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
You could be right. I gave up trying to understand this entire thing. It makes my head fuzzy. Pour me another!
Not necessarily. If she gives the reason that she isn't able to testify due to emotional reasons and even has a doctor's confirmation of that, she would not be prosecuted and it would give Nifong an out. This may be what he intends to do when a time comes that he no longer needs this case to stay in office.
The other thing is that many of these people arrested recently have been hit up with Worthless check charges. We know who heads up that program - Linwood Wilson. We know he uses bad judgement - he confronted the Defense lawyers at a Press conference for God Sake and got his head handed to him. According to Hannity tonight - her story was about ghost strippers (3 strippers) and 5 players have vaginal intercourse with her in the bathroom from the very beginning - and it went downhill from there.
Look at the terrible Judgement of Linwood Wilson confronting the Lead Defense Counsel in front of National TV Cameras and giving the Defense a double barrel opportunity to bring facts out and magnify them. If this type of judgement is being to pursue these witnesses, I could see how it could happen.
But I'm curious...I need to know things.
And we all benefit from it !!
thanks
Agreed.
Just go into any Wal-Mart or Target in a racially mixed area. Black kids are jumping up and down, hitting each other, running all over, opening packages and leaving the contents dumped wherever they're standing at the moment, and yelling angrily or laughing like hyenas. Their parent stands there hollering to the other end of the store for Shalonda or Quanell to get this or that. Listen to the way they speak and what they say. They are so loud, ignorant, lazy and obnoxious it disgusts me to call them Americans. Rarely do I see the parent conducting herself with dignity and instilling discipline and good behavior. It's always chaos, violence and destruction, and it's the norm, not the exception. Their culture sucks - period. Fortunately their whole scene can be avoided by shopping in the morning or early afternoon since they aren't awake before noon, and then they have to watch Oprah and Jerry Springer before they ever leave the house. But by all means, let's have them take up space in colleges and universities through quotas, only to drop out and thus waste a spot that could have been taken by somebody else who would have graduated and become a productive member of society.
It's been reported that Hardin recommended Nifong when Easly appointed him to judge. Hardin reportedly stated that Nifong was the most senior person in the office and on that basis he recommended him.
LEGAL TRAVESTY IN DURHAM
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=27130&pid=1451
Durham seems to be run and populated by a lot of black racists.
Damn...you mean I am going to have to say someone from UVa is on the right side of an issue?
Whose my daddy?
One was a Hokie and one was a Spider. UVa does not fit into the equation.
List of Jailed or awaiting trial (all subsequent to the Duke Party):
Cab Driver
AV's Boyfriend - Matt Murchison --- soon after a
Noel Rochelle Murchison is arrested.
AV's Ex-husband - In jail for everything including Worthless checks (Linwood Wilson alert*)
AV's Girlfriend - arrested for worthless check charges among other things.
While all these people and the 3 lacrosse players turn up in the public records of Durham's court system, Kim Pittman or Kim Roberts is not listed and has not been listed in the official public records. Someone has given Kim a special status whereby even standard public records for Kim are not listed.
And there may be more.
Some interesting comments this morning. From the NandO Editor's Blog and the Friends of Duke Univ. blog.
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/editor/index.php?title=duke_case_coverage_1&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
http://friendsofdukeuniversity.blogspot.com/2006/05/general-topics-open.html
Duke LAX's fault!
http://www.nbc17.com/news/9474062/detail.html
Gang-Related Shooting Kills 1, Wounds 3
POSTED: 7:29 pm EDT July 5, 2006
UPDATED: 7:41 am EDT July 6, 2006
EXCERPT
Local authorities tried early this year to broker a truce between rival gangs. But a rape investigation involving the Duke University lacrosse team has been the focus of the police department in recent months, and the truce fell apart.
Y'all want to start a new thread on this one, or shall I ping from this thread?
Your call. :)
Link to new thread...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1661148/posts
The sad part about all those comments to the N&O is that those leads were spoon fed to reporters earlier, to no avail.
New thread. Durham crime wave fault of DukeLax...
WHOA---stop the presses. WOnder what this means?
http://friendsofdukeuniversity.blogspot.com/2006/05/general-topics-open.html
At 9:20 PM, July 05, 2006, Anonymous said...
If I had to guess why the Durham PD has had Murchison and McNeill arrested and jailed, it is to put pressure on them to shut up about the rest of CGM's client list.
A list that is reputed to contain several high-level Durham officials (read Durham PD and city council members)
This is also likely the reason for the mass arrest last week of the majority of Durham's other prostitutes.
Of course that info will eventually come out. And Mark Gottlieb may even go to jail before it is over.
{There is at least one Durham Sun reporter who has hinted to me that they know the names and have not been allowed by publisher Bob Ashley to print them).
At 9:20 PM, July 05, 2006, Anonymous said...
If I had to guess why the Durham PD has had Murchison and McNeill arrested and jailed, it is to put pressure on them to shut up about the rest of CGM's client list.
A list that is reputed to contain several high-level Durham officials (read Durham PD and city council members)
This is also likely the reason for the mass arrest last week of the majority of Durham's other prostitutes.
Of course that info will eventually come out. And Mark Gottlieb may even go to jail before it is over.
{There is at least one Durham Sun reporter who has hinted to me that they know the names and have not been allowed by publisher Bob Ashley to print them).
Thank you both for the informative links and articles about VAWA funds. I've been away for a week, or I'd have posted these links before now.
The newsgroup http://groups.google.com/group/durhamsustains
You must subscribe to post, but anyone can read it. The group was originally called durham sustains, but the name was changed to ubuntu. The name change seemed to happen around the time it became obvious the accusations are false.
They also have a blog: http://onecommunityofmany.blogspot.com/
It boils my blood that these people are likely in line for VAWA funds. Read the last paragraph below to see how this group plans to end sexual violence.
Here's a snip from the the blog article, "UBUNTU," posted June 28.
Who We Are: Purpose & Goals
UBUNTU was born in the aftermath of the March 13, 2006 rape of a Durham, NC Black woman by members of the Duke University Lacrosse team. UBUNTU is a Women of Color and Survivor-led coalition of individuals and organizational representatives. We prioritize the voices, analyses, and needs of Women of Color and Survivors of sexual violence in both our internal structure and our external work. We are Women, Men, and people who do not fit into the gender binary. We are non-trans and trans. We are People of Color, Multi-racial, and White. We come from throughout the Triangle area and have roots both within and outside of the United States. We are sex workers, students and community members. We are workers. We are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, and Questioning. We are Queer and Straight. We are young, old, and in-between. We come from a broad range of economic, geographic, spiritual and political experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives.
Sexual violence occurs in a culture sick with white supremacy and racism; heterosexism and homophobia; patriarchy, sexism, and transphobia; and poverty and capitalism. These systems all interact and overlap to create a culture of violence that must be changed. We must dismantle these systems and work to prevent violence if we hope to end it.
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