Posted on 04/23/2006 8:52:59 AM PDT by TexKat
DURHAM -- Results from the second round of DNA tests in connection with the Duke lacrosse rape investigation will not likely be available before May 15, District Attorney Mike Nifong said Saturday.
Nifong also denied an allegation by some defense attorneys that the second exotic dancer at the March 13 party where the rape allegedly occurred received special treatment from Nifong's office so she'd cooperate with the prosecutor.
Kim Roberts, 31, was arrested March 22 -- eight days after the lacrosse party -- on a probation violation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000.
The same day a grand jury indicted lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, a judge agreed to a change so that Roberts would no longer have to pay a 15 percent fee to a bonding agent. Nifong signed a document saying he would not oppose the change.
Soon after the rape allegation was made, Roberts told defense attorneys that she doubted the story of her colleague who told police she was dragged into a bathroom and raped. But in an interview last week with the Associated Press, Roberts said she thinks some players -- she's not sure which ones -- are guilty.
"It seems she is receiving very favorable financial treatment [from prosecutors] for what she is now saying," said Bill Thomas, a defense attorney for one of the lacrosse players who has not been indicted.
Nifong said Saturday that wasn't his motive in agreeing to change Roberts' bond from secured to unsecured.
"It's consistent with local bonding policy," Nifong said, when asked why he supported the change.
Nifong, who faces two challengers in the May 2 Democratic primary, attended a meet-and-greet with supporters Saturday at Joe & Jo's Downtown Restaurant and Pub, where he fielded a few questions from The Herald-Sun.
Nifong ordered the second round of DNA tests from a private lab after initial tests by the SBI crime lab in Raleigh failed to find DNA from any of 46 lacrosse players tested on or in the accuser, nor any of her DNA in the bathroom in which she said she was raped, sodomized, beaten and strangled for 30 minutes by three men.
Some defense attorneys had said they expected the new DNA test results last week.
Kimmy is so stupid it's stamped on her forehead.
LOL! I bet it was. My youngest son took up Skoal very early into his teens, growing up in eastern New Mexico.
He is very coordinated at drinking from a beer can in one hand and spitting into an empty beer can in the other hand.
Don't remember him ever mixing the two up.
If we all went out and got a bottle of wine and sat back here -- even in the Smokey Back Room -- on a Saturday night, we could not have MADE THIS STUFF up.
TIME
Sunday, Apr. 23, 2006
Too Quick on the Draw?
The prosecutor in the Duke rape case comes under scrutiny when one of the students he’s just indicted presents an alibi
By MICHAEL DUFFY
Criminal lawyer Kerry Sutton of Durham, N.C., admires local district attorney Mike Nifong. She thinks the Durham county prosecutor is ethical and honest—in short, a solid lawyer. "I have a campaign sign of his in my front yard," she said last week. But Sutton, who is representing one of the 45 Duke lacrosse players who have not been charged in the alleged rape and kidnapping in Durham last month, takes a different line when it comes to Nifong's handling of the controversial case. "I think he's made some decisions I would not have," she said.
Such tentative second-guessing was the least of Nifong's problems. No sooner had he brought indictments against two members of the Duke squad for the March 13 episode than he found himself facing an army of lawyers stretching from Main Street in Durham to some of the most prestigious firms in Washington and New Jersey. Duke's lacrosse team draws students from exclusive private schools in the mid-Atlantic states, and many of the players' families are well connected and ably represented. Within days, the legal battalion gained some ground. New evidence—unseen by Nifong before the indictments—emerged that could exonerate one of the suspects.
And so a case that from the start had been ghastly to ponder became even messier. The defense lawyers criticized Nifong for bringing the case before he did his homework. They accused him of trying the case in the media. And they whispered that politics was involved. Nifong, they said, was rushing things to show some progress on a case that is racially charged—black victim, white suspects—before May 2, when he seeks election against two Democratic rivals in a county that is 50% white and 40% African American.
Nifong, 55 and a seasoned prosecutor who has tried more than 300 felony cases, granted over 50 media interviews before bringing the indictment. But he has largely clammed up for now. A local attorney who spoke with Nifong last week told Time the D.A. has no intention—nor any history—of backing down. "He is convinced from the evidence that he has made the right choices," the attorney said.
Much of what transpired on Monday, March 13, at 610 North Buchanan is still unknown or in dispute. What is not is that late that evening, between 30 and 40 members of the Duke lacrosse team gathered at the off-campus house shared by three of the co-captains. The featured entertainment: a pair of black strippers hired for $800 by one of the co-captains using a false name.
According to a court paper based on what the accuser told police, what happened next is this: The two women arrived "around 11:30 p.m." and began their show shortly thereafter. Within 10 minutes, the women halted their act after the men "began to get excited and aggressive." One player held up a broomstick and said, "I'm gonna shove this up you."
The two women exited the house and got into a car. One of the suspects approached the car and coaxed the two dancers back inside. Once there, the women were separated. Two men pulled the younger dancer, 27 and a mother of two, into a bathroom. A third man joined them. For the next 30 minutes, the victim told police, she was raped, sexually assaulted and sodomized. She claims she was also "hit, kicked and strangled." The two women left the party at a time and in a condition that are not yet clear. They drove to a nearby grocery store, where the woman who was not attacked, Kim Roberts, asked for help. A security guard called the police. Around 2:30 a.m., the victim reported to the Duke University Medical Center emergency room. An examination found injuries "consistent with" anal and vaginal sexual assault.
Police found the victim's makeup kit, cell phone and ID at the party house three days after the bash. Nifong won a court order compelling all team players (except the team's lone black member) to provide dna samples. And on April 18, he had two sophomores, Reade Seligmann, 20, and Collin Finnerty, 19, arrested on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Within a few days of his arrest, Seligmann was able to put forward evidence that suggested he might not be one of the assailants. He admitted attending the party, but reportedly produced telephone and bank records to show that he had called a taxi at 12:14 a.m., was picked up by 12:20 a.m., withdrew money from an atm at 12:24 a.m. and was in his dorm by 12:46. His taxi driver, Moez Mostafa, confirmed his account. If Seligmann participated in what is alleged to have been a 30-minute assault, it would have had to begin within minutes of the time the women arrived, "around 11:30 p.m."
If Finnerty has an alibi, he has yet to produce it. In the meantime, his arrest has put a spotlight on an earlier brush with the law. It could jeopardize a deal that allowed Finnerty to avoid trial on a charge of assaulting a man in Washington last November after making a slur about his sexual orientation. In the Durham case, defense lawyers for Finnerty and the others are wondering about the DNA tests—the second round, as it turns out. The first round came back negative, defense lawyers say, an outcome that sent Nifong scrambling for a more detailed set from a different lab. Results are due this week.
The players' lawyers—there may be as many as 50 or more working directly or indirectly on the team's behalf—have begun to test the other weaknesses in the case. The victim faced an array of criminal charges in 2002, when she allegedly stole a car, ran some traffic signals and assaulted an officer trying to make an arrest. The second stripper, Roberts, 31, told the Raleigh News and Observer last week she thinks the suspects are guilty, but added, "I was not in the bathroom when it happened, so I can't say a rape occurred." She wrote an e-mail to a New York City public-relations firm last week that read, "I found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country. I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage."
Many of the uncertainties in Nifong's case would be overcome if he had a single witness from the lacrosse squad to back the women's story. Police have pressed the Duke players to cooperate, and Nifong has said he is still hunting for the third man in the bathroom. "I would like to think," Nifong said last month, "that somebody has the human decency to call up and say, 'What am I doing covering up for a bunch of hooligans?'" There is evidence that some players conspired to hide their identities that night. Court papers state that the alleged rapists used false names—"Adam," "Bret" and "Matt"—to refer to one another in the bathroom. And the victim told police she was told the bash was a gathering of Duke track and baseball players. If the team members are obeying a code of silence to protect a friend, even defense lawyers acknowledge it is unlikely to last.
Nifong has a reputation for fair play. He is a Little League umpire on weekends, and even lawyers who may face him in this case say he is competitive but uncommonly decent in court. At a candidates' debate, he admitted it was unlikely that many in the audience had ever heard of him before a few weeks ago. They certainly have now.
—Reported by Greg Fulton/Atlanta, Siobhan Morrissey and Sarah Kwak/Durham, Lisa McLaughlin/New York and Adam Zagorin and Elaine Shannon/Washington
No kidding. I read the Newsweak article to suggest strongly that the Nifong, Kim, Simeon, et al are a bunch of second rate hustlers who are bleeding this for all it is worth politically, financially, and any other way they can think of. We are all speculating that Nifong may have a smoking gun but I am convinced that there is no such evidence. He will play this out past the election. The reason the second round of DNA tests will not be released until after May 15 is to ensure that the results are not available until after the preliminary hearin, guarateeing that the charges will survive for another day. His underhanded dealings with Kim also demonstrate that the guy is a dangerous -- an idiot with ambition. Frankly, the fact that he has know some defense counsel for 25 years and blows up that bridge for short term political gain shows he lacks character and professionalism.
The lacrosse players are not choir boys, but what we are seeing in Durham now is precisely why (even when I was there 20 years ago), you were every, very cautious about getting mixed up with the locals.
abb, I asked the Mods to pull that post; we're not suppose to post whole Time content.
Can you repost it with an excerpt and a link, please???
Thanks.
BUMP!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1186544,00.html
Too Quick on the Draw?
The prosecutor in the Duke rape case comes under scrutiny when one of the students he’s just indicted presents an alibi
By MICHAEL DUFFY
Criminal lawyer Kerry Sutton of Durham, N.C., admires local district attorney Mike Nifong. She thinks the Durham county prosecutor is ethical and honest—in short, a solid lawyer. "I have a campaign sign of his in my front yard," she said last week. But Sutton, who is representing one of the 45 Duke lacrosse players who have not been charged in the alleged rape and kidnapping in Durham last month, takes a different line when it comes to Nifong's handling of the controversial case. "I think he's made some decisions I would not have," she said.
Such tentative second-guessing was the least of Nifong's problems. No sooner had he brought indictments against two members of the Duke squad for the March 13 episode than he found himself facing an army of lawyers stretching from Main Street in Durham to some of the most prestigious firms in Washington and New Jersey. Duke's lacrosse team draws students from exclusive private schools in the mid-Atlantic states, and many of the players' families are well connected and ably represented. Within days, the legal battalion gained some ground. New evidence—unseen by Nifong before the indictments—emerged that could exonerate one of the suspects.
snip
And trying to walk on one shoe, with a 6 inch heel while drunk or on drugs would be awkward, even make you fall down.
From what I have seen of those two, I wouldn't want to see it on ANY day!
That being said, I'm dying for the defense to call her.
_______________________________________
I think the defense has to call her [Kim]. The key question they have to ask her is why it that your colleague was away from you for some length of time that she did not inquire about her? The clear answer is she thought she was off turning tricks.
Which is another important point in favor of the defense. Why would rich, good-looking white guys be wanting to even touch either one of these skanks?
Good point! I hope that is the case, just to avoid any opportunity for the DA to try to discredit the pics. I'm sure that any other confiscated cameras will be compared on timestamps, assuming there are any.
...and if the prosecution is going to try and change the alleged time of the rape to before midnight, why would Crystal still dance? Why would she hang around for another half an hour? Why did Crystal not tell you about the rape?
The defense will slay her.
My God! He's blind, too??!!
BE SMIRK ROT
BE IRK MS ROT
MOBSTER IRK
REB KIM ROTS
REB IRK MOST
REB SKIM ROT
MOB STRIKER
TOMB RISKER
ROB ME SKIRT
MOB SKIRTER
And when I invite Lady Kimmy to dance for a party I want her to dance to a song by Ben Folds Five, called "Songs for the Dumped." It contains a line "Give me my money back you bitch."
TIME Magazine: "See! See! Everthing Nifong does is for the children!"
Thanks!
We don't want to go to court again!
The way the DBM mags and rags are loosing circulation, won't be long they'll be begging us to post their stuff...
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