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.
Maybe they should indict her boyfriend, since his seamen seems to be the only seamen they found in her.
Sounds like they should indict Navy instead of Duke.
Maybe the DA thinks it's rape if a frat boy touches a stripper's breast jiggling in front of him.
That's the question. Why have a trial?
"Maybe they should indict her boyfriend, since his seamen seems to be the only seamen they found in her."
Her boyfriend's in the Navy?
Is this true? I heard on the news that none of the players' dna matched what was found in/on her.
If I were the families of the players indicted, I'd hit the dancer with a civil action after the trial was over. After the tens of thousands of dollars in court and attorney's fees the families have had to pony up, she needs to pay for her lying. She probably doesn't have anything for them to get, but at least if they get the judgment they can set it up so that they get anything she may have in the future, and it also publicly puts on record that she's a liar and a crook, which is worth something in of itself.
LOL
I'd include Sharpton and Jesse in the civil lawsuit as well.
I agree wholeheartedly with both of you.
I'd hit the DA - personally, as well as governmentally. This kind of malicious prosecution cannot be tolerated - ever.
I believe so. The DNA did not match any of the players, but it did match 'someone known to the DA's office', according to the defense lawyers. I would assume that would be her boyfriend.
That and $2.95 will get you a cup of starbucks.
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