This slipped by me. I read it, but didn't make the connections.
The DPD/Durham DA asserted that the players were using false names. Joe Neff adroitly laid out how this assertion of false names allowed them to get the highly unusual order for pictures and DNA of all the white members of the team (46).
Neff also pointed out how Police notes aren't consistent with them using false names or claiming they were another sports team. Neff also reported that Kim Roberts checked at least one player's Driver License when she collected the money.
But, this slipped by me, the DPD placed Adam, Bret, and two Matts (in 4 different groups of photos). They placed a player named Adam in Set 1 - a player named Bret in the second group, etc. All the earlier lineups were based on this premise. Why were the Police/DA proceeding in this manner IF they believed the players used false names? It makes absolutely no sense.
In fact, only after the AV was presented with multiple of these type lineups were Matt(s), Bret, and Adam were hidden among others inserted for control purposes - and did NOT identify ANYONE did Nifong change direction and use the false name theory.
"She did not identify any assailants. She did not recognize any of the players named Adam, Matt or Brett.
Two days later, the district attorney's office asked a judge to order all 46 white players to sit for mug shots (for current hair styles and complexion), upper torso photographs (for evidence of scratches from the accuser) and mouth swabbings (for DNA testing). "
http://www.newsobserver.com/141/story/468272.html
I know Neff tied together that false name theory (contradicting Police notes) and getting approval for the Large Dragnet DNA samples and pictures - but how does the DPD/DA explain organizing and executing the early lineups around players named Matt(2), Bret, and Adam?
From the N&O:
"That evening, two officers -- Michelle Soucie and Richard Clayton -- showed the accuser photos of lacrosse players taken from the goduke.com Web site, according to notes taken by both officers.
The police had organized 24 photos into four sets of six photos each. The sets were labeled A, B, C and D. The police had put one named suspect in each group: Matt in A, Adam in B, Bret in C and a second Matt in D.
After each photo, the police asked: Is this the person who sexually assaulted you?
She did not identify any assailants. She did not recognize any of the players named Adam, Matt or Brett."
http://www.newsobserver.com/141/story/468272.html
That's a really good point. On the one hand the cops are saying the guys used false names but on the other they made sure to show her lineups that included Bret, Adam and the two Matts - one in each group. So which is it - Bret, Adam and Matt are the suspects or those were false names used by the actual "rapists"? They seem to be trying to have it both ways.
Good thinking, Mike.