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.
You know I remember watching that video of Rodney King and thinking for sure the cops would be convicted of civil rights violation. It turned out I was wrong once all the testimony was presented in the trial. I learned a great deal after that one.
No question. She's at the mercy of Nifong now.
You must have missed the first 3/4 of the video. Which was NEVER shown on national TV but for a fleeting moment.
Pissant - I thought you ran off with Dasher. Welcome back.
Exactly. My daughter had planned on applying to Duke after they contacted her. Not gonna happen now and we have written and told them why. OK, she's female and this particular case involves male students of Duke. Doesn't matter. If they are going to knee jerk and throw their students under the bus - not a place for us to be.
How dare Nifong's statement twist the truth by only partially quoting what he "said at the outset" about his desire to clear the innocent players. That's what he promised the judge would happen if he ordered the entire team to give their DNA - that the results would clear the innocent and reveal the guilty. That's the promise the team relied upon as they trustingly presented themselves on March 23.
Nifong is despicable.
Yeah I did. And we haven't heard any of her testimony either... get my drift?
"The indictment came following a hallway confrontation today at the Durham County courthouse, in which District Attorney Mike Nifong laced into defense lawyer Kerry Sutton in an expletive-laden tirade where he complained angrily about last Friday's defense team news conference."
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=nation_world&id=4174247
Huh? I think you have me mixed up with Maximus of Texas.
I've been posting, just being generally ignored since Dasher isn't here to PING my crummy threads. LOL
You're right I misunderstood it. I'm willing to let all of the evidence present itself before I take one side or the other.
One more note: Kerry Sutton is a woman.
I thought that men didn't swear in front of ladies in the South. Shows you how wrong I was.
That show was a real piece of work!
Greta's show: ex San Francisco DA (Jim Dent I think) finally threw in the towel. Ted Wiliams still saying "wait for all the facts", but he sounds half-hearted. Greta sounds like she believes the defense.
Thank you for your correction. Personally, I am on the side of justice.
I got your drift. ;o)
But you didn't get mine. I smell a fish.
(go see post 34 for ONE good whiff)
"Personally, I am on the side of justice."
Me too. So far, we've only heard from the defense.
And it was in the players garbage can for a few days. It was put in by the duke player. It wasn't a full match and it was taken out of the can supposedly by the duke player. The chain of evidence here is appalling.
Bingo. At the beginning of this sordid debacle, Nifong deceived the players by informing them that there was no need for lie detectors or anything of that sort because hte DNA tests would tell him whether any of the players were involved in a rape. More than just tell the players, however, Nifong stated the same thing in the application for the search warrant, so he may have deceived a court as well. The court signed off on the warrant and (IIRC) the judge was skeptical about granting a warrant for DNA from the entire team whether they were at the party or not. This may come back to haunt Nifong in the motion to recuse.
Do we count the 70+ interviews given by the DA?
Oh please, a post like that and we're talking the OJ defense.
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