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Key witness in lacrosse case sentenced to up to 120 days house arrest

By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun
September 25, 2006 10:25 pm

DURHAM -- A key witness in the Duke University lacrosse rape case admitted Monday to committing five probation violations and was sentenced to up to 120 days of electronic house arrest.

In addition, the overall probationary period for Kim Roberts Pittman was extended for three years. It now is scheduled to end on Dec. 10, 2009, instead of this December.

Pittman was performing exotic dances at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-march when another dancer allegedly was raped, sodomized and beaten by three Duke lacrosse players. Since then, Pittman has been quoted as saying the other dancer's rape accusation was "a crock."

The suspects in the Duke case are Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans. Each is free under $100,000 bond as they await a trial that is expected to begin next year.

Pittman is on probation for embezzling just under $25,000 from Qualex, a photo-processing company where she worked in 2000.

During Monday's brief court hearing, she admitted she had violated court orders in five ways: by changing her address without notifying her probation officer; by falling behind in restitution payments; by temporarily leaving the state without permission; by quitting a job and by missing two appointments with her probation officer.

By prearranged agreement with Chief Probation Officer Terrence Eason, Judge Robert Hobgood ordered that Pittman submit to electronic house arrest for at least 60 days and as long as 120 days. The sooner she catches up on $1,400 in financial payment arrearages, the sooner the house arrest will end.

Pittman also may be switched from supervised to unsupervised probation after she pays up, Hobgood ruled.

While under house arrest, Pittman must wear a high-tech ankle bracelet that will allow supervising authorities to track her every move.

A suspended prison sentence of five to six months continues to hang over her head. It could be activated if she violates probation again.

The judge inquired Monday about Pittman's ability to pay the $23,373 she still owes Qualex.

"This is a tremendous amount of restitution," said Hobgood. "What are her employment prospects?"

Defense lawyer Mark Simeon replied that Pittman had completed two years of college and was "looking for better employment. Her prospects have brightened."

He did not elaborate.

Pittman appeared in court wearing a black and white dress and with a polite demeanor, saying little on her own behalf.

When reporters asked how she felt before the court hearing, she said she was nervous. She scuttled down a back stairway to avoid reporters afterward.

In contrast to her conduct Monday, Pittman made an obscene gesture toward two members of a WRAL television crew and stuck out her tongue at them when they attempted to ask her a question in the courthouse four months ago.

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Judge delays hearing for ex-police officers

By Ray Gronberg, The Herald-Sun
September 25, 2006 7:35 pm

DURHAM -- A court hearing for two former Durham Police Department officers accused of assaulting a man outside a Raleigh sports bar this summer has been postponed until Oct. 30.

The postponement occurred Monday and came after Wake County Assistant District Attorney Matt Godwin told a judge he wasn't ready to go ahead with the case against former officers Gary. P. Lee and Scott C. Tanner.

Prosecutors had already said the same thing to lawyers working for Lee and Tanner, so there were no surprises on either side of the case when Wake County District Judge James Fullwood continued it to Oct. 30.

Tanner's lawyer, Duncan McMillan, declined to say whether he expects the case to be settled by a trial or a plea-bargain. "We'll have to wait and see," he said after Monday's brief court proceeding.

Lee and Tanner are accused of assaulting Rene Dennis Thomas, a cook at Blinco's Sports Restaurant and Bar, 6711 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, the night of July 30. They were there with five other current and former Durham Police Department officers for a colleague's going-away party.

Thomas, who is black, has alleged that a group of men confronted him after he and one of the occupants of a pickup truck that was speeding out of the bar's parking lot traded racial epithets. Raleigh police charged Lee with trying to strike and tackle the cook, and Tanner with kicking him after Thomas fell to the ground.

The misdemeanor case has drawn notoriety both for the allegation that Durham officers were involved in an off-duty incident that had racial overtones, and for the fact that two of the other officers present that night, Sgt. Mark Gottlieb and Officer Richard Clayton, are involved in the investigation of the Duke lacrosse rape case.

Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers responded to a parallel investigation of the incident by his department's Internal Affairs Unit by firing Lee and Tanner on Sept. 14. He alleged that Tanner was the officer who in Thomas' account initiated the confrontation, and that Lee was the man who came to the aid of the first assailant.

Thomas -- who has essentially stopped granting media interviews -- questioned the Raleigh Police Department's identification of the assailants in a brief conversation with The Herald-Sun shortly after the misdemeanor charges against the two officers were filed. On Monday, McMillan passed up an opportunity to clear up that matter.

Asked whether there was a case of mistaken identity, McMillan said he'd "seen some things in the newspaper to that effect" but hasn't yet had a chance to question Thomas. "It remains to be seen what his testimony will be," McMillan said, maintaining silence about the defense's version of events.

Lee and Tanner were both present in court Monday. They arrived at about 8:55 a.m., shortly before Fullwood opened the day's session, and sat together chatting on a bench toward the back of the room. They later left the courtroom after television crews began shooting video of them.

They returned -- reportedly after going to some lengths to avoid a TV crew that pursued them -- just before McMillan and Godwin asked the judge for the continuance, and left for good as soon as Fullwood granted it. Neither stopped to answer questions from reporters.

Lee was represented Monday by Raleigh lawyer James Crouch, a stand-in, McMillan said, for attorney Thomas Manning, who was tied up handling a federal court hearing.

McMillan said Tanner has filed a grievance appealing his firing by the city. The Raleigh lawyer who's handling the appeal for Tanner, Heydt Philbeck, didn't return a phone call seeking comment.

There was no word Monday, from lawyers or city officials, on whether Lee had also appealed. Deputy City Manager Wanda Page, in charge while City Manager Patrick Baker is on vacation, invoked the state's personnel-privacy laws before declining comment one way or the other.

A city human resources manager, Virginia Jones, said employees who appeal termination or disciplinary actions can have their cases reviewed by a single hearing officer who works for the city, by a hearing panel that includes three city employees or -- with Baker's permission -- by a single hearing officer who works for a city consultant.

Most who go through the grievance process choose the three-member panel, which includes one member approved by the appealing employee, one approved by his or her department, and one approved by the other two panel members, Jones said.

The panel's findings then can be appealed to the city manager's office. In a case involving the police department, which reports directly to Baker, either Page or Deputy City Manager Ted Voorhees would review the appeal finding. Baker in theory could reverse whatever ruling Page or Voorhees make, but so far in his administration hasn't done so, Jones said.

Terminations decisions are rarely overturned. Of the 17 firing cases appealed in fiscal 2005-06, a hearing panel favored overturning only one. The city manager's office didn't go along with that ruling, so all 17 fired employees who went through the grievance process last year wound up leaving the payroll, Jones said.

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Sick of the lacrosse case

Once again I pick up the paper this morning and there is a picture of the three young men accused in the Duke lacrosse rape case. Why? What happens in court could be covered in a short column in the second section of the newspaper.

We had the space shuttle return home yesterday after a flawless mission.

Wouldn't that have been something more appropriate for the front page? Are we going to have this coverage all the way until the end of the trial? We don't even have trial coverage like this when a murder is committed. For crying out loud these are pretrial motions.

Please rethink your coverage. This is not news we need on a daily basis or even weekly.

KATHY STRAUBE
Durham
September 26, 2006

A loss of trust

I have been reading the on-line version of your paper since the Duke scandal broke back in March. I am curious as to where you get the blatant misstatements and outright lies you print? It makes me wonder if the Durham Police Department and District Attorney Michael Nifong's office send you cue cards at the beginning of every week for you to work with.

The editor should be the most shamed. By allowing this to happen, you knowingly deceive the public that puts its trust in you to report fairly and accurately. No wonder your circulation has plummeted. No one trusts you anymore.

JESSICA DAVIS
Durham
September 25, 2006

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