Posted on 05/19/2006 7:17:27 AM PDT by Perdogg
DURHAM, N.C.—One of three Duke University lacrosse players charged with rape wants the case resolved in time for the next school year, his lawyer said in court yesterday. But the judge warned he will not fast-track the proceedings.
The case "is not going to jump ahead of the line and be handled any differently," Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Stephens said at a hearing for sophomore Reade Seligmann.
After the brief hearing, District Attorney Mike Nifong said he does not expect any trial to begin before next year.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
This entire thing, from start to finish ( Nifong's re-election ) has been ridiculous!
If Duke had shown some balls and stood up for their students, maybe this would not have gone so far.
I believe that there has to be a record. Proceedings are generally kept secret. I am wondering if a lawsuit by the real victims could remove the shield of secrecy and reveal the lies that must have been presented to the GJ in order to get indictments. If the DA knowingly presented false information to the GJ surely he can be held responsible. It is conceivable that he might not have known for the first two indictments but had to have known all of the exculpatory evidence he had in his possession during the presentation to the second GJ. I believe that as an officer of the court he has a larger responsibility to tell the truth than an ordinary witness.
There should be a record (which is secret and sealed for obvious reasons), but I very much doubt Nifong presented to the GJ anything more than the sworn statement of Crystal and the SANE report (and perhaps a police report or two). All of which the defense now has anyway. And I doubt the GJ spent more than 5 minutes deliberating a true bill. As I recall I think they returned bills on something like 80 cases that day.
And Nifong didn't HAVE to use the GJ anyway, I believe he could have simply issued an information (if that's the right term in NC) himself as a basis for the charges. The use of the GJ gives him at least some protection against a charge of malicious or frivolous prosecution.
In other words, I wouldn't view the use of the GJ as a chink in Nifong's armor, such that he could be successfully accused of misusing the GJ procedure, in fact the opposite.
You make a good point but unfortunately, the 3 boys are going to be recognized no matter where they go. At least at Duke, the student body knows them as friends- not just as the guys on the cover of Newsweek. It will also depend on how this is all settled. If the FA cracks and admits it's all a fabrication, there will be plenty of egg of Durham faces to go around. If it goes to court and the boys are acquitted but there is some question in locals' minds, it could get ugly.
Just had a thought: wouldn't it be rich if CGM's atty sues Nifong and the City of Durham, claiming that CGM was railroaded into filing the claim of rape, not allowed to drop, and has suffered irreparable damage because of it? (Poor baby has an ulcer, ya know?) Probably never would happen, but the thought brought a smile to my face.....
Duke freely let Professors trash the lacrosse team but when students rights were violated they stayed quiet. Many alums are angry. Whether or not the players committed a crime, and i know they did not, the University should have stated their anger at the unlawful police prcoedures just as it ranted and raved against prejudice and supposed lack of diversity.
Unfortunately, this will remain a VERY BAD MEMORY for these boys for the rest of their lives...as seriously damaging to their lives and mind as 9-11 was to you and me.
http://www.ourheartsworld.com/
Have you seen this?
Turn volume down
Have Barf Bag ready
H&C NOW!!!!
Dang, I am going to have to watch the replay. Wonder if Greta is going to get off of Aruba and talk about this.
off topic- Bernie Goldberg on H & C...this guy cuts through all the BS:)
Drivers?? Is that what they're called in NC? In Texas, we call em "pimps".....:-)
BLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH! OK, now I feel better.
also off topic- Did you hear Kelly Ann slam Teddy? What's courageous about leaving a woman to drown?
Nominated not elected.
I do not have any links.
I saw it on TV shows. They said it was SOP for someone taking a Rape Kit and especially in light of the police saying she was passed out drunk.
Experts are will shade now, as you say. In the beginning we were told it was Standard Operating Procedure or SOP for a Toxicology report to be taken. One show had a former N.C. SANE Nurse on the show (6-7 ago now). The woman stated the training for a SANE nurse in N.C. and then they asked her about TOX testing. She said she can't imagine it not being done.
Of course, they did say the patient has the right to refuse, and I think that is what happened here.
Nifong said in a Court of Law during a court proceeding that he was turning over everything he had. It is bad news for Nifong either way. Did he mislead the court?
I think there is no TOX test, and the DAs office is hoping that it is not discovered that the Patient refused the test.
It is the DA's don't ask, don't tell policy. If no one can "recall" in court then it can not be said with certainty that the AV refused the TOX. I can hear Nifong saying, we will never know why that test wasn't done.
I too suspect that the "drivers" are PIMPS; however, that is what they were called on H&C.
HAaaaaaaaaaa...nope..sorry to say I missed it.
They are drivers and she's a student of excellence AND a mother just trying to feed her kids. Time for child protection to step in. Where are they?
As SirJohn advises, "be prepared to lose faith."
I lost faith a couple of years ago when the facts came to light in the infamous capital murder conviction of Alan Gell here in North Carolina.
Gell, who was a petty punk, spent NINE YEARS on deathrow before it came to light that the TWO prosecutors who handled his case withheld a BOATLOAD of exculpatory evidence. A BARGEload. Most of these things end with some uncertainty, but the evidence that the prosecutors buried provided overwhelming and unarguable proof of Gell's innocence.
The prosecutors not only did not fairly consider the evidence, but they hid it, did not turn it over in discovery.
The prosecutors were standing by for this completely innocent guy to get the needle. When all this came out, he was given a retrial and quickly acquitted. The prosecutors ultimately received a mild rebuke.
There are many N&O stories on this unbelieveable matter. I grabbed one almost at random that summarizes the main points.
http://www.newsobserver.com/208/story/232426.html
I am a strong supporter of the death penalty, but I was completely horrified at this travesty of justice. When it comes to prosecutors, yea, I already lost my faith.
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