Posted on 06/22/2006 2:23:47 AM PDT by abb
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.
None is expected to attend today's hearing.
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.
The e-mail traffic was made public by Nifong on Monday.
URL for this article: http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-746370.html
johnincarolina has an informative post about his interview with the lawyer who has zeroed in on DPD about the wanted poster.
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/
scroll to the second article for today
"Duke lacrosse: Attorney Charns’ email to Durham officials and my interview with him"
Also read the one comment following John's article.
Yeah. or "Night Court" in Derry, Maine.
Awesome blog entry and comment. Hope the DPD is getting nervous.
Pretty shallow analysis by Levitt. Levitt also is basing his analysis on incorrect infomation.
Mangum IDed, #4, #5, #7 and #40. The Durham Grand Jury at Nifong's behest indicted #5 and #40. Then later indicted #7.
Several commentors on his board have criticized his use of statistics.
The oddity is that the first person Mangum picked was not indicted FOR SOME REASON. We do not know who he is. The second person she picked is the 90% but he had a mustache, ie Evans. The next person she picks is Seligmann with no show of emotion. The last person she picked was towards the end of the photo array and she cried.
This sounds to me like the photo array went like this:
1. The officer got pissed at her at her and said something when she IDed the "wrong" person, ie #4.
2. She then IDed Evans but since the officer had just yelled at her for IDing someone who was out of state at the time hedged. The mustache probably came from the directions on the photo array.
3. Then she IDed Seligmann with no emotion.
4. Then we arrive at photo 38 or 39 and still have not 3rd ID in the view of the police, but not in Mangum's view. So the officer is getting more pissed and yells at her some more and says show some emotion. So she picks #40 Finnerty on cue and cries. [It could be that the crying started earlier when the officer yells at her and but it is noted and the tissue offered to her at that point try to build up a weak ID.
Since late March, I have been reading, but not commenting, on a newsgroup which was established to support Crystal Gail Mangum. I wanted to understand what could motivate anyone to be a proponent of injustice. Believe me, I've had some diffucult times fighting back the urge to respond to the hateful things I've read there.
However, a good anthropologist doesn't interfere. He observes.
I won't go into how the group has morphed since its beginning. I will say it's been fascinating to watch.
Yesterday, out of the blue, there was a long post about VAWA funding being approved. VAWA had never been mentioned in the group before, although there had been mention of funding available for their mission.
From what I've been able to find on VAWA funds, they seem to be available for feminist groups and law enforcement.
I haven't been able to find out what I really want to know. I want to know who controls the money in NC. I also want to know who in Durham has received VAWA funds.
On one of the sites about VAWA I read that, under this act, all a prosecutor needs to proceed with a case is an accusation and an identification. Isn't that exactly what Nifong has said?
I've seen some excellent research here. Could one of you tell me where I need to look for this info?
Your son will be back in Durham in the fall? Durham wants Duke to be more involved in the community..
A message on John's board:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=13073631&postID=115170019067730449
Duke T'85 said...
There is a small window for Duke students to register to vote. They have to be living in Durham 30 days first (classes start Aug. 28), and must sign up no later than 25 days before election day on Nov. 7.
If they turned out in considerable numbers it could change the election.
The article is useless.
Every picture had an equal liklihood of being chosen by chance.
Every three combinations had an equal liklihood of being chosen by chance.
Believe it or not, the number 777 has the same liklihood of being chosen in a 3-digit lottery lottery as 258 or 482 or 856 or any other combination.
Similarly if the AV were blind the probability of her picking #4, 5 and 6 is the same as picking any three other individuals.
The article is useless.
Every picture had an equal liklihood of being chosen by chance.
Every three combinations had an equal liklihood of being chosen by chance.
Believe it or not, the number 777 has the same liklihood of being chosen in a 3-digit lottery lottery as 258 or 482 or 856 or any other combination.
Similarly if the AV were blind the probability of her picking #4, 5 and 6 is the same as picking any three other individuals.
I agree.
If you look at everything that has been done illegally in this case, I think it's very likely that a Pre-meeting occured where they communicated clearly whom they believed the culprits to be. Finnerity certainly would've been on that list with his previous record.
To anyone with any doubt about illegal/unethical behavior on the part of the DA and his co-horts consider this:
The Poster distributed to the angry Mob at University protests and that was reprinted in some papers - the Police/Crimestoppers claim that it wasn't pointing out any perpetrators, but rather asking them to come forward and say what happened at the party. I think it said in large type of the top of the POSTER, PLEASE COME FORWARD!
If the Poster really was only a call for help in determining what happened at the Party - why wasn't the Black Players' Picture on the Poster. He attended the party - so he would know what happened there.
The black player was left off the Poster intentionally. The black player wasn't tested for DNA comparison - even though from the beginning there were reports of the Dancer being intoxicated at the party. It is even believed that Nifong is going to try to convince Jurors that the AV was given a date rape Drug, drugs that affect memory - yet - the black player was NOT tested for DNA comparison.
The AV said that Kim Stole $2000.00 from her (she had earlier jobs that day). She said that Kim assisted in the Sexual assualt.
The Black player wasn't tested or put on the Poster - even when due diligence and thoroughness would make that the right decision. Kim wasn't pursued - in fact - Nifong goes after the players' for stealing the AV's money, when the the testimony of his own victim points to Kim.
Nifong needed this to be strictly a black/white issue. He manipulated the entire investigation to that end. Then he ended up winning every single district where registered black voters outnumbered registered white voters.
So, It's no stretch, IMO, to imagine more meeting with Crystal about lineups and suspects and them not being recorded. In fact, the Defense attorneys know of one meeting with the DA, investigators, and Crystal. No notes and no documentation of any kind were produced. Nifong claims that "this case" was not discussed in that meeting. How unlikely is that? What did they discuss then - the special olympics? Who killed Princess Diana?
Cheek should play up the fact that the DA of a jurisdiction is primarily an administrator and that, as a county commissioner, he has more administrative experience than Nifong who, up until a year ago when he was appointed DA, was handling minor traffic cases.
If Cheek's work as a county commissioner was reliable, ethical, and meaningful, there's no reason the booze issue should be a hindrance. If he was coming from the private sector, it would be because his work would not be as open to public scrutiny, but since he's already in public service it won't be, as long as he has a good record.
I pick Cheek to win.
abb, thanks for the pings.
I wish somebody in the media would start scrutinizing NCCU and drag their imbroglios into public view. Let's have a look at their dirty laundry.
Fat chance.
Yes, my student will be back at Duke and does plan to register to vote. The important thing will be for the word to get out to all the students. I am not sure what is the best way to accomplish this. LB, my student is not here right now, so I cannot ask: do you recall if Duke has a polling place on campus?? Just trying to figure if absentee ballots are the best choice or not...
What did they discuss then - the special olympics? Who killed Princess Diana?
________________________________
Although I believe that Nifong is a lying sack of excrement it IS possible that they discussed where Crystal was going to get treatment, who was paying for it, where her kids were going and how grateful she was going to be.
No polling places on campus in 85.
"I wish somebody in the media would start scrutinizing NCCU and drag their imbroglios into public view."
Do you think any NCCU students ever hired strippers?
Ever used drugs?
Ever were guilty of using racial ephithets?
No, of course not. . . (sarc/off)
Thanks, RecallMoran. Do you have a clue as to where the nearest polling place might be?
Never mind, I found it. Looks like its just beyond the Med Ctr, so students could take the bus that far, then walk to Crest Street.
Although I believe that Nifong is a lying sack of excrement it IS possible that they discussed where Crystal was going to get treatment, who was paying for it, where her kids were going and how grateful she was going to be.
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If they were social workers, yeah. They're Police investigators and District attorneys. There's entire agencies that Crystal could be referred to for those things. I would think at the end of any of the meetings they had with her, they could give her Business cards for the groups to best help her.
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