Lacrosse players face old charges (Nifong retaliates against Duke Lax)

News & Observer ^ | April 25, 2006 | Benjamin Niolet and Joseph Neff

[abb]

DURHAM - District Attorney Mike Nifong plans to reinstate misdemeanor charges against a half-dozen Duke lacrosse players, saying a March 13 party where a woman reported a rape broke the deals that the players made with prosecutors.

Nifong's decision could affect players who, before the party, had entered agreements in which prosecutors would dismiss the cases if the players performed community service and stayed out of trouble for six months or a year. Among the first to have his charges reinstated was David Evans, one of the team captains who lived at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., the site of the party in which lacrosse players hired two women from escort services to dance. One of the women told police that she was raped by three men in a bathroom.

Two players, Collin Finnerty, 19, and Reade William Seligmann, 20, were charged last week with first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense and first-degree kidnapping. Their attorneys say the men are innocent.

On Monday, an attorney for Seligmann filed a motion seeking information that would help attack the credibility of the woman, the only person, according to the defense filing, who says a rape occurred. The motion seeks information about the woman, including criminal charges, mental and emotional problems the woman has suffered as well as social services, probation, child protective services and victim's advocacy records.

Today, Finnerty is due in a Washington court where prosecutors in an assault charge are considering whether to revoke a deferred prosecution agreement similar to those affecting other players in Durham.

According to court records, 16 players were charged in the past three years with misdemeanor charges in Durham including noise violations, public urination and alcohol violations. The deals placed the men on probation for either six months or a year.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

How pathetic is Time? Time is desperate to spin this in favor of the accuser and against the Duke students to further their hateful, spiteful, racial political agenda. Like most of their work, in this case Time counts on the ignorance of their readers.

The defense says they have Kim on record as saying in an interview that she drove the AV from the house to the Kroger and that the AV was with her in the car the entire time.

Kim's car, as we can hear in the second 911 call tape, is a dark blue (looks black) Honda.

In the photo at 12:41, the car is a dark blue car and looks like a Honda.

You can see someone's arm in the photo at 12:41 helping her in (or in Time's universe, helping her out) of the car.

So is Time now suggesting she is so drunk she needed help getting out of the car at the beginning of the party? (Contrary of course to Kim's version, Bissey's version, and the boys' version).

Time is as cynical as they come in the MSM.

[don'tbedenied]

Sorry I need to change my scenario, Kim gets into a white car. So what?
This article is a real stretch, under any scenario, there was some vehicle switching by the "strippers".

[snarkytart]

Agreed. The color of the car and the time of the second call
is really irrelevant. As long as Reade's cell record matches the taxi computerized log, and the receipts from the ATM and restaurant are timestamped accurately.
Then what difference does the second call to the house make. Reade's alibi is relying more on cell records and receipts than the word of the cabby. I am sure the cabby can add some interesting testimony about the behavior of RS in the cab etc, but the time line is laid out by a paper trail.

[Locomotive Breath]

One seeks to devalue that which one does not have. That rejection letter still stings doesn't it?

[TexKat]

NBC17 Exclusive Audio: Durham Police Radio Transmissions On Night Of Alleged Rape

Radio Tapes Released From Night Of Alleged Duke Rape

Authorities have released tapes of police radio transmissions from the night a North Carolina Central student says she was raped by three members of the Duke lacrosse team.

The audio recording is of a conversation between a Durham police officer and police dispatcher the beginning at 12:58 a.m. March 14.

The black woman, a 27-year-old stripper and college student, told police she was raped and beaten by three white men around midnight at an off-campus party thrown by Duke's lacrosse team.

The audio recording begins when an officer responds to the scene of the party, a house on Buchanan Street. The officer tells the dispatcher that the alleged victim had apparently already left the scene.

The recording resumes when the same officer responds to another 911 call from a Kroger grocery store security guard at about 1:30 a.m. The guard called to report a woman in the parking lot who would not get out of someone else's car.

The officer can then be heard giving the dispatcher the police code for an intoxicated person. When asked whether the woman needed medical help, the officer said, "She's breathing and appears to be fine. She's not in distress. She's just passed-out drunk."

Duke lacrosse players Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, both 20, currently face charges of rape and kidnapping in the case. District Attorney Mike Nifong and investigators believe Finnerty, Seligmann and one other unnamed player raped the woman.

[bvw]

LOL! You are reaching! Nah, never been to Duke. Have a nephew who did, he is doing very well. Started a movie distributorship out in LALA land. Have plenty of relations living in the Carolinas and who have gone to other --very good, too-- schools there. Will not be mentioning those schools, again, it just is not appropriate to this discussion.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

<< under any scenario, there was some vehicle switching by the "strippers". >>

I disagree. The best explanation is Mostafa simply remembers the color of the car incorrectly. Remember, Mostafa wouldn't have thought twice about this episode until many days later. We all know how human memory works.

The defense version is there was no white car. Kim's version is there was no white car. We have the 12:41 photo showing a dark blue car, could be a Honda, with the AV in the passenger side and a woman in the driver's side. We know that a dark blue Honda showed up in the Kroger lot with the two women sometime before 1:22.

The cab driver has already changed his recollection on the time he came to pick up the second group of boys.

[darbymcgill]

While meeting for the first time with investigators, the cabbie reveals details that cast doubt on a key to the defense's timeline alibi

This may cast some doubt on the alibis of those still in attendance after RS left, but it does nothing to his alibi.. And she's 100% sure it was RS...

Let's say the AV left through the back door alone at 12:04ish and fell down then went to the car to sit for a while before going back in for her shoe... are we to believe that Kim sat in the car for over 30 minutes waiting for her and not mention it in her interviews... all the while knowing there were no $100 bills shoved under the BR door....

I gotta ponder that one for a minute...

[snarkytart]

since she has made a 100% certainty identification of Seligmann and Finnerty. There is virtually no wiggle room for the D.A. to charge three other party-goers.

______________

YES!! SO TRUE!

I guess that is something the boneheads in the media always seem to forget as they try and twist the accusers story into fitting the facts of the case.

[don'tbedenied]

Makes sense, if the first car is blue too. But where does the driver go and who is he? Why a driver if its Kim's car?

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

Who was the driver who dropped Kim off at the beginning?

Good question.

Probably her boyfriend, who may be her manager/pimp.

Isn't it interesting that investigative reporters have no problem tracking down, and convincing to talk, her father, her former husband, her cousin, etc.

Where is the boyfriend? He was with her at the hospital. He was with her when the father saw her the next day.

Could it be that if we were to find out more about the boyfriend, it would cast even more doubt on the accuser's story? Is that why the MSM doesn't seem to be talking about him?

[darbymcgill]

I almost forgot... thanks for all of the articles TK... is saves up bandwidth challenged and lazy FReepers from all that surfing and is much appreciated....

[TexKat]

Flacking up

BY MOSI SECRET

As developments continue in the Duke lacrosse scandal and the media maintains its probing gaze, parties on all sides are flacking up in efforts to put their best faces forward for the cameras, reporters and photographers who have parachuted into Durham over the last six weeks. Media spin is the name of the game.

One of the strippers at the infamous party, Kim Roberts, who says she was not assaulted, sought the advice of a New York public relations firm on "how to spin this to my advantage," according to reports.

A group of relatives and supporters of lacrosse players calling themselves the Committee for Fairness to Duke Families hired Bob Bennett, President Clinton's former lawyer, because "they felt their positions were not getting out there," Bennett told TheNews & Observer.

And Duke stepped up its game, retaining Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations firm that has helped polish the reputations of some of America's largest corporations.

"They brought in a bunch of people who have been essentially training groups of 10 to 12 administrators, faculty and students to talk to the media. They've been pre-positioning these people to latch on to the TV crews coming through," one source says.

Last week, Burson-Marsteller session participants learned the basics of public relations, according to the source: Stress the positive. Never repeat a negative assertion. Use transition comments to shift the direction of the conversation. Stick to the talking points, like how some Duke students have used their spring break to travel to New Orleans to help Katrina victims. This was all part of an effort to present the best image during alumni reunion activities, which took place last weekend, the source says.

"That's not true," says John Burness, senior vice president of public affairs and spokesperson of the university, when told of a description of the training. "President Brodhead and I have largely been the public spokespeople for Duke on these issues. And the press is very hungry to have people from the faculty and student body to talk about Duke University as they know it. So we contacted a bunch of students and faculty members who have indicated interest in this. Burson-Marsteller sat down with them and didn't tell them what they should say but said, 'These are the kinds of questions you might get asked and these are the ways you handle them.'" He estimates that less than 20 faculty and students participated in the sessions.

"The strategies we are using are most effective given the media frenzy in which we've been a part," Burness says. "We are not used to having satellite trucks 24-7."

More

[don'tbedenied]

Much as I despise the drve-by media, I would imagine a pimp wouldn't be easy to find and sure wouldn't want to talk. And given the fact that she was a hooker, the driver almost surely was a pimp.

[TexKat]

You are welcome darbymcgill

Did you listen to the Durham police transmission in post #1045? Somehow I must have missed that the police went to the Buchanan address first before going to the Kroger.

I was under the impression that they had gone to the Kroger first.

Ping to released police transmission post #1045.

[gop_gene]

That is so ridiculous--but then again, so are they. In those cases there were victims, that's indisputable because there were dead bodies. But in a case like this where the "victim" is alive and it's they said-she said and there are more holes in her story than swiss cheese, there's a big question as to whether she's really the victim here, and not the accused.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

' Did they take turns with the broom, or what? "

Now, we have a new twist.
Last night, the father told Rita that his daughter said she was " raped " with a broom.
Just reported on Hannity,that today the father told Megyn Kendall that the players sodomized her using a broom.
I predict that tomorrow the father will tell CNN that the AV told him that she was forced to perform orally on a broom.

[TexKat]

Some Locals Disagree With National Media's Portrayal Of Durham

DURHAM, N.C. -- Pick up any newspaper or turn to any channel, and it's a good bet Duke lacrosse is mentioned at some point. After over five weeks of making headlines, the national focus on Durham doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

From the cover of Newsweek to the inside pages of People magazine, Duke, Durham and the rape investigation continue to dominate national headlines.

“I think some of the coverage has been unfair to Durham,” said resident Stefani Barbero.

Barbero is a Duke grad who chose to live in Durham because of it's diversity and community activism. She believes the national media tried to turn the protests, prayer vigils and public forums into something negative.

“I just get the feeling people are waiting for the riot -- it's never going to happen,” said Barbero.

Mayor Bill Bell feels the national media is quick to exploit the racy side of the story. In the first few weeks, many portrayed Durham as a poor black city sitting in the shadows of the elite white university. Bell said with fewer developments in the criminal case, the media is finally paying more attention to detail.

“The New York Times has suddenly decided to say Durham is a middle-class city instead of a gritty city,” he said.

Most of the media has packed up and left, but some networks are here for the long haul. Their crews have been told they're staying indefinitely.

Bell said there is a silver lining to all the coverage. He believes all the focus on the case has forced community leaders and residents to take a hard look at underlying issues like classism and racism. Bell said there’s been plenty of dialogue, and that's a good thing.

[gop_gene]

Doesn't no match mean no match? What is this "inconclusive" stuff about the DNA found under her finger nails?

Probably prosecutorial mumbo-jumbo meaning "dang it, the evidence didn't turn out the way we wanted it to!"

[gop_gene]

Word was that they wanted white strippers and got sent the wrong order.