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.
And you'd think that the report would be dated.
I think he'll get the same results. So then what? Will he realize them on the third of May with an April date?
Assuming there are also white detectives on the force, having it leaked to/by a black detective pretty much eliminates any race motive for the leak.
This is how the media described the woman cheating on her husband and getting pregnant by another man while married:
Along the way, the woman became interested in another sailor, a man who would later father her children... The two separated (her and her husband) as the new relationship began... Six months later, she was discharged from the service.
Now, I ASK YOU, do you think if a man had been unfaithful to his wife and got another woman pregnant while married - does anyone think the Media would've described it like this?<.i>
They almost make it sound 'romantic'.
EXACTLY my friend. Does the name Mary Kay Latourno (misspelled I know), the teacher here in Seattle who raped her student, and after doing 7 years in jail for it, is now married to that student ring any bells??? All the pukes here in the Seattle media could say was how sweet their love was!!!
I wasn't arguing that at all - sorry, I suppose I should have added the sarcasm tag to my post
O.J juries can acquit an obviously guilty man because of his race and convict an obviously innocent man because of his race..........You know, like the liberal news media does.
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Yep, just like juries in Dims areas like Mississippi refusing to convict people or wrongly convicting people in the 1960s and earlier based on race, juries in Dim areas now nullify in the case of clearly guilty and are willing to participate in political prosecutions based on race.
I guess the lesson is the Dims have long been the party of slavery, racial discrimination, and politicizing the judicial system and they have not changed today. It is just today they support slavery in Cuba/China etc, Americans enslaved to the government and they have switched sides in their racial discrimination and political prosecutions.
We can’t be surprised at the outpouring of outrage. Rape is the substitution of raw power for love, brutality for tenderness, and dehumanization for intimacy. It is also the crudest assertion of inequality, a way to show that the strong are superior to the weak and can rightfully use them as the objects of their pleasure. When reports of racial abuse are added to the mix, the evil is compounded, reviving memories of the systematic racial oppression we had hoped to have left behind us.
This is nothing but pandering to the "seriousness of the charge is more important than the truth of the allegations" crowd.
But it is clear that the acts the police are investigating are only part of the problem. This episode has touched off angers, fears, resentments, and suspicions that range far beyond this immediate cause. It has done so because the episode has brought to glaring visibility underlying issues that have been of concern on this campus and in this town for some time—issues that are not unique to Duke or Durham but that have been brought to the fore in our midst. They include concerns of women about sexual coercion and assault. They include concerns about the culture of certain student groups that regularly abuse alcohol and the attitudes these groups promote. They include concerns about the survival of the legacy of racism, the most hateful feature American history has produced.
What if the acts the police are investigating are false? So imaginary acts are considered "part of the problem?" What if the only real "underlying issue" here is fake charges, and the cynical use of these fake charges to further narrow partisan political agendas by certain groups?
But if the dark aspect is not the whole truth, this is not a moment to take comfort or mount defenses.
Not the whole truth? What if the "dark aspect" is a complete lie here, as appears very likely to be the case? This is the VERY time to mount a defense instead of cowering before the race hustlers and feminazis. The university claims its mission is the pursuit of truth - and here the Duke president is telling us not to mount a defense for truth.
Aarrgh.
Don't be a moron. I was NOT suggesting that at long last I'm finally tired of the media, and previous to this point I was happy as a bug in a rug with them. This has been going on for as long as I can remember. Growing up I was always taught only to believe half of what I read. I believe very little of what the mass media puts out, especially in the last fifteen or twenty years. I was commenting that it is aggravating to be so consistently barraged with the sort of cr@p they want to put out there. For your reference, I'll include my post 42, to which you replied.
In my last post, I neglected to say that I have no doubt that the media is continually trying to drum up sympathy for the "victim" here. I wish it would stop. I'm so sick of the drive-by media.
Yawn...
I'm not trying to argue, but I disagree with you. I can only see your point *if* the "victim" is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Otherwise, anyone who is really fearing for their safety would not stop to take the time to do that until they were out of harm's way. Heck, even a girl who is high would straighten up enough to get the h#@*! outta there! It's called the fight or flight response. Her adrenaline level would keep her aware enough to go further than the steps of the house. Plus, if she had been raped or beaten, or abused in anyway, I cannot see how she would possibly go back for a shoe or any article that may have been left behind.
At best, I think this girl may have argued with some of the guys. At best, somebody struck her. Rape is beyond reality here, given the information from as many sources as there are.
If you have great understanding of the bible as I do, you will know that only the conduct of the man matters....not the woman......
And you're telling me this because....?
I will believe the timestamps on the photos,when the camera is turned over. She was allegedly raped after returning for the shoe..which --the photo says 1230am...and the cabdriver is inconsistent with his times as well..one article says he picked up Ryan @ 12:19am and Paula Z. says 1am... One photo doesnt have a timestamp...hmmn
If the players have nothing to hide they should offer to have their rooms/homes, cellphones, computers, cars, searched-seized and then all this would end. It would certainly speed things up. And all the party attendees names should be revealed, as well. If there's nothing to hide, then tell everything you know. Why have your school year interrupted? If I was a lacrosse player I would voluntarily provide a hair, semen, fingernail and every type of sample known to distance myself from the publicity.
But just what if she was given a date-rape drug?...that will be revealed at some point...Then what? What if the DA is holding on to this info?
Panthermom:
Even if the case goes to trial, the jury might not have a say in it.
After the Prosecution's case in chief, the Defense can ask for a Judgment of Aquittal from the judge, based on the Prosecution's failure to prove their case.
Only one has an alibi. Finnerty has a flimsy alibi. That's why to end this circus, the captains should release the names of all the attendees and this would end much sooner. The famous camera should be turned over. And all the belongings should be searched. If I was innocent, I would say search away--my cellphone, my room, my computer, my car, my camera, search it all... Search every email sent and every phone call made...
"Bump for the Bill of Rights and the presumption of innocence for all those accused by the state."
It depends ... on your color and economis status.
If you're white and wealthy and not in the Hollywood crowd you're guilty.
Recall that pretty white teacher who had the charges dropped and case dismissed because she'd be "raw meat" in prison.
Recall Michael Jackson who wants to be white ... he had Hollywood support. So it all depends... .
Every white player on the team gave DNA samples voluntarily already. The defense says none matched!
Their rooms have been searched.
The authorities have a list of attendees. Why should the media have it?
I'm sure they are telling them everything they know. Believe it or not, the general public is not, nor should they be, privvy to every aspect of a criminal case that is due to be tried by a jury. In fact, both sides have talked way too much, IMHO. This is a high-profile case.
Even if she has a date rape drug in her system, is there proof that one of the players gave it to her? She could have taken an inhibition-lowering substance herself to be able to dance virtually naked.
You seem really ill-informed about this case. I suggest you go to www.thesmokinggun.com to see the actual legal documents. Every thing else has been presented through the skewed perspective of the prosecution, defense and media. We are only speculating on the information we have currently.
No thinking person without a feminazi bias can call this a legitimate case, especially against at least one of the players indicted. He appears to have an airtight alibi. Even if the other guy was there the whole time with no alibi, the bad identification of the one casts extreme doubt on the credibility of the identificaton of the other!
The accuser has no clue whom to pick. The best thing is to release no names and when the accuser picks the wrong person again for assailent number three, the DA will again have egg on his face.
and do not forget, "the joy ride" was no big deal as they forget to mention she was intoxicated and attempted to run down the police to escape; also she has been dancing for 4 yrs, not a inexperienced,innocent,naive single mother of 2 as the criminal ex-husband stated
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