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.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

Contacted by phone Thursday, the accuser's father said his daughter made the report to police after she was held against her will by a group of men who had picked her up from school and driven her to Creedmoor.

The man said he became concerned when his daughter, who was living in Durham at the time, did not return from school. The girl was located in a house in Creedmoor, her father said. She was not sexually assaulted or injured in the incident, he said.

"They didn't do anything to her," he said.

Huh? Is he saying she was kidnapped in 1996, and then alleged that her captors raped her in 1993?

[snarkytart]

CNN on the case....Lisa Bloom and Jami Floyd

________

That was kind of worthless.
Big mouthed Bloom. ACK!

[torchthemummy]

Combined with alcohol, antidepressants like Zoloft, Prozac and Wellbutrin can make one drink seem like two and potentiate the sedative effects of the medications.

So true. When I had percosets (sic)after having a tooth removed I purposely drank after taking some and holy moly!

[mystery-ak]

How would you like Ted Williams to defend you? He's an idiot. He runs off his mouth night after night, and it shows that he has not researched anything. He's almost clueless. On the other hand, Geoffrey Fieger called this from day one. I REALLY like him.



Ted Williams....ha....my hubby makes me turn him off when he's in the room...he thinks he's an idiot......Fieger is the one I'd call if I ever need a defense lawyer...

[F.J. Mitchell]

Or three times before by two white men.

[Howlin]

And we had a false accuser here

But...but.......but......I thought there were hardly ever any false rape accusations.

[toldyou]

"I read his bio the other day.....how can the AV afford him?"

A few days ago I read an article that said when the phone rings, and he sees it's Jesse, he doesn't answer it because he knows he's got a case for him, and it's always someone without money. He wants clients WITH money!

I thought that was hilarious!

[Publius22]

What does the father mean, "they didn't do anything to her"? I thought she was traumatized by that first incident.

[Howlin]

I am more confused than ever....I thought the mother said they did not tell the father........

They just can't seem to "find" a story and stick to it, can they?

The man said he became concerned when his daughter, who was living in Durham at the time, did not return from school.

She was 14 years old; didn't he miss her the first night?

The girl was located in a house in Creedmoor, her father said. She was not sexually assaulted or injured in the incident, he said.

That's not what she told the police, is it?

I am really confused by this family.

They need group therapy.

[LK44-40]

WTVD in Durham reported just a few minutes ago that "the family" had refused the offer of "protection" by the New Black Panther Party. The unidentified family spokesman said that the case "is not about race."

This is surprisingly sensible.

[Alia]

... and she went for therapy for a year in Raleigh: "but they didn't really understand why".

Mystery-AK: It ain't you: It's them.

[writmeister]

That is trickier because the relevance of the prior accusation is not that there was a prior accusation, but that the prior accusation was false. It is highly likely that the judge would exclude the prior accusation unless the complainant somehow opened the door to this evidence in her testimony.

Also, if they cannot prove that the prior accusation is false, the defense probably would not want to admit it anyways since it could possibly make a juror feel pity for the complainant.

[Law is not justice but process]

I would think that if the defense had clear and convincing evidence the prior accusation was false, they might bring it in, as it would be highly probative of credibility. If, for instance, the case was not pursued because the accused were, say, in the Army and stationed in Germany at the time of the accusation, the defense could probably get it in. It is a collateral matter (and judges who aren't named Ito hate collateral matters), but it would be so cotton-pickin' probative of credibility I think it would HAVE to come in.

[Peach]

I have no words. Well, I do, but I can't print them here.

This is perhaps the biggest miscarriage of justice I've ever seen. And these young men will never recover from this and I hope that b*tch serves time for her false charges, but I doubt it.

[Ken H]

Just saw MSNBC legal analyst Susan Filan on Tucker Carlson. Claimed that rape allegations are typically not taken seriously by police! Says the general attitude is, "Yeah, yeah."

That is total BS!

[F.J. Mitchell]

Stupidity is not by choice and there is no cure, but ignorance on the other hand is treatable,

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Sometimes I think the same thing--if I need a lawyer, get Feiger. Then I remember where Kervorkian is.

[Sacajaweau]

Sounds like Daddy went alook'n for his little girl and found her at a Hooker 101 orientation class.

[Howlin]

But............the New Black Panthers ARE having a rally in Durham on Monday.

Wanna go? :-0

[rintense]

She sounds like Sarah on 24... 'did you see that? He touched me.'