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

The Herald-Sun ^ | June 22, 2006 | John Stevenson

[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

[maggief]

Thanks, I am looking for the newsgroup link understanding it may require membership. Perhaps I should have been more specific.

VAWA, Durham Response, etc., links:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:x8a1xcfIs2QJ:www.co.durham.nc.us/BOCC/Minutes/2006/5-1-06-WS.pdf+%22dewey+mooring%22+durham&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a

THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Budget Presentations for Nonprofit Agencies Applying for FY 2006-07 Funding

Chairman Ellen W. Reckhow, Vice-Chairman Becky M. Heron, and
Commissioners Lewis A. Cheek, Philip R. Cousin Jr., and Michael D. Page


http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:BbsjYOFFCyoJ:www.durhamresponse.org/pubs/45535_Durham_Crisis.pdf+%22durham+crisis+response%22+vawa&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox

Durham Response

REVENUES 2003-2004


http://www.durhamresponse.org/dcrc.html

Board of Directors

Amy Brannock, Chair
Amy Brannock Consulting Services

Cathy Bridge, Vice Chair

Kara Riehman, Treasurer
Research Health Sociologist

Joanne Abel
G. Crabtree Home Building

Cynthia Clinton
Duke University, Director of Harassment Prevention

Dan Dunlop
Jennings Co.

George Kolasa

Dewey Mooring
Jennings Co.

Sharon Winstead



http://www.guidestar.org/index.jsp

(Registration required.)

[TommyDale]

Sorry, I misread your post. :(

[bjc]

Interesting. I didn't realize that the order of presentation was known. Does anyone have a reference or link to this piece of information?

The actual probabilities would have dramatically changed if Leavitt had factored in that the AV had reviewed the pictures previously without identifying anyone - which I believe to have been the case.

In addition the probabilities of possible explanations would also have changed.

I also think that there must be research on the reliability of eyewitness identifications on this issue. I would bet that there is evidence that false identifications (a) identify suspects early and (b)cluster suspects. The reason would be cognitive dissonance, a well recognized psychological phenomena that leads people to ex post facto restructure reality to eliminate any affective discomfort.
In short, if the AV was being pressured into identifying someone - for example, "if your story is true, the men who raped you are in this set of pictures." The AV would have been under significant pyschological pressure to resolve the dilemma, if in fact no one had raped her or that she had no clear recollection of who did.

Again I suspect there is research on this phenomena, though I am not familiar with this particular field.

[TommyDale]

"Oh, no! Not again!"

[ladyjane]

The author recognizes that all numbers are equally likely and then - incredibly - says the results are strange.

It's no statistical oddity at all. That outcome is equally likely, assuming they were ordered randomly.

I highly doubt the police department uses a table of random numbers to order pictures. The article is beyond useless.

[JLS]

Friday on Hannity's radio show, MK said the defense WILL NOT file a motion to dismiss.

I have heard people say Kendall said this. I can not believe it. These attorneys are too good not to move for dismissal every time they are allowed. She must have been trying to say something else.

You never want to go to trial. You always want the case dismissed. Any risk of conviction no matter how small is not worth anything you might get out of it.

[JLS]

If Mangum announced today that she had lied the whole time, a significant fraction of the rape nazis would claim that she was bought off. The good news is that many know they are not guilty regardless of this smear.

[JLS]

Here is a link to what is purported to be the entire line up of one time through the photo array, possibly number 6.

http://www.wral.com/slideshow/dukelacrosse/9141851/detail.html?qs=;s=1;w=800

[Hogeye13]

I am sure Levitt would have viewed it differently if he had followed the case more closely.

Regarding the use of eyewitness identifications, I am sure studies have been done (is there anything that hasn't been studied). I have always heard that this type of id is the most unreliable and easiest to impeach in court of all evidence. I am sure that the defense will have experts that will completely debunk the id's the FA made as well as the process under which it was done.

I am sure that if you sat the FA down today and gave her a set of 46 pictures of young men, none of which were lacrosse players, and told her that her attackers were in the group she would pick three more.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Will try to find more later after ballgames are over.
A good place to start I think:

http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/centers/child/Publications/FundingReport-CCFP.pdf

NC Funding

======

Also
http://www.gcc.state.nc.us/ForPreApp/victims.htm

C. Law Enforcement/Prosecutors’ Offices/Court Officials

55% of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) award to NC must be allocated to this program priority. Allocations are 25% for law enforcement, 25% for prosecution, and 5% for court initiatives.

Developing, training or expanding specialized units or victim assistant programs that target violent crimes against women, such as domestic violence or sexual assault investigative or prosecutorial teams to include evidence-based prosecution.

Training to criminal justice system professionals (judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, probation officers, magistrates, clerks of court) on issues related to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, which may include training on the Full Faith & Credit provision of the Violence Against Women Act.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

One more...this has Grantee info for NC 2002

http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/vawamei/attachments/pdf/sitevisit/North%20Carolina2002.pdf

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

http://www.usdoj.gov/ovw/map/arrest/1998/ncgtea.htm
OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS
Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies
Enhancement Grant Award: FY 1998
North Carolina


AWARD RECIPIENT:
City of Durham
Durham, North Carolina

AWARD AMOUNT: $868,323*

PURPOSE: These funds will allow the Durham Police Department to continue and expand their Domestic Violence Unit by adding four police officer positions. Two teams will be created within the Domestic Violence Unit. One will focus on performing follow-up investigations and the other on assistance to patrol officers responding to domestic violence calls. The Durham Police Department will continue to work with the Orange/Durham Coalition for Battered Women and the Durham County District Attorney's Office to improve victims' services, provide law enforcement training, and increase the prosecution of domestic violence cases.

LOCAL CONTACT:
Charles Tiffin, Captain
Durham Police Department
505 West Chapel Hill Street
Durham, NC 27701

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Last link
http://toolkit.ncjrs.org/files/fullchapter4.pdf

[CondorFlight]

Do I understand this to mean that in addition to all the other insults this case brings, my federal tax money
is now contributing to Nifong's circus?

And can one sue to get that back?

(Can there be a class action suit by taxpayers claiming his negligent or fraudulent use of the money?)

[Fido969]

A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR is handed out to radical feminists through the VAWA program.

That is why the justice system in the US stinks as badly as it does.

[abb]

Pinging DukeLax List. New column in Today's UK Guardian

Prisoners of a false paradigm
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/robert_zelnick/2006/07/duke_and_the_racial_paradigm.html

[bjc]

Useful post. The author, Robert Zelnick, gets the general point right. Unfortunately he understates and underreports the travesties that accompany this case and the malevolence of Nifong's actions. Interestingly, however, the net result is that the bleeding hearts that are the Guardian's main readership, as represented by the commentators on this piece, essentially prove his point on the racial paradigm by excusing the prosecution of what are in all likelihood innocent young men.

[abb]

From the article...

Under American jurisprudence, a whore has as much right as a virgin to say "no", and a man who rapes her is every bit as guilty as one who rapes the pure of heart and body.

A careful prosecutor, however, chooses his cases with discretion. He does not ruin lives with charges that will die in any courtroom in which they are tried. .He does not rely on discredited witnesses whose stories have changed or gone south. He does not blindly label 42 men "hooligans" and then hide in his office when the evidence starts to stink.

To my knowledge, this is the first time anyone in the Drive-By Media has used the term "whore." Can anyone else recall the term used anywhere?

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

We don't count?
:-)

[abb]

We don't count?

Lol, touche'. What I meant was use of the term by the Drive-By Media. As in NYTimes, NandO, WRAL, Durham Sun-Herald, MSNBC, Fox, Gretta, NancyGraceBeotch, etc. etc.

The closest I can recall was Bill O'Reilly referring to Crystial as a "businesswoman."