Posted on 07/12/2006 1:52:14 AM PDT by abb
Phone use spans time of team party
In the middle of a Duke lacrosse party where a dancer said she was gang-raped for 30 minutes, a call was placed from her cell phone to a Durham escort service.
The 12:26 a.m. call to the service, Centerfold, lasted one minute, according to a copy of her cell phone bill reviewed by The News & Observer. It is unclear whether the call was a request for another job, a cry for help or something else, or even whether the accuser made the call herself.
But the accuser's phone records add some details to the chronology of the March 13 party, a drunken spring break bash that spawned a national controversy.
Neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers would discuss the phone records Tuesday. Neither the accuser nor a second dancer at the party could be reached, nor could representatives of Centerfold. Police Chief Steve Chalmers was out of town; his spokeswoman said he would not discuss the case.
Three players have been charged with first-degree rape, sexual offense and kidnapping: Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J.; Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y.; and Dave Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md. Lawyers for the players have proclaimed their clients' innocence and said no rape or sex occurred at the house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.
District Attorney Mike Nifong, whose handling of the case has undergone national scrutiny, has been adamant that the woman was raped at the party. Nifong has not given a precise timeline of when he thinks an assault occurred.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
"The Gov. having put him in office, Nifong no longer answers to the Gov. or the NC AG nor anyone else"
Well, this is not correct. There ARE provisions for the AG to move in when there is misconduct. Either the AG was evading the truth, to be polite, or else he does not know NC law.
(The relevant portions were posted some time ago in one of the forums.)
The AG's office can investigate Nifong and his office for corruption. There are also presiding judges and other judicial bodies that can rein him in if they have the will to do it.
You worked vice? As in cop?
Do they have ANY idea the black eye that NC, Durham, and the entire judicial system (in the whole US) is getting from this?
If they did, I think they'd act immediately, if only out of self-preservation.
"You worked vice? As in cop?"
Well, uh, I hope he did. . . (and not just in vice. . .)
:-)
Yeah, detective. Plus two years in sex crimes, nine in rob-hom. Then I switched departments - went to the DA's office as an investigator, retired now.
I've never been to Durham, but I'm getting the sense that there're a lot of yard-cars, bullet-ridden toilets and rusted sheets of corrugated metal decorating many Durham landscapes.
Wow, a new perspective on your opinions, which are good ones to begin with.
I'm a she. :>
I thought he was kicked out of Duke for the time being? Either his lawyer and family (and alumnae) will have to prevail on Duke to rescind that decision or the judge's probation order amounts to a work order for a promising college student. I just wonder if the verdict and sentence don't reflect the white predation of DC's heavy black population.
I agree that there are extraordinary measures that the AG might, maybe, take. Can you cite me an example where any NC AG has used them? Kinda' like, in theory, we could impeach SCOTUS Justice Kennedy for relying on international law in his decisions. Unless it's every happened before I don't view it as a practical alternative.
"Can you cite me an example where any NC AG has used them?"
I agree it's extraordinary, but if this case does not warrant it, then what case does?
I don't think NC has ever had a DA like Nifong before.
(He must have taken his lessons from Vishinsky, Stalin's prosecutor at the show trials--first the verdict,
then the trial, evidence not required)
I read that too. Full-time student or work. How is he supposed to do that? He's been suspended from Duke. What does the judge expect him to do?
"I thought he was kicked out of Duke for the time being?"
He is. I think the only option is work full time (although he has also to be preparing his case).
And of course, that will set his education back even further onto a back burner.
It's extraordinary in any state, not just NC.
LOL! Unless the NC AG fears Nifong is going to run against him and win, he probably won't concern himself with the matter until it becomes such a hemorrhoid on the state's backside that he has no choice, which is no different from any other politician from the same party and especially when occupying a similar occupation.
The governor chose Nifong for a reason--picked him out of traffic court, when there were other qualified people in the DA's office.
He must have had a reason which he thought would benefit himself or the party.
I've read a couple of times that it was jim Hardin, the DA being appointed to the bench that created the vacancy, who recommended Nifong to Easley and that Hardin recommended him because of his longevity in the DA's office.
Did Hardin want Nifong, or not want Black? I think Black was black balled.
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