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.

[pepperhead]

OMG just got around to reading this. Nifong had to know about this didn't he? If he did he I hope he pays for it.

[Howlin]

January 1st.

[noblejones]

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

Wanna go? :-0
<<

YES! I LOVE kitties!!!

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

LOL!!!

[connectthedots]

From what I have read, the coach should have been fired earlier for lack of player discipline off the field. I have absolutely no empathy for the former coach.

Doesn't make the players guilty of the charged crimes, but it was one more example of why the coach was fired/resigned.

[noblejones]

>>
I'm not sure you could even come in 3 years later and file a rape charge. What evidence would she have of something that occurred 3 years ago.
<<

You racist, sexist, speciesist PIG! Womyns don't make false accusation of rape, so the accusation is proof enough.

I'm moving to France.

[snarkytart]

PS..lets not forget, according to Dan Abram's there is a photo that clearly shows a face of a man's watch worn by a player, and it matches the time on that is time stamped on the photo.

I am not sure, but I think Mangum's own account has her getting there briefly before 12 midnight. DA is just trying to bluff.

[snarkytart]

That stinks. Even if/when Nifong loses he will be out there beating this rape drum.

[connectthedots]

OMG just got around to reading this. Nifong had to know about this didn't he? If he did he I hope he pays for it.

You must be assuming Nifong has an IQ above the ambient temperature in January. You would be wrong.

[JLS]

My understanding on photos is:

1. You can set a camera time whatever you want, but if these are cell phone pictures, you can not change it. So I think you mean a time embedded in a file in a cell phone.

2. An investigator would need an original or maybe a good copy of the photo to see if it was altered. I can not tell if a photo has been altered, but I gather it does not take great expertise.

3. That one accused can reportedly show that he was not at the party and that the other can show he was making calls and left early may matter more than the photos.

[cherry]

"From what I have read, the coach should have been fired earlier for lack of player discipline off the field. I have absolutely no empathy for the former coach. Doesn't make the players guilty of the charged crimes, but it was one more example of why the coach was fired/resigned."

you know, we just don't know what kind of personal animosities have been going on....could be that the coach was on the outs before this....it does seem strange that he would up and resign so quickly....maybe, maybe, he was asked to do something unscrupulous like get DNA samples of hair or sweat etc or perhaps give list of names and phone numbers of playersetc etc...

[noblejones]

>>
The current leader is Malik Zulu Shabazz, and its headquarters is in Washington, D.C.
<<

Like Malik Zulu Shabazz, I need a cool new name too. What's the whitest name you guys can give me?

How about 'Cracker Mayonnaise Okeydokey.'

[cherry]

"That stinks. Even if/when Nifong loses he will be out there beating this rape drum."

it might even make him more aggressive ( and stupid) and he might want to push this case as fast as he can...

but he knows in his itty bitty little heart that this case is going nowhere....

besides...he probably thinks he's the darling of the leftist crowd now and will seek a US attorney's job....

[OakOak]

I've heard several in the Media (especially on Fox-Greta) say, what a pity, she's been (gang)raped before. They say, if anything, it makes her even more of a sympathtic figure.

Well, when the N&O observer was finally forced to report the accuser's criminal record and they safely tucked in into the bottom of an obscure article, they thought it meant something back THEN.

This is what they said:

"Under a deal with prosecutors, the woman pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors: larceny, speeding to elude arrest, assault on a government official and driving while impaired, according to court records. She was required to serve three consecutive weekends in jail and was placed on two years' probation, which she served without incident.

According to public records in Durham County, the woman HAD NOT PREVIOUSLY REPORTED BEING A CRIME VICTIM."
Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/426021.html

Anyone that read one of the articles on this case in the N&O knows how strongly they felt that this woman was brutually raped. In fact, their editorials continually called on Duke university to take action in the face of the "Wall of Silence."

That last sentence about NOT PREVIOUSLY REPORTING BEING A CRIME VICTIM was meant to bolster the woman's account.

What will it take for Kimberly Guilfoyle, Susan Filan,
Alan Colmes, etc to stop slandering these kids on the air repeatedly? Wendy Murphy has called them Rapists on National TV.

[Tall_Texan]

This might explain why *three* rapists are prominent in her mind even though she seems to have trouble identifying three in this case. Also note she claimed she was beaten back then and claims to be beaten this time.

[snarkytart]

I do not know if these pics were taken with a cell phone camera or a regular digital camera.
I assume they were using the cell phone. I cannot imagine too many guys carrying around a digital camera..most young people use their cell phone to take pics now.

[OakOak]

Anderson Cooper has Lisa Bloom on and she said this has no bearing on this case. She is saying that Rape victims are vunerable and it makes sense she was raped before.

Watch them.. Just like with the DNA statistics on Rape, this is a GANG-RAPE. How Many women are Gang-Raped twice in their life by 27? At an undisclosed location. I'm sure she went into Possum-mode again too. She has a mental illness apparently - or mental issues certainly.

She went into possum mode one night while dancing at Diamond Girls and there was no accusation of rape, assault, or attack. She was drinking then too.

.

[snarkytart]

Interesting.

This women is obviously making things up and I think it's sad to hear the TV talkingheads still try to spin everything in her favor.

[OakOak]

Yes. It's kind of unbelievable. She has so much baggage it's overwhelming and then the case has so many holes.

The DA is responsible here. There was absolutely no rush to indict, he could've investigated for months (and months). Some many people wanted this attack to be true.

When you have an accuser with No credibility - none - you'd think they would've investigated more. Gathered all the facts. Then you have 70 interviews in a media tour and then an ELECTION forum at the the girl's historically black University where the DA speaks out against these guys.

What a travesty, but the media is out to lunch because this story doesn't fit their agenda.

[snarkytart]

Watch them.. Just like with the DNA statistics on Rape, this is a GANG-RAPE. How Many women are Gang-Raped twice in their life by 27?
_______

By three men, both times, and was beaten both times.

Story sounds the same.