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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.
Yes, he does.. But, I think the DA's office is constantly on the phone leaking..
Wendy Murphy was smiling like a cat that swallowed the mouse and she said "I bet someone named Dan will be indicted on Monday"
Dan Flannery lives there too
And I remember all the people claiming they didn't need lawyers. Evans should have never given a statement. He stepped up to the plate, and look what bastrad whore Nifong did to him for his cooperation.
It is not in the transcript, but I would be willing to bet she was cued in after her first 90% ID that 90% was not good enough, so she 100% IDed the second and third.
On the news of yesterday:
1. The arrest of the cabby is as bad as you and many other said.
2. There is certainly no tissue involved or the state DNA lab is worthless. One thing that might cause someone to reign in Nifong is that if he goes with this every defense attorney in the state will henceforth claim even prosecutors in this state do not believe in the state lab, so why should you?
Did the guy with the DNA match have fingernail scratch marks on any part of his body? She claims she scratched him during the attack. Did they even check this?
I was wondering the same exact thing.
* * * Check out #31 * * *
Wendy said it like a fact, something she learned today. I'm REAL confident the Press have been leaked new DOCS, that haven't been published yet.
GOod Point. We fund the damn State Lab, if they are going to go to private labs.. What are funding the State Lab for?
That'd be like Durham hiring Private Police and not reducing the Standard Police force.
Mangum had three weeks to look at all the pictures. They were plastered all over Durham, including in the newspaper.
If the similar DNA on the ONE fingernail is from someone who lived in the house, I don't think it's much help......except for getting an indictment. I also think the results were probably no different than the first test. Nifong is just spinning the result differently.
The adhesive strip would pick up anything it came in contact with in the trash.
If they were in the trash or on the floor, and a person living there had reason to believe they could become trouble if he was scratched during an attack on Mangum, he would have flushed them!!!!
Wonder what that Cab-Driver and his family are thinking about America now?
If this is going to be acceptable, then they should at least tell the American people. Kids can be taught in school. Don't testify in cases, unless it's for the Prosecution. Don't talk to Police investigators or your words will be twisted to be used against you. Don't expect a fair trial.
EXPECT the Media to back the state and skew the facts against you.
Interesting how Mangum picked the rich ones, isn't it?
Yes, some of the pro-Mangum (lol, kind of sounds like cro-magnon, doesn't it?) lawyers on TV are crowing about TISSUE being found under the nail. A skin cell would be considered tissue, I believe.
The N&O concludes there was no intimidation of witness (my title). . What a POS Paper.
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/438757.html
Arrest no ploy, DA says
Warrant served on witness in case
Samiha Khanna, Joseph Neff and Benjamin Niolet, Staff Writers
DURHAM - Durham police had no ulterior motive when they arrested an alibi witness on an old misdemeanor warrant, District Attorney Mike Nifong said Thursday.
The Wednesday arrest of Moezeldin Elmostafa -- a cab driver who says he can provide an alibi for one of two men accused of raping a woman at a party held March 13 by the Duke University men's lacrosse team -- drew fire from defense attorneys, who said the arrest of a key defense witness was equal to intimidation.
It is common practice for police to run the names of people involved in a case because they don't want any surprises when the case goes to court, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Thursday. Investigators, who took Elmostafa to jail on a 2003 warrant for misdemeanor larceny, did not ask him specific questions about the lacrosse case, she said.
There is no unit of officers at the Durham Police Department charged with clearing old warrants, which, as of last fall, exceeded 10,000. So when officers discover an unserved warrant and know where the person is, they should serve it, Nifong said.
That was the goal the two investigators, Benjamin Himan and R.D. Clayton, had when they approached Elmostafa, authorities said.
"It came up in the context of we were collecting information on potential witnesses," Nifong said.
Ernest Conner, a Greenville lawyer who represents defendant Reade Seligmann, sees the arrest differently.
"It appears to me they are trying to pressure a witness who supports our defendant's rock-solid alibi," Conner said Wednesday.
Defense lawyers say Elmostafa's statements in the Duke investigation can exonerate Seligmann, who has been indicted in the case along with lacrosse teammate Collin Finnerty.
Sworn statement
The driver signed a sworn statement in April saying he picked up Seligmann from the Duke lacrosse team party just after midnight March 14, drove him to an automated teller machine and stopped at a fast-food restaurant before dropping him off at his dorm.
Elmostafa also has given testimony to police, but the cab driver said investigators continued to probe Wednesday just before they arrested him. When he said he had no more information, officers took him to jail, he said.
That account is incorrect, officials said Thursday.
"I would be very surprised if the officers even thought about using that as an opportunity to ask him something," Nifong said.
The warrant for Elmostafa's arrest was discovered during a routine rundown of information about witnesses in the case, Nifong said. The order had been issued Sept. 2, 2003, when an employee of the Hecht's department store at Northgate Mall said one of the cab driver's customers had stolen five purses worth $250 while Elmostafa sat outside in his taxi.
Elmostafa said he was unaware of the theft until after he dropped off the woman at her house and later received a phone call from Hecht's security.
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.
The Hecht's employee pressed charges against both Lisa Faye Hawkins, the shopper, and Elmostafa. Hawkins was arrested a short time later and pleaded guilty, adding to a pattern of stealing and drug use dating back to 1982. She could not be reached Thursday.
The Hecht's employee who pressed charges declined to comment Thursday.
Meanwhile, Elmostafa's arrest brought an outpouring of concern and outrage from throughout the Triangle and the country.
Joel Boyd, a lawyer from Melbourne, Fla., said one of his clients was interested in helping Elmostafa with any legal fees that arose from the arrest.
"My client is a proud Duke alumnus who has a strong interest in protecting the civil liberties of all U.S. citizens/resident aliens and has no connection to the Duke lacrosse team," Boyd wrote in an e-mail message.
Interesting and a waste of her time too. These families are nuts if they have not already made their children judgement proof.
Most likely none of these college students have anything anyway. But if they do, time to liquidate and turn the money back to mom and dad. Only if someone has a trust fund would that be hard to do.
She certainly has no cause of action against there families.
I don't think anybody would have Williams represent him in a case this important.
Duke owned the residence at 610 N. Buchanan.
Duke will be sued and knowing Duke they'll probably offer to settle for $100 Million before negotiations start. Any Civil trial would be held in Durham too, and Duke knows that.
I think there were five missing and four found. Where's the other one?
I looked into that in-depth.
I think it's clear the 5th was unpolished (and unused) which would lend credence to the theory that she was doing her nails (or attempted to).
Nifong is like Clinton. He uses his words very carefully and you to speak Nifongese.
He went out before the cameras and said We recovered money in the house consistent the Accuser's story that she was robbed of $400.00.
Every media outlet in the country ran and printed that $400.00 was found in the bathroom. Much later, we find out (not from Nifong) that $160.00 was found somewhere in the residence.
But what happened to it? Did the police discard it?
Is there really a cause of action against the owners of a property that rent it to someone who commits a tort/crime?
I guess had Duke rented out their place to know serial offenders maybe?
This does not mean Duke would not pay this woman money to shut up. But I don't think it is usual to sue a property owner for what their renters do.
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