Posted on 07/17/2006 2:08:51 PM PDT by Howlin
Every member of Duke University's men's lacrosse team is a potential witness in the case against three players charged with rape, Durham's lead prosecutor said Monday while arguing for access to their student ID card records. "We want to be able to confirm what they tell us about where they went afterward," District Attorney Mike Nifong said of the uncharged players.
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Titus also formally reaffirmed the state's rules governing trial publicity and disclosure of information to the public and the media. The order does not prevent attorneys in the case from talking publicly, but does prohibit statements that have a "substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" the case. "The rules of professional responsibility require us to be very careful of what we say," said Wade Smith, one of Finnerty's attorneys. "We'll do that. We've been doing that. And we'll continue to do that."
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
Too bad Hannity and no one else will interview Leon Brown. The other day Hannity had someone else on tv that served quite a few years in prison on a bogus rape conviction. They finally tested his DNA and he was cleared. Colmes was outraged over this one case made and that my stomach turn since he is ready to lynch the duke kids with no DNA match.
You're welcome, and here's more of what happened:
http://www.monkeytime.org/archive/October2002.html#durhamDNA2
Asst. DA Tracey Cline, an AA woman who aided Hardin's prosecution of Brown, is still there specializing in rape cases.
I'm really nervous about where this all might lead but someone needs to expose it.
I would too. But I think alot of the players will be witnesses for the defense so they'll have to go back to Durham to testify.
There's no reason Nifong needs the home addresses of the players. They are all represented by council and he can contact them that way. There is no reason he needs to contact them directly.
There's no reason he needs access to their Duke cards either. If he wanted to investigate he should have done that before indicting people. He has no right to this information and certainly not without an affidavit giving his specific reasons for needing it and a hearing where a judge determines if it is relevant.
Let's assume that this is a tight little legal community. You have a bunch of relatively deep pocketed defendants. Throw a stupid, badly crafted, poorly reasoned, no point subpoena at 50 or so folks and you rack up a huge amount of fees for the local lawyers - two of whom were less than impressive yesterday.
The alternative is that this ploy is a smoke screen for delaying full discovery while Nifong can show his constituency that he is being a tough guy. The information he requested is problematic to say the least. If these guys cannot get the information off a cell phone how are they going to find something compelling in the pass key data.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=4377232
LAX Defense Attorneys Review Notes
AP
(07/18/06 -- DURHAM) - Four defense attorneys representing the three Duke University lacrosse players accused of raping a woman are reviewing the notes and reports of inestigators.
The four attorneys -- Brad Bannon, Buddy Conner, Kirk Osborn and Bill Cotter -- are poring over more than 1,800 pages of discovery. Some of those pages weren't legible, so the defense attorneys are going over source material and notes to make sure they have everything they need.
Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans are charged with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense.
The meeting at the Durham Police Department was scheduled to last 21/2 hours and end at 5 p.m., but it may have taken longer because attorneys say they plan to go through each document with a fine-toothed comb.
Almost 2,000 pages have been turned over to the defense attorneys for each of the three players at the last three court appearances. Since then, some defense attorneys have complained that some of the documents have been difficult ot read.
"It is simply the police department allowing us to see the originals of their files," said defense attorney Joe Cheshire. "It's pretty standard operating procedure."
It was not clear if defense attorneys looked at new evidence Tuesday or if the meeting included any possible physical evidence in the case.
I like the alternative. I think Nifong wants to delay for the obvious reason - he has no case.
I think it has also occured to Nifong to try and figure out the movements of the three indicted players that night. He knows Seligmann's timeline but he doesn't know Finnerty's or Evans' timeline. He wants to do investigating he should have done before the indictments.
He is out of luck. He should have thought of this before he rushed to indict three innocent people. Now he is in the dark and no one will talk to him. And I don't think he is entitled to the info. Why should he get to know where the unindicted players went after the party? He has to make some showing that it is relevant to his case.
Unrelated story:
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/461763.html
Published: Jul 18, 2006 02:19 PM
Modified: Jul 18, 2006 02:19 PM
Murder suspect out on bond
DURHAM — A murder suspect charged with committing felony assault against a woman while out on bail is again free on bond, Durham County jail records show.
Keanan James Odom, 20, is free on $30,000 bond, charged with second-degree kidnapping, assault on a female, assault by strangulation and communicating threats in connection with a July 8 incident on Crest Street. He surrendered to police Monday, said Kammie Michael, spokeswoman for the Durham Police Department.
Odom was also charged with murder last year in connection with the June 2005 shooting of Sesaley Hunter in northern Durham. On April 4, he was released on $80,000 bond, records show.
Police arrested Odom again on charges of resisting a public officer July 4, but he was released the same day on $700 bond.
Police think Odom attacked a woman just four days later.
//
Astonishing, considering the bonds set for Duke LAX. And, just who sets these guidelines?
http://www.pac2durham.com/minutes/pac/pac11_10_03.htm
Hardin said that since he wasn’t a judge, he wouldn’t try to answer that one, and deferred to Judge O’Neal. She said that it was a matter of individual judgment, and that there were no set percentages for weighting the factors. Durham’s current bond policy, which was adopted by Ken Titus, (DUKE LAX JUDGE), and Orlando Hudson in 2001, sets guidelines for bond amounts and types of crimes. Hardin pointed out that it’s to Durham County’s credit that we’ve had a bond policy in place for about ten years; some counties have no policy on setting bonds. Katherine raised the issue of people committing crimes while they’re out on bond for another crime, which seems to occur frequently. O’Neal pointed out that many defendants have access to significant financial resources. Judges must set a bond, but if the defendants have money, they can get free even if the amount is high. If they’re involved in the drug trade, they have easy access to large sums.
Remember, they were pronounced guilty first, then indicted and the investigation is still continuing.
Considering we're not even in the courthouse yet, this case has gone on for a considerable number of news cycles.
You have a link or maybe you could give us a summary of the drift there? (I've never been to that site, wouldn't know where to look.)
Ya gotta be kidding me! 400k was punitive. I think 100k is excessive too but at least it's an improvement.
The guys are obviously not being treated like most defendants.
I know. They have done everything backwards.
The trial judge will be the worst of the bunch, because Nifong gets to pick him.
You know, I've been thinking about that. I bet not a single judge really wants to try this case. I wonder how many will recuse themselves for one reason or another?
Excellent find.
And I wonder what Goslee's opinion on that case is...
(as if in doubt, huh?)
Interesting and chilling commentary here...
http://friendsofdukeuniversity.blogspot.com/2006/05/general-topics-open.html#c115323100814015730
I'll look. But I can't even remember the title of the thread.
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