First DNA link possible in lacrosse case

Durham Herald Sun ^ | 5/11/2006 | John Stevenson

[OakOak]

By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun jstevenson@heraldsun.com May 11, 2006 : 12:20 am ET

DURHAM -- Tissue found under the fingernail of an exotic dancer who claimed she was raped at a Duke University lacrosse party may match a player who was there, several well-placed sources said Wednesday.

Analyzing the tissue, scientists concluded it came from the same genetic pool and was "consistent" with the bodily makeup of one of 46 lacrosse players who gave DNA samples for testing, the sources said.

At the same time, scientists ruled out a possible match with any of the other 45 students, according to the sources.

If accurate, the fingernail tissue match would offer the first DNA evidence potentially linking the dancer and an alleged attacker.

But because a complete DNA pattern was not obtained from the tissue, it was not possible to match it with the nearly 100 percent certainty that DNA results usually offer, the sources added.

The dancer told police she clawed at three attackers as they raped and sodomized her for 30 minutes during the March 13-14 lacrosse house party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

My legal expert, LOL.

Based on what has happened to the cab driver and assuming there are no details in the shoplifting episode we are unaware of, is it possible for anyone in the Durham area to file a complaint against Nifong or would it have to be the cabdriver, himself.

I don't live in Durham, but am curious about checks and balances in these situations.

I guess the big question is this SOP for a prosecution team?

[Neverforget01]

Can an ATM machine be brought up on charges? How about the dorm room card swiper?

Sorry for the cynicism but I'm getting really angry!

[toldyou]

"I'm thinking she got a PR guy."

And Jesse Jackson is probably paying for it.

[Darnright]

Just what is Nifong thinking, anyway? Any conviction he manages to wrest out of this soap opera will be torn apart upon appeal to the state supreme court.

[Locomotive Breath]

He won't care. He's proving to his constituency that he'll break any rule necessary to get a conviction. Overturn on appeal will be interpreted as "got off on a technicality".

[GAgal]

Maybe she wants to be the next Omarosa on The Apprentice.

[maggief]

Gloria Allred perhaps? This circus needs a few more clowns. ;)

[GAgal]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=1948939

The DNA is said to have some connection to Perp 3 aka Pancho Villa. The defense says calling it a match is purposefully misleading, and it will not be admissable in court.

[toldyou]

Now, the DA will show the accuser a picture of the guy whose DNA was found under her nail.

He'll say, This is him, right?" ....to which she'll agree.

That way Liefong will have his third man and finally have a positive ID.

Sounds ridiculous, but it seems like this DA can do anything he wants.

[toldyou]

"Gloria Allred perhaps? This circus needs a few more clowns. ;) "

HA! You're right! She's probably feeling left out. I wouldn't be surprised if she appears with Kim Roberts soon. Stay by your TV sets, folks!

[snarkytart]

More from the ABC article posted.:



They insist that results from this set of DNA tests are also inconclusive and that there is no match, and that to say otherwise is "very misleading."

They also say it would not be unusual to find players' DNA in the bathroom or garbage can of a house where some of them lived and many others spent time.



The defense will almost certainly argue that these new DNA results should not be permitted in court, since they are not a perfect match. In cases where DNA evidence is not a perfect match it is sometimes considered inadmissible as evidence.

[ladyjane]

the stereotype is the dumbass conservative uneducated redneck persecuting the poor black people.

Nope. That's not the stereotype northerners have of southern justice.

Many northerners have a very dim view of southern law enforcement and southern courts. They think it is an old boys network and totally corrupt.

Over the years many northerners have heard stories of their neighbors driving down through the Carolinas, getting stopped for speeding, hauled off to some magistrate's house and given the choice of paying an exhorbitant amount on the spot or coming back four weeks later for a trial.

I am not saying this view is accurate but the railroading the northern lacrosse players and intimidation of a witness won't help the image of Durham or of North Carolina.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

http://www.co.durham.nc.us/departments/shrf/IPS/index.cfm?DateLookUp=30&RequestTimeout=300

ELMOSTAFA, MOECELDEN, A
Date Confined 5/10/2006
Date Released 5/10/2006
Statute Description MISDEMEANOR LARCENY
Bond Type SECURED
Bond Amount $700.00

(just thought I'd make it official)

[Jrabbit]

My head is spinning....I don't believe this is happening.

Are they saying the DNA sort of, kind of matches the guy she ID'd as having a mustache??

Reading that doc of the photo line-up, which was hard for a fogie like me, it says she was dancing in the master BR...yet she knew what people were doing in the kitchen and outside? And some of these out of control white boys were watching TV?

Oh my...

[toldyou]

A thread regarding her Academy Award performance while viewing the players' photos:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1630489/posts

[MozarkDawg]

Kim speaks again ...

"I am so ready for the trial," she said.

I'll bet ... this appearance will best the episode of Dynasty where the character Alexis was introduced to us in a courtroom ... sheesh.

[toldyou]

LOL!

[RecallMoran]

Brodhead, the Duke English and Romance Studies Departments will say that white male DNA has a history of not leaving a complete match due to cultural insensitivties and a new course will be taught "Insensitive DNA 210" How white euopean male imperialist DNA thwarted the diverse syngergy of the sun cultures.

[Locomotive Breath]

We're talking about two different situations depending on whether we're talking about the lax team or the taxi driver.

Based on my three years living in corrupt as hell Illinois I'm referring to the fifty-year-old stereotypes I heard about how southern courts treat black people, i.e. the taxi driver. Except this time, rather than some white racist back-county sheriff and judge, it is a guilty white liberal educated in the state's finest university and a half-black DPD that's doing the persecuting of the black man. So Nifong and the DPD's actions are cutting against that stereotype. They're supposed to know better.

I take your point about the DA's actions against the yankee carpetbagging lax team, but still the stereotype doesn't apply for the same reasons. This DA is supposed to know better. And this is more than a traffic stop. There's no fine to be paid into the county's coffers.

And just so you know, southerners have the same stereotype about Yankee traffic cops shaking down out of staters. I can't count how many people I know who have been nailed on the Jersey and PA Turnpikes while the locals go whizzing by at a higher speed. In fact the local cops picking on out-of-staters is a pretty universal practice regardless of where you are.

And if those damn Yankess transiting the south on the way to Florida would realize that they're no longer in New York and stop driving like it they won't have a problem. :) [jumps in foxhole.]

[Perdogg]

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2006/05/ambiguous_dna_a.html