DA plans to turn over more papers in lacrosse case (DukeLax)

DURHAM -- District Attorney Mike Nifong plans to give defense lawyers at least 300 additional pages of information about the Duke University lacrosse rape case, adding to 1,298 pages of documentation surrendered previously.

Without describing their contents, Nifong said the new documents would be handed over during a preliminary hearing today for three recently indicted lacrosse players: Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans.

The three are accused of raping, sodomizing and restraining an exotic dancer in a bathroom during an off-campus party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-March.

All are free under $400,000 bonds as they await a trial that, according to Nifong, might begin next spring.

In addition to a transfer of documents, the hearing will include a request from Seligmann's lawyers that his bond be lowered to roughly one-tenth its current level. The lawyers filed an affidavit in support of that request Wednesday.

Signed by Philip Seligmann, the defendant's father, the affidavit said that Seligmann had been recruited by every Ivy League university to play football or lacrosse, and that he accepted a 90-percent scholarship to be on the Duke lacrosse team.

"This case has taken an unbelievable and horrendous emotional toll on all my family, especially my wife," the elder Seligmann wrote. "We are committed as a family, along with Reade, to do everything necessary to restore our good name."

According to the affidavit, Seligmann's bail money was provided by a family friend whose "loss of income is substantial" as a result.

In a related matter, the News and Observer Publishing Co. moved Wednesday to make public certain documents -- reportedly pertaining to the alleged rape victim's medical records -- that were filed by defense lawyers under seal.

"In this case, the fact that there are charges of sexual assault is unfortunate and controversial -- either because a woman has been sexually violated or because the defendants have been wrongfully accused -- but neither is a justification for sealing a court proceeding," a lawyer for the newspaper wrote.

The lawyer, Hugh Stevens, also said the sealed documents raised questions about Nifong's handling of the case. He said that when the conduct of public officials is at issue, it is an added reason for making the pertinent files public.

Meanwhile, several defense lawyers predicted Wednesday that Nifong's latest 300-plus pages of documentation would do little to help him, since earlier paperwork -- in their view -- was more beneficial to the defense than the prosecution.

For example, attorneys Joe Cheshire and Brad Bannon have said the earlier documents showed a "very significant and disturbing deficiency" in Nifong's evidence.

Specifically, there were indications that Nifong began making public statements about the accuser's medical records even before they were in his possession, according to the two lawyers, who represent Evans.

Cheshire and Bannon said the District Attorney's Office subpoenaed the accuser's medical files from Duke Hospital on March 20 -- six days after the alleged rape.

However, the files were not printed out in compliance with the subpoena until March 30, and Police Investigator Benjamin Himan didn't pick them up until April 5, Cheshire and Bannon wrote in court paperwork last week.

But the lawyers said Nifong told a local television station on March 27 that he had no doubt the exotic dancer was raped, based on a "personal review" of her medical records. They quoted the district attorney as saying, "My reading of the report of the emergency room nurse would indicate that some type of sexual assault did in fact take place."

Citing the 1,298 pages of documentation given them by Nifong earlier, various defense lawyers also have contended there were numerous inconsistencies in the accuser's version of events, along with unacceptable omissions in a sworn affidavit prepared by police. The affidavit was used by Himan to obtain judicial permission for his evidence-gathering efforts.

Among other things, Himan failed to mention that a co-dancer had described the rape allegation as "a crock," even though she was with the accuser for all but about five minutes on the night in question, according to defense lawyers.

Nifong has bristled at that and other defense characterizations of his evidence, while attacking the national press corps for -- in his opinion -- blindly reporting the characterizations without checking their accuracy.

"Is anyone surprised that the defense attorneys are spinning this case in such a way that things do not look good for the prosecution?" Nifong wrote in an e-mail to Newsweek magazine last week.

"Their job, after all, is to create reasonable doubt, a task made all the easier by an uncritical national press corps desperate for any reportable detail, regardless of its veracity," the district attorney said.

http://www.businessleader.com/bl/nov01/halloffame.html

George Watts Hill

Born: October 27, 1901
Died: January 20, 1993

Energetic, committed, intelligent, gracious, generous, shrewd, and benevolent are his descriptors. Central Carolina Bank, Research Triangle Park, Research Triangle Institute, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Durham Regional Hospital, N.C. School of Science & Math, Durham Academy, and the Hill Learning Development Center are his legacy.

George Watts Hill Sr. was born into wealth in New York City on October 27, 1901, but his family's roots were in Durham. He moved to Durham when his father, John Sprunt Hill, founded Durham Loan and Trust in 1903. He graduated from Durham Public Schools in 1917 and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1922 with at B.S. in Commerce. After just two years at UNC's law school, he passed the North Carolina bar examination 1924. Later that same year, he married and went on a honeymoon around the world. The trip was the combination of gift and an assignment from his grandfather George W. Watts who had made several generous donations to Presbyterian missions and he wanted his grandson to experience how his donations were being utilized first hand.

Upon his return in 1926, he joined Durham Loan and Trust and in 1929 he was named vice president and became bank president in 1932. Consequently, this was a time when many other bands failed at the height of the Depression. In fact, President Herbert Hoover called up the Hill's to request use of their personal fortune to provide lending resources for other banks. They dutifully loaned cash to other banks who needed to cover customer withdrawal demands.

Hill once told the story, "As I was returning from Charlotte in 1931, I developed a puncture midway between Siler City and Pittsboro. There I was, alone at dusk, fixing a tire with $700,000 in cash in the back of my Dodge coupe."

In order to build confidence in his bank, Hill devised a scheme, "I was taking cash, handing it to friends of mine. They came around and they'd make deposits. People would see them. The bank grew by several million dollars. The never did catch me."

When he became president in 1932, he began an expansion program and opened branches in Creedmoor and Wake Forest. In 1937, the bank completed construction of its new 17-story office building in downtown Durham. At the time of completion, it was the tallest building in North Carolina. The bank's name was changed to Durham Bank & Trust Company.

Concurrent to his executive role at the bank, Hill began an eight-year run as a member of the Durham City Council in 1928. He and the late Dr. Wilbert C. Davison co-founded the Hospital Care Associations in 1929 and devised a plan to create a cooperative, prepaid health care plan to make health care affordable. The Association grew to become the first statewide Blue Cross/Blue Shield in the country.

During World War II, Hill served in the ultra secret Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. From 1943 to 1945 he worked with the research and development branch which developed miniature weapons and spy gadgets for agents operating behind enemy lines. (A display from his personal collection may be seen at the N.C. Museum of History.)

As president of Watts hospital (1937-1962), founded by his grandfather, he led the development of its property. The transition of the endowment is what became Durham Regional Hospital and the campus for the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics.

In 1959, Hill crafted the merger of Durham Bank and Trust with Citizens National Bank of Durham and Roxboro, and the University National Bank of Chapel Hill. Realizing a bank carrying the "Durham" name would face difficult acceptance in Chapel Hill, the merged banks became known as Central Carolina Bank & Trust Company (CCB).

A major benefactor of UNC, Hill served as a trustee from 1956 until 1981. He even donated his home at Quail Roost Farm to UNC as a conference center. In recognition, the alumni center at UNC was named after him. He also donated to N.C. State's School of Forestry, the 2000-acre Hill Forest. Dedicated to education throughout his life, Hill helped found the Calvert Method School, which operates today as Durham Academy. In 1977, he endowed the school's Hill Learning Development Center.

A visionary, he fought to get a water and sewer system to a barren areas in the eastern part of Durham County and worked tirelessly toward the formation of Research Triangle Park. He was a founding member and secretary of the Research Triangle Foundation from 1948 until 1981. When the Research Triangle Institute lacked money in 1959, he bought land to ensure the Park would have property on which to develop.

Through his vision, tireless effort, determination, skillful use of financial resources, and leadership, George Watts Hill played a dominant role in growing the Triangle's roots of commerce and education. Business Leader acknowledges his achievements as a Hall of Fame inductee.

Old money

To: marcusr@washpost.com

Subject: Reasonable Doubt

I've been following the Duke case pretty closely on the cable shows and the internet. I thought your column was well written, and hit the key points of the case. I wanted to comment on the closing--

In an odd way, I hope Nifong's proved right, because the alternative -- that he began with a dubious case and stuck with it as it became shakier -- is so troubling.

It seems to me there is no middle ground-- either the Duke Lacrosse players brutally gang raped the accuser, or the alternative you outlined is the truth of this case.

Reading between the lines, you do not seem to believe that the Duke Lacrosse players brutally gang raped the accuser, and that leaves your alternative. I hope you continue to write about the case, and that you pull no punches in calling the DA on his mischief.

I always have to google with you. It's like homework :-)

http://www.midtownmedia.com/ndc/Civilwar.html

Background on Boss Tweed

While political corruption had been a problem in the Democratic party since its founding, the activities of Tweed and his associates went far beyond the petty graft of his predecessors, and soon could not be ignored. The New York Times, then a Republican paper, began raising such impertinent questions as how Tweed could afford a town house on Fifth Avenue, an estate in Greenwich, all on his $2500 a year Street Commissioner's salary. Times cartoonist Thomas Nast mercilessly attacked Tweed in political cartoons. The Tweed scandals were a great blow to Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party, and more generally to the NYC. The City's home rule charter was quickly revoked and its ability to govern itself was hampered for the next sixty years. And Democratic reformers for the first time beat the machine. However the reform movement could never hold on to govern mainly because it came from two dramatically opposite factions 1. Wealthy businesses seeking to reduce taxes. 2. Social and labor reformers seeking to increase social services and business regulations.
------
Political machine

(All I can think of is Boss Hogg now)

I have a feeling what is going on beneath the surface has nothing to do with Duke or rape, but everything to do with power. I don't think it has anything to do with race. It is all about power.

I've been vacillating on the question of why this case has gone forward. To say it is strictly about power sounds a lot like the feminazi's who say all rape is about power. While power might play a part in this case, I tend to think vanity - specifically Nifong's - is the underlying reason this case has not been dropped yet.

I think if there was some kind of conspiracy in the works, who would have ever thought Nifong would have continued with this case when the overwhelming evidence suggests that no rape occurred.

Again, I don't claim to know the answer. In fact, I'm ready for this stinking case to be done with so we can move on to solving the real mystery - why were 3 innocent men indicted?

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