Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Duke Lacrosse defense: Stories changed ("No one forced me to have sex")
Hearld Sun ^ | 5/26/06

Posted on 05/27/2006 5:24:47 AM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: allegations; duke; dukelax; falseallegations; rape
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 201 next last
To: Andy from Chapel Hill

Hey, why would anyone flame you? Unlike the NY Times, CBS, ABC, etc., you clearly stated you posted unconfirmed rumor.

"5. EVERYBODY signs a mutual release from future lawsuits and agrees to super-high liquidated damages if they talk or write about the case."

This is the part I don't like. I would like to see Nifong punished and damages for the falsely accused.

Keep us posted on any new developments, won't you?


61 posted on 05/27/2006 7:07:31 AM PDT by milford421
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: milford421

There have been any number of successful lawsuits over the years against Federal, State, or local Governments in which a citizen or citizens have been harmed in some manner. Nifong might be personally immune from monetary damages, but the Government is not always immune when injustices are done to the citizens. Personally, I believe that Durham, and maybe even Duke University, have incurred liability because of the statements or the actions of Nifong or Brodhead, and they are now exposed to huge monetary damages because of those actions or statements.


62 posted on 05/27/2006 7:08:32 AM PDT by Enterprise (The MSM - Propaganda wing and news censorship division of the Democrat Party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Andy from Chapel Hill

I have thought for awhile now that Nifong would do his best to make this case go away--quietly--now that the election is over.

However, as to your last paragraph--the New Black Panther rhetoric hasn't subsided. They're still "outraged" that "their" women are still being raped by white men, yada yada. I am not confident that they will be willing to let this one go.


63 posted on 05/27/2006 7:09:21 AM PDT by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise

"Personally, I believe that Durham, and maybe even Duke University, have incurred liability because of the statements or the actions of Nifong or Brodhead,

I do too.

"and they are now exposed to huge monetary damages because of those actions or statements."

Good.

Thank you for the info.


64 posted on 05/27/2006 7:10:39 AM PDT by milford421
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: Alia

You're welcome :)


65 posted on 05/27/2006 7:11:17 AM PDT by TheSpottedOwl (If you don't understand the word "Illegal", then the public school system has failed you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: milford421

I am not a lawyer, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.


66 posted on 05/27/2006 7:13:17 AM PDT by Enterprise (The MSM - Propaganda wing and news censorship division of the Democrat Party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: maica
Duke is one of the biggest losers in this disgusting circus. They threw the whole team overboard from the instance the accuser made her charge. I wonder if they would have done the same to their basketball team? Lacrosse is not a money sport for a university, so easy to demonize the boys as elitist. I doubt the Duke girls lacrosse team would have been so strong in their support if they had any reason to think that the boys were guilty of these charges.

That is so good it needed repeating.

67 posted on 05/27/2006 7:14:54 AM PDT by Founding Father (I'm building a fence in May along with my "vigilante" friends.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise

HA!!! Good one.


68 posted on 05/27/2006 7:15:30 AM PDT by milford421
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

Was she ever drug tested while in hospital ?


69 posted on 05/27/2006 7:17:26 AM PDT by Orlando
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Andy from Chapel Hill

#5 just doesn't make sense. The boys have all the leverage since this case will never go to trial. The should force the DA to resign in lieu of filing suit against him and the county.


70 posted on 05/27/2006 7:20:34 AM PDT by Founding Father (I'm building a fence in May along with my "vigilante" friends.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise
"There have been any number of successful lawsuits over the years against Federal, State, or local Governments in which a citizen or citizens have been harmed in some manner."

These are all cases where crooked agents of the state either lied, manufactured evidence or otherwise conspired to intentionally frame someone they knew was innocent. Believing an unbelievable story of rape, a story which in itself will sustain probable cause for arrest if testified to under oath, is not actionable conduct. A prosecutor has that discretion by law and he even used a grand jury in this case. Further, a Judge found probable cause to hold the defendants on bail. The prosecutor and the County are covered here unless someone shows demonstable illegal conduct on the part of the prosecutor or police. This is what makes prosecutor power so dangerous in the wrong hands.

71 posted on 05/27/2006 7:23:04 AM PDT by joebuck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

These guys will most assuredly walk--but not before they've had their reputations permanently besmirched and paid out their parents' life's savings in attorney fees.


72 posted on 05/27/2006 7:27:58 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (My ding-dong wasn't big enough, so I cut it off.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Andy from Chapel Hill
5. EVERYBODY signs a mutual release from future lawsuits and agrees to super-high liquidated damages if they talk or write about the case.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gone way to far for this, the defendants will never sign and will go to trial first.The boys have had to go home and lose a year of college.Somebody is going to pay, and it will be the taxpayers of Durham.Malicious prosecution is a likely guess on a suite for damages.

73 posted on 05/27/2006 7:29:53 AM PDT by Candor7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Ninian Dryhope
The case against the Duke players is worthless. The good lawyers that the player have hired will tear this case up. There is no chance that anyone will be found guilty of rape in this case.

For the $400K bail, you have to pay 10% to the bail bondsman, which you do NOT get back, so they're out 40K up front EACH. Their defense lawyer costs will probably cost their parents their homes. This is all REGARDLESS of if the verdict is not guilty, or if the charges are quietly dropped before prosecution.

NiFong is probably offering them a plea bargain that will avoid the trail, and associated costs. The kids will be stupid to take it, because pleading guilty in the criminal case will wipe them out in the ensuing civil suit

74 posted on 05/27/2006 7:31:42 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (A planned society is most appealing to those with the arrogance to think they will be the planners)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: rockabyebaby

How about putting this dum-ass prosecuter in jail for life!


75 posted on 05/27/2006 7:34:05 AM PDT by Doc Savage (Bueller?....Bueller?...Bueller?...Bueller?...Pelosi?...Pelosi?...Pelosi?...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Candor7

In a just world, you are correct. My sense from the conversation was that the LAX players want to clear their names, graduate and get as far from Durham as they can ASAP.

I have sued a few folks for truly egregious behavior and it really costs a lot of money and time and it eats at your gut 24/7.


76 posted on 05/27/2006 7:36:29 AM PDT by Andy from Chapel Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

"I wish the investigation would just drop the Duke students entirely."

You realize that anything less than a guilty conviction and harsh jail terms on ALL Duke players will result in violence by the hyped up black community!?.


77 posted on 05/27/2006 7:39:51 AM PDT by lawdude (Liberalism is a mental illness!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Candor7

At this point, I almost hope the charges *aren't* dropped and it goes to trial, for the boys sakes. All of the evidence needs to be brought out in a court of law with the cameras rolling so that there isn't a shadow of a doubt that they're innocent and so that they can reclaim their lives and reputations.

And it needs to happen now, not next fall.


78 posted on 05/27/2006 7:40:56 AM PDT by Raebie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: Ninian Dryhope

Nifong needs this case to wrap up after the elections in November...otherwise...people might not want to vote for him (although there is virtually no one running against the guy). I think he already considers this a lost cause...and is just doing it for local press coverage now. The more national media that shows up...the worse the situation gets...because they tend to ask more questions than the local guys...and follow leads.


79 posted on 05/27/2006 7:41:04 AM PDT by pepsionice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Drew68

"it is obvious to everyone except Nifong"

And the black panther party and to jesse jackson(who are hoping she made the whole thing up just to get back at the "man". Don't you wonder why jackson said he'll pay for her education whether it happened or not?


80 posted on 05/27/2006 7:42:13 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 201 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson