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 ...
You're speaking of child porn, right? Adult porn is not illegal.
A great deal of the child porn on the internet is hosted overseas, out of U.S. jurisdiction.
No. It has to proved that minors were knowingly served.
Yes, perhaps for child endangerment or failure to adequately supervise, but not for contributing.
Fragile? She sounds like a sleazy, steamrolling, exorting liar to me. I think she is despicable. She should have her kids taken away, for starters. No real mother conducts herself the way this woman has. And I will bet you that she made this charge in order to beat a drug charge.
None of their lawyers will let them cooperate with Nifong at this point. If they stand pat and continue with their investigation, they will win this.
Jez, you still awake?
Yep. You?
If Nifong loses the identification, he has NOTHING to tie these two particular players to any crime against Mangum.
Just got up. Perusing the stories in the Durham Herald Sun
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-728341.html
And furthermore, the three team captains are the only pepole who've stipulated they were present. Therefore, as far as the legal case goes, only three Lax players were actually there. Am I correct? No one elese has admitted it, except Seligmna, who has an early out alibi.
I saw that, too. I'm done with Rita until she gets it together.
No mention of a broom in the search warrant.
Mangum's father, a chronic and comical liar with shades of Alzheimer's, is now stating that she claims she was raped with a broom and forced to orally copulate all three.
If she had originally stated she was raped with a broom, Nifong would have done a dragnet of all the witches in Durham instead of a DNA dragnet of the players.
I thought for sure that one of the captains gave Nifong a list of everyone who was there, or that he remembered being there. There was some recent mild hoopla over the alleged fact that whoever gave Nifong the list left Reade's name off of it.
Well, this is an issue in the reinstatement of the prior misdemeanor cases. Unless Nifong can PROVE the guys were at the party and drinking, misbehaving, etc., I would think he couldn't reinstate the old charges. And they won't stipulate that they were. Fifth Amendment and all that...
Very true. But it would be nice if they would do it anyway - get in one good, solid interview exposing the contradictions, devil be damned, and let the chips fall where they may.
I hope none of the guys who are at risk cave into this.
This whole situation is Kafkaesque...how I wish that Nifong would wake up this morning and discover that he had turned into a cockroach.
Carolinamom, I haven't seen anything new in the Carolina papers. Just rehash of stuff we knew yesterday. You seen anything new?
What a perambulation!
It's not spite, your wandereringness, just simple common sense. And target at all was one that the near-men painted upon themselves by foolish action under the influence -- whether that includes rape or sexual assault for some of them, is unknown to us all. Seems every one in this case, the DA being prime amongst, has a total lack of common sense.
The harm was done to the boys by the college's callous lack of oversight before the drunken yearlings hit send on the cell phone to the first escort service. Where was the house adult of full years? The resource of common sense and life wisdom to the senseless, once called a proctor or "house mom"? "Modern" colleges have pull all that "distasteful nonsense" behind them, so it seems.
Few are the exception, but there are some, thnakfully. Not Duke, not NC State -- so this case shows.
Not yet...still drinking coffee and catching up on what everyone posted after I was getting zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Ping me if you find something, and I'll do the same.
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