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.
Must be the parents right besides David.
....for the murder of a pig. "run like rabbits with the nail" I love this guy.
Boy- he just let the media HAVE it..."you all ran with the nail story"...
Sheesh..this is scary.
Exactly!
And then people say, "If he was innocent, why didn't he say so."
This could set new precedent!
Meanwhile, OJ walks the *streets* of Florida.
=====
You mean *golf courses*.
He's never run into a prosecutor who didn't want to see evidence! (Til now)
What was that question????
Has the BoI been released to the press?
Cheshire: All this has been reported as being underneath a nail. I don't know where you get that. That's just something that was put out and you ran like rabbits with.
Underneath a nail - every expert we talked with said if it happened the way the DA said it did, there would be blood and there wasno blood.
(can't hear question)
We've offered to give photographs and didn't want to see that. At one point someone had to tell him they were on a web site. We offered photos to show he never had a mustache. We gave them a copy of polygraph report given by a senior FBI agent.
Nifong gave the respect to this woman (meetnig her in the eye) but won't give it to Dave Evans. I've never had a prosecutor refuse to look at evidence.
I want to see everything he has and usually they want everything we have.
Q: You've referred to her as a false accuser. Yet the boys gave a false name when the ymade the appointment.
Cheshire: To me, that's an uneducated question. We don't know if that's true; if you want to show me a document, I'll look at it.
Q: One of of the court documents says...
FNC breaks away
And all the networks cut away.........
Listen to Nap...absolutely convincing..compelling..
They're replaying it now
"lied to the escort service" SO FRIGGIN WHAT!!!! Who would give their real name to book an escort? Spare me.
The Durham black press is attacking Cheshire!
BTW, Evans looks like a thicker version of Coach K. Facially he very much looks like Coach K to me.
Did you hear that obnoxious reporter trying to condemn Cheshire for calling the stripper a false accuser and yet the boys used false names when the made the appointment with the stripper?
OMG
I hate the media. Hate them. Hate them. Hate them.
What a bunch of BS. Those parents must want to jump out of their skin and flay that reporter.
The black reporter is saying that as soon as the players saw that the woman were black that they should have shut the door and sent them home!
Fox is replaying David Evan's
Theodore Simon, defense attorney on MSNBC, says this press conference and David's comments were a TOUR DE FORCE1
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.