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"Changed her mind"

IMO, she's looking to cash in ... and so is her attorney.

Court records obtained by AP and by NEWSWEEK show that Kim Roberts was on probation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company where she worked, helping to keep payroll records. On March 22, eight days after the alleged rape, Kim spent two hours in jail for breaking the terms of her probation (she had left the state, her attorney says, to visit her sick father). She posted $25,000 bond and on March 30 found a lawyer, Mark Simeon.

Simeon is not a big-time lawyer. He handles mostly traffic violations and routine criminal matters in the Durham courts. But he is politically active—in 2002 he ran for district attorney and lost. He sees Roberts's case as an opportunity for him, too. "I will be there for her if and when she decides to pursue legal remedies on her own behalf," he says. And he wants to put together a team to represent the alleged rape victim in another civil suit, in order to, he says, "help make her whole." He has asked an associate to contact Willie E. Gary, a well-known Florida lawyer. Simeon told NEWSWEEK, "[My mother's] proud of seeing me on TV but she'd like to see that translated into something tangible. It's not so I can dress like a powerful lawyer. I've struggled since that last election."

Simeon has a relationship with prosecutor Nifong that may shed light on the D.A.'s handling of the case. Nifong was the protégé of Simeon's rival in the 2002 race for D.A. Simeon and Nifong did not get along, according to Simeon. But last year, Nifong's boss, Jim Hardin, was appointed to a judgeship, and Nifong was appointed to fill his place. Nifong's term is almost up, and in Durham, district attorney is an elected post. The voters go to the polls in one week, on May 2. One of Nifong's opponents is a lawyer named Freda Black, who was passed over for the D.A. job. Black is—or was, until the Duke case—better known around town than Nifong, largely because she won a conviction in a celebrated murder case. Nifong's other opponent is a lawyer with no prosecutorial experience named Keith Bishop. Nifong and Black are white; Bishop is African-American. Durham voters are about 40 percent black, so Nifong almost surely needs to win black votes to keep his job.

Shortly after Nifong decided to run, he began reaching out to Simeon. He went to an NAACP banquet and crossed the room to extend his hand in peace to Simeon. On March 28—the day after Nifong first spoke out in the Duke case, publicly chastising the players for not coming forward to volunteer information about the alleged rape—Simeon told Nifong he would support him. He invited Nifong to speak at his church, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist, and introduced him to the African-American congregation as a man who had always been a "good prosecutor," but who, Simeon said he had recently learned, was also a "good man."

That was on April 9. A week later Simeon asked Nifong to go to court to relieve Kim of the obligation of paying the bail-bond fees, arguing that she was no longer a "flight risk." Nifong agreed, as did the judge. Simeon told NEWSWEEK he went before the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, a very influential group, and urged them to vote for Nifong. Simeon says he has also been giving Nifong fashion advice, telling him to lose the plaid shirts and to start wearing black suits, light shirts and power ties. Women like power, Simeon says he told Nifong.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12442765/site/newsweek/page/6/

Talk about your tangled web.

If Crystal spilled her drink, wouldn't it be easy enough for Kim to remember where and authorities to test the carpet where it spilled?

If the toxicology report came back with evidence of a date rape drug wouldn't this have been added to the charges? Or, wouldn't Kim remember the individual who served them the drinks?

I'm getting nuts with these two...If Kim was sober, she should remember minute by minute of what happened and her story's been changed so many times how can anyone believe her?

"Roberts did say that, within several days of the incident, she went to James D. (Butch) Williams, a prominent local attorney, to ask his advice. She says that from the outset Williams told her that he already represented one of the Duke players. Williams asked if she believed there had been a rape, and Roberts answered no. But when Williams tried to get her to sign an affidavit, she balked. She said she later became livid when she heard that Williams had shared her story with other attorneys. Seeing Williams's face appear on a TV during her interview with NEWSWEEK, she stood up and began punching the air in anger at him. "I feel like he preyed on my naiveté," she told NEWSWEEK. "I don't want someone to play me like I'm stupid."

More from the Newsweek article on Ms. Kim:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12442765/site/newsweek/page/4/

I was just getting ready to search for you. Do you have a link for the indictments?

Doesn't look like Nifong's pandering for the black vote has paid off.

Despite Simeon's efforts and the Nifong-approved sweetheart bail deal for Kim, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People did not endorse Nifong.

http://www.newsobserver.com/944/story/431793.html