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.
This statement sounds an awful lot like a bastardization of the concept of presumption of innocence.
"I can't say the defendants are innocent or not."
Before a case is presented, there is a presumption of innocence.
At this stage of the game it would be proper to state that you 'couldn't say the defendents are guilty or not guilty.'
However, in the eyes of the law, they are innocent (right now), until Nifong proves they are guilty.
It seems like the best evidence against these 3 men is that they aren't choir boys.
We have one of the accused at an ATM at the time of the assault. We have the 2nd dancer on site who can't say a rape occurred. We have the inconsistent first phone call to the police regarding racial slurs and no rape. We have another of the accused with a mustache.
Right now... these 3 men are innocent and it is not their responsibility to prove it.
One of the defendants has had his probation revoked...
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Can't you get a single fact right. This is completely false and the type of thing that makes the rest of us think you are a troll coming here to lie.
I just watched it on the TIVO. I rolled it back several times just to savor the moment.
Was she on probation... if she voted a couple of weeks ago it was illegal.
I'm not going to get into a legal mumbo jumbo about their legal status.
MAJAJADE: YOU ARE WRONG
It hasn't been covered on Nancy Grace, so you are probably not aware of it. The kid that claims he was beat up in Georgetown said Collin Finnerty didn't SAY a thing.
You are so ill informed because you watch the News Corpse. you get your stuff from Nancy Grace and Kimberly Gilfoil and its easy to assume we don't know what we are talking about.
You have been led down the primrose path. Consider your source.
Maybe not probation but violation of a diversion program, whatever.
I understand why you were accused. Calling each other "gay" had nothing to do with the charges. Try again?
You continue to bring up that nothing accusation, while ignoring the accuser's documented guilt in stealing a cab and trying to run down a police officer.
Oh, and her false accusation of rape thirteen years ago. Against three men.
She plead guilty to misdemeanor charges. Only felons can't vote.
Thanks TexKat for that great article by Thomas Sowell! As usual he was on the mark.
Its been reported that Collin Finnerty assaulted him because he was gay. Please.
MARAJADE is ignoring all the facts It is time we explored other possibilities for her position.
No I didn't say called each other gay. I stated the defendant in this case was also involved in a case where he was in a diversion program which was denied because he allegedly assaulted another victim and the victim in that case stated Finnerty called him gay.
:^), sort of like milk, does the body (spirit) good!
She was on probation for the cab incident. Had she been taken in for public intoxication, her probation would have been revoked, and she'd have been behind bars.
So, she accused three men of rape, after walking out of their place with a smile on her face, and suddenly going back inside to retrieve a shoe!
three men were involved: three men were charged.
the victim whom is not gay said Finnerty didn't call him any names.
Why do you ignore the facts
PLEASE EXPLAIN Are you a Nancy Grace fan?
"You continue to bring up that nothing accusation..."
It speaks volumes as to his character and his ability to commit possibly violence upon others.
Bump!
What was Finnerty charged with?
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