Posted on 04/25/2006 2:34:48 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
I don't believe a word anyone in her family says. She's a proven liar and so is her father. It really annoys me that Rita Cosby and Greta Van Susteren keep interviewing the father. Nobody ever calls him on the contradictory stories he's told.
Nobody ever calls him on the contradictory stories he's told.
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Of course not he might clam up. The frenzy needs to be fed every day.
If charges are dropped it is not going to be due to the DA acting unprofessionally, that did not stop the GJ from indicting the two young men.
If the charges are dismissed it will because he has no evidence of a rape and his two witnesses that are not credible.
Is he (and the ones who are supporting this theory) actually so stupid as to not think the two are mutually exclusive?
Agree on all points, and not only all that, Nifong's gone and really pissed them all off big time by doing this, as if they all weren't pissed off enough in the first place. All this is going to do is ratchet up the wall of defense.
I don't think Nifong expects this to bring him any information, which leaves us with raw malice on Nifong's part.
They should force Nifong into trying every single one of the viable expungement agreements. Bring on the witnesses and complainants, bring on the evidence, and make the bastard prove every single cahrge to a jury.
"It's for sure Nifong's bet all the chips. I don't think he knows how to get off the runaway train now..."
He may very well get thrown off the train, come election day.
I heard on one of the shows that there were 4 or 5 still on probation.
I say bring it, Nifong. Prove your case, bring in your witnesses, and be sure to tie up the courts with a bunch of petty, ridiculous charges. Now that the entire public knows what you're up to, have fun getting convictions.
Geez, what an illiterate moron. I hope every last one of those sleaze bag whores gets fleas.........or worse.
He should be brought up on ethics charges NOW, and I've been saying so for three weeks!
The only way she goes to jail is if Freda Black is elected. If Nifong splits the black vote with Bishop, it might happen.
Wrong.
As soon as they saw the women were black, they should have slipped them eah $50 and sent them packing, after taking their pictures and filming them leaving. They should have never let them in the door.
But they did. They're young, horny, and not real streetwise, at least in terms of the black shakedown thang.
They made a mistake, but the real crime here comes from Nifong, and the players have no control over his ambitions or his ethics. They have no control over Jesse Jackson or any of his shakedown artist associates, and they have no control over two lying whores looking for a payday.
That's what makes this latest maneuver of Nifong's fairly unethical.
I agree with the first part of your assertions. I would point out that ONCE MANGUM BECAME A VICTIM, SHE WAS IN THE POSITION OF HAVING TO GIVE CONSENT FOR THE DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTS.
No, I think it had something to do with their dorm meal cards.
All of this stuff is so petty, it's laughable. I'd take it to trial and risk a conviction before I'd give Nifong the time of day.
I heard Weintraub, too. She didn't have any of her facts right, so she obviously hasn't been following the case. She's another media whoreyer. A respectable attorney would have declined the opportunity to comment until she got up to speed.
That was my thought, too. If that's the case, he should be able to prove false arrest, inasmuch as Mangum's bogus identification of him is going be thrown out if the judge follows NC law and the U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
In terms of the deferred prosecution cases, no he doesn't. That's because the boys are supposed to obey all laws, which would include not participating in underage drinking. When they're on those deferment programs, they can be asked about their activities at any time.
The smartest thing for the seven who are still on the hook is to take their chances with a judge instead of Nifong. I wouldn't give him the time of day except to tell him to pound sand.
Very true, and I would make him prove each and every case. let him figure out who was there and who wasn't.
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