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
When being interviewed for jury duty here in NC, I distinctly being showed a list of potential witnesses in the upcoming murder trial and asked whether I knew anyone on the list.
Probably so...I just remember her saying it to some male just as she was being admitted.
LMAO! I think that qualifies as "post of the day"! I'm sorry, but that is just too funny :)
There are two different medical records, and maybe a third if Durham Access has some: 1) Mar. 14 at DMC in which the doctor found no physical injuries beyond 2 non-bleeding booboos on her knee and heel AND 2) Mar. 15 UNC MC report in which a doctor, according to Abrams, reported the accuser saying she HIT HER HEAD ON A SINK causing CERTAIN INJURIES:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13438728/
I think the "sink" was the fists of a male acquaintance who beat her sometime between the two hospital visits. Comparing the two doctor's findings should be very interesting.
Julie something.... if I recall... let me look...
One of my favortite Dinosaur Media quotes came from a former Managing Editor of the defunct Shreveport (Louisiana) Journal, Carl, Liberto. He often said, "news is what your Editor says it is unless the Publisher says it isn't."
Some of them, apparently, must think that's the way it still is...
The internet has changed everything. We can now see how dishonest and lazy the MSM really is.
I agree. We haven't really learned quite as much about the visit to UNC and the reasons behind it.
Do you remember me posting about a trip I took to Durham for my son to try out for a traveling lax team and the discussion among the parents in the stands? This was before the UNC connection came out. One of the parents was associated with someone from UNC hospitals and remarked that information would be forthcoming from that quarter. I was biting my tongue to not ask what he knew and now I wish I hadn't held back.
Very insightful article. Thanks for posting this.
I'm glad to see that Professor Van deVelde has been able to move on with his life, despite the treatment he received. Unfortunately it appears that the murderer is still at large.
The problem is that we got Dish Network on a special promotion when we moved. TV Food Network/other stations are 3 hours ahead of us. Programs I watched at say, 3pm, are on at noon. I'm going to start checking out Fox News Channel(unless you can recommend a better source) around 12pm. I can't even remember how to figure out the stupid menu on this thing :(
"Nifong listed nine expert witnesses he expects to testify for the prosecution: L.D. Milks, Timothy G. Suggs, Hope Copeland, Jennifer Leyn and Rachel Winn of the State Bureau of Investigation; Brian W. Meehan and R.W. Scales of DNA Securities in Burlington; and Tara Levicy and J. Manly of Duke University Hospital."
Is J. Manly the M.D.?
You might get it on Foxnews.com....when you click on Video at the top of the screen.
I am absolutely dying to see the motion filed by the NandO attorney. If anyone sees it, ping me...
He also made it clear in every public statement that the charged students are innocent until proven otherwise.
_______________________________________________________
Dear Hank and Brodhead:
^%&%$*&$*&^%*&^##%$%##@$#@%$&^$*&^%*%^7**&^%^&$%#$&@@%^^#$$ and the horse you rode in on. If they were innocent why was the lacrosse coach fired, why were the new black panthers on campus, and why have you whined about "campus culture" at every opportunity? You make me sick, you hypocritical *&^%*&^%.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.