Posted on 05/15/2006 7:14:12 AM PDT by pissant
DURHAM - A Durham grand jury is scheduled to meet today, and the session could mean new charges in the investigation of a reported rape at a Duke lacrosse team party.
Two of the team's players were indicted in April on charges of first degree rape, first degree sex offense and first degree kidnapping. They are accused of assaulting an escort service dancer in a bathroom of a house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. Their lawyers say the men are innocent, and lawyers representing dozens of team members say that no sex or assault occurred at the March 13 party.
But the woman says she was attacked by three men, and Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said he has been working on bringing charges against a third person.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TODAY? If Nifong decides to submit the case, police investigators and possibly other witnesses will try to convince grand jurors in a secret session that the state has probable cause to bring a case forward. Grand jurors will hear only the prosecution's side of the case. The standard required for a true bill of indictment is far lower than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard required for a conviction.
IF INDICTMENTS ARE ISSUED, WHEN WILL THEY BECOME PUBLIC? On April 17, a judge ordered the indictments in the lacrosse case sealed. The names of the players who were indicted were not released until 5 a.m. the next day when the players surrendered at the Durham County jail. If Nifong again requests that the indictments be sealed, the law allows a judge to keep them secret until the person is arrested or appears in court.
WHEN WILL ALL THE EVIDENCE BE REVEALED? State law requires prosecutors to turn over all of their case files to defense lawyers, but nothing requires the evidence to be turned over to the public. In open court hearings, lawyers often discuss some of the evidence, but the state's case may not be revealed until trial. No trial dates have been set. When a report on the DNA testing is complete, Nifong is required by law to turn it over to all 46 members of the lacrosse team who submitted DNA samples.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The cases against Reade William Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., are moving forward. Finnerty has a court date in June. Seligmann is scheduled to appear in court Thursday. His attorney, Kirk Osborn, has filed a series of motions challenging Nifong's handling of the case and asking a judge to bar the prosecutor from further involvement.
That's true.
Here is a young man who sounds like he ought to be running for state office on his way to great career in politics, a true leader. I've felt the case was bogus ever since the first time I hear the story, and it included the then-cryptic 9-1-1 call. Now it's really clear this young man did no harm to the skank for hire.
I can't imagine any family paying the ho one red cent!
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They won't have to. These parents are smart enough to make their children judgement proof. Heck I would even buy my kid's car if he owned it himself and let him give that chunk of money to his attorney. I guess if one of these kids has a trust fund that could be harder to get rid of.
No one has a cause of action against anyone other than the players. She can not touch the families and 21 year olds or younger of even pretty rich families have zero assets.
I wonder if Cheshire will say something about that. I understand he mentioned her by name at yesterday's press conference.
http://www.newsobserver.com/content/news/crime_safety/duke_lacrosse/20060515dukelaxindictment.pdf
Great idea....don't have anything in the kids name. I actually think she was hoping for a settlement....NiFong had other plans.
In all fairness, David Evans cannot be accused of rape, but he was at least guilty of indiscretion. I in no way place blame on the fiasco on him, it is squarely on the False Accuser and especially Nifong. However, COMPARED TO Seliegeman and Finnerty, two sophoremores with next to nothing to do with the stripper, Evans did hire them and as a senior and captain, should have shown more leadership.
What was done was an outrage. But as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Evans seems to be a person of very strong character. I am sure he has definately learned a lesson and will come out a better person for it.
The same, of course, cannot be said of the whore, or mangum.
What a mutt. He doesn't have any evidence against the ones he did indict.
While the stripper does not have any possible causes of action against any of the parents, there is one possible angle upon which a cause of action could be predicated - if any of the parents signed the lease on the house, guaranteed the lease, or had any similar role in acquiring the property for rental. Of course, the exposure to liability is there, even if the probability of success on the cause of action isn't.
I would therefore suggest that the only basis she might use to pursue any parents would be based upon their role as lessors or guarantors. Even then, it's iffy.
The case has some extortionate value against Duke, since they've already shown they'll surrender faster than the French Army, but she'll get nada from the players.
Evans hired a poor working mom to provide a legal service helping her take care of her kids. You may not like the service. She may have been hoping to make alot more money selling an illegal service, but you can not blame that on Evans. You can complain he allowed underage drinking if you want I guess.
I agree if a parent signed the lease she might have some cause of action against them. Duke is at risk as they deserve to be.
He is afraid to speak to the press. He is scared!!!!!
Three men none of them Duke lacrosse players and all of whose identities are known by ABC News were listed in the report as providing DNA swabs to be tested against the samples found on the alleged victim.
One of the three men has told ABC News that he spoke to the alleged victim the night of the March 13 party. Another man is the alleged victim's boyfriend, and defense attorneys identified him in a news conference as the "single source" of DNA found to date in vaginal swabs of the accuser.
It is unclear why the three nonlacrosse players were included in the sampling.
Defense attorneys have complained that the report does not say whether DNA was found from people other than those who provided samples the lacrosse players, the boyfriend, and the two other men. There is no way of knowing whether there was DNA from other people found on the alleged victim, the defense argues.
DNA Found Was a 'Mixture,' No Clear-Cut Link
According to the report, the DNA found under the false fingernail was a mixture, containing more than one person's genetic material. The report suggests that one of the possible people in that genetic mixture was the alleged victim.
The report says that genetic material with the same characteristics of two lacrosse players was found underneath a plastic fingernail in a trash can in the bathroom where the accuser says she was attacked. This may have been the link prosecution sources referred to when they told ABC News that test results could be "helpful" to the prosecution.
Neither of the two men linked to the sample were Reade Seligmann or Collin Finnerty, the two Duke lacrosse players indicted in the case. However, the third Duke player who may be indicted soon was in the mixture.
A DNA link is not clear cut with the type of test used in this case, DNA experts told ABC News. ABC News spoke with DNA analysts, including Brian Meehan, head of the Burlington, N.C., laboratory that conducted the set of tests used in the case. All of the analysts agreed that the most one could say about a specific person the alleged third attacker in the Duke rape investigation was that he could not be ruled out, but also could not be definitively ruled in.
"It's not what [prosecutors] were hoping for," said David Rudolf, a North Carolina defense attorney. "It's obviously somewhat helpful, but not nearly as much as if it was a match. Instead it's simply consistent with one of the players at the party."
The fact that the DNA sample found on the nail was a mixture makes it more difficult to be certain that it can be linked to any given person, experts said. Because many people in the general population share the same genitive traits, said Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, a California-based DNA expert, "there would be many people who could have the same traits as what shows up in the mixture."
Defense attorneys are already trying to use the lack of a clear-cut link to bolster their case.
"This report shows no conclusive match between any genetic material taken on, about, in, or from the false accuser and the genetic material of any Duke lacrosse player," said attorney Joe Cheshire in a news conference.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=4173086
If this quote is correct, this is the most definitive result we have so far. Seems to me the sample was a Mexican standoff--it is worthless.
I sure would like someone to compare it with allof the sampples--see who else could not be ruled out--
That should show him! Look at what doing good liberal deeds led him!
I don't fault him for this fiasco. But I bet my bottom dollar he won't touch a black ho with a ten foot pole ever again.
OrinocoJack: In all fairness,...
Why does fairness require bringing up Dave Evans' relatively minor transgressions, in your opinion?
True. He should be fined $25. Really in the great scheme of things....give me a break.
Are the defense attorneys able to find out how many other men's DNA were found on Crystal? Does anyone know?
The "fairness" was compared to Finnerty and Seliegeman, who did literally nothing wrong.
Evans did something wrong, or at least incautious. As I stated above, I don't fault him for this fiasco, which squarely falls on the false-accusing stripper and the malicious-prosecuting Nifong. His culpability isn't in the same stratosphere as those two's.
And the award goes to? Dave Evans, for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series...
http://forums.go.com/abclocal/WTVD/thread?threadID=117045
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