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Posted on 05/11/2006 9:17:59 PM PDT by TexKat
DURHAM, N.C. -- A Duke lacrosse player whose DNA may match tissue found under the fake fingernails of an exotic dancer who claims she was raped was identified in a photo lineup with 90 percent certainty, sources tell NBC-17.
The Durham Herald-Sun reported Thursday tissue found under the accuser's acrylic fingernail 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 paper cites several sources and said scientists also 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.
90 Percent Certainty
Now, NBC-17 has learned that the player is not one of the two already accused in the case -- Reade Seligmann, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, of Garden City, N.Y. He is, however, a player that the alleged rape victim picked out in a police lineup with 90 percent certainty.
The 27-year-old North Carolina Central University student told police she was beaten and raped by three lacrosse players while she performed at a March 13 team party. She said she clawed at the players in an effort to fight them off.
Never Applied?
Defense attorneys claim, however, that nothing about the reported possible DNA match means anything to the case if you look at the type of fingernails, where they were found, and if you look at a picture of the accuser's hand shortly after she arrived at the party.
According to defense attorneys, police found four stick-on acrylic fingernails in a trashcan at 610 Buchanan Street, the house where the party took place. The tissue connected to the possible DNA match was found under one of those fingernails.
But defense attorneys said the third player accused lived at the house and it is no surprise that trace amounts of his DNA could be found inside his own trashcan. They also said they don't believe the type of fingernails that were found -- the kind that are applied with an adhesive strip -- actually ripped off during an attack. They don't believe the fingernails were ever applied and they say they have pictures to prove it.
NBC-17 has seen a picture of the dancer's hand at the house when she performed her dance routine. It appears that long, fake fingernails were on some of her fingers in that photo, but not all of them.
Other photos show what defense lawyers believe is red fingernail polish on the walls of the house and on the railing outside the house. They believe the accuser was painting and applying her nails while at the party.
Defense attorneys admit that none of them have seen the DNA report the Herald Sun article is based upon, but they said if District Attorney Mike Nifong has the DNA report, their clients are entitled to see it.
Accuser's Father Responds
The accuser's father called reports of a DNA break in the case long overdue.
"I wasn't surprised to hear that. I feel like we should have learned it before," he said.
Kim Roberts, another dancer who performed at the party where the alleged attack took place, paid an emotional visit to the accuser's parents on Thursday.
"It was real emotional -- she was crying, my wife was crying. She said that she was sorry she left (outside) the house before my daughter did," the accuser's father said.
Authorities said they would know what the DNA shows by early next week.
What jumped out at me in that article was that Ben Himan, the lead investigator in the lacrosse case, personally arrested Elmostafa. Nifong tries to pass this off as routine, but I don't think serving warrants is usually done by the lead investigator unless the purpose is to extract information or intimidate the witness.
Lisa Faye Hawkins, who actually pleaded guilty in 2003 to stealing the purses after hiring Elmostafa to drive her to the store, was on Rita Cosby last night (I read elsewhere) and said the cabbie had nothing to do with her theft.
Don't police check on whether a years old warrant is still applicable, i.e. whether/how the case was resolved and if the complaint underlying the warrant still makes sense, before arresting someone?
Proofreading and sending out his bills.
Mr. Nifong, has your net worth been posted all over the place? Have pictures of your home been put in national magazines? Have TV cameras been sitting outside your home?
Don't even get me started on shameful!!!Who is responsible for this circus??Perhaps next time you should investigate before you indict!
OMG it's only 8:30 and I'm incensed!
someone referred this forensic "exchange" (but couldn't remember the name) in the last couple of days........it is certainly important to the discussion at hand......
II. The exchange principle
Another important concept is that of the “Exchange Principle”. This principle was first articulated by theFrench scientist Edmond Locard and is often called the “Locard Exchange Principle”. Locard believed that when a criminal came into contact with another person or place, small items such as hairs or fibers would beleft by one person and perhaps picked up by the other. The "Locard Exchange Principle" can be stated as"When any two objects come into contact there is always a transfer from one object to the other." To quote Locard: “Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as asilent witness against him. Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes,the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects. All of these and more, bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confusedby the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannot perjure itself, it cannot be wholly absent. Only its interpretation can err.Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value." Professor Edmond Locard(1877-1966).
http://faculty.uml.edu/Nelson_Eby/89.215/Assignments/Introduction.pdf
It doesn't matter....It's not like any of these boys are in an unusual place. That's where they live. Their DNA is all over the place.
Since the three boys who are getting nabbed are the three who actually live there (Is that right?), my best guess is that "someone" furnished her with photos of them BEFORE she was shown the team photos. All she had to remember was three faces and the DA had his case!! Out of 45 photos, she got them all right. Amazing....except for the ATM video.
Again, it lends to the possibility that NiFong is covering some politicians political butt who likes a little on the side.
Secondly, tissue under a nail of a stripper, lapdancer, escort, surely doesn't equate to rape.
You polish the nails AFTER they are on but they take quite a while to dry because the plastic does not absorb the polish like a real nail.
But if she was doing her nails, which seems to be the case, the I lost a nail makes no sense. It would be "I was raped and lost a nail and was trying to put new nails on (which were all laid out). The scenario doesn't make sense.
And there's simply too much time passed between whenever she left until she got to the exam.
Give her a lie detector test and get this over with. Damn...
No, Seligmann and Finnerty are sophomores and didn't live in the house, but defense attorneys say 90% Certain Man does. Team captains Zash, Flannery, and Evans lived there.
DURHAM - A Durham police detective investigating the Duke University lacrosse case arrested a witness Wednesday on charges of impersonating a Hispanic person. The woman who was the second dancer at a party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. at which an escort service dancer has alleged she was sexually assaulted by three men, Kim Roberts, said Investigator R.D. Clayton and another officer asked whether she was sure she did not personally witness the alleged rape of the other dancer by the men at the party. Roberts told the detectives that now that they mentioned it, she did in fact now recall personally seeing the rape occur. After signing a sworn statement at police headquarters, Roberts was released.
Roberts, who is half black and half Korean, admitted in an interview with the Raleigh News & Observer that the lacrosse players had requested a white dancer and a Hispanic dancer and that she proceeded to dance under the false pretense of being a Hispanic person.
Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, who is personally handling the rape case, explained that impersonating a Hispanic person is a serious crime. "Many people may not have realized that it is a serious crime for a taxi driver to accept as a passenger someone who has been shoplifting, even if the taxi driver has no knowledge of the shoplifting," Nifong said, "and people also need to understand that in Durham, it is a serious crime for a person to pretend to be Hispanic who is not."
Ernest Conner, a Greenville lawyer who represents defendant Reade Seligmann, said Roberts' arrest amounted to intimidation. "It appears to me they pressured a witness into providing evidence against the defendants," Conner said. Seligmann and another player, Collin Finnerty, have been charged in the case with raping the other escort service dancer.
Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, the supervisor of the investigation, refused to answer questions Wednesday night as reporters caught up with him leaving the Allure Escort Agency and zipping up his pants.
Roberts had earlier provided Durham police investigators with a sworn statement saying she did not personally witness any alleged rape.
What the heck was the charge against Elmostafa? Aiding and abetting the investigation of shoplifting?
An Important Message from US Lacrosse Due to the intense media coverage about members of Duke University’s men’s lacrosse team, our sport is receiving unprecedented attention across the country. While the legal process will determine the ultimate outcome, this event is clearly a tragedy for all involved.
This situation has created an important learning opportunity for our sport, particularly at this time of unprecedented popularity and growth. All of us -- players, parents, coaches, officials, event and camp directors, manufacturers -- must continue to hold each other to the highest standards of personal responsibility, inclusiveness and respect for others.
An unfortunate byproduct of this media coverage is that our sport has been mischaracterized by some members of the press who are using outdated stereotypes and painting everyone associated with the sport “with the same brush.”
Each day we are working with media outlets from across the country to more accurately convey the facts about the national lacrosse community and culture of our sport. We are also in direct communication with the NCAA and other organizations involved with lacrosse at all levels.
As a lacrosse enthusiast, you can play a critical role at the grassroots level to help ensure that an accurate picture of the game and its many positive impacts are communicated. Many of our members have asked “What can I do to help protect our sport’s reputation?” Here are some specific ways:
Correct people who paint a narrow picture of lacrosse as only for the “privileged.”
There are now an estimated 385,000 lacrosse players in America at youth, high school, college, club and professional levels.
The perception that lacrosse is only for the privileged is an inaccurate stereotype. Today, lacrosse is played in far more public schools than private schools, while publicly funded recreation programs provide inclusive opportunities for tens of thousands of young players. The sport is reaching far beyond its traditional hotbeds into communities across the country that represent all socio-economic levels, as evidenced by the development of 54 US Lacrosse regional chapters.
As set forth in our current strategic plan, US Lacrosse has been working hard to promote diversity through initiatives such as our BRIDGE and Fast Break programs, which seek to introduce the sport to underserved communities and nontraditional lacrosse areas across the country. While there is still much work to do in this regard, please look carefully at the current issue of Lacrosse magazine. The diversity of people, programs and places covered in its pages are a great testament to our sport’s growing diversity.
Honor and respect the sport; reinforce its values in your actions and deeds.
There should be no sense of entitlement among those associated with the game of lacrosse. And there should be no room for people who dishonor the heritage, values and traditions that are at the heart of our sport. While lacrosse continues to grow, we have a unique opportunity and steadfast obligation to strengthen our positive culture of personal responsibility, teamwork and inclusiveness.
We have developed an evolving “Media Center” section on the US Lacrosse Web site where media representatives focused on this story and others can get accurate information about the sport and learn more about US Lacrosse and our sport development initiatives. This evolving page will also include links to more balanced and accurate media coverage of lacrosse.
In the coming months, we intend to keep you up-to-date on US Lacrosse activities in response to recent events. Until then, please join us in reflecting on the critical issues affecting the future of lacrosse and making a stand to make our game the absolute best it should be.
On behalf of the US Board of Directors of US Lacrosse, thank you for your support.
BINGO!--how hard would it have been for her or boyfriend to find pics of the lacrosse team after a subtle suggestion was made.
A good caption would be
"Third suspect seen here awaiting DNA results and possible arrest..."
The local paper, the News and Observer, helpfully printed the names and faces of the entire team in its Sunday, April 2, edition ... two days before she made the IDs.
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