Posted on 08/15/2006 2:41:50 PM PDT by abb
DURHAM, N.C. -- A cab driver who has supported an alibi offered by one of the three Duke lacrosse players charged with rape had his own court appearance Tuesday for a larceny charge.
Moezeldin Elmostafa, 37, appeared briefly before a Durham County District Court judge who set a trial date of Aug. 29. Prosecutors also changed the charge against Elmostafa to aiding and abetting misdemeanor larcency.
Elmostafa was arrested in May after he surfaced as a potential alibi witness for Reade Seligmann, one of three players charged with raping a woman at an off-campus party the night of March 13.
The 2003 warrant accused Elmostafa of stealing five purses worth about $250 from a Durham department store. Elmostafa denies the charge, and has said he helped store security locate a woman after he picked her up from the store and drove her home. The woman later pleaded guilty to larceny.
Durham prosecutors said in May the warrant for Elmostafa's arrest was discovered in a routine background check of witnesses in the Duke lacrosse case.
Mostafa has said Seligmann, of Essex Fells, N.J., called for a ride at 12:14 a.m. on March 14, and was picked up five minutes later. The defense has argued those times help establish that Seligmann left the party without having enough time to participate in the 30-minute assault described by the accuser. Seligmann's attorney has also presented cell phone, ATM and dorm keycard records to help establish that timeline.
(Excerpt) Read more at dwb.newsobserver.com ...
I can tell you, the Police can and do show up at your door. They will attempt to convince you to speak to them without anyone else around - go into a separate room away from your family - many people even infer that they have to allow them in their house. They separate you from witnesses, in many cases, and they set about telling you lies in order to make you feel trapped.
It's not a custodial situation, but psychological factors are at work - and many people feel compelled to speak to authorities - even in their own house. There are people that even feel guilt and associate themselves with perpetrators to crimes similar to what they've been accused - even when they are totally innocent.
To me, the problem with the forced lieing and trapping tactic is that some go to it and it's their only trick. They use it in every criminal case. When this happens invariably other suspects are investigated and a certain percentage will falsely confess to end the ordeal - and a certain percentage will be wrongly indicted due to the strong convictions of the investigators and D.A. involved.
_
I agree with you to a point, but the problem, as I see it, comes in when some Departments overuse this tactic especially in cases where they have no evidence.
It is the weak, ignorant, and sometimes unintelligent people that fall for this tactic.
I'm not speaking of this case. This case falls into the category of my previous experiences. The psychological factors in this regard shouldn't be discounted. Many people are taught from when they are young to trust Police. Then a Policeman shows up at your house and sits down in your living room and starts telling you that your sister and neighbor told them X when in fact, it never happened.
I'm to not going to falsely confess to anything - I know you wouldn't, but there are many people out there that do.
_
Mike, you are completely right in all of this. The lesson from this regarding the lacrosse players is if the police are investigating a crime, false or not, make sure you speak to and attorney before saying anything that can be used against you. Over and over, seemingly innocent statements made to police come back to hit people square between the eyes. You certainly don't have to be under arrest or in custody to incriminate yourself.
A "custodial" situation doesn't mean that you have to be at the police station. If you feel you are not free to leave and you feel compelled to answer questions then a court could find that you are in "custody".
I don't disagree with you that cops push it and look for ways to manuever around the law. I know they do that. And alot of people do feel like they have to answer a police officer's questions, even though they don't.
LOOK at THIS!
I'm sure everyone is aware that the Probable cause affidavits /DNA Samples & Photos application to the court was false.
It stated the woman had injuries consistent with being assaulted vaginally and anally - when NO such injuries existed, according to reporters that have seen the Medical reports.
Further, there's the problem with the DNA Dragnet - as Joseph Neff detailed in the N&O. The DPD/DA, after multiple lineups produced not one suspect, stated that the DNA dragnet was necessary due to the team and the perps using false names. This contradicts some evidence in the Investigator's own notes.
So, there is this constitutional issue regarding this highly questionable DNA dragnet (and photos) - Police also used the sampling to interview players - with this in mind consider Nifong's own words:
"Nifong confirmed that police took DNA samples from three students who said they were NOT PRESENT at the party.
"Given that the lacrosse team provided very little information to the police, they decided to sample all
the Caucasian members rather than allow the people WHO WEREN'T THERE OFF," he said."
http://www.uscho.com/collegesports/alcohol_drugs/uid,PLGO032820068441328/DNASamplesTakenFrom46DukeLacrossePlayersForInvestigation.html
I'm no lawyer, but it's seems problematic to me that Nifong is stating that he tested players that weren't at the crime scene - and he admits it!
I think Nifong, in this quote, is trying to stir discontent on the team and prompt someone uninvolved to turn or spill the beans. He's trying to say, you can thank you buddies for dragging you into this. It should be noted that someone inside the investigation called the Media and alerted them and they were positioned to videotape and photograph the players as they reported to be swabbed and photographed. The players pulled their shirts over their heads, if you recall.
I don't think the lack of information from the LAX team prompted this highly unusual action, but rather the inability of the AV to pick out anyone - or even be consistent in regard to who was and who wasn't at the party.
I think Nifong may have shot himself in the foot with this quote.
_
The same principle holds in what insurance companies tell drivers before they are involved in an accident. Give pertinent information but don't admit to any responsibility. They realize it is easier to defend if it goes to court in a suit if the insured has not made statements at the scene admitting fault.
They also find that it is very hard for people to follow this admonition when the accident happens. Same way with people talking to police. They tend to say to much.
That's right. "Custodial" is the magic word. I should have used e.g. instead of i.e. when I referred to an arrest.
Glad you're paying attention in your classes! :) I try my hardest to forget the whole law school experience. And that was nearly twenty years ago. I don't envy you, but I wish you lots of luck (and endurence). Those were three years I would gladly erase from my life. What an awful time. Hang in, SarahUSC!
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-763335.html
County has doubts on gang study
By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
gronberg@heraldsun.com
Aug 22, 2006 : 8:47 pm ET
DURHAM -- The County Commissioners are voicing doubts about a proposed $60,000 study of Durham's gang problem, saying officials have to make sure it produces a clear plan to combat the problem.
The criticism of the study -- first proposed by Police Chief Steve Chalmers and already green-lighted by the City Council -- came from a majority of the commissioners during a Tuesday morning work session.
The county is being asked to pick up half the bill by using money from an asset-forfeiture program.
Commissioner Michael Page was the most vocal skeptic. At one point he argued that local leaders might do better to put the money into existing efforts such as Project Strike -- a city jobs program for ex-convicts and prospective gang dropouts -- than spend it on another study of a problem that already seems well understood.
"We have done so many studies, and it really doesn't rectify the problem," Page said. "I want to see something more tangible in terms of the outcome and results."
Commissioners Becky Heron and Lewis Cheek quickly agreed.
Cheek said police and sheriff's deputies have to explain to elected officials how they'll take the study's data, "synthesize it, and put it into a form where we can truly decide what are the best ways to attack the problem."
Heron echoed the point, saying officials should make sure the researchers who will conduct the study, Buddy Howell and Deborah Lamm Weisel, also address the need for a plan.
After hearing from the trio, County Manager Mike Ruffin said that instead of merely asking the commissioners to approve the county's $30,000 contribution later this month, he'd recommend hammering out a formal agreement with the city government and the Durham County Sheriff's Office. The agreement would spell out the expectations officials have for the study.
"Have the agreement stress what we've talked about," County Commissioners Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow told the manager.
The commissioners voiced more criticism of the proposed study than the City Council did Aug. 7 when it approved the project on a 6-1 vote.
The only dissent heard that night came from several citizens and Councilman Thomas Stith, who voted against it after voicing an opinion similar to Page's, minus the support for Project Strike.
Officials began talking about the study publicly after it became obvious the Sheriff's Office and the Durham Police Department were using widely different numbers when they talked about the extent of Durham's gang problem.
Police said the number of gang members was in the mid to high hundreds. Sheriff's deputies insisted there might be about 3,000.
As of Aug. 8, local authorities had confirmed the presence of 758 gang members in Durham, police said in e-mail that day to Mayor Bill Bell.
But on Tuesday, sheriff's Chief Deputy Wes Crabtree said both departments may have been right, with the lower number cited by police being actual gang members and the sheriff's estimate accounting also for "hangers-on."
City officials have said they're less interested in statistics than they are in getting a sense of how well Durham's anti-gang efforts are working.
The effort also is supposed to yield recommendations "for short- and long-term strategies," a point listed in the researchers' contract proposal that Reckhow said jibed with the desires voiced by Page and the other commissioners.
Crabtree and police Lt. Lyle O'Neal indicated Tuesday that the two departments have additional, unspoken goals for the study.
The Sheriff's Office sees the effort as something that will bring other community agencies and institutions -- some of which are dubious about the need for a strong anti-gang effort -- into the discussion and hold them accountable, Crabtree said.
"Not everybody in this community shares your views on whether there's a gang problem," he told Cheek after the commissioner said local leaders know about the problem. "One thing we hope this brings about is that organizations that feel they don't have a stake in this [begin to] see it in a different light and come to the table to do something about it."
Crabtree added that Page and other leaders are right to complain about the extent of Durham's crime problem.
"There are sections of [inner-city] North-East Central Durham that are absolutely under siege today," he said.
O'Neal said Chalmers and Howell want the study to square Durham's anti-gang effort with federal recommendations so local governments more easily can qualify for U.S. Department of Justice subsidies.
Reckhow said the pair are on the right track.
"We applied for a huge grant from the federal government on gangs, and part of the feedback was that we didn't have enough good data to compete on a national level," she said, referring to the Police Department's failure this spring to land a $2.5 million grant offered to six cities. "If we're going to tackle this, we need to get our act together."
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-763336.html
Newcomers' support of Duke is true blue
BY GREGORY PHILLIPS : The Herald-Sun
gphillips@heraldsun.com
Aug 22, 2006 : 8:53 pm ET
DURHAM -- Duke University may be coming off one of the darkest years in its history, but freshmen moving into East Campus dorms Tuesday said the lacrosse rape controversy that sprang up last spring isn't leaving them blue.
"From the students, there's no focus on that," said incoming freshman Michael Sullivan of Miami. "People asked me about it when I picked Duke, but I think the students here have put it behind them."
Bruised and battered after months of media scrutiny over the rape charges against three lacrosse players and anticipating an escalation of the news frenzy, the university is limiting media access to campus throughout orientation week. An e-mail from administrators said the media clampdown would allow students and their families to move in "without undue intrusions."
During Tuesday's move-in day for first-year students, reporters were confined to the grassy quad nestled in front of Baldwin Auditorium and between East Campus residence halls and allowed only to question students as they passed by.
William Coon of Cambridge, Mass., remembered seeing a lot of news vans on campus when he visited earlier this year, but said it wasn't off-putting.
"I applied to a lot of schools," he said. "Duke had the best atmosphere. It was the friendliest school."
Coon pointed out that Duke is hardly alone in the problems department.
"Every college has problems," he said. "Harvard has murderers -- even worse, they have plagiarists."
What seemed to have attracted this year's freshman crop to Duke was doubtless the same mantra repeated by classes through the ages -- a mix of athletics and academics.
"I liked the whole package," said Katricia Smith of Detroit. "It's big and there's lots of opportunities."
She shrugged off the negative publicity Duke has been drenched in since the lacrosse rape case dawned.
"It didn't bother me," she said. "I didn't think it reflected Duke as a whole."
This year's incoming freshman class numbers about 1,650, with a total undergraduate student body of about 6,300 expected.
"We've been at that similar number for a while," Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek said as she dashed between the staggered morning and afternoon move-ins.
In an effort to get off on the right foot with the incoming class, residents of Durham's Trinity Park neighborhood -- which borders East Campus -- delivered 20 food baskets full of goodies including homemade cookies and brownies, candy apples and chocolate, to dorm lobbies where passing students could help themselves.
Each basket also contained notes from Trinity Park residents welcoming students.
"They felt very personal," Trinity Park resident Alice Bumgarner said, adding she was worried the gesture might get lost in the rush of the move-in but was delighted to find that that wasn't the case.
"The students just lit up," she said. "With the few people we connected with, it seemed like it really made an impression."
Bumgarner conceded the gesture doesn't guarantee students won't party in the neighborhood to levels that have drawn community complaints in the past. But she said it would at least help show students they are welcome in Durham and help dispel negative impressions about residents.
"We're just trying to help them have a better perception and better assessment of the community, and it makes the neighbors feel better about the students," she said. "It can't not be a good thing."
Also keen to soothe oft-adversarial student-neighbor relations, the university is outlining acceptable conduct in a letter that asks students to be mindful of their new neighbors. Orientation events also include an "Into the City" event Saturday -- kicked off by Duke President Richard Brodhead and Durham Mayor Bill Bell -- in which students will have a wide choice of faculty-led tours of Durham's cultural and historic attractions.
"We've always tried to have a way to introduce students to Durham and the surrounding community," Wasiolek said. "We thought this would give them an opportunity to interact with faculty and to do so outside the classroom, outside the academic environment."
Through Duke's recent troubles, the appeal of one of its biggest pulls for freshman remains undiminished. For many, it's still all about Blue Devil basketball.
"I always loved the basketball team," said freshman Mike Lyngaas, who was excited to learn his dorm room is "right next door" to a couple of players.
"Being in that Cameron Indoor Stadium, just the excitement," he said. "The controversy's there, but it's not that big a deal to me."
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-763352.html
Local news briefs: J.D. Alleva DWI case continued
Aug 22, 2006 : 11:16 pm ET
ROXBORO -- A boating while impaired case involving the son of Duke University athletics director Joe Alleva has been continued to Nov. 21. Alleva's son was charged after a boating accident on Hyco Lake which left his father injured.
The case of Joseph David "J.D." Alleva, 27, was set for Person County District Court Tuesday morning. J.D. Alleva is being represented by Durham attorney Allen Mason.
J.D. Alleva is charged with DWI involving a motor boat/vessel as well as operating a boat in a reckless manner. The accusations stem from a June 23 accident in which his father, Joe Alleva, suffered a gash on the forehead.
The watercraft reportedly ran into rocks and, because of the remote location, J.D. Alleva had to swim for an hour to find help. The elder Alleva received more than 40 stitches at Person Memorial Hospital.
J.D. Alleva, of 5632 Denwood Lane, Durham, was released on a $500 secure bond. It was the second DWI charge filed against him. The first came in April 2001 and he was found guilty later that year.
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/478104.html
Duke, neighbors seek fresh start
I have to disagree. First of all, most criminals don't confess, not even non-career criminals.
When there is little or no evidence, and the only source is a street-snitch, sometimes heavy-handed tactics are all that's available to the investigator. I'm guessing that if it was your loved one or your property that was the subject of the crime, you would be all for those tactics. And if such a criminal was taken in for questioning and let go without such tactics being tried, and then you, your loved on or your property became the next target of that criminal, you'd be pissed that more wasn't done to connect the criminal to the prior crime so he would have been in custody and unable to victimize you or your family.
But then I also support the NSA so-called "wiretapping" and data-mining for terrorist activities and funding. I don't see a whole lot of difference between the two.
Thanks, abb.
Again, we should not let this case color perceptions about how the criminal justice system works. Most cops most of the time want the right person in custody and they don't arrest people willy-nilly for political reasons in absence of a crime. One of the reasons this case has garnered so much attention is because it is an anomaly, not because it's typical of the criminal justice system or law enforcement. It also isn't true that "Over and over, seemingly innocent statements made to police come back to hit them between the eyes." Can it happen? Yes. Does it happen? Yes. But it isn't common at all. Most cops know when somebody is lying, and investigators certainly do. Most jurisdictions have safeguards and a criminal justice structure that works against these kinds of events, although rogue prosecutors are more common than rogue cops, in terms of their numbers within their respective groups. NC is both remiss and unique in its bestowal of so much power in their prosecutors.
The bottom line is that if the cops come to you asking questions about what went on during an activity or event that you were a close part of or took place on your property, you should seek legal advice and not talk to the cops. It is incumbent upon the individual to know laws that are his birthright and if our education system wasn't dead-set on dumbing down Americans, most would know this.
But that's a different scenario than when you are a witness to a crime. Because of the many freedoms and protections we have, gathering evidence needed to solve a crime can be difficult. There is a threshold of reasonable suspicion that needs to be rationally met. The assistance of the public and witnesses is essential for the process to work and to get criminals into the prison cells they belong in. Clamming up in fear is not helpful nor even wise when you consider that you could be the at-large criminal's next victim.
The stick your head in the sand and never talk to the cops culture and police paranoia that we find in ghettoes is one of the reasons there is so much crime in those neighborhoods.
It's a two-way street.
Yeah, I know what you mean. My dad grew up in a very tough neighborhood in Brooklyn and the cops were basically considered the enemy even though they were the only ones who could really do anything about the constant crime. Unfortunately, most people just didn't trust them.
Then one day, when my dad was a teenager a cop helped him out. It was actually a very generous gesture by the cop because he didn't have to do what he did. I think that was the first time my dad realized there might be some good cops. He's still inclined to be suspicious of authority but he's never forgotten that cop either.
[Understanding Durham politics- The Mayor]
Bell sheds insider's label for political rebirth
Barbara Barrett, J. Andrew Curliss; News & Observer, November 3, 2001
Durham -- Bill Bell spent 26 years as a county commissioner and stepped down in December as the consummate political insider.
But after less than a year out of the public eye, Bell has retooled himself. Now, he calls himself an outsider, the underdog in his mayoral race against two-term incumbent Nick Tennyson.*
The quiet, graying leader who in recent years listened more often than he spoke is a changed person in this campaign. Since announcing his mayoral bid this summer, Bell has returned to the firebrand roots that catapulted a young family man into public service in 1972. And in doing so, he has touted his own experience and loudly gone after Tennyson on a host of issues, from fiscal responsibility to growth management to the city's troubled bus system.
"I don't know what his vision is, and I don't know what his plan is for getting us there," Bell said recently. "The way I've done it is, I define a problem, I get people to agree it's a problem, then get people to figure out how to solve the problem."
Bell, a Democrat, has spent nearly half his life in public service. He was elected to the county Board of Commissioners after losing a zoning battle in his neighborhood. He was one of two African-Americans on a board with a majority that used the old-boys'-network approach to governing. Often, decisions were made before Bell even showed up at the meeting. For 10 years, he sat in the minority and demanded night meetings and a better development infrastructure. He often wrote letters to the editor to complain about newspaper coverage.
"I was young and probably less inhibited about what I thought," Bell recalled of his early time on the board in an interview last year. "One thing about being in the minority, sometimes you're more vocal about things than if you're in the majority. You've got to put them out there."
In the early '80s, Bell became part of the majority. His day job as a senior engineer at IBM made him the commissioners' resource on budget and financial matters. He became known as a skilled listener who, once he made up his mind, worked hard to achieve a goal. He was good at forging agreements behind the scenes. When he thought that a merged school system would offer more equal opportunity to Durham's black children, for example, he forced the issue -- without relying on voter approval.
But Bell hasn't always been the county's most popular politician. In 1994, he lost his seat in what political observers termed a statement against school merger; Bell blames the loss on the national Republican revolution. He was returned to the board in 1996.
In recent years, Bell has turned his attention in private life to revitalizing Durham's inner city, a theme he has hammered on during his mayoral campaign.
He was an IBM engineer in Research Triangle Park until 1996, when he joined the company's program that "loans" executives to do other work in the community. He went to work at Duke University on the school's plans to have a greater presence in surrounding neighborhoods. His research on community needs led to significant changes in the Walltown neighborhood and at nearby elementary schools.
Bell also spent more time at a nonprofit community development corporation that he had been associated with for years: UDI/CDC. Originally a for-profit corporation called United Durham Inc., the company failed and then recreated itself as a nonprofit organization focusing on job training and economic development. Bell had served on its board for more than a decade, and he took a job as the company's assistant executive director, receiving a salary of $68,858 last year.
UDI/CDC's most visible project is a 90-acre industrial park at Fayetteville Street and Cornwallis Road in South Durham. The park has about 20 companies, and it is in part from leases worth $410,000 last year that UDI has raised money to tackle projects in other areas of the city. The agency also pulled in more than $1 million in government grants, according to its IRS 990 form.
Among those projects:
- A grocery story and police substation now under construction at Fayetteville and Pilot streets.
- A housing development of affordable homes called Mangum Court on Mangum Street north of downtown (built on city-owned land).
-A renovated office near Mangum Court for a "resource center" and small-business incubator.
- Plans for housing for older people near St. Joseph AME Church on Fayetteville Street.
-A Youthbuild job-training program (participants have built houses) and a Welfare to Work program.
UDI/CDC also works with city departments and has received local and federal dollars for work. Bell has pledged as mayor to abstain from any votes that could affect the organization. While a commissioner, he left the room when agenda items concerning his longtime employer, IBM, came up for discussion.
It is a major distinction Bell draws between himself and his opponent. Tennyson has been criticized for his role as executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Durham and Orange Counties and hasn't abstained from votes involving the association's members. Tennyson says that because he doesn't have a direct financial interest, he is not allowed to abstain.
Many of Tennyson's critics include the coalition of slow-growth activists who recruited Bell this spring to run for office. Bell has made development a central part of his platform. Once considered one of the county's most pro-economic development public officials, Bell has been more critical of development in recent years.
Still, Bell says he does not want to be defined as a "slow-growth" candidate. He says he wants balanced, inclusive growth, which means more attention to the inner city and less to the fringes. He thinks Durham should pick an area for growth in the next five years and encourage developers to go there instead of letting development occur more haphazardly.
Bell also has criticized some of Tennyson's high-profile votes against development, including those on Southpoint mall and the Renaissance Center mixed-use project. Tennyson was on the losing end in both cases, which Bell says illustrates poor leadership, another central tenet of his platform.
"That's the difference between my leadership style and Nick's leadership style," Bell said. "Nick doesn't know which way the council's going on an issue." **
As mayor, Bell said he would articulate his vision for Durham, set goals, garner support and carry out his plans. He thinks police patrols in inner-city neighborhoods ought to be increased, for example. Bell said he would get the council behind him and demand action from the city manager and police chief. If the work wasn't done, he said, either the chief or the city manager would be looking for work.
Although Bell has been somewhat muted in his criticism of Tennyson's handling of the city's mishandled small-business loan program, he has said the incumbent did not ask enough questions before the program was instituted.
Bell even has criticized Tennyson on one of the incumbent's proudest achievements: increased regionalism on transportation issues. Tennyson has formed a coalition of local leaders and helped lead a visit to Ottawa, Canada, two years ago to tour its well-regarded bus system. But Bell says Durham's own city bus system has been plagued by poor service and shoddy equipment, although the city has recently hired a new oversight company and expects service to improve.
Bell is chairman of the regional Triangle Transit Authority and said he agrees that regionalism is important. But mayors should focus on local issues as well as regional ones, he said. "To me, it's a question of where are your priorities?"
* Bell of course won by a slim margin on heavy turnout. ** Nick wasn't privy to the Committee proceedings.
As another long suffocating Durham summer draws to a close, the town begins to stir from its heat-induced stupor to the sounds of returning Duke students filling the local cash egisters. The dark moments of the previous spring are forgotten, like a bad dream. Even in the myriad internet chat rooms, endless arguments over every detail of the Durham DA's 20 pages of 'discovery' are exhausted. Proving the Durham Hoax was the easy part. The duplicity of the courthouse crowd a little tougher. A pivotal election looms in the not too distant future-- fodder for the agendas. A referendum on innocence. Yet buried beneath a mountain of rhethoric and pandering, truths remain obscured, secrets hidden. Questions yet to be asked. Who will shine a light into this heart of darkness? Where are YOUR priorities?
Must read...
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/
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