Posted on 07/22/2006 4:18:08 PM PDT by TommyDale
DURHAM, N.C. -- Officials say they are investigating an alleged assault involving Durham police officers outside a Raleigh bar.
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
Has the lacrosse case induced insanity?
Jul 23, 2006
As the dog days of summer grind on, there's been a shift in the image of Durham's image elsewhere as the result of last spring's lacrosse team party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. and its aftermath.
The oversimplified and hyperactive portrayal in the early days, of course, was of a city awash in poverty and sharply split along lines of race and class, not to mention between elitist, isolated, smug Duke and everybody else in town.
Now, I think, the image reflected in the tsunami of opinion freely offered by partisans from coast to coast is of a justice system ? and especially a district attorney ? run amok. An ad in The Chronicle, Duke's student newspaper, last week reflected the related assertion that Duke University and many in Durham have failed to rally to the support of clearly innocent suspects in the case.
The latest conventional-wisdom juggernaut may be right. It also may prove to be just as distorted as the first, when the dust settles.
Columns recently in two of the nation's most powerful newspapers addressed the issue in contrasting fashion. One tended to ratify the view of the suspects as good men wronged; the other methodically argued for continuing to withhold judgment.
The first was by New York Times writer Peter Applebome, a Duke graduate and former Chronicle colleague of mine.
In his "Our Towns" column in last Sunday's Times, he talked with hometown friends and mentors of Reade Seligman, an indicted lacrosse player from Morristown, N.J.
He acknowledged his Duke connections.
"But you don't need any ties to Duke," he wrote, "to look at the details that have emerged about the case -- the accuser's history of past accusations and multiple changing accounts of the crime, a lack of DNA evidence, a police lineup of only Duke lacrosse players, a second dancer's original statement saying no rape could have occurred -- and wonder why this case is still alive.
"Maybe the sophomore from New Jersey and his teammates are the monstrous incarnation of white, male privilege, or maybe this has become a cautionary tale of judgment before the fact."
It's against that conclusion ? offered far more stridently in national magazines and on television, especially the obsessive Fox News Channel -- that Washington Post columnist Andrew Cohen cautions.
Cohen sets out his thesis in his first paragraph:
"A collective sort of reverse insanity has descended upon the media as reporters try to cover the case of the Duke lacrosse players charged with raping a stripper at a party this spring."
Cohen notes correctly the shifting dynamic of the coverage and the public perception of the case.
Cohen faults the media for "tripping all over themselves to quickly and repetitively report the biased view of the young men's defense attorneys, family members and other supporters . . .There is just one defense-themed story after another."
Cohen takes aim at the national media, and singles out Newsweek for a cover story that was poignantly sympathetic toward the defendants.
At The Herald-Sun, barely a day goes by that we don't worry about impact of the coverage that we is, after all, being driven by events. We've tried to consistently remind that all the facts aren't out, and that the defense attorneys are releasing just what fragments of the total evidence they choose to make public.
[reminder: It is said one reporter at the Herald-Sun has the names of those in the appointment book. BOB ASHLEY HAS BLOCKED THE PUBLICATION]
I believe the most important point for all, media and public alike, is one Cohen made near the end of his column:
"Look, I don't know what happened at that house that night. And neither do you. And I wouldn't have done some of the things the prosecutor has done to this point -- he started the media onslaught, after all. And neither probably would you. It is possible that a savage rape occurred. And it is possible that the young men who have been accused are victims, themselves, of an irresponsible accuser. The point is that we don't know. We haven't seen all the evidence, haven't examined all of the testimony, haven't had the privilege of seeing the case unfold at trial the way it is supposed to."
At the end of the day, perhaps the image of Durham that will emerge is of a community that amid all the sound and fury weighed all of the facts and came to a reasoned judgment.
Bob Ashley is editor of The Herald-Sun. Contact him at (919) 419-6678 or by e-mail at bashley@heraldsun.com
OK. caught up now. so far no one in the DBM has gone with the C. Destine stuff yet? Is that correct?
Correct! Although a link does appear on the N&O and WTVD blogs...Jump right into the fray!
K. who was the clown that took a shot at me yesterday? he still around? i saw he was a newbie. we must have hit the target, lol...
The comparison between how these guys behave off duty and their professionalism in their jobs will quickly be an issue. If they are drunken, violent, and racist off duty, what does say about how they conduct their official duties? And if the incident is true, is it in the public interest to continue to employ these individuals in a peace officer capacity?
Lingering rape cases nothing unusual
By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun
jstevenson@heraldsun.com
Jul 22, 2006 : 8:07 pm ET
DURHAM -- Many defense lawyers and media pundits have blasted the Durham County District Attorney's Office for pursuing the Duke lacrosse case even though, in their view, there isn't enough evidence to back up an exotic dancer's claim that three players sexually assaulted her.
Lack of DNA matches, apparent inconsistencies in the accuser's story and one indicted player's seemingly airtight alibi should be enough to toss the case out of court immediately, the critics often have said.
Still, District Attorney Mike Nifong has shown no signs of letting up on the defendants: lacrosse players Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans.
The three are free under $100,000 bonds and may be tried next spring.
In fact, it is not unusual for Durham prosecutors to hang onto rape cases that -- in laymen's eyes -- may appear to be crumbling.
Observers say the Duke case -- with frequent national and even international media attention -- simply is the most high-profile example of such tenaciousness. But it is not the only example by a long shot.
Prosecutors freely acknowledge they are particularly reluctant to let go of rape charges that arise in domestic settings, where the alleged victim and defendant are not strangers.
A case in point is that of Gabriel Watson, 19, who is accused of pointing a shotgun at a woman's head and raping her earlier this year.
Defense lawyer Dan Read said he recently approached the woman with a tape recorder, and she recanted her story.
"I laid my tape recorder on the table and we talked," Read recalled in an interview. "I asked her if he [Watson] really forced her to have sex. She said, 'No, he didn't.' "
The woman also denied that a shotgun was involved, although she did complain that Watson "didn't treat her honorably," according to Read.
"In the cold light of morning, I don't see why she would lie to me," Read added.
He said he promptly took the tape recording to Nifong and one of his assistants, Jan Paul.
"I naively thought that would be the end of the case," said Read.
It wasn't.
The charge against Watson remains pending.
Nifong and Paul were away from their offices Friday and couldn't be reached for comment.
Read said Watson and his accuser were acquaintances and that there was no doubt they had sex.
The question is whether it was consensual. Watson says it was, the woman says it wasn't, according to Read.
He said such situations give the District Attorney's Office a tremendous amount of leverage and power over rape suspects.
"If you're found innocent, you walk away," he said. "If you're found guilty, you might spend 30 years in prison. Pretty much, it depends on who you believe. This makes it easy for the DA to extort [guilty] pleas. Even if you're not guilty, you might plead to a lesser charge because you don't want to risk spending so much time in prison."
But the accuser's taped recantation makes Read confident he can get Watson acquitted.
It would be up to a judge to decide whether jurors could hear the tape.
But Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline, who handles many of Durham's rape cases, said a recantation wasn't enough to squelch a sexual assault allegation -- particularly one that arose in a domestic setting.
"When you have situations involving sexual assault or any type of assault, it depends on how the recantation was obtained and under what circumstances," she said. "Generally, the first statement given to police officers is true. A recantation does not mean the assault did not occur."
Rather, it simply may mean the accuser had been threatened by the defendant or had made up with him and didn't want him locked up, according to Cline.
"Recantation is normal in domestic violence cases," she said. "It's common. It's the rule rather than the exception. That's the nature of the animal. For that reason, a statement given to officers is the more credible story. Our concern is to make sure these victims don't end up dead the next time. For a prosecutor to drop cases just because a victim changes her story would be an injustice. It would be irresponsible. Sometimes you have to protect the victim from herself."
Still, Cline was forced to drop one rape case this month because the alleged victim refused to testify.
That case involved Rashad Lamont Brockington, who was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last year after offering her a ride to the library.
The rape charge was scheduled for trial during the week of July 10, but it had to be dismissed because the girl wouldn't cooperate.
However, Brockington did plead guilty to intimidating a witness -- the girl in question -- and received eight to 10 months of supervised probation for that offense.
Meanwhile, veteran defense lawyer Mark Edwards suggested that it is a waste of time and money for prosecutors to pursue rape cases that can't be won because of non-cooperative accusers.
"I don't think it's a good use of state resources," he said. "If a woman gets on the witness stand and says she wasn't raped, the defendant obviously is not going to be convicted."
Are you referring to mam81? I think that is short for "Mammy" of ADA Couch.
Wow! Paging Nancy, paging Greta, paging Kimberly, paging Wendy, paging Lis, "He's NOT WORTH IT! He's just a cook!"
ROFLMAO!!!!
Just for good measure, they should take semen, saliva, and and hair samples from them also.
abb, he took a shot at maggief, too.
You 2 are jealous cause crotch boy has sooooooo many friends. LOL
If you went to the gym, you could have that body.
BTW, it is mam81 and he/she/crotch groupie posted on another forum.
We didn't even bother reporting them.
Most importantly, we were instructed to "stop hating."
Yes. Need an edit feature!
hate? moi? there's an old saying in politics which i subscribe to. don't get mad - get even...
I use your line alot and always with credit to you--
It is my favorite line
They play mean. We play mean. Ask Dan Rather.
God, I love that line.
Outstanding, and brilliant!
"Sometimes... a man gits rabbit in the blood. We give him a set of chains to slow him down a bit..."
"I can eat fifty egss..."
"ya put put the clean sheet on the top, the top sheet on the bottom and turn in the dirty sheet. any man gits it wrong spends a night in the box..."
Even from those members of Durham's PD that were out of town on the night in question. What fair is fair.
I do not condone any type of police brutality.
That being said...I cannot shake the feeling that we are not getting all of the story.
First of all, cook has a record.
Three cars came back. Who were in the other cars?
What did cook yell to cause them to turn back?
Is it possible they were there related to a case or investigation?
Could they have been there to talk cook who has a record for assault on a female?
Could they be looking for AV?
Lest anyone misunderstand, I am not trying to make excuses or explain away anything Gottleib and Clayton did.
I just have this gut feeling we only have 1/2 of the story.
Now that the 2 names got out, the N&O pulled back on details. By design, I am positive.
The NandO is part of the PROBLEM. they are not part of the SOLUTION...
DO NOT trust them. period...
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