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.

[snarkytart]

They were excluded in the Mike Tyson case.
_____________

Was there a police report of rape filed by Desiree Washington in the Tyson case of someone before she accused Tyson?????
I thought in that case it was an older boyfriend saying DW claimed rape, and she said that was not true, but no report was filed.

[Carolinamom]

A newly elected DA, it seems to me, would have some influence to get the Police Chief to fire 'disloyal' force.

[cdga5for4]

Yes, that isn't that unusual.

[Sacajaweau]

Then, no matter what...It couldn't have been a statutory. Filing later doesn't change her age at the time of the incident. What it amounts to is probably that her parents would have been involved at age 14. Not at 18.

[snarkytart]

DiFong may not have known anything? If he hadn't signed that order to go lenient on her (the bond or whatever), I'd say he didn't know.

__________________
Wait! When was this?

I thought that was Kim Nifong signed the bond for, and that was because she was on probation.
It is easy to find out who is on active probation, not much investigating. I think the deal with Kim was to get her to tailor her story to fit the DA's so-called case.

I do not think Nifong researched Mangum's past too well before indicting the Colin and Reade.

[Locomotive Breath]

Here's an interesting link:

Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong: UNC Law Grad, career county DA, now standing for reelection; May 2, 2006 primary. Interesting fact: He could not get work when he graduated from law school in the late 1970s [my bold], so he served as a volunteer ADA until a slot opened up. Appointed to the top job last year, he has a good reputation, but won criticism for his handling of this case so far.

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/crimprof_blog/2006/04/the_lawyers_in_.html

Must have made really good grades in law school. Everything about this guy screams mediocrity.

[Sacajaweau]

They're reallly, really staying away from "where were the kids" that evening. Bet these kids have seen a lot.

[Carolinamom]

I still remain flabbergasted that Crystal's multiple felonies were pled down to misdemeanors.

[maggief]

Maybe that's why the case was dropped. Statutory rape didn't apply.

[maggief]

Megyn told FNC the cousin says it happened when she was 16 not 14.

Good grief!

[olrtex]

Was Nifong really negotiating pleas in traffic court when he was appointed to the DA position? Was it because of his health or what? Who supported his appointment by the Governor?

[GAgal]

Someone here said Nifong illustrates the Peter Principle. I agree.

[El Gran Salseron]

"How is he avoiding the press while he's running for office on Tuesday?"

The question isn't, "How?" but "Why?"

[Carolinamom]

Good Grief! is right. The cousin seems to be the keeper of the family history.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I keep hearing "look at the DNA" from those mysterious posts.

[GAgal]

Me too, especially after the taxi incident in which she tried to turn the police officer into road kill. For that she spent three WEEKENDS in jail? Ridiculous.

[Sacajaweau]

Hey...maybe there's one in every town in the area.

Then she joined the Navy after hearing "one in every port". That didn't work out real well.

Then she joined an Escort Service after hearing that she'd have her own "territory".

Hey, this girl is just looking for routes!!

[shhrubbery!]

It probably was not pursued because she just wanted to use the rape as an excuse for her parents not to condemn her for going with those three voluntarily.

Good theory. That ultimately turned out to be the real story behind the Tawana Brawley fraud, IIRC.

Tawana had disappeared for a couple of days with her boyfriend, and feared the wrath of her parents. So she came up with her rape tale.

At least Crystal didn't blame her first "gang rape" on eeeeevil white men.

[writmeister]

Usually, police officers have civil service protection which makes it quite difficult to fire one.

I once worked on the prosecution of a police officer for aggravated sexual assault, and the city was unable to fire him until he was convicted and his appeal finished.

[snarkytart]

I still remain flabbergasted that Crystal's multiple felonies were pled down to misdemeanors..

__________

It's not too strange if there was an agreement to go to rehab, or seek mental health treatment.
Remember before she stole the cab she hid under a table in a dressing room of a strip club and wouldn't come out and looked 'spaced out' according to the club owner. That could have played a role in the judge lower the charges to misdemeanors.
He might have thought she was a bit nutty. Was this her first arrest, because that would be a factor as well.