Posted on 04/19/2006 9:33:10 PM PDT by Howlin
(04/19/06 - DURHAM) - An attorney for one of two Duke University lacrosse players charged with raping a stripper at a team party on Wednesday strongly rejected any sort of deal with prosecutors, proclaiming again his client's innocence.
Cotter represents Collin Finnerty, who along with fellow sophomore Reade Seligmann was indicted Monday on charges of first-degree rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Each posted $400,000 bond after their pre-dawn arrests early Tuesday, and both were released within hours.
School officials have declined to say whether it plans to discipline either of the players, although they have noted the university has historically suspended students charged with a felony.
Cotter said Wednesday that Finnerty, of Garden City, N.Y., has left Durham, although he wouldn't say where he went. Attorney Kirk Obsborn, representing Seligmann, of Essex Fells, N.J., declined to say whether his client has been suspended.
Seligmann and his father spent much of Wednesday working from the law office of attorney Robert Ekstrand, who represents dozens of uncharged lacrosse players.
District Attorney Mike Nifong, who has not granted interviews in weeks and said Tuesday he planned to make no comments about the case outside the courtroom, has said he still hopes to link a third man to the alleged attack.
He did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment about that effort, or about searches by Durham police Tuesday night of Seligmann's and Finnerty's dorm rooms.
Warrants authorizing the searches had not been returned to the court clerk's or magistrate's office by Wednesday evening.
"I can imagine they never quit investigating, but I think it's unusual to be executing search warrants after they've indicted," Cotter said.
Defense attorneys have said they have time-stamped photos from the party, bank records, cell phone calls and a taxi driver's statement to support Seligmann's claim of innocence.
A person close to the case told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the cell phone records show Seligmann called for a taxi at 12:14 a.m., and that according to sworn testimony he left in the taxi at 12:19 a.m.
The bank records show he stopped at an ATM five minutes later, the person added, while information provided by Duke shows he swiped an ID card to enter his dorm at 12:46 a.m.
A member of the defense team, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because the defense is working with players who could still be indicted, showed photos to the AP on Wednesday that show the accuser on the back porch of the off-campus house, with her clothing intact. She is smiling and looking through her purse.
The defense team member said the digital photos were taken at 12:30 a.m., citing an electronic time-stamp known as metadata. Such time-stamps are not visible on the photos. They are created, though, when digital photos are taken.
The accuser, a 27-year-old student at a nearby college, told police she was attacked by three white men at a house where she and another woman were hired to dance at a lacrosse team party. According to defense attorneys, DNA tests conducted on all the players failed to connect any of the team members to the alleged rape.
"I would have to say she is definitely making it up," Cotter said.
Nifong has ordered additional DNA testing, which was originally performed at the state crime lab. Cotter said he believes those results should be "back any minute."
Ekstrand said the defense has also not yet received a report from authorities about any photo identifications of suspects made by the accuser. "I think we're entitled to the report of the identification procedure, and the results of the photo identifications she did," he said.
The allegations of rape led Duke to cancel the highly ranked lacrosse team's season, accept the resignation of the team's coach and begin a series of internal investigations, including one into the behavior of the lacrosse team.
Yes, and my point was that if the cab driver were white, it would be considered a "setup alibi" I'm quite sure. I still think they need to test the 2nd "dancer" DNA. I have a hunch that she is involved in a conspiracy to set up the guys.
And it seems that every time I leave the computer or the TV to get some work done, something else happens.
What's next?
Do you think Nifong will arrest the third player without an indictment? Is he waiting for the second round of DNA test results? Will he sit on those test results until after the election?
If anything positive comes out of it, maybe it will be that a few more people recognize the left and the media for what they are.
This will never come to trial and neither will Mckinney.
I understand what you're saying. I would be an absolute idiot if I thought my kid would spend 4 years in college with his head buried in a book. The administration punished the entire team for the SUPPOSED actions of 3, without any evidence. What about the kids in HS that already have signed letters of intent? FSU didn't punish the entire football team and pull them from the Orange Bowl when one of their players was accused of sexual assault. The administration and the DA haven't even begun to see the consequences of their stupidity and rush to judgement.
Tension high in Duke case N.C. stripper hides as TV shows pics
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1618249/posts
I want to hear more about the photo lineup. The defense claims it was pictures only of players. Why can't reporters follow-up on that at least? If the accuser made her "selections" via an illegal process, why wouldn't that be of interest? And wouldn't an ethical DA's office want to refute that claim? Exactly when are Finnerty/Seligmann's attorneys entitled to that info?
Done!
I was thinking the same thing last night. Usually a prosecutor has the upper hand. In this case, it seems like Nifong will have to spend a lot of time trying to discredit firm alibis before he even gets to his timeline.
I don't see how he thinks he can take this to trial unless, of course, he doesn't think it will get to trial and he is only doing this to pacify local constituents and political reasons. That said, the onus is now on Crystal Mangum to try and be credible. She is the one who gave "100%" ID on the guys. Nifong sort of has to proceed based on this, and taking the case to a GJ for a bill was a punt on his part.
Updating timeline with taxi driver information ...
11:02:00 LAX party starts at Buchanan street house
11:15:00 Allure Escort Service Stripper #2 arrives at house (elapsed time 0:13:00)
11:45:00 - 12:00:00 AV arrives at house (0:30:00 - 0:45:00)
12:00:12 Photo of both strippers dancing (0:15:12)
12:00:40 Photo of both strippers dancing, bruises visible on AV (0:00:40)
12:01:16 Photo of AV kneeling over stripper #2 (0:00:46)
12:03:57 Photo of both strippers leaving room (0:02:41)
12:07:00 Seligman makes cell phone call (0:03:03)
12:09:00 Seligman makes another cell phone call (0:02:00)
12:11:00 Seligman makes another cell phone call (0:02:00)
12:14:00 Seligman makes cell phone call for cab, On Time Taxi (0:03:00)
12:19:00 Seligman enters cab 1.5 blocks from house (0:05:00)
12:24:00 Seligman uses Wachovia Bank ATM (0:05:00)
12:25 Seligman calls girlfriend from cell phone.
12:27? Cab driver, Mostafa, drove Seligmann and his friend to the Cook Out restaurant
12:30:12 Photo of AV on back porch going through purse (0:06:12)
12:30:47 Photo of AV on back porch apparently smiling(0:00:35)
12:31:26 Photo of AV apparently stumbling on back porch stairs (0:00:39)
12:37:58 Photo of AV lying down on back porch (0:06:32)
12:41:00 Photo of AV in stripper #2's car (0:03:02)
12:42:00 (Also reported as 12:41) Seligman uses key card to enter dorm (0:01:00)
12:53:00 Stripper #2 calls 911 about racial insults (0:11:00)
1:22:00 Kroger security calls 911 about AV in stripper #2's car
1:32:00 Durham Police arrive at Kroger (0:10:00)
1:49:00 DPD takes AV to mental health center (0:17:00)
2:31:00 DPD takes AV to Duke Hospital (0:42:00)
2:50:00 DPD changes incident report to include alledged rape (0:29:00)
Thanks to the DA celebrated Media tour, we know the victim description of the event (or most of it): NO ONE, NO ONE
would pause for at least 30 seconds, if you had been beaten, kicked, strangled, raped, and sodomized by 3 men and there were 37 others in the building. The DA described her as fighting the players off as she couldn't breath - she was being strangled - and that she ran out of the house and was lucky to have escaped.
12:30:12 a.m.: The next photo shows the alleged victim on the back porch, carrying what appears to be her purse and a makeup bag. Her clothes are intact.
12:30:47 a.m.: A photo taken 30 seconds later shows the alleged victim on the porch and she appears to smile.
The aforementioned descriptions by a NEWS organization are not consistent in any way with the Brutality reported.
.
If you have seen the website that was linked here to the escort service where she works, you would think "Slut" might be too kind.
On the plus side, once her face is out there, more people will come forward revealing nefarious acts of her in the past.
As these young fellows are reported to come from families with money, I suspect there will be a line of people reporting all of her activities.
On the down side, the DA, who has a lot of power to make deals, isn't going to want to hear them.
1/3 is about 15 kids, I'm sure the Durham police get writers cramp on weekend nights from all of the tickets they write for drinking. It was easy to take this action because the NAACP, ACLU, etc could care less because they are PRIVILEGED WHITE BOYS.
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