Defense Calls for Evidence in Duke Rape Case

WTVD/Durham ^ | May 22, 2006 | AP

[zaxxon]

Lawyers representing one of three Duke University lacrosse players charged with rape want details about any toxicology tests performed on the accuser, asking in a motion filed Monday whether such evidence even exists.

"No such toxicology report, if it exists, was provided to the defense," wrote attorneys Kirk Osborn and Ernest Conner, referring to nearly 1,300 pages of evidence prosecutors provided to defense attorneys last week. The attorneys represent Reade Seligmann, one of three lacrosse players charged with raping a woman hired to perform as a stripper at a March 13 team party.

Seligmann's attorneys want a judge to order prosecutors to provide any reports "generated from blood, urine or other biological samples" collected from the accuser. In the motion, they cited a story published in Newsweek earlier this month that said District Attorney Mike Nifong "hinted" such tests would reveal the presence of a date-rape drug.

Authorities have said a doctor and specially trained nurse performed a physical exam on the accuser that found evidence of sexual assault. But the nurse who filled out a report on that exam indicted no toxicology tests were performed, according to the defense motion.

Nifong declined to comment.

[uncitizen]

The judge, like Nifong, has to get reelected.

Oh. That explains it then.

[Jezebelle]

That's why they need to get into federal court, if at all possible. This motion about the tox test may be a preliminary step in that direction, to be followed by many, building grounds for lack of due process and Sixth Amendment violation.

[JLS]

That's why they need to get into federal court, if at all possible.

How could they get into federal court?

1. In the criminal matter only if convicted. They might appeal to federal court claiming their rights were violated. The motion on the tox report does preserve the right to seek redress about that. I am sure they are hoping never to have to appeal the criminal matter.

2. Could they sue Nifong in federal court? Maybe on a rights action. If a resident of another state sues an official of a state like Nifong, does that go to federal court?

[darbymcgill]

They run her name, and discover that she has a history of mental issues and/or substance abuse with treatment having been done at Durham Access, so naturally the cops decide to take her there for evaluation and treatment

Your part I is a very reasonable alternative explanation that I hadn't considered...

But the part II explanation... We're talking about a woman who is "out of it" (Kim), "passed out drunk" (Security), and being sent to the "drunk tank" (DPD). How does she contrive this elaborate scheme to suddenly realize she would be involuntarily admitted, decline blood/urine tests, scream at only male nurses, keep her story straight for the Dr's but not the cops, etc..etc..

If she was thinking at all, she just had to get out of Kim's car and call a cab or one of her "drivers" to pick her up and take her home...

I can't believe she was that coherent...

[Dukie07]

I wonder who prepares the "discovery" that the defense gets. You have to know that Nifong did not look through each and every one of the 1200+ pages before they were handed over to the defense. Could it be that some of what the defense got was supposed to remain "hidden"? IOW, was some of this info leaked by an insider who is fed up with what's going on? Or, perhaps, had Nifong never read the transcripts of the initial interviews? He does seem to "know it all", doesn't he? Why bother himself with facts when he already knows the "truth".....

Not meaning to sound conspiratorial, here. Just wondering why in the world he would go ahead with this case. Perhaps the simpler answer that he is "stupid" is the right one.

[Jezebelle]

I think that characterization came from Megyn Kendall, who probably hadn't thought it carefully through and assumed it was dance engagements. Infact, Mangum was quoted in and interview with the N&O shortly after the whole case broke that this was her first private dance engagement, and that she had been doing one-on-one "dates" for the two months she had worked for the escort service. So, by Mangum's own explanation, we know these visits to hotels that her "drivers" took her to were NOT dance appointments. Megynn clearly isn't aware of this.

The media is very, very poor at piecing separate pieces of information together. They just don't do it at all.

[ltc8k6]

Bingo!

CGM did 5 one-on-one's that weekend.

Wonder if she works Sundays?

[Jezebelle]

They may have given her a breathalyzer that was negative, so they were taking her to Duke Access for s drug test. Once she realized what she was there for, she began the rape allegation in order to get out of custody and the arrest for public intoxication (which can be for drugs or alcohol).

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I don't watch either one of those, but the season finale of Lost is tomorrow. Must see TV!!!

[Jezebelle]

Since when is the accused charges with paying for DNA testing requested and used by the prosecution?

[Carling]

A written reprimand?

They should be in jail for such blatant misconduct.

[Locomotive Breath]

Thanks for clearing that up. Works for me.

[SE Mom]

An excellent question, and one that's puzzling a great many of us. Why is he still pushing the case?

One certainly hopes that SOMEONE in his office HAS read all the info in discovery. Imagine if Nifong relied on his minions to go through all the evidence and he's taking the word of some zealous young ADA that the case is winnable.

None of it makes sense, does it?

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

eh but she was sober until they gave her the roofie, put on the rape jackets and body condoms, raped her for 30 minutes in the tiny bathroom while talking on the phone to their girlfriends and ordering takeout. All this while the rest of the team watched and cheered before going home and altering the time stamps on the pictures. Have you ever heard of anything like this?<<

I think you've about covered it!! ;>)

There is a great country music song in there somewhere.

OH, they called us rich white boys,
Rich white boys with a condom.
A very special condom,
Super secret don' cha know.

[Forgive me Lord, I get lamer with each passing day.]

[sissyjane]

LOL!!

[SE Mom]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1636984/posts

Interesting article ping..

[JLS]

If she was thinking at all, she just had to get out of Kim's car and call a cab or one of her "drivers" to pick her up and take her home...

But remember she did not have the appropriate amount of cash. Depending on when she realized the cash situation, she may well have been scared to call her boyfriend/pimp/driver.

I suspect the money is the key element that caused her not to want to leave Kim's car and led to Kim trying to dump her at Krogers. So either:

1. Kim stole the money and it took Mangum a while to realize she did not have the money. [This certainly matches Kim's actions and history.]

2. The lacrosse players took some of their money back for non performance. [I suspect this is at least part of the story.]

3. Mangum was so out of it she left some of the money in the bathroom. [I doubt this, hooker have to keep their wits about them enough to come home with the money or they will not survive figuratively and litterally in their job.]

4. Some combinnation of 1-3 above.

I tend to think the players took some of their money back for nonperformance. Kim took some of Mangum's money so that she, Kim, had the right amount. Mangum was too scared to call her boyfriend/pimp/driver shot on the money and refused to leave Kim's car. 2. The lacrosse players took some of the

[za_claws]

Why is he still pushing the case? _______________________

and why was he laughing that he was about Reade's alibi?

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

I agree, she wasn't coherent when cops first encountered her at Kroger (probably from a combination of the concussion from falling and alcohol/drugs).

But it appears she managed to begin waking up when the cops started to physically remove her from Kim's car. She must have been conscious (or mostly so) when the cop started lifting her out of the car, because she grabbed onto something like the emergency brake and had to literally be pried out of the car. So by the time she is plopped into the back of the police car, she is at least waking up if not already roused.

And since she didn't have her ID, and we know the cops allowed Kim to exit the scene without even giving her name, the cops must have learned Crystal's name from Crystal herself. And gotten information in order to notify the boyfriend how to meet her.

And Crystal was clearly awake when they arrive at Durham Access, because she must have been conscious in order to tell the doctor there she was raped.

I don't view this as an elaborate scheme. I think she made up the rape idea on the spot (not something new - remember the 10-year old incident) and, as is clear from her changing stories to the police, just made it up as she went along, with the only immediate goal at any moment being to say whatever seemed expedient at that moment to try to get out of the clutches of the authorities.

And I'll bet she did NOT decline a tox screen - they probably NEVER ASKED her. Someone posted earlier the criteria for when a SANE nurse should administer a tox screen - factors such as unconscious, no memory of events, etc. - which, if Crystal was fully conscious and actually yelling at people - would suggest that none of those factors was observed by the SANE nurse, and hence no tox screen was even proposed to Crystal.

[Jezebelle]

If a defendant can show that his rights are being violated, he doesn't have to wait until he has suffered from the violation to raise the issue.

The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, perhaps as starters. A bad faith prosecution and unequal application of state discovery laws couold rise to denial of due process and equal application of state law respectively. The speedy trial issue speaks for itself.