Duke Rape Case Defense: Throw Out DA Nifong and Photo ID

ABC ^ | May 1, 2006 | CHRIS CUOMO, ERIC AVRAM, and LARA SETRAKIAN

[don'tbedenied]

Accused Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann's attorneys want Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong thrown off the case.

Today, they filed a legal motion specifically asking for it.

"DA Mike Nifong neglected his duty as a prosecutor to seek the truth and a fair prosecution," the defense's motion reads.

The motions were filed just 24 hours before Nifong's Tuesday election in which he's fighting to keep his seat. Nifong is being challenged by former prosecutor Freda Black and private lawyer Keith Bishop

[OakOak]

It was an evolving story, you're right.

Thanks

[writmeister]

The defense could also want to do an independent re-teting of their own or have the evidence preserved for their experts to examine.

[maggief]

Initial DNA Test Results May Not Tell Whole Story, DA Says
Nifong: Defense Attorneys 'Don't Know What My Timeline Is'



"I'm confident a sexual assault took place in that house," Nifong said, echoing a statement he made earlier on in the investigation. "If I didn't believe her, then I would not be basing any of my decisions on what she said."

Last month, defense attorneys publicly stated that DNA samples taken from 46 Duke lacrosse athletes cleared the players, but Nifong hinted on Wednesday that there may be more to the DNA tests than defense attorneys are sharing.

"My guess is that there are many questions that many people are asking that they would not be asking if they saw the results," Nifong said.

WRAL has asked defense attorneys to share information on the DNA results, but they have declined the request. Nifong cannot release the DNA results because doing so would be against state policy, he said.

"They're not things that the defense releases unless they unquestionably support their positions," Nifong said. "So, the fact that they're making statements about what the reports are saying, and not actually showing the reports, should in and of itself raise some red flags."

Shortly after Nifong received the DNA test results from the State Bureau of Investigation, he ordered a second set of more sophisticated tests at a private laboratory because the SBI crime lab is not certified to perform them. Nifong said on Wednesday that the tests were ordered because the SBI suggested them.

Nifong also spoke of reaction to the case, saying much of what has been published has been negative. He said much of that reaction is not based on fact and pointed to details of recent legal filings filed by defense attorney Kirk Osborn.

"By leaking things out like this, they can keep the case in the headlines -- see all these trucks that are still around here waiting for something to happen -- and kind of frame the case their own way," Nifong said. "And say things like, 'according to my timeline' -- which of course, they don't know what my timeline is."


http://www.wral.com/news/9153818/detail.html




Now Backed By Voters, Nifong Returns To Work As Durham's D.A.

EXCERPT


In an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday night, Nifong said he would personally try the case, which he said he expected to go to trial in the spring of 2007. Athough defense attorneys have said they have exculpatory evidence that Nifong ignored, the district attorney said it's "probably safe to say" that he has more evidence than has been released.

"Well, one would hope that I would not be proceeding without some evidence," he said. "And there's a lot more evidence in the hands of the defense attorneys right now than most of the public knows about. And I expect that soon there will be more such evidence."

He said the second round of DNA testing, expected back May 15, "has potential to be something significant."


http://www.wral.com/news/9155555/detail.html

[mewzilla]

In an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday night, Nifong said he would personally try the case...

Well, that's good news.

For the defense.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Snarky, do we know who it was that helped her into the car?

[Alia]

Yes: Airline Southwest was sued by a black female customer and because a stewardess used the ditty. The complainant "felt" abused, as tho the comment had been personally directed. It hadn't been.

[Alia]

Apparently, after Kim (the second stripper) attempted to hire a PR firm, Duke decided they'd best get rolling in hiring one too.

[Publius22]

I saw this info on the CTV message board regarding jury trials in North Carolina.

SUBCHAPTER XII. TRIAL PROCEDURE IN SUPERIOR COURT.

Article 71.

Right to Trial by Jury.

§ 15A‑1201. Right to trial by jury.

In all criminal cases the defendant has the right to be tried by a jury of 12 whose verdict must be unanimous. In the district court the judge is the finder of fact in criminal cases, but the defendant has the right to appeal for trial de novo in superior court as provided in G.S. 15A‑1431. In superior court all criminal trials in which the defendant enters a plea of not guilty must be tried before a jury. (1977, c. 711, s. 1.)

[Alia]

Yours was an excellent explanation of what went on in re Stanford and Palo Alto.

Did you also happen to hear that "lawmakers" are demanding the wealthy pay more property taxes, based on SQFT of their homes?

[OakOak]

Check this out:

In the News & Observer, Crystal Mangum says "she reported the incident, she said, because many men don't believe forcing a woman to HAVE SEX is a "big deal.""
Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/429338.html

I thought that "Have Sex" was an unusual term. Looking at rape and how women describe it, "forcing a woman to have sex" kept coming up under Date and Aquaintence Rape. Rape was usually described much worse.

It makes one think that she was possibly, again, referring to her earlier (alleged) experience when she made a report that 3 men (one being her boyfriend) had gang-raped her in Creedmoor, NC.

Couple this with her PSYCH hospital stay and her history of substance abuse (3 license suspensions & DWI, WRAL) - Is she PROJECTING her earlier (alleged) experience onto these Duke boys?


Or did her previous story come to mind when she needed to get out of a jam with the law. Did she repeat a story that she had already told authorities (in Creedmoor) and her former husband, when faced with 24 holding period and the repurcussios that accompany it?

[Alia]

Between Nagin and Nifong.. the tongue can take a twisting. It's how I posted "Nifgong" in earlier posts. To me, both individuals morph together into an image of the host of the "Gong Show". But at least the host was indeed entertaining. These other two fat cats are supposed to in "real time".

[GAgal]

"Again I don't know what happened in that house. But I do know that Martin Luther King Jr. and many, many others of all races did not die so that the poor, black, and oppressed could surrender the moral high ground, and attempt to inflict injustice on the privileged."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14494721.htm
Jason Whitlock is a sports writer whose pieces appear in SI and ESPN. He is also a black man with sense. This is the latest of several excellent articles he's written on issues surrounding the Duke case.

[Alia]

In the 80s, the Machinery which Runs San Francisco put forward a "housing rehabilitation bill". Ran like this: 1) Condemn the properties that poor people are being forced to live in. 2.) Sue the current owners under non-health/safety clauses. 3.) Put said properties up for bid. 4.) Tell only your fellow "Democrats" about the properties. 5.) Purchase said properties for a dollar. 6) Make claims on Federal dollars to "rehab" the property. 7) Sell the new property for millions. 8) Increase the "welfare/minimum wages" so as to invite the "homeless" from all over the nation. Demand use of "buildings to house the homeless". Start at point 1.

It was a scandal only the brave dared to report on.

[TexKat]

A Duke senior who asked not to be identified walks West Campus with a drink in hand and a 'beer belt' around her waist. The photo was taken April 26, the last day of classes for the semester, traditionally a day for partying at Duke. Staff Photo by Chuck Liddy

At Duke, alcohol culture and ambivalence at the top coexist

Faculty groups find university often tolerates violations of its own policies A Duke senior who asked not to be identified walks West Campus with a drink in hand and a 'beer belt' around her waist. The photo was taken April 26, the last day of classes for the semester, traditionally a day for partying at Duke. Staff Photo by Chuck Liddy Faculty groups find university often tolerates violations of its own policies

Jane Stancill, Staff Writer

DURHAM - When tailgate parties outside Duke football games began to get too rowdy in 2003, university officials decided to take control of the events to try to curb excessive drinking, foul language, vandalism and altercations with opposing fans.

Their plan: to rope off the parking area, provide food and nonalcoholic drinks, and establish a police-free zone. But Duke officials did not patrol the area looking for underage drinking. Their goal, said a faculty report released this week, "was only to keep drunken students safe and alive."

More...

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Or did her previous story come to mind when she needed to get out of a jam with the law

That is my guess and it seems to be her MO. Her approach the problems she causes in her own life is one of avoidance.

[OakOak]

Crystal saying the reason for reporting the "indident" was
because many men don't believe forcing a woman to have sex is a "big deal."

Sounds even worse, if you consider the beating, kicking, and strangulation that supposedly occured.

Seriously, how many women brutually Gang-Raped, SODOMIZED, kicked, beaten, and strangled would describe that as "being forced to have sex"? Not where I come from!

[OakOak]

That must be the SEX where NIFONG comes from, because he bought the story!

[Publius22]

Seriously, how many women brutually Gang-Raped, SODOMIZED, kicked, beaten, and strangled would describe that as "being forced to have sex"? Not where I come from!

With a broomstick no less!

[OakOak]

Broomstick in one hand and a cell phone in the other!

And 10 minutes later she was smiling!

[Locomotive Breath]

An Outrageous Rush To Judgment
Accumulating evidence strongly suggests that the rape charge may well be a lie.

[snip]
And the evidence that perhaps no Duke lacrosse player committed rape should make a lot of people ashamed of themselves: District Attorney Mike Nifong, the Durham police, many in the media, politically correct Duke professors, spineless Duke administrators, and others.

(Disclosure: A parent of one team member is a friend of mine, and I might not be writing about the case if my analysis of the evidence supported the rape charge.)

Instead of backing off, many in the rush-to-judgment crowd have simply hedged their presumption of guilt and shifted to smearing the lacrosse players -- including sons of three retired New York City firefighters, and others from modest backgrounds -- as a bunch of privileged, thuggish, racist, and (horrors) white jocks, suggestive of Southern slaveholders.
[snip]

http://nationaljournal.com/taylor.htm

Hat tip: Betsy's Page

Even this morning's Raleigh News and Observer, which originally beat the drum as loudly as anyone promoting the rape charges, published an editorial decrying Nifongs heavy handed tactics

Prosecution's heavy hand

http://www.newsobserver.com/579/story/435515.html

Unfortunately, none of this will make a difference to a Durham jury.