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 what I heard. Since Seligmann's hearing is now on the 18th, I don't know if the discovery sharing is delayed until then too.
ROTFL!!
How about
K Street City
Sticktown
The possibilities are endless
From the moment I arrived in NC in 2004, folks around NC kept telling me to avoid Durham. I read and saw clips of their school board meetings -- which were far more ludicrous than anything TV can or does produce...
Don't forget the Dallas Mavericks game 4!
DURHAM -- A grand jury indicted Duke lacrosse player Dave Forker Evans, a senior and team captain from Bethesda, Md., for first degree rape, first degree sexual offense and kidnapping today.
You are absolutely right.
Her father is claiming now that she was raped with a broomstick and didn't remember that at first. Now, who knows if she said any such thing to the police; her father has said a lot of "interesting" things. Perhaps she is telling "Daddy" all these things so he will largely forget that his daughter is an "escort".
I saw the picture with the "offending" broomstick. It didn't look too worried.
I was once inside the Durham library, and I have never seen such a messy/trashy place and so few books.
You know how the accuser is said to "scream at the sight of white men"? That's what happens to me when I click on MSNBC and see Olbermann.
"scream at the sight of white men"? That's what happens to me when I click on MSNBC and see Olbermann.
lmao......I scream at the sight of a lot of white men, especially those on MSNBC and CNN....
Just happened to me! Joe Bastardi on Fox right now...
arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
This case disturbs me on so many levels. Apart from the obvious ones, I also have 3 nephews in college and all belong to a fraternity. Part of the college experience is the partying with their pals, they celebrate any and all occasions.
LOL! And you call yourself a Peach.
The other thing about the DNA results is that even if the prosecution did NOT itself introduce the report into evidence, the defense likely would. The results are clearly strong evidence in favor of the defendants Seligmann and Finnerty. And I think, on balance, the DNA results also are favorable to Evans - on the one hand, the inconclusive DNA link to the fingernail in the trash can is not more probative of her version than it is of it getting on there from a q-tip, a tissue, or if he was the one who put the nails in the trash or handed them to the police -- and on the other hand, the fact that the woman claimed she was beaten, strangled, clawing at, raped and sodomized for a 30 minute period and then, within 3 hours, without having showered or changed clothes or been outside of the observation of the other dancer or police, to have absolutely NO DNA from the three defendants of any kind, be it semen, saliva, sweat, hair, skin cells, etc and no substances indicative of condom use on or in her body is, to my mind, devastating to the prosecution case.
Also, the evidence of male DNA by her boyfriend found in the AV is going to be important evidence on the part of the defense to show that the sexual activity with the boyfriend could explain any genital injuries (especially if these are just "swelling" and "pain").
So, without knowing exactly what is in the full DNA report, it probably on balance helps the defense and they will not seek to have the results thrown out.
What does this tell us?
Bad word alert...be warned---I don't like the word, but it is the only one that works.
Nifong is a pussy.
" This could be significant because the accuser has said that she broke her fingernails while defending herself against the alleged attackers, ..."
Lie number 10,000.
My wife did the press on nail experiment this week end
Press on nails don't break off-they peel off in their entirety-with little or minimal pressure.
Pictures taken post " trauma " should have shown all 10 nails off or hanging off by rubber cement like threads.
And the only way one could be broken-was to smash it with a hammer.
Maybe they had a hammer in the bathroom with the broom.
Presser coming up
Thanks for the ping!
If Nifong showed them that today, that means he HAS it and he's suppose to turn it over to the defense.
Today.
But he says he's not ready.
Now, you've gone and done it--the immigration trolls will be flying over here any moment--(picture the flying monkeys in "The Wizard of Oz" **shreik, shreeeeik**)
DID SOMEBODY MENTION BORDERS????? **shrieeeek, shrieeeek**
AAAaack.
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