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Grand jury may consider new charges in Duke case
Raliegh Observer ^ | 5/15/06 | Ben Niolet

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.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: duke; dukelax; wtf
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To: All

These boys names will be in the National Data base for sex offenders...the whole panel agrees that it will be almost impossible for their names or a trace of their names ever to be erased even if acquitted.......


721 posted on 05/15/2006 1:36:53 PM PDT by mystery-ak (Army Wife and Army Mother.....toughest job in the military)
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To: Jrabbit

The defense has a video of 4 unpolihed nails that were left behind.....after the search warrant. I wonder if during the search, they just relied on the guys to give them any evidence? What kind of investigation is that?
_________________________________________________

An investigation where the police did not view the complaint as credible.


722 posted on 05/15/2006 1:36:59 PM PDT by JLS
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To: Peach

OMG...dream on, Norm Early! He hopes the ho realizes how serious false accusations are!!!


723 posted on 05/15/2006 1:37:02 PM PDT by Jrabbit (Scuse me??)
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To: JLS

That's what it sounds like to me....


724 posted on 05/15/2006 1:37:46 PM PDT by Jrabbit (Scuse me??)
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To: JLS

Koblinsky has given up....admits there is no case


725 posted on 05/15/2006 1:38:45 PM PDT by Jrabbit (Scuse me??)
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To: surrey

Your attorney friend is absolutely correct. No evidence is necessary -- just a charge. Then it's between $15,000 and $30,000 to go to trial on a local basis with no expert witnesses. Add long distance, expert fees and you are easily looking at $150,000 to $500,000. I doubt any of the parents of these boys have that in liquid form.

After this, if by some nightmare scenario the AV prevails, they are looking at huge civil defense costs and settlements. Koby Bryant, these folks ain't.


726 posted on 05/15/2006 1:39:25 PM PDT by Constitutions Grandchild
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To: Jrabbit

So which are which?

I believe the warrant specified red fingernails. If so, they could not take unpolished fingernails, could they?

The 5 fingernails in the warrant have to be the ones the Lax players in the trash and then took out and gave to the police.

Just checked, the warrant does specify fingernails with a reddish polish. That may be why the unpolished ones were left.


727 posted on 05/15/2006 1:40:26 PM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: Constitutions Grandchild

The irony is, of course, if they didn't have that kind of money then they would not have been targeted in the first place.


728 posted on 05/15/2006 1:40:30 PM PDT by Locomotive Breath (In the shuffling madness)
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To: luv2ski
Ha! Sorry! I just got home and hadn't scrolled down yet! Of course, Freepers would not pass up such a golden opportunity!
729 posted on 05/15/2006 1:41:02 PM PDT by luv2ski
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To: mystery-ak

Wow.


730 posted on 05/15/2006 1:41:30 PM PDT by Peach
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To: Freee-dame

bump


731 posted on 05/15/2006 1:41:41 PM PDT by Freee-dame
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To: Locomotive Breath

You are probably correct (if she was able to find out enough about the boys to know their background). I can only say, thank god they have the means to defend this. If it is an average person of average means, they will mortgage the farm.


732 posted on 05/15/2006 1:42:26 PM PDT by Constitutions Grandchild
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To: Jrabbit

I understand how each eye witness can give a different account, but by God, this I KNOW:


1. I would now the difference between 3 and 20.
2. I would have made damned sured I either left an identifiable mark or was able to identify something only a Mom would know.
3. I would not be walking out smiling. If I could get up, walk out and smile after being gang raped for 30 minutes, I would be pulling each one by their throats, AFTER I had pulled their hearts out of their throats.


733 posted on 05/15/2006 1:42:36 PM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

Yes, that's what the cabbie said.


734 posted on 05/15/2006 1:42:40 PM PDT by Jezebelle
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To: luv2ski
She slept with the navy?!

Apprently she did, hence the first child. :-)

735 posted on 05/15/2006 1:44:26 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Constitutions Grandchild

That would be "Thank God", s'cuse me.


736 posted on 05/15/2006 1:44:29 PM PDT by Constitutions Grandchild
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To: ltc8k6

The KY has to be the AV's. It is not specified on the list of items to be seized. It must have been seized as part of the AV's property, which is on the list.


737 posted on 05/15/2006 1:44:34 PM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: streeeetwise
This is the traditional, and accurate, complaint of the black community, cops haul them in and the prosecutors just overcharge them and force a plea bargain. That is what makes the attack mode so galling. I agree that minority defendants have often been the victim of this conduct. The real beef is that these defendants have the ability to exposure it.

This might just be the most perceptive thing I've read all day. On the other hand, I've known public defenders who arranged those pleas, and they believed their clients to be guilty of offenses worse than the plea. Sometimes people plea to things they haven't done to avoid prosecution for greater offenses they have done.

It is obvious, however, that the black community, rightly or wrongly, believes that rich people get off because they can afford good lawyers.

There is one more thing. I have an attorney nephew who paid for his house after suing our city for a false and malicious prosecution. It was a total frame up, even worse than the Duke case.

738 posted on 05/15/2006 1:46:59 PM PDT by js1138 (Well I say there are some things we don't want to know! Important things!")
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To: Peach

Wonder if they are reading our threads.


739 posted on 05/15/2006 1:47:07 PM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: Locomotive Breath

Local radio just reported that the Evans live in a million dollar house on the water in Annapolis. Around here are million dollar house on the water would be a shack. Maybe they bought it for a million several years ago.It seems to me that she definately targeted the wealthier boys.


740 posted on 05/15/2006 1:47:32 PM PDT by RecallMoran
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