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http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/489469.html

By Anne Blythe, Staff Writer
Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III refused today to order prosecutors to give a defense lawyer a more precise timeline and description of the gang rape alleged in the Duke lacrosse case.

Kirk Osborn, the Chapel Hill lawyer representing Reade Seligmann, one of three lacrosse players charged in the case, says Seligmann can account for his whereabouts from 12:05 to 12:46 on the morning of the incident. In requests for search warrants and DNA testing, prosecutors have said that the offense happened in a 30-minute period between the night of March 13 and the morning of March 14, but have been no more specific.

Osborn said during a pretrial hearing today that he was afraid of being ambushed in court by prosecutors alleging that the incident happened in a wider time frame.

But in arguments before the judge, District Attorney Mike Nifong said the whole incident probably happened in five to 10 minutes. He also said that the accuser arrived at a Duke lacrosse team party close to 11:30 p.m. March 13 and that when police went to the house at 12:55 a.m., no one was there. But he refused to be more precise about when the offense supposedly happened.

Nifong also argued that defense lawyers had all the evidence in the case and also could cross-examine the accuser, who would "most certainly testify."

As part of disclosure of that evidence, Nifong today handed over 1,600 pages of evidence, one CD-ROM and one cassette tape. Defense lawyers now have 2,465 pages of evidence provided by the prosecution.

Nifong also harangued the lawyers for seeking more information about DNA testing of the three lacrosse players who have been charged ? David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Seligmann.

The defense lawyers want to know more about who did the testing and how it was done, and also about DNA evidence that supposedly belonged to people other than Duke lacrosse players. But Nifong said it was ironic that the attorneys now want the "typical witch hunt list" to cast doubt on how the DNA was tested.

Nifong noted that this summer, when the lawyers got the test results, "they called press conferences and told everybody that the DNA had exonerated their clients."

Nifong said that the State Bureau of Investigation could produce much of the information the attorneys want and that a private lab used in the testing could, too, but that the process could cost the state $4,035.

Brad Bannon, a lawyer representing one of the players, objected to Nifong's mention of cost. He said it was the state that ordered the second round of testing at the private lab.

"We did not make the choice of doing the second round of testing in this case; the state did," Bannon said. "We are entitled to the information we are asking for, no matter how much it costs."

The hearing comes after a flurry of action this week by the prosecution and defense.

On Wednesday, Nifong asked Judge Smith to put all the defense lawyers under oath and ask them to explain their involvement in a phone survey that has been conducted in Durham. He called the survey a "thinly disguised" attempt to influence jurors.

Two days earlier, defense lawyers asked the judge to order Nifong to give a more precise timeline of when the alleged gang-rape occurred. They also asked Nifong to designate which of two bathrooms at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. was the supposed site of the incident, and to designate which sexual act each defendant allegedly committed.

In his motion, Nifong said the phone poll violated the state ethics rules that govern lawyers' behavior. Lawyers for the lacrosse players had accused Nifong of ethical violations, citing his public statements about the case and accusing him of using the case to win an election.

Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann each face charges of first-degree rape, kidnapping and sexual offense.

The hearing today was the first appearance before Judge Smith, who was assigned in the summer to preside over the case.