jezebelle]

They probably didn't need checking on. Mangum probably said something or other about needing to get back to her kids as a means of convincing them to let her go rather than committing her. Women like Mangum will often use their kids as an excuse to be let go, and sometimes it works.

[Jezebelle]

I don't think she wanted to find a cop when she was passing near the substation. I think she figured she could get Mangum out when she got her somewhere where there was a phone, people, a place to hang until someone came for her. She didn't know Mangum wouldn't get out until after she got to Kroger's.

[abb]

More on the Jovanovic case...
http://www.cybercase.org/flyer.html

[abb]

http://www.cybercase.org/

[bjc]

I noticed that update too, but the latest still appears to be the link I made above:

http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/week34/index.html



It would be interesting to see if the ADA and the policeman are still employed by NYC!

[abb]

Actually those links are some background on the original case. Interesting case. Some discussion on application of New York's rape shield laws, apparently...