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(Durham) Prosecutor (Nifong) Yet to Interview Rape Accuser
Associated Press ^ | October 27, 2006 | Aaron Beard

Posted on 10/27/2006 12:36:17 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin

Prosecutor Yet to Interview Rape Accuser Oct 27 2:56 PM US/Eastern

By AARON BEARD Associated Press Writer

DURHAM, N.C.

The district attorney prosecuting three Duke lacrosse players accused of raping a woman at a team party said during a court hearing Friday that he still hasn't interviewed the accuser about the facts of the case.

"I've had conversations with (the accuser) about how she's doing. I've had conversations with (the accuser) about her seeing her kids," Mike Nifong said. "I haven't talked with her about the facts of that night. ... We're not at that stage yet."

Nifong made the statement in response to a defense request for any statements the woman has made about the case.

"I understand the answer may not be the answer they want but it's the true answer. That's all I can give them," the prosecutor said after the hourlong hearing.

Defense lawyers said outside court that they found Nifong's statement surprising.

"One of the most interesting things to me of course is Mr. Nifong did admit that he in fact has basically never talked to this woman and has absolutely no idea what her story is, and yet he has chosen to continue to go forward with this case," defense lawyer Joseph Cheshire said.

Nifong said none of his assistants have discussed the case with the woman either and only have spoken with her to monitor her well-being. They have left the investigation of the case to police, he said.

Attorneys for indicted player Dave Evans wrote in a letter to Nifong earlier this month that they believed he had talked with the accuser based on a court motion in which Nifong stated the woman told him she had not taken the drug Ecstasy on the night of the March 13 team party for which she was hired to perform as a stripper.

In response to a claim by a lawyer for an unindicted player, Nifong said he called the accuser to ask her whether she had used the drug.

"She said, 'I've never taken Ecstasy,'" Nifong said. "That was the extent of the conversation because that's all I had to know."

Nifong said he met with the accuser and an investigator on April 11, but didn't discuss details of the case because the woman was "too traumatized." Nifong said the woman didn't make eye contact with him and often seemed on the verge of crying. Their discussion centered around how the case would develop, he said.

"She probably did not speak 15 words during the meeting," Nifong said.

Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., was charged in May with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. A month earlier, a grand jury indicted players Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., on the same charges. The accuser, a student at nearby North Carolina Central University, told police she was raped in a bathroom by three men at the off-campus party.

The players' lawyers have strongly proclaimed their innocence.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: duke; dukelax; durham; lacrosse; nifong
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Nifong. Get your own attorney. Now. Because this case will be dismissed and you will be charged with malicious prosecution.
1 posted on 10/27/2006 12:36:18 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin
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To: Arec Barrwin
Without the interview, why is there even a "case"? Those kids were persecuted for no reason.
2 posted on 10/27/2006 12:38:41 PM PDT by madison10 (Live your life in such a way that the preacher won't have to lie at your funeral.)
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To: Arec Barrwin

Not at that stage yet????????


3 posted on 10/27/2006 12:39:11 PM PDT by pissant
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To: madison10

What a travesty. These kids made a mistake by inviting strippers to their party but this has gone beyond the ridiculous. Nifong is a complete and utter piece of poo.


4 posted on 10/27/2006 12:40:01 PM PDT by cdga5for4
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To: cdga5for4
This is the weirdest case I have ever seen
5 posted on 10/27/2006 12:42:54 PM PDT by Youngman442002
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To: Arec Barrwin

There really ought to be an effort by the courts of N.C. to remove Nifong from this case and disbar him from further practice!


6 posted on 10/27/2006 12:44:08 PM PDT by meandog (While Bush will never fill them, Clinton isn't fit to even lick the soles of Reagan's shoes!)
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To: Arec Barrwin

How are the defendents supposed to have a right to a fair and SPEEDY trial if the friggen prosecutor hasn't even interviewed the accuser after all this time?


7 posted on 10/27/2006 12:44:56 PM PDT by Dreagon
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To: Youngman442002

Three innocent men may spend decades in prison so that Nifong can be re-elected, but that's OK because he's a Democrat. I wonder if any governor of North Carolina would have the courage to issue them pardons if the trial is a travesty, as it looks likely to be.


8 posted on 10/27/2006 12:46:55 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Arec Barrwin

What happened to the right of a speedy trial? "Justice delayed is justice denied."


9 posted on 10/27/2006 12:48:17 PM PDT by expatpat
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To: Youngman442002

Ditto. The absolute weirdest. He just keeps digging....


10 posted on 10/27/2006 12:49:06 PM PDT by cpanter
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To: pissant

He is setting up the cops and those who did interview her to take the fall when he dismisses the case. What a jerk.


11 posted on 10/27/2006 12:49:41 PM PDT by babaloo
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To: madison10

"Those kids were persecuted for no reason."

Not for "no reason". They were persecuted for being rich white kids in a town with a large black population and a prosecutor seeking re-election. If the stripper was white and everything else was the same, Nifong wouldn't have persued it.


12 posted on 10/27/2006 12:51:14 PM PDT by Terpin (Missing: One very clever and insightful tagline. Reward for safe return!)
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To: Arec Barrwin

This district attorney seems to be set on self destruct.


13 posted on 10/27/2006 12:51:33 PM PDT by DallasSun
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To: Arec Barrwin

I think he's trying to set up a scenario of plausible deniability for himself in the almost certain eventuality now that he will be sitting in the defendants chair & facing charges himself for prosecutorial abuse & public corruption. He's just trying to establish a defense of nonfeasance as opposed to malfeasance in future civil & criminal procedings against him. He so totally knows everybody's on to him now. What a crook.


14 posted on 10/27/2006 12:52:11 PM PDT by leilani (Dimmi, dimmi se mai fu fatta cosa alcuna!)
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To: pissant

Nifong should not only lose his job, but be jailed for this sham case he has brought against these students.

He should also be made to re-embursh the legal fees of these students.


15 posted on 10/27/2006 12:52:11 PM PDT by tennmountainman
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To: Arec Barrwin
We're not at that stage yet.

They'll be at that stage on November 8.

-PJ

16 posted on 10/27/2006 12:53:15 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (It's still not safe to vote Democrat.)
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To: madison10
Those kids were persecuted for no reason.

The sad truth is that this sort of thing happens a lot more frequently than we'd like to admit. The difference between those cases and this one is that Nifong was dumb enough and made enough mistakes to get caught at it. But these kinds of acts on the part of DAs is far more common than we generally think.
17 posted on 10/27/2006 12:54:01 PM PDT by JamesP81 (Rights must be enforced; rights that you're not allowed to enforce are rights that you don't have.)
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To: Terpin

They were persecuted because the district is very black, Nifong needed the black vote, and he played the race card to get re-elected.


18 posted on 10/27/2006 12:54:23 PM PDT by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: Arec Barrwin

This is irritating. This was published more than three weeks ago in the local newspaper, and now because CNN and AP deem it "Newsworthy" they decide to carry the story. I think CNN and AP are merely trying to push the Harold Ford, Jr. and Jim Webb stories off the news with this "revelation" of Mike Nifong, which is old news.


19 posted on 10/27/2006 12:55:55 PM PDT by TommyDale (Iran President Ahmadinejad is shorter than Tom Daschle!)
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To: leilani
I think he's trying to set up a scenario of plausible deniability for himself in the almost certain eventuality now that he will be sitting in the defendants chair & facing charges himself for prosecutorial abuse & public corruption.

Doubtful. At best, he might lose his election, but I doubt he'll ever be charged. Prosecutorial misconduct never gets prosecuted.
20 posted on 10/27/2006 12:56:14 PM PDT by JamesP81 (Rights must be enforced; rights that you're not allowed to enforce are rights that you don't have.)
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