Duke Lacrosse defense: Stories changed ("No one forced me to have sex")

Hearld Sun ^ | 5/26/06

[Mr. Brightside]

Lacrosse defense: Stories changed

By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun

jstevenson@heraldsun.com

May 26, 2006 : 10:20 pm ET

DURHAM -- Two weeks before identifying lacrosse player David Evans with "90 percent" certainty in a police photo lineup as one of her attackers, the accuser in the Duke rape case failed to pick him out in an earlier photo lineup, according to a defense motion filed Friday.

The motion hammered yet again at the prosecution, saying among other things that the accuser changed her story at least twice during the initial investigation, that the nurse who examined her in the emergency room was in training, and that police investigators failed to document their activities as required by law.

Many details in the motion, based largely on nearly 1,300 pages of documentation compiled by District Attorney Mike Nifong, were not previously made public, including a copy of police Sgt. J.C. Shelton's report detailing his dealings with the accuser in the hours immediately after the alleged assault.

Nifong said Friday he was "not going to comment on anything at all about this." A spokeswoman also said the Durham Police Department would have no comment, referring a series of questions to Nifong.

According to the motion, filed by Evans' lawyers Joe Cheshire and Brad Bannon, the exotic dancer viewed a police photo lineup on April 4 -- over three weeks after the alleged rape in mid-March -- and said Evans "looks like one of the guys who assaulted me sort of." Asked to elaborate, the woman said she was 90-percent sure but that the person who assaulted her had a mustache.

Defense lawyers have previously said Evans had no mustache on the night of the alleged crime, if he ever had one.

But when the dancer was shown a photo array containing Evans' picture on March 21, much closer to the time of the alleged assault, she failed to identify him in any way, the new motion says.

The motion includes a copy of the photo of Evans shown to the accuser, along with a written instruction form used in the lineup. Apparently affixed to the form is a Post-It note, in what appears to be the investigator's writing, saying, "Did not pick any."

"Thus, eight days after the alleged assault, and two weeks before the April 4 identification procedures in which she selected the Defendant with 90% certainty if he had a mustache, the complainant viewed a picture of the Defendant in this case and did not identify him as one of her alleged assailants," the motion states.

According to the motion, during the March 21 lineup and another one on March 16, the photos were divided into groups. It couldn't be determined from the filing whether either of the two other defendants, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, were in the group in which the accuser failed to identify any assailants.

Seligmann's and Finnerty's defense attorneys could not be contacted Friday afternoon to determine whether the accuser had identified either of the men in any earlier lineup.

Friday's defense motion also said there was no report about the earlier photo lineups included in the documents Nifong gave defense lawyers. But the April 4 session in which she identified the three suspects was videotaped, and both the video and a written transcript of the session were included in the material given to the defense teams.

The motion uses the apparent discrepancy in record-keeping as one example to suggest the defense hasn't yet been given all police records related to the case, even though Nifong said in a court filing May 18 that the state's "entire file" had been handed over.

"Multiple law enforcement officers who participated in investigative activities in this case did not record their activities as required by law, or they did not turn those records over to the Durham County District Attorney's Office as required by law, or the District Attorney's Office did not turn them over to the Defendant as required by law," the motion argues. It goes on to ask a judge to issue a series of orders ensuring that all records of the investigation are given to the defense.

Included with the motion, the handwritten report by Shelton, the Durham police sergeant, provides far greater detail than anything previously in the public record about the accuser's demeanor and statements on the night in question. Shelton was the first officer to arrive at the house where the lacrosse party took place at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. the night of March 13.

Police went to the home after an unidentified woman told a 911 operator that she was driving by when men began calling her racial slurs.

In fact, the woman, Kim Roberts, was an exotic dancer hired to perform with the accuser at the party. Roberts has since acknowledged contacting a New York publicity firm trying to capitalize on her involvement in the case.

According to Shelton's narrative:

-- Shelton left 610 N. Buchanan after finding no one home. A neighbor told him a "rowdy" party had recently broken up.

-- A few minutes later, police were called to the Kroger on Hillsborough Road because a woman wouldn't get out of another woman's car. Again, Shelton was nearby and was first on the scene.

-- The owner of the car told Shelton that she had been driving down Buchanan Boulevard and saw the other woman -- now in her passenger seat -- walking along the street and that a group of white men at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. were yelling racial slurs at her, so she offered her a ride to safety. (In fact, though, the car owner was Roberts, the second dancer.)

-- The woman in the passenger seat was "wearing a see-through red outfit, with no undergarments and one white high-heel shoe." She appeared unconscious, so Shelton got an ammonia capsule from his car. In response to the capsule, the woman began "mouth breathing, which is a sign that she was not really unconscious," Shelton wrote.

-- Shelton said he tried to pull the woman from the car, but that she grabbed the emergency brake handle to keep from being pulled out. He finally got her out and she collapsed on the ground.

-- Because the woman wouldn't tell officers her name or where she lived, they decided to take her to the Durham Access Center, a mental health and substance abuse facility. There, the woman said she had been raped at 610 N. Buchanan. So Shelton directed that she be transferred to Duke University Hospital's emergency room.

-- At Duke, the accuser told Shelton she was a stripper and had been hired to dance at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. After their show, she said, she and the other dancer got in a car to leave, but that some of the men wanted them to go back inside. "She said at the point some of the guys from the party pulled her from the vehicle and groped her. She told me that no one forced her to have sex," Shelton wrote.

-- Shelton went outside to call his watch commander to tell him the woman had recanted her rape allegation. But then someone told him the woman told a doctor that she had been raped. Shelton called the watch commander back to tell him "she had changed her story back to being raped."

-- Shelton went back inside and asked the woman "if she had or had not been raped. She told me she did not want to talk to me anymore and then started crying and saying something about them dragging her into the bathroom."

Shelton says he left the hospital after the watch commander told him the Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division had been notified.

About 36 hours later, the woman told investigators she had been raped, sodomized, beaten and strangled by three men in the bathroom at the lacrosse party house, according to police affidavits.

The defense motion filed Friday says that, "incredibly," the information provided by Nifong contains no record about the woman's time at Durham Access Center. Nor does it contain reports by two other police officers who were involved in the situation that night, the motion complains.

In addition, Nifong provided documentation pertaining to only five of 17 sections of a Sexual Assault Exam Report, the motion adds, indicating that the exam was performed by an in-training forensic nurse.

All three defendants are free under $400,000 bonds as they await trial.

Nifong has said he hopes to try the suspects together, possibly beginning in the spring of next year.

[secret garden]

Duke LAX ping.

[milford421]

You are, sadly, quite correct. There will always be the cloud of doubt that hangs over these boys.

"I'm convinced that Nifong would prosecute his mother and grandmother if it would get him a few cheap headlines. What an utter @$$."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Bernard]

This is an exercise. After the election, Mr. Nifong will treat his special-interest groups (blacks and women in this situation) like Democrats always treat their voters AFTER the election. That means he will drop all the charges and try to make everybody forget this ever happened.

History repeats itself because people don't change.

[sheik yerbouty]

I keep thinking of a Howard Stern song parody, "The Brawley Bunch"..

[Verginius Rufus]

Nifong can win if he can stack the jury with 12 individuals who don't need any evidence beyond the accuser's say-so, or who don't care if these particular white boys are guilty, but see a chance for pay-back for all the times in the past 350 years that black men were falsely accused.

Obviously the defense lawyers will try to prevent people like that from becoming part of the jury, but I don't trust the judge--he has a prior relationship with Nifong. I don't see why he hasn't been forced to recuse himself from the case.

[robertpaulsen]

"-- Shelton went back inside and asked the woman "if she had or had not been raped. She told me she did not want to talk to me anymore and then started crying and saying something about them dragging her into the bathroom."

Bathroom or bedroom? From another report:

"Within a few minutes, I was told that she told the [doctor] that she had been raped? I returned? and asked her if she had or had not been raped. She told me she did not want to talk to me anymore and then started crying and saying something about them dragging her into the bedroom."

This is kind of important, yes? You'd think the'd get it right. Really ticks me off.

[edboock]

The reputations of these boys will be helped by their part of the $Billions in settlements that will be awarded after the civil suits run their course.

[Huevos Rancheros]

NIFONG milked the stripper for all he could with over 70 media interviews (free re-election commercials), got re-elected, and will wait for the dust to clear in one year and drop the case.

[FreedomPoster]

Unless they were to get reverse-OJed by a Durham jury.

[robertpaulsen]

"why is Mr. Nifong risking his career over something so completely flimsy?"

To get elected. Which he was.

Now, all he has to do is secretly convince her to drop the case and he's golden. He can then shrug his shoulders and say he tried.

[torchthemummy]

The defense motion filed Friday says that, "incredibly," the information provided by Nifong contains no record about the woman's time at Durham Access Center. Nor does it contain reports by two other police officers who were involved in the situation that night, the motion complains.

What! Along with the harrassment of the cabbie and the dropping of the bond for Lil' Kim on the day she changed her testimony, this latest incompetence/malfeasance in breathtaking.

[Candor7]

This is a politically motivated trial. Any jury will never convict. This is a waste of the taxpayers money, and Nifong needs to be fired.

[Libloather]

Duke women’s lax team shows support for troubled men’s team
By Associated Press
Saturday, May 27, 2006 - Updated: 08:08 AM EST

Duke players react after losing 11-10 in overtime to Northwestern in the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse semifinals, Friday, May 26, 2006, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON - The Duke women’s lacrosse team couldn’t win the NCAA title its troubled men’s counterpart never got a chance to play for.

Adopting the men’s motto of “No Excuses, No Regrets” and writing on wristbands the numbers of three indicted classmates, the Blue Devils lost 11-10 to Northwestern in overtime in the national semifinal.

Coach Kerstin Kimel broke into tears after Friday night’s game when describing the siege her players have faced since the men’s season was scuttled amid charges of rape and racism.

“When there’s a void in our everyday lives at Duke, which there was, it’s not easy,” Kimel said. “Myself and the players, we had to shelve a lot of emotion all season long. To their credit, they used that emotion to get us where we’ve taken our team.”

Three Duke lacrosse players - Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and co-captain David Evans - have been charged with raping a woman hired to strip at a team party in March. In the aftermath of the accusations - and claims that the players, who are white, shouted racist taunts at the black woman - the university canceled the rest of the highly ranked team’s season, and coach Mike Pressler resigned.

The players’ attorney has insisted they are innocent. But reports that the women’s lacrosse team would wear headbands that said “Innocent” became a flash point in the world of women’s lacrosse and the Duke community.

Instead, about 10 Blue Devils wore wristbands that said “45 13 6” - the uniform numbers of the three accused men. Other players wore wrist and headbands with the men’s logo.

http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=141078

[Sue Perkick]

This gets more disgusting everyday. One of the players attorneys compared it to "Alice in Wonderland". This has been a travesty from the beginning. I just hope it ends with a career change for Nifong. Broadhead too.

[MizSterious]

"...the woman told investigators she had been raped, sodomized, beaten and strangled by three men..."

If all of this really happened, she should have been extensively bruised, most obviously on the throat. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to raise bruises there. As for the rest, there should have been a lot of bruising and tears in those areas if this story is true. Some reports I've read said only "swelling"--that wouldn't fit this "dancer's" story.

Here's my theory. She seems to have had sex with anyone who wanted her and/or wanted to pay. She decided she'd get a better payoff by crying rape, especially with (she hoped) well to do and prominent university athletes. This case will probably be lost in criminal court--but watch for a civil suit, hitting the deepest pockets hardest, namely the University.

[yankeedame]

...but the big question now seems to be, why is Mr. Nifong risking his career over something so completely flimsy?

"The heart of a man is a dark forest",
--German saying.

[expatpat]

Have you read Bonfire of the Vanities? It is also Alice in Wonderland.

[headsonpikes]

Why hasn't this jumped-up ambulance-chaser Nifong been beaten bloody in the street by friends of the accused students?

[rmgatto]

Looks like Nifong picked a helluva day to quit smoking...

[MizSterious]

I thought I heard one story saying she'd hired her own attorney.