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 ...
I think it was a question of not wanting Black. I think there is not much love lost between her and much of the courthouse crowd.
JMHO
They need to work and work and work on Duke to rescind that and let the boys return to school. By not doing that, they are giving Nifong a power over these boys' lives that he's not entitled to as a prosecutor. The alumnae should threaten to withhold funds and support until Duke cooperates. The lack of evidence in this case is remarkable, and on that basis the suspensions should be lifted. Duke is not bound by nor beholden to the Durham DA.
I'm aware that Durham is a bit of an anomaly for NC.
Nifong could achieve statewide office in the sense that he could wind up in the legislature if the brilliant electorate of Durham's Senate or House districts decide to elect him, should he run. But I agree he'd never be elected as a state constitutional officer, such as AG, governor, etc..
Duke is wrong to not let them return. The suspensions should be quietly lifted during the summer when people are not paying close attention. Let black Durhamites raise hell in the fall over it if they want to. Tough.
Perhaps you should write back to them and inform them that waiting until the matter is concluded in the courts is EXACTLY what Brodhead is doing wrong and that if they ever hope to receive your financial support ever again, this would be the time to act, starting with a lifting of the suspensions on Reade and Collin.
Oh, and you might also mention to them that hacks like the author of the responding email aren't helping matters, and also that if Brodhead believed in innocent until proven guilty as the hack claims, they wouldn't have been suspended in the first place.
I agree with you that Black wasn't wanted. And, the black candidate sounds rather flakey. Even he ended up in Nifong's corner.
I don't get it with Nifong. He's obviously not sharp. I wonder if he is easily manipulated by the powers above him, hence their support. Black wasn't playing.
Race has everything to do with the Duke persecution. The Media and the Justice system don't work independently - one can bring pressure on the other. Many D.A.'s are political animals responding to public pressure.
I confess to not knowing anything about the LA District Attorney, and if the discussion is kept to that narrow field than you are probably right.
Cynthia Mckinney strikes a Police officer and is NOT charged - Finnerty (a teenager) does not strike the complaintant - yet he's convicted of assault and told to stay out of Georgetown!
How about that case in California - Fresno City. An alleged gang-rape of an 11 year old by 5-10 football players. We've barely heard about this story - the media doesn't like that story for some reason; I suspect race is the reason.
I think Race is the issue in a way, because the media will come to the aid of any minority getting railroaded by a DA in a publized case. DA's don't want Governor's and Presidents getting asked questions about their behavior in a case. The Duke case - the exculpatory stuff for the players - has barely been mentioned on CNN. How much coverage do you think CNN would've had if those Football players in California were white - and the victim black.
I haven't heard any calls to cancel their season.
In a narrow sense, I understand and agree with you.
Do you think if they were "unsuspended" that they should go back? Part of me says yes but then again, if one of them were my brother, I'm not sure I'd want them to go back.
http://www.nbc17.com/news/9506857/detail.html
Duke Lacrosse Alleged Rape Case Timeline
# 11 p.m.
# Two dancers are scheduled to arrive and work for two hours.
The second dancer arrives in her own car.
# 11:30-to-11:39 p.m.
The accuser receives four calls with no caller id.
# 12:00-to-12:03 a.m.
Time stamped photos show two women dancing in the living room.
# 12:04 a.m.
Time stamp photos show two dancers leaving living room.
# 12:05-to-12:14 a.m.
Accused attacker Reade Seligmann uses his cell phone to call his girlfriend and another person.
# 12:19 a.m.
Taxi picks up Seligmann and a friend at Watt and Urban streets, a block away from the location of the player's house.
# 12:26 a.m.
The accuser makes a one minute phone call to Centerfold, a Durham. escort service.
# 12:30 a.m. approx
# Seligmann and his friend order food at a Cook Out restaurant.
Time stamp photo shows accuser on back porch smiling with purse.
# 12:37 a.m.
Time stamp photo shows accuser laying down on back porch with one shoe on.
# 12:41 a.m.
Time stamp photo shows accuser being helped into the passenger seat of a car.
# 12:46 a.m.
Seligmann uses his Duke identification card to enter his dorm.
# 12:53 a.m.
Second dancer drives away with the accuser from the party, she call 911 to report that men shouted racial slurs.
This is all about the parking place that Nifong took away from Freda Black! LOL!
Estrich ALERT!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20060712/cm_uc_crsesx/susan_estrich20060712
Opinion
ANOTHER TEAM RAPE
Susan Estrich Wed Jul 12, 6:50 AM ET
This is not the Duke lacrosse team.
There are no fancy lawyers, no committee set up to support the players, no Bob Bennett on board to spin the press. There have been no national press conferences, no visiting anchorpeople clamoring for interviews. The team isn't ranked, the players weren't stars -- no one has any money. And it's ugly.
When six prospective members of the Fresno City College football team arrived at the Fresno, Calif., Police Station to be questioned about the alleged rape of an 11-year-old runaway, the only advice they had came from a lawyer whose son once played for the team.
For free, he told them that if they didn't do anything wrong, they should provide statements to the police -- and if they had done "something to be concerned with, even if it was consensual, or if they had done something to abet or aid, they might want to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights." This, according to the local paper.
The police do not always get roadmaps so easily. The Duke boys didn't give them statements. They don't give roadmaps to the police. They never talk to the police without having their own lawyers present.
Two men have already been arrested and are in custody. The Duke defendants are all out on bail.
The police were called last Saturday night after the girl left an apartment that had apparently been rented for the players, most of whom come from out-of-state, where two-year colleges routinely don't offer football. The sheriff has said that evidence at the scene supported the girl's story. According to the lawyer, the boys said "she was tall and had some development. ... They all said she 'looked like she was 18 or 19 to me.'"
Maybe so. But as the lawyer told them, it's no defense to child molestation that you don't know it's a child -- and no defense to oral copulation with a child under 18 that you don't know her age.
The girl had run away from a group home. Her life no doubt wasn't very good to begin with. For the boys, convictions will likely ruin the chance they had to escape. The two-year college scholarship might have lead to another one, to a four-year school, to a degree, to a different life.
All for what?
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. It wasn't a party. They were going back and forth between apartments.
According to the sheriff, "as many as 10 men" may have been involved in the assault.
Ten men and one girl.
It doesn't matter if she's tall or small. It doesn't matter if she looks older than her age or not. Practice was scheduled to begin in August. These guys had everything to lose and so little to gain.
Why would 10 men assault one girl?
They're football players. She's a girl. There are 10 of them and one of her.
Why would anyone do nothing and let it happen?
Can we teach this?
Yes, of course, she shouldn't be there, the group home should be better, someone should be helping her -- but she is there, and is there one of them who has a sister, who can see a disaster, a horror show, a human spectacle about to unfold? Is there one human being who stops a travesty from happening not only because it will end up ruining their lives, but also because it will ruin hers?
How many stories like this have to happen, how many teams have to go down, how many chances have to go up in smoke, first?
In that respect, it is like Duke, only these boys will pay and pay.
Will conservatives defend them, too?
Susan Estrich needs psychiatric help. Quickly!
A better article would have been exploring why the Duke case got overwhelming national attention, while this case, with far more evidence of rape (statutory at the least!) is getting little or no attention.....
Even if the sex was consensual (believe me, one girl with ten guys is not unheard of) she was a minor. It's over for these guys! They will be labeled sexual predators for the rest of their lives.
And a face lift ... nevermind.
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