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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.
I think that there as been a move for some time to eliminate the frat system and make Duke more "ivy league." When we were there my now husband was Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee (which I thought was dorky but I married him anyway). They found that when freshmen lived with upperclassmen they tended to stay in school and make better grades. They also found that freshmen living in all freshmen dorms gave more money to the university later in life because they had a larger sense of class unity. The next year Duke moved to putting freshmen in all freshmen dorms and began "dining clubs" where students were supposed to eat with certain professors each night. I don't know if that ever took off but it smacked of the Yale/Princeton/harvard "eating clubs."
There was a certain security in partying on main west that doesn't exist the farther you go from the core of the campus. You can't stop partying but there was always some fear of being caught doing anything too bad on main west.
I've probably watched too much CSI but if you can get a match off a cigarette butt how can you not get a match from tissue cells?
I think they recovered all 13 loci but the number of matching loci is too low to qualify as a "match." One skin cell would have complete DNA, so there doesn't need to be a glob of "tissue."
I live in Garden City, NY and my son attends Chaminade, the high school that Colin Finnerty went to. Flannery is from Garden City and went to Garden City High school. There are also a few others on the roster from town. I don't know anything about Evans.
I don't know the families personally but the Finnerty's are a well-to-do family, and I assume the others from Garden City are financially OK. This town is considered a wealthy community. Long Island, in general is expensive to live on. As far as Zash, Massapequa is a south shore community that has a history of the wealthy side and the working class side (long island is also extremely segregated). Most of the Massapequa communities on the south side are along the Atlantic Ocean, and therefore would be the wealthier side. I do not know where in Massapequa Zash lives. If you remember, Massapequa is famous for "The Long Island Lolita - Joey (trash) Buttafucco. LOL
It most certainly does.
Partial Profiles
Use of "partial profiles" is a newly emerging and fairly disturbing trend. A partial profile is one in which not all of the loci targeted show up in the sample. For example, if 13 loci were targeted, and only 9 could be reported, that would be termed, a partial profile. Failure of all targeted loci to show up demonstrates a serious deficiency in the sample. Normally, all human cells (except red blood cells and cells called "platelets") have all 13 loci. Therefore, a partial profile represents the equivalent of less than a single human cell. This presents some important problems:
1. A partial profile essentially proves that one is operating outside of well-characterized and recommended limits.
2. Contaminating DNA usually presents as a partial profile, although not always. For this reason, the risk that the result is a contaminant is greater than for samples that present as full profiles.
3. A partial profile is at risk of being incomplete and misleading. The partial nature of it proves that DNA molecules have been missed. There is no way of firmly determining what the complete profile would have been, except by seeking other samples that may present a full profile.
Most forensic laboratories will try to obtain full profiles. Unfortunately, in an important case, it may be tempting to use a partial profile, especially if that is all that one has. However, such profiles should be viewed skeptically. Over-interpretation of partial profiles can probably lead to serious mistakes. Such mistakes could include false inclusions and false exclusions, alike. It could be said that, compared to the first PCR-based tests introduced into the courts, use of partial profiles represents a decline in standards. This is because those earlier tests, while less discriminating, had controls (known as "control dots") that helped prevent the use of partial profiles. The earlier tests will be discussed below, primarily for historic reasons, but also because they do still appear on occasion.
http://www.scientific.org/tutorials/articles/riley/riley.html
JLS: If this case starts negatively affecting Duke,
LJ You've got to be kidding.
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I agree with you. Others argued with me early on on this point. Thus I made my comment conditional to avoid that discussion on this point.
"Can i get an Amen, ladies?"
Absolutely. I agree with you.
This whole nail thing is ridiculous. But the media keeps saying DNA under fingernail or acrylic fingernails. That way, it truly sounds like there was a struggle with scratching, etc.
I have acrylics and they are adhered to the real nail with a strong resin....done at a salon. There is no chance of losing one of them, as opposed to the press-ons...the press-ons will fall off with the very slightest touch!
And don't leave out Matt Danowski of Farmingdale. I think his dad is the coach of the #2 ranked lacrosse team at Hofstra. He may also be a captain-not sure.
I was reading up on this yesterday. Not only did it say that 13 markers are necessary, it continued: Conversely, if there aren't 13 markers, the guy is innocent. So almost simply doesn't cut it as possible...it eliminates the person
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This is true if they have all the markers in the evidence. I think in this case they do not.
What they have is a bit of evidence, a very tiny bit, with some number of markers less than 13. The player in question matches all the markers they have, but they do not have enough for a match. Do they have 12 or 6 markers will be important information.
I thought that maybe some of the 13 were more fragile or harder to extract than others.
Well then this beats the hell out of me.
How can they
1) extract all 13 from lax player #3 and
2) extract all 13 from the "tissue" and
3) find some that DO match but
4) find some that DON'T match
and then declare that there's any relevance at all? It seems to me that a no match on any of the 13 is a no match for the entire sample. What am I missing?
I don't think you're missing anything. I think Nifong is missing something, and that something is.....evidence, including admissable DNA evidence! ;>
yup, danowski father the coach of Hofstra. I read that his Dad encouraged him to play somewhere other than Hofstra so that he wouldn't have his dad coaching him. Although that seems to be the right call, I'm sure his dad is kicking himself right now.
Who's to say she didn't take a swipe at one of the boys. She was freakin' pi***** and women tend to grab with their nails. But turning a scratch into rape and NO OTHER DNA ON HER CLOTHING from not just one but all three boys is a real stretch.
Finally, the girl was asked to leave, they slipped money under the door asking her to leave according to Kim who was/wasn't in the bathroom with her? Is it possible the guys "helped" her out the door? They did lock her out.
Bottom line, none of this is evidence of rape.
So from Vn_survivor_67-68's post it would appear that a failure to match all 13 is generally a failure to extract some of the 13 from the "tissue" which makes the "tissue" compromised.
This makes more sense to me than successfully extracting all 13 from the "tissue" and then having some of them mismatch. It seems to me that if even there is one mismatch from a successful extraction of 13 then that would be the basis for an overall "no match".
David Evans
Matt Zash
Dan Flannery
Who's to say she didn't take a swipe at one of the boys.
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It is not even that:
1. She may have set a nail on the sink and picked up a partial cell or two.
2. He may have sneezed in the room she was in.
3. The nail may have hit tissue paper in the waste basket and picked up a cell or two if had recently blown his nose.
4. He may have picked up the nails up and toss them in the waste basket and left a cell or two or part of a cell on one nail.
5. He may have stepped on a nail on the floor going to the bathroom.
No one disputes they were in the same house together. She is not claiming she was attacked in her house, she was in his house.
AND YET THERE IS STILL NO DNA MATCH BETWEEN ANYONE AT THE HOUSE AND HER. THEY GAVE HER A WIDE BERTH.
I'm not sure how DNA computes but guessing that say "8" of the boys would match 5 markers....as in a general population data base??
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