Duke Lacrosse Accuser Made Previous Report

AP ^ | Apr 27 2006 | AARON BEARD

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

The woman who says she was raped by three members of Duke's lacrosse team also told police 10 years ago she was raped by three men, filing a 1996 complaint claiming she had been assaulted three years earlier when she was 14.

Authorities in nearby Creedmoor said Thursday that none of the men named in the decade-old report was ever charged but they didn't have details why.

A phone number for the accuser has been disconnected and her family declined to comment to The Associated Press. But relatives told Essence magazine in an online story this week that the woman declined to pursue the case out of fear for her safety.

The existence of the report surprised defense attorneys, one of whom has sought information about the accuser's past for use in attacking her credibility.

"That's the very first I've heard of that," said Bill Cotter, the attorney for indicted lacrosse player Collin Finnerty, who along with fellow Duke sophomore Reade Seligmann is charged with first-degree rape, kidnapping and sexual assault. He declined additional comment.

Attorneys for Seligmann asked the court this week to order the state to turn over the accuser's medical, legal and education records, and hold a pretrial hearing to "determine if the complaining witness is even credible enough to provide reliable testimony."

The accuser, a 27-year-old student at North Carolina Central University in Durham, told police she was hired to perform as a stripper at a March 13 party, where she was raped by three men.

According to the Creedmoor police report in August 1996, when the woman was 18, she told officers she was raped and beaten by three men "for a continual time" in 1993, when she was 14. She told police she was attacked at an "unspecified location" on a street in Creedmoor, a town 15 miles northeast of Durham.

The report lists the names of the three men, but no other details. Creedmoor police Chief Ted Pollard said Thursday he had no recollection of the report, and his staff has been unable to find any additional information about it.

Durham police Officer Brian Bishop, who interviewed the accuser in 1996 while working on the Creedmoor force, said Thursday he had a vague recollection of the report but couldn't remember any details.

When asked about the accuser's previous report of rape, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong declined to comment.

Before Seligmann and Finnerty were indicted, attorneys for the players pointed to the accuser's criminal history when answering questions about their clients' legal troubles. The woman pleaded guilty to several misdemeanors in 2002.

[skaterboy]

GAME OVER

[prognostigaator]

Sh shoulda saved the blue dress.

[EggsAckley]

Nifong declined to comment

Surprise, surprise.

[builder]

The sound of water rushing out of a breaking dam.

[jennyjenny]

This prior rape supposedly happened 3 years before she reported it to police? Am I reading this right?

[Mark was here]

If at first you first you don't succeed...

[mystery-ak]

Well, looky hear........I'm telling you this case is never going to trial...

[CPOSharky]

Any bets the charges be dropped after the election?

[SouthernFreebird]

Well this time it's gonna pay off. The chik is getting a free ride thru school for fingering some white boys for the race hustlers.

[Perdogg]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060427/ap_on_sp_co_ne/duke_lacrosse_1;_ylt=AtTA6LZ2O21ZYCJL4frwmxze.6Uv;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[TexKat]

Duke Lacrosse Accuser Made Previous Report

Durham police Officer Brian Bishop, who interviewed the accuser in 1996 while working on the Creedmoor force, said Thursday he had a vague recollection of the report but couldn't remember any details.

[pogo101]

Did Tawana Brawley change her name and move to North Carolina somewhere back there?

All joking aside, things aren't looking good lately for the prosecution. At the very least, it's looking like reasonable doubt.

[mystery-ak]

What do you think?.....pattern maybe?

[mystery-ak]

I just wonder what happened in this case...?

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

Great analogy! ...I often forget Rev. Al's slander against a N.Y. prosecutor

[TexKat]

This prior rape supposedly happened 3 years before she reported it to police? Am I reading this right?

Well you know what they say, that woman normally don't want to and sometimes don't report rape.

[SuzyQue]

It sounds like something ugly happened that night, and because of the accuser's occupation and unsavory past, some very sick young men may get away with an anwful crime.

There is no way to know for sure, but there is a lot of information that paints these young men and the events of that night in a less-than-positive light. I hope I'm wrong - but we don't know enough to convict OR exonerate these young men yet. Ditto the accuser.

[TexKat]

I just wonder what happened in this case...?

It makes one wonder. This person has some serious problems.

If a doctor had prescibed her meds for her psychological probs relating to a rape when she was 14, that should be easy to find out, perhaps.

[mystery-ak]

I just wonder if these three men were innocent.....and once again it's 3.....3 is the magic number...what are the chances of that happening to you twice!