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

Hearld Sun ^ | 5/26/06

[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.