Posted on 05/11/2006 6:19:27 AM PDT by rwilson99
DURHAM - A Durham police detective investigating the Duke University lacrosse case arrested an alibi witness Wednesday on a 2 1/2-year-old misdemeanor warrant. Taxi driver Moezeldin Elmostafa said Investigator R.D. Clayton and another officer asked whether he had anything new to tell them about the rape case before driving him to the Durham County jail. He said no and was held for five hours, until a friend posted his bail on a shoplifting charge.
Ernest Conner, a Greenville lawyer who represents defendant Reade Seligmann, said the cabbie's arrest amounted to intimidation. "It appears to me they are trying to pressure a witness who supports our defendant's rock-solid alibi," Conner said.
Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, the supervisor of the investigation, refused to answer questions Wednesday night.
Elmostafa signed a sworn statement in April saying he picked up Seligmann from a Duke lacrosse team party just after midnight March 14. Seligmann and another player, Collin Finnerty, have been charged with raping an escort service dancer during the party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.
Elmostafa's affidavit said he picked up Seligmann at 12:19 a.m. that morning and drove him to an automated teller machine, a fast-food burger joint and back to his dorm. To corroborate the taxi driver's statement, Seligmann's lawyers filed copies in court of phone records, security photos from the ATM and electronic records showing when Seligmann entered his dorm.
The lawyers have said that Elmostafa's account and the records exonerate Seligmann.
Clayton, who is working under Gottlieb on the case, picked up Elmostafa on Wednesday afternoon.
"The detective asked if I had anything new to say about the lacrosse case," Elmostafa said. "When I said no, they took me to the magistrate."
2003 charge
Elmostafa was charged with a misdemeanor larceny that occurred Sept. 2, 2003, when a woman stole five purses worth $250 from the Hecht's department store at Northgate Mall.
Elmostafa said Wednesday that he had picked up Lisa Faye Hawkins and her daughter at their home and had taken them to the mall. Elmostafa said he waited in the taxi with the daughter while Hawkins shopped and then he drove the two home.
Elmostafa said he later received a call asking him to speak with Hecht's security. The security officer at Hecht's said Hawkins had stolen some purses before getting into the taxi, Elmostafa said.
Elmostafa said he gave the woman's address and a copy of his driver's license to the security guard, who thanked him for his help.
"I am not responsible for what she did inside the store," Elmostafa said. "I am just a taxi driver."
Hawkins pleaded guilty to the larceny three months later.
Elmostafa said he heard nothing about the case until his arrest Wednesday. He spent five hours at the Durham County jail before a friend put up $700 for the bail.
A Hecht's spokesman could not be reached Wednesday evening.
Conner said it was highly unusual for police to arrest someone for a misdemeanor more than two years after the crime. He contrasted the treatment of the taxi driver with that of Kim Roberts, the other dancer at the party. Conner said Roberts initially told police no rape occurred at the party but changed her story after she was arrested on a probation violation. District Attorney Mike Nifong later reduced Roberts' bail.
I have a greater understanding about why African-Americans don't want to speak to the police.
Nifong has to be the most corrupt heaping pile of trash ever.
The N&O wants the rich white boyz so bad.
Sure looks like it.
Damn, I'd be for moving outta that town before they start pinning unsolved murders on those who refuse to be intimidated. That's pretty blatant.
I think if they are trying to pin him with a 2003 case that he was never charged for, then his rights to "due process" are being violated. And they are trying to intimidate a witness.
Ping
Perhaps, but I don't know how they are gonna get past the video on the ATM machine and the time stamp.
If it were Tennessee, I'd advise that he check his brakes for pressure and his backseat for a firebomb every time he got in the car...
Wow, check this out.
This will probably get moved to chat soon; if you want to join the rest of us who have been following this case, we're on this thread this morning:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1630332/posts
No kidding. What a hellhole!
Perhaps, but I don't know how they are gonna get past the video on the ATM machine and the time stamp.Simple. The bank was in on The Conspiracy.
-Eric
They'll be arresting the ATM machine and cell phone records next.
Oh my poor country. Some days I feel there is no hope for you. :(
It would seem the state attourney general would have a responsibility to step in on this case. It's been one disgraceful action after another.
I wonder if this could be considered prosecutorial misconduct.
That's what I thought when I read the article. With the video and ATM records, the alibi's pretty solid. Something about the story just doesn't make sense.
This doesn't surprise me. My wife's former employer, an in-home daycare provider, was falsely accused - by a disgruntled employee - of abusing the children in her care. There was no evidence to support the allegation, and my wife never saw anything remotely resembling abuse.
After initially questioning my wife, the detective called my wife, off and on, for about two months...Playing the "bad cop" by intimidating her, trying to trip her up, lying about what other employees said, trying to force her to say what he wanted to hear.
I have no doubt that they would have trumped up some charge on her if they had the slightest reason.
"Conner said it was highly unusual for police to arrest someone for a misdemeanor more than two years after the crime."
Something rotten in the town of Durham!
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