Nifong to give up more documents to defense (DukeLax)

Durham Herald-Sun ^ | October 27, 2006 | John Stevenson

[abb]

Nifong to give up more documents to defense

By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun October 26, 2006 9:44 pm

DURHAM -- District Attorney Mike Nifong today will give defense lawyers about 2,000 additional pages of information about the Duke University lacrosse rape case -- the largest single batch of documentation he has surrendered so far.

Nifong turned over some 1,800 pages of information in one previous court hearing and another 615 pages last month.

After they receive today's batch, defense attorneys will have roughly 4,500 pages of documentation about the case that has polarized Durham, brought intense national publicity to the community and sparked a movement to oust Nifong as chief prosecutor.

In addition to paperwork, defense lawyers will receive 3 DVDs from Nifong today. Among other things, they reportedly contain e-mails generated by Duke students and lacrosse players.

The information will be surrendered in a hearing before Judge Osmond Smith, who was specially assigned by the N.C. Supreme Court to shepherd the controversial lacrosse case to completion.

Three suspects in the case, Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans, are not required to be present today. They are free under $100,000 bonds as they await a trial that is expected to occur next year.

The three are accused of raping and sodomizing an exotic dancer during an off-campus lacrosse party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-March.

All have professed their innocence.

Other than the surrender of information by Nifong, no major developments are expected during today's hearing.

"I don't think anyone knows exactly what will happen, but I don't believe there will be much to it," said one lawyer, asking not to be identified.

Critical defense motions in the case have yet to be heard, but they will not be argued today.

Among other things, those motions accuse police of misleading a judge to obtain a search warrant, and of devising an unconstitutional photo lineup -- a lineup that allegedly was too suggestive because it included only pictures of Duke lacrosse players.

Several national television pundits, along with a host of Internet chatters, have blasted Nifong for allegedly rushing to judgment in the case and getting the three suspects indicted on insufficient evidence.

In addition, the lacrosse incident is responsible for an anti-Nifong movement in the Nov. 7 election.

Voters are being urged to cast their ballots for County Commissioner Lewis Cheek as part of an effort to recall Nifong.

However, Cheek has said he would not serve as district attorney if elected, meaning the governor would have to choose a replacement for him.

Another anti-Nifong faction is led by local Republican Party Chairman Steve Monks, who is running for the chief prosecutor's seat on an unaffiliated write-in basis.

Monks said in an interview this week that a combined oust-Nifong effort would be better than two fragmented ones.

"It is probable that one of us has to withdraw," he said. "It has to happen. Someone has to be the frontrunner for the anti-Nifong movement. Otherwise, Mike will continue to be DA?. I can't scream from the highest mountain loudly enough that we need a combined effort."

And Charlotte Woods, a campaign leader for Monks, said she had told Cheek "a multiplicity of times" that Monks would withdraw from the race if Cheek agreed to serve as district attorney if elected.

"We have made it plain over and over again," she said. "We've told him and told him."

But Cheek said Thursday that, "Service as DA is not an option for me."

He said he made it clear earlier that responsibilities to partners and employees prevented him from leaving his private law firm

"Nothing has changed," he added.

Meanwhile, Nifong said Thursday that he continued to stand by the rape case, and he denied he was responsible for polarizing the community.

"This particular case has not divided the community," he said. "It has pointed to divisions that already existed. It is a signal to us that we need to address these underlying divisions."

Nifong would not be specific, but he apparently referred to town-gown issues and racial issues, among others.

The accuser in the rape case is black. The three suspects are white.

"Another prosecutor might make the case go away, but he can't make the underlying issues go away," said Nifong.

The district attorney, who has been a prosecutor in Durham for 27 years and head of his office since April 2005, said he wasn't withering under a storm of adverse criticism about the lacrosse incident.

"It's the difference between character and reputation," he said. "Character is what you are. Reputation is what people say you are. As long as you know who you are, you don't have to worry over what people say about you. ?

"I might be better off if I wasn't DA," Nifong acknowledged. "It certainly would be less stressful. But this is a path I have chosen to take in my life. I'm seeing some of the not-so-fun part of the job right now, but you can't take a job and just do it when it's easy and fun. URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-782289.html

[Neverforget01]

TFTP!

No matter how devastating, unfortunately, Kim is no more credible than the accuser. Apparently Kimmie has decided that aiding the defense may be spun to her advantage, at least for now.

She's been lying since her first 911 call and if she really cared or was worried about Crystal she could have called 911 again. Instead she drove her to Krogers and concocted another story about where the girl came from.

[Howlin]

I'm trying to get to bed, but the excitement might just prove too much. :-)

[Howlin]

Still I love seeing all this on national TV!

[SarahUSC]

Good. I hope it's really devastating for Nifong. I wonder if the Nifong-Gurney household will tune in.

[F.J. Mitchell]

We will surely try, Howlin.

[F.J. Mitchell]

" Durham needs an enema."

But nobody knows where to stick the hose.

[Howlin]

You know what, at this point, I don't even care if it IS more lies as long as it sticks to Nifong like glue.

Let HIM try to prove peoeple are making false allegations against him for a while.

[F.J. Mitchell]

I believe someone has explained the penalty for perjury to this young lady and she is telling the truth.

[Howlin]

I dunno, you may be right.

Still...

[JLS]

The Newsweek reporter, Suzanne Meadows, is a Duke grad. I expect she learned of it rapidly through connections and came a'runnin'.

Yeah Meadows or someone at Newsweek might have been an acolyte of one or more of the 88.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

You have to start by turning the computer off. I have heard such a thing is possible, LOL. I would not know!

[xoxoxox]

Duke Bombshell -- the second dancer
in the Duke lacrosse case shares startling
details in an exclusive interview.
Monday, only on GMA.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/
[no further info at this link right now]

Kim must be living it up in the Big Apple
right now. Wonder who her new agent is?

[F.J. Mitchell]

LOL! Could be.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I was doing a bit of searching last night and came across her wedding announcement. (Meadows)

She was married by her sister, a Minister of the Church of Spiritual Humanity.

I do not begrudge anyone their beliefs, but this should give a clue to mindset (as if we needed one)

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Hey, just had a thought!
Monday--Beginning of news cycle.

[Carling]

Spin aside, Kim is the only corroboration that LIEfong had on his side. People even were speculating that she would lie and say she witnessed the rape, and that Crystal Mangum (i.e. LYING SLUT) really was a hard working Mommy just trying to make it before being traumatized by some rich white boys.

I hope this is devastating to the "DA" and his side pocket of judicial lackeys. I hope LIEfong has his own troubles because of his malicious actions in this case.

[JLS]

Yeah, but should people be responsible for the reckless actions of politicians they voted against? I suspect that if Nifong is elected but then gets a major judgement against the city, the vast majority of the cost will fall on people who voted against him (and who, in any case, had never voted for him previously).

Try that argument in court some day. If you are being sued, try to see how well the "I did not want my partners in the company to hire that person who injured someone" defense works. I am not advocating this position, but it is interesting. Just as you can sell your company to your partners who are causing you liability with bad decisions, tax payers can move from areas other voters are putting them a financial risk by voting in DAs like Nifong.

[Ken H]

For anyone who missed it--

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/10/duke-case-outrage.html

"Joe Cheshire just told local reporters that information on the accuser will be coming out soon and did not elaborate further."

[From TJN, 10-27]

[JLS]

Very IRONIC that Andy McCarthy says Nifong is a not a social worker. As we have often discussed here, he is a social worker and that may well be part of his bias.

[Neverforget01]

Oh I agree, Liefong has nothing! Maybe she'll tell ABC she already told Nifong nothing happened. Or maybe she'll say she saw Reade and/or Collin leave. Who knows?

You're right, as Liefong's sole witness. she's all he's got. Trouble is , who can believe her at this stage?...this happened last March and she's speaking out now? I'm sure she's looking for more deals to cut. She needs to write a book, star in the movie, she's looking for more $$$$.