Replies

10/18/06
Law experts weigh in on '60 Minutes'
Saidi Chen, The Chronicle

Sunday's "60 Minutes" segment heavily criticized the actions of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, but a number of legal experts said it is difficult to determine the extent of the program's impact on the legal proceedings and public opinion.

Speaking with CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley, David Evans, Trinity '06, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann staunchly defended their innocence in their first public interviews.

All three members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team have been charged with raping an exotic dancer at a March 13 party.

Bradley also interviewed Kim Roberts, the other dancer at the party, who refuted many of the alleged victim's statements.

"It's hard to say whether [the program] helped the defense.... But I can tell you that if you're a prosecutor and this segment just came on you're probably not excited," said Richard Meyers, an evidence and criminal law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law and former federal prosecutor.

The district attorney did not watch the program, said Candy Clark, administrative assistant to Nifong.

Although the players and Roberts were not under oath when talking to Bradley, the interviews can be used to show contradictions in testimony given later during the trial, Meyers said.

"Statements that the players who appeared on television made can be used as prior inconsistent statements. They can be impeached with it," Meyers explained. "When you impeach somebody you say their testimony is less credible now."

Durham attorney Woody Vann, who represented the alleged victim in a previous case, noted, however, that the interviews would not have happened if the defense teams thought there was a risk that their case would be damaged.

"[The players'] attorneys would not have let them on camera unless they felt very confident they would come across as sincere, believable, credible, and that they wouldn't say anything that could harm their legal status-and they didn't as far as I could tell," he said.

Seligmann told Bradley he had never been asked by the district attorney's office or the Durham Police Department to give his account of the March 13 events, and law professors said it is not unusual for a prosecutor not to speak to the defendant before the trial.

Meyers, however, said in his experience as a prosecutor, he would always listen to a defendant who approached him with information-as defense attorneys in the lacrosse case said they have done with Nifong.

"As a prosecutor I would always listen and say, 'Tell me what you want to tell me,'" he said. "I would never turn down opportunities if they were making the effort to come in."

Clark contradicted this statement.

"In the course of a case, the assistant district attorney and district attorney just don't talk to defendants. They just don't." Clark said. "Not in this case, not in any case."

Because of the polarizing nature of the case, the segment likely did little to change the opinion of those watching, Vann said. "The people that think this assault took place probably aren't going to be swayed and the people that don't think it took place are already in [the defendants'] corner anyways," he explained.

What people took away from the program also depends on their existing biases and perceptions of the case and of the show, said Jennifer Collins, a criminal law professor at Wake Forest University School of Law.

"I think there'll be an attempt when they're selecting the jury to account for potential biases," Meyers said.

Experts agreed that a change of venue for the case is unlikely, especially with the trial still months away.

"It's really hard to predict what public opinion will be," Vann said. "It may be that Nifong loses the election and that will change things drastically."

Clark said she expects the case to go to trial in the spring and is not aware of any motions that have been filed requesting a change of venue or that the case be dropped. She added that she spoke to the alleged victim late last week and usually contacts her once or twice a week.

"60 Minutes" was the top-rated program during its time segment last week. According to Nielsen ratings, approximately 12.8 million households-20 percent of televisions in use at the time-were tuned in to the program between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.