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
Ahh, youth! ;)
The more I think about DBM the more it fits...
Brutal, messy and often inaccurate. That's the media for ya.
Unless Nifong or Himan instructed the lab to hold it until all the discovery had been submitted.
If one were to parse words like a former U.S. President, one could conclude that perhaps there is one, just not in Nifong's possession. Maybe Himan's possession. Maybe Chalmers...
SI could have done much better than that. They did a real white-wash of the AV, IMO.
It's news to me that Crystal claimed to have ovarian cancer last year and that God cured her.
So, how long before one of the TV experts speculate that Nifong may have a TOX showing she was drugged?
Anyone?
SI is owned by Time Warner. Who owns Time, CNN, etc, etc. Founding members of the Drive-By Media.
Nifong said, at one point, there is NO toxicology report.
Anyone?
That's why I posted the above article from ABC11tv. It's as if the media won't let the tox report die. I also heard Nifong say there was no tox report but not exactly sure how he said it. I do know he somewhat mumbled his no while looking down at the floor. If he added anything else to it I didn't hear it.
The tox report was found with the speedy trial application and the silver bullet about two weeks after Crystal lost her virginity.
Oh, I know what he said. Do you believe everything he says? I don't. These Durham people have been dirty, slimy, sneaky and unethical all along -- why would they suddenly tell the truth now? I fully expect the DA to pull a rabbit out of his asshat.
Works for me and it's about time.
One document missing was toxicology reports. Nifong told the court he didn't have a toxicology report to turn over, although he later refused to say if such a test was performed. Defense attorneys said later they don't believe one was.
"I thought when you went, and somebody looked like they were drunk or on drugs or something that somebody would do toxicology," Cheshire said. "I mean, I'm just surprised they didn't, that's all."
One item Nifong couldn't produce for the defense attorneys was a toxicology report to determine what substances, if any, were in the accuser's blood the night of the lacrosse party. After speculating weeks ago that the woman might have been given a date-rape drug, Nifong said Thursday that he had no blood analysis from her for that night.
If a test was run wouldn't Nifong have to turn over the results? For that very reason I tend to believe NBC17's account of the tox report. (This shows how the media have been all over the place when reporting "facts" concerning this case.)
Lester Munson is on Nancy Graceless. If you turn it on you will see why the article could have been better. He still thinks Nifong has a good case and has secret evidence he is holding back.
Move-on should care. You could wonder out loud how many minorities have been quietly railroaded in NC with their archaic pro-prosecution law (DA picks trial judge??? No speedy trial law??).
Who saw Hannity v. Skeletor? What was that about the cell phones showing that she was on the phone during the rape timeline? Was that a supposition or something they know? (Yet still they think that Nifong may have something--).
Our NEW D.A. is top notch. I hope he gets elected for the next 20 years.
Is a prosecutor under oath when answering a judge or is there only the presumption of honesty?
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