Posted on 09/18/2006 5:19:53 PM PDT by abb
DURHAM - One of three people who saw the accuser in the Duke lacrosse rape case at the crisis center where she first reported being sexually assaulted kept notes of her observations, defense lawyers said in a motion filed in court today.
In the early hours of March 14, the accuser was taken to Durham Access Center because she reportedly met the criteria for involuntary commitment, defense lawyer Brad Bannon wrote in the motion filed in Durham County Court today.
While there for 40 minutes, the accuser interacted with three women on the center's staff, the motion says.
Gerri Lomuriel Wilkes, who was working at the center the morning the accuser came in, took hand-written notes of her observations, according to the motion.
Kirk Osborn, the lawyer representing Reade Seligmann, one of three lacrosse players accused in the case, found out about the notes while interviewing Wilkes, the motion says.
Defense lawyers are asking that the notes be turned over to them.
District Attorney Mike Nifong has told defense lawyers during discovery hearings that no notes were made at the center, that only a log existed from there.
In previous documents handed over to defense lawyers, there is no evidence that police tried to contact Wilkes about that morning.
Also, defense lawyers are asking the state for a bill of particulars in which they hope to get a more precise timeline of the alleged offenses and find out which bathroom at 610 N. Buchanan the gang-rape allegedly occurred.
They also are asking the state to specify which "sexual act" each defendant is accused of committing. Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.
mark
His wifes name is "sigh"? Appropriate...
No the question is does anyone here think a little embellishment isn't going on here?
She didn't say it was in her affidavit. But if it was recorded, she just might have broken the law recording it without the other parties knowledge.
http://www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2006/09/20/StaffEditorials/Questions.Plague.Police.Tactics-2286961.shtml?norewrite200609211335&sourcedomain=www.dukechronicle.com
Questions plague police tactics
Posted: 9/20/06
Another school year begins with reports of the local police's use of inappropriate tactics. Thursday, two Durham Police Department officers were let go after they were charged with the assault of an area cook. Although their firing is an encouraging step in the right direction, reports of unnecessary tactics and racially tinged responses by local police have haunted the front pages of local papers for the last several years.
In August 2004, an incident at Cafe Parizade provoked charges of racial insensitivity as four seniors filed official complaints alleging misconduct on the part of Duke University Police officers. Students reported that they heard the singing of "We Shall Overcome" from one or more officers as they were clearing the mostly black crowd outside of the party. Upon an internal review, the department absolved the officers of violating any policies.
Last fall, in response to a student gathering at the Belmont apartment complex, Durham police officers tackled several students in an attempt to clear the area and reportedly left one senior with a bloodied face while he was escorted to the squad car in his bathing suit.
These incidents, when viewed in light of more recent reports of harsh treatment of Duke students by local police, paint a troubling portrait of over-the-line police actions. Yet, with the notable exception of the recent firing of the two Durham officers, few if any actions have been taken to redress the growing concern from the Duke community.
This inaction seemingly suggests to the student community a lack of concern from police about the incidents of impropriety. Using excessive force or other unseemly strategies raise important questions of what constitutes intimidation and abuse of power-questions that remain unanswered given the relatively meager response of both Durham and Duke University police departments to these concerns.
While terminating the employment of two officers that have been officially charged of simple assault seems promising, more must be done to assure the integrity of local law enforcement.
Unwanted consequences could arise from inappropriate incidents going unpunished, including, but surely not limited to, a loss of trust in police by students and accusations of intimidation volleyed against police departments.
If anyone in the police force or student body needs a reminder as to why a working relationship between school, students and police remains a pressing need, look no further than the most recent assault at the Belmont Apartments. Students and police need an amiable and trusting relationship, and both parties lose when an air of misgivings arises.
Clearly, not all police officers are involved in the overuse of force against students. Similarly, not all stories told about police brutality should be believed at face value. Yet these reasons underscore the need for a more thorough review of police tactics and past actions in order to discredit untruthful rumors and restore faith in the admirable job that many officers perform every day. © Copyright 2006 The Chronicle
[snip]
The "votebook" inaccuracy isn't the first time the Herald-Sun has wildly distorted news regarding the Cheek effort. In a July 30 editorial, editor Bob Ashley opined,
"On Thursday, Cheek said being district attorney would be too much of a distraction from the business of his Durham law firm, so supporters shouldn't vote for him after all."
In fact, Cheek had said exactly the opposite regarding how his supporters might vote. As N&O reporter Benjamin Niolet noted after the county comissioner's press conference,
"Cheek . . . said anyone dissatisfied with Nifong could vote for him. Cheek said that he would vote for himself but would stay out of the election and the campaign."
[snip]
The Recall Nifong-Vote Cheek effort has the potential to be this year's Carnahan campaign--performing the unprecedented by unseating a sitting district attorney through a petition campaign. Perhaps Durham residents should begin a petition campaign directed at Paxton Media Chain to unseat Editor Ashley as well.
[Update, 1.18pm: John in Carolina has a revealing comparison between how the N&O (fairly) and the Herald-Sun (with bias) covered the Nifong motion of yesterday.]
http://www.webcommentary.com/asp/ShowArticle.asp?id=gaynorm&date=060920
False Rape Claims, Polygraphing and the Duke Case
http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/article_9416.shtml
Pressler resurfaces at Bryant
Well here is how it has been in my fairly wide experience in athletes at a variety of universities:
A. I taught at one private school as good or slightly better than Duke. They were an NCAA Division 3 school and thus did not give scholarships. Their athletes were about as good as the average student.
B. I taugh as a graduate student at one major state university with NCAA D1A athletics. I have a limited number of athletes. In general they were not as good as the student body.
C. I have taught at two regional state universities with D1A athletics. Their athletes have been about equal to the student body.
D. I taught at another state University with D1A/D1AA athletics. My impression is that the athletes there were a bit worse than the average students.
Also really it becomes a matter of sports more than schools:
1. In revenue sports, basketball and football mainly, athletes tend to vary more from the student body everywhere where scholarships are given and it truly is a revenue sport. [The D3 of course has no revenue sports.] On average they tend to be worse prepared students.
2. In semi-reveneu sports where there is a true minor league program, ie baseball and hockey, the athletes were maybe a little worse than the student body, but the really really really ill prepared student that you might have in your class because college is the only way to persue a football or basketball career is not there. They are in the minors.
3. The non-revenue sports athletes, ie. tennis, swimming, track, golf etc are about as good or maybe better than the average student.
So where is lacrosse in all of this? I suspect it is not a revenue sport. There is now pro lacrosse in the US. So I guess a poor student who wants to seek a lacrosse career might be forced into college. I would guess that the lacrosse students at Duke would be slightly less prepared than the average student non scholarship student at Duke, but I doubt the really unprepared student that you might find in basketball or maybe football at Duke would not be there.
I would not be so sure that Mangum who is a practiced if not good liar passed a polygraph on this.
Your experiences match pretty much my expectations. The main point at issue is the attitude of the faculty towards student athletes at Duke. My proposition - which your point A seems to support - is that this attitude probably reflects the prejudices of these faculty members rather than the actual performance of the students. I see no specific problem with the proposed solution of associating particular faculty members with the teams (though I see it as a bit fatuous and condescending to the coaching staff and students). The real condescension, however, is from the faculty who dismiss college sports and treat Duke student athletes as second class citizens.
Somewhat pertinent article. Pertinent in that the Durham County DA and the DPD aren't the only screw-ups in law enforcement. And remember, the DriveBy Media swallowed this story guts, feathers and all, too...
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060920/NEWS/609200304&SearchID=73257519078096
Karr computer missing
By LORI A. CARTER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
On the day prosecutors offered John Mark Karr a plea bargain, Sonoma County sheriff's officials Tuesday acknowledged they lost a computer containing images used to charge Karr with possessing child pornography.
- snip -
Yeah, I don't see any benefit to this, but no harm either. What will happen is some facutly member interested in athletics and probably a particular sport will get the assignment, maybe after lobbying for it. There will be no improvement in communication, but no harm to communication either.
I suspect the Duke faculty members who are biased against sports don't even know which students are athletes and which are not. I know I rarely know who is an athlete or not in my big classes that lots of people take and by the time they are in my smaller classes, I know the athletes as people not athletes.
"I would guess that the lacrosse students at Duke would be slightly less prepared than the average student non scholarship student at Duke"
from http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/08/really-really-well.html
Brodhead has not commented upon last week’s release of the ACC Academic Honor Roll. Nor does the Duke lacrosse site—or any Duke site, as far as I can tell—mention the ACC honors.
I wonder what accounts for this silence, since Duke led all conference schools with 362 student-athletes named to the Honor Roll. Could the inconveniently high number of lacrosse players on the honor roll explain the university’s reticence?
Twenty-seven members of this year’s men’s lacrosse team were named to the Honor Roll. This achievement, of course, took place amidst Nifong’s using the team members as pawns for his re-election campaign. More remarkably, it occurred despite a troubling pattern of unprofessional behavior toward the players from many Duke faculty members—of which the experiences of George Jennison and Honor Roll member John Walsh seem to be only the tip of the iceberg.
The lacrosse team’s 27 Honor Roll members is the highest number in the ACC, easily outdistancing the numbers earned by UNC (16), Virginia (16), and Maryland (14).
This result ran true to form: over the last five years, the lacrosse team has had 173 members make the Academic Honor Roll, more than twice as many as the next closest school. The Coleman Committee highlighted this point, but the Duke administration has never publicly referenced it. And of this year’s recipients, five made the Honor Roll in each of their four years at Duke: Dave Evans, Erik Henkelman, Glenn Nick, Bruce Thompson, and Matt Zash. No other Duke team had as many four-year winners.
The 27 lacrosse players who made the Academic Honor Roll also surpassed the total of any other men’s team at Duke except for football (34, of a roster of 80-plus). The lacrosse team had more Honor Roll members than baseball (15), basketball (5), cross country (13), golf (3), indoor track (17), soccer (15), swimming (13), tennis (8), or wrestling (17).
Perhaps Duke could couple its publication of these figures with Professor Paul Haagen explaining his theories about how athletes who play “helmet sports” are more likely to engage in violent crime. Alas, as blogger John in Carolina has revealed, Haagen, after his infamous March 25 comments to the N&O, no longer seems to be commenting on the case.
I think your are right that the anti-athlete group of faculty apparently led by Brodhead is why you have not seen comment on this.
But in fairness, I should point out:
1. Private schools, tend to have fewer really low grades than public schools. Is that the "gentleman C" at work. Or is it that smaller classes lead to more social pressure to attend/study. Or is it that smaller classes lead to fewer all objective courses and it takes willfulness to know or write nothing for an essay, but it is possible to miss all or nearly all of an objective test. Or is it that smaller classes lead to the profs knowing the people and being less willing to assign a low grade? Maybe it is a combinnation but grades at private schools tend to be higher than at big state schools. [At one time, years ago I read a story that claimed grade inflation was so great at Yale that 82% of the graduates that year graduated with honors or better.]
2. A program with more athletes like lacrosse will tend to have more absolute honor roll members than a smaller sport like say basketball with 12 or so athletes on the roster.
The Ivy League inflates it's grades. You really have to screw up to fail anything or get lower than a "C".
I don't know about Duke though. My boyfriend went there and he doesn't think they inflate grades that much. Definitely not in the bigger standard classes like Biology 101. But probably yes to some degree in the smaller classes. And then there are always the known classes that are easy to skate through. These exist even at big schools. Michigan had "Dinosaurs and other Disasters" and a few others along those lines. USC has them too.
The other thing my boyfriend pointed out was that alot of the faculty at Duke really resesnts the athletes. They would be unlikely to inflate their grades and in fact he knew some athletes and felt that the profs would do the opposite with them - grade them even harder than average.
I agree every place including Duke has courses you can get an easier grade in. And really all of this is beside the point. These guys should not be convicted if they were bad student or their teammates were bad students, nor should they get off if they are good students or their teammates good studnets.
This case is about rape. There is no evidence that a rape happened. [Sorry for any leftist peeking in, but I do not consider the testimony of a drinking, self-drugged amoral person about to be involuntarily committed reliable in the least.] So for that reason the case should be dropped and Nifong prosecuted. There is plenty of evidence of prosecuting someones he knew were innocent to gain advantage in a political race.
No, it isn't. In fact, the vast majority of college lacrosse players come from prep schools in the mid Atlantic states; NJ,NY, Md..It is a very "specialized" activity where the best come from "select" schools.As they are at Duke, these students tend to be better than average academically, when compared to other scholar athletes. How do they compare to the general student population? Pretty well, I would surmise.
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