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Duke Lacrosse Accuser Made Previous Report
AP ^ | Apr 27 2006 | AARON BEARD

Posted on 04/27/2006 4:27:11 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: duke; dukelax; nifong
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To: StarFan

There has to be caselaw on the inclusion and exclusion of prior false accusations -- it is hard for me to believe that prior false accusations are somehow excluded. The prosecutor would be free to raise a prior rape case to support the credibility of the VA, would he not?


721 posted on 04/28/2006 6:39:31 AM PDT by bjc (Check the data!!)
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To: maggief

"The fact that it took her three years to come forward after the 1993 alleged attack may be inconsequential. North Carolina has no statute of limitations on felonies. A rape can still be filed and prosecuted, WHETHER IT BE THREE YEARS OR THIRTY YEARS after the incident."

That fact, if true, should strike terror into the hearts of men everywhere.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=1900472&page=3


722 posted on 04/28/2006 6:40:46 AM PDT by GAgal
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To: Mad-Margaret

Here are copies of the report. The Creedmoor Police are making a report available. I don't know if it's more information or what has been given the AP ...

http://www.wral.com/download/2006/0428/9057546.pdf

http://www.wral.com/download/2006/0428/9057549.pdf


723 posted on 04/28/2006 6:41:07 AM PDT by maggief (and the dessert cart rolls on ...)
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To: maggief; Howlin

I've looked at them. ;)

I was just wondering whether those of us who can't get WRAL missed something after Fox cut away.

Didn't Howlin once post that she heard a caller on a Durham radio show saying that Crystal had made a similar claim of rape?


724 posted on 04/28/2006 6:43:57 AM PDT by Mad-Margaret
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To: Carolinamom

She was engaged to McNeill when she filed the report in 1996.


725 posted on 04/28/2006 6:45:25 AM PDT by maggief (and the dessert cart rolls on ...)
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To: darbymcgill

I've seen it and it's not clear, but you could make a case that the wrist watch shows 12:00..

_____________________

Where did you see it?

I do not think that particular photo was release to the media.


726 posted on 04/28/2006 6:45:39 AM PDT by snarkytart
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To: maggief

How does a police chief of a city of 2000 not remember the case? Even if he wasn't the investigating officer, he was the chief at the time. I wonder how many officers Creedmore had at the time?


727 posted on 04/28/2006 6:46:41 AM PDT by Neverforget01 (Proud enemy of the drive-by-media)
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To: maggief

How many rape charges have been filed in Creedmore in the past 50 years? Someone remembers something..the town is so small.


728 posted on 04/28/2006 6:48:34 AM PDT by Neverforget01 (Proud enemy of the drive-by-media)
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To: maggief; Mad-Margaret
I saw that about the id of the boyfriend being her later 1st husband.

The video of today's press conference is at wral.com.

729 posted on 04/28/2006 6:48:57 AM PDT by Carolinamom
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To: Mad-Margaret

I saw part of it on WRAL after FNC cut away, then lost the live feed again.

They don't have any more information. The investigator, who's now with another agency, only has a vague recollection of the case. The police chief was unaware of it and the case didn't go to the DA.

There's no chronological report from the AV on file. It's not known if one was completed.


730 posted on 04/28/2006 6:50:30 AM PDT by maggief (and the dessert cart rolls on ...)
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To: Carolinamom

"1st husband"

?? How many more does she have? (just kidding)


731 posted on 04/28/2006 6:50:39 AM PDT by Mad-Margaret
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To: snarkytart

732 posted on 04/28/2006 6:51:22 AM PDT by maggief (and the dessert cart rolls on ...)
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To: Carolinamom

Sorry for my terrible syntax in #729...it's early.


733 posted on 04/28/2006 6:51:25 AM PDT by Carolinamom
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To: Neverforget01

It sounds like the case wasn't presented to the police chief.


734 posted on 04/28/2006 6:52:15 AM PDT by maggief (and the dessert cart rolls on ...)
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To: Mad-Margaret

My proventialism is showing......father of her children was NOT a husband. lol


735 posted on 04/28/2006 6:52:48 AM PDT by Carolinamom
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To: Carolinamom

Do you think McNeill could be the current bf of the AV?


736 posted on 04/28/2006 6:53:35 AM PDT by maggief (and the dessert cart rolls on ...)
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To: snarkytart
There is a picture of a watch that Abrams talked about on his show. It is hard for us to see the time but he has seen the picture and said the time on the watch is 12:00. On his show yesterday there were blow ups of the picture of the dancer getting in the car and the person in the driver's seat, so maybe there is a better picture of the watch.

Picture of Watch

737 posted on 04/28/2006 6:55:08 AM PDT by I want to know
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To: Carolinamom

provincialism....that is.


738 posted on 04/28/2006 6:55:27 AM PDT by Carolinamom
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To: VaFarmer
Somebody believed her at some point. Why? Chill folks. There is more to come somewhere.

I think you are right. Could she be an informant? Why did the DA immediately jump to her defense? Is it as simple as an election? a grudge against Duke? or something else.

739 posted on 04/28/2006 6:56:49 AM PDT by ladyjane
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To: maggief

Poet Chris Vitiello should try reading the news ...

http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-729212.html



Meanwhile, a benefit organized to raise money for the alleged victim at Joe and Jo's Downtown drew only a handful of supporters Thursday night. Organizer Chris Vitiello said he wondered if interest in the case had waned.

"The story has had so many twists and turns," he said, "It's seemed lately that [the story] is about the DA's election and that seems to leave a sour taste in some people's mouths."
________________

People are trying hard to keep a united front, but it appears Mangum is even losing support in the black community of Durham.


740 posted on 04/28/2006 6:58:30 AM PDT by snarkytart
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