Posted on 10/30/2006 3:04:46 AM PST by abb
Second Dancer Claims Alleged Duke Lacrosse Rape Victim Said to Bruise Her By CHRIS FRANCESCANI and EAMON McNIFF ABC News Law & Justice Unit
Oct. 30, 2006 — - The second dancer in the Duke rape case has said for the first time that the accuser told her to "go ahead, put marks on me'' after the alleged attack.
Dancer Kim Roberts made the new allegation -- which she has not shared with authorities -- in an interview with Chris Cuomo that will air today on "Good Morning America."
Roberts' allegation comes in the wake of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong's admission in court last week that he has not yet interviewed the accuser "about the facts of that night."
As she drove the accuser from the March 2006 Duke lacrosse party, Roberts told ABC News the woman was clearly impaired and "talking crazy." Roberts said she tried several different times to get the accuser out of her car.
"The trip in that car from the house … went from happy to crazy,'' Roberts told Cuomo. "I tried all different ways to get through to her.
"I tried to be funny and nice," she continued. "Then I tried to, you know, be stern with her. … We're kind of circling around, and as we're doing that, my last-ditch attempt to get her out of the car, I start to kind of, you know, push and prod her, you know."
Roberts said she told the woman, "Get out of my car, get out of my car."
"I … push on her leg. I kind of push on her arm," Roberts said. "And clear as a bell, it's the only thing I heard clear as a bell out of her was, she said -- she pretty much had her head down, but she said plain as day -- 'Go ahead put marks on me. That's what I want, go ahead.' ''
Roberts said the comments "chilled me to the bone, and I decided right then and there to go to the authorities."
'Weighing on My Heart'
Roberts was not aware at the time of any rape allegations, which were first made by the accuser after police had arrived and taken the woman to a crisis center.
In the interview, Roberts appeared reluctant to talk about her new claim.
"It is something that has been weighing on my heart, and I worry that maybe I won't be called to trial,'' Roberts told Cuomo, as she reached for a tissue. "Because all of, so many of her, so much of [the accuser's] statement differs from mine and I, I might not help the prosecution at all as a witness.''
Roberts became visibly upset as she described the accuser's comments for the first time, at one point stopping the interview.
"I don't even want to talk about it anymore,'' she said.
"Why is it so hard for you to reveal that?" Cuomo asked Roberts.
"Because I think it's gonna make people rush to judgment,'' she replied. "It's gonna make them stop listening. … And I don't like this at all. It's gonna make-- It's gonna make people not listen and I, I'm sure you're probably not even going to play this. It's gonna make people not listen to any other part of the story. It's gonna make people so judgmental, it's gonna solidify their opinions so much, that they're not gonna want to hear the other aspects of the case, which I think are just as important.''
Changes in Roberts' Characterization of the Events
Roberts' attorney, Mark Simeon, said she never shared what she says were the accuser's final comments with police, not realizing their significance at the time. He said she would be willing to take a lie detector test about the new information.
Three Duke lacrosse players -- Dave Evans, Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann -- were charged last spring with rape and kidnapping for the alleged attack on the exotic dancer, who had been hired by the men to perform at the off-campus party. All three men have vigorously declared their innocence, inside and outside of court.
Defense attorneys for the players declined to comment on Roberts' remarks.
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong did not return a call over the weekend for comment.
One legal expert who has followed the case closely from the start said the new information is a clear blow to an already embattled prosecution team.
"To have witnesses appear on a media program revealing information that the prosecutor doesn't know is stunningly inappropriate,'' said Linda Fairstein, who headed the Manhattan District Attorney's Sex Crimes Unit for more than two decades.
Roberts has proven to be a somewhat unpredictable character in a case with a seemingly bottomless supply of surprises.
She has said consistently that she doesn't know whether or not a rape occurred. But she has characterized the evening's events differently to different people.
On March 20, when police first contacted her a week after the alleged attack, she called the rape allegation a "crock'' and said that she was with the woman for all but "less than five minutes.''
A month later, in an Associated Press interview, she indicated that she believed there had been an attack.
"I was not in the bathroom when it happened, so I can't say a rape occurred -- and I never will. … In all honesty, I think they're guilty. … Somebody did something besides underage drinking. That's my honest-to-God impression."
Then, on June 14, in an interview with National Public Radio, she said she was "unsure'' of how much time passed when the alleged victim got out of her car and went back into the house to get her purse.
"I can never say a rape did or did not occur. That's for the courts to decide. I didn't see it happen, you know? But what I can say is that there was opportunity and it could have happened.''
Simeon told ABC News that she has never shared this new information with authorities simply because she was never asked.
"She hasn't spoken to authorities beyond that very first [March 20] interview that police conducted,'' Simeon said. "She's never met with the DA and has never been called back for a follow-up interview.''
Simeon said she told him she felt her complete story was damaging to both the prosecution and the defense's cases, and as such she believes she may not be called to the witness stand at all.
Fatal Blow to Duke Prosecution?
Nifong, who is seeking reelection next month, stunned defense attorneys in court last week when he said that he has yet to interview the accuser "about the facts of that night.''
"I've had conversations with [the accuser] about how she's doing,'' Nifong said. "I've had conversations with her about seeing her kids. I haven't talked with her about the facts of that night. … We're not at that stage yet.''
The prosecutor made the comment in response to a request from defense attorneys for any statements the accuser has made about the case.
Nifong said that only police have interviewed the accuser, and that none of his assistants have discussed the case with the woman either.
The highly-charged case has sparked an intense, bitter rivalry between Nifong and defense attorneys.
In September, he similarly surprised defense attorneys when he said in court that the attack, which the accuser told police took about 30 minutes, had in fact been only "five to 10 minutes.''
"When something happens to you that is really awful, it can seem like it takes place longer than it actually takes.''
Fairstein, widely considered a pioneer in the field of sex crimes prosecution, said Roberts' allegations do not bode well for either her own credibility or for the district attorney's office.
"In terms of any prosecution, it's troubling when a witness who has been interviewed many times comes up with a completely new statement,'' Fairstein told ABC News. "At some point in a prosecutorial interview, she would have been asked to give them anything she knew, any scrap of information that she had.''
Fairstein told ABC News she was shocked to learn last week that Nifong has yet to interview the accuser.
"That is just against the progress that's been made in this very specialized field,'' she said. "It belies anything a prosecutor would do before making charges. There was no need to rush to the charging judgment in this case. … This whole train should have been slowed down and everybody interviewed before charging decisions. To have witnesses appear on a media program revealing information that the prosecutor doesn't know is stunningly inappropriate.''
The Cheek campaign just released poll of 300 likely voters in Durham County. The results:
* Nifong, 33%
* Cheek, 32%
* write-in, 5%
* don't know/undecided, 30%
* Nifong, 33%
* Cheek, 32%
* write-in, 5%
* don't know/undecided, 30%
-- Will Monks throw-in the towel?
-- Would more 'fantstic lies revealed'
in the Sunday papers help the undecideds?
Freda would make a good DA.
She promised to not let the criminals rule Durham.
Probably why Nifong is so desperately wanted.
http://youngblackman.wordpress.com/
Duke Lacrosse, from the Start to Now, from a Durham, NC Perspective
4,0000 plus early ballots
have been cast as of this
late Friday afternoon, down
at the one-stop poll at the
Durham County Board of Elections.
They do not provide a breakout
by individual races.
Okay.
Is it a coincidence that Gottlieb went to that firm?
Maybe that is why Nifong took over the investigation?
Is Gottlieb a "Freda" cop, meaning that is where his loyalties have been since maybe forever? (I am talking working relationships.) I would not think Nifong had as much contact with Gottlieb in traffic court as did Freda during that time.
I may be wrong, but my sense is Freda could relate to the rank and file better than Nifong (touchy, feely, male).
We have the courthouse crowd divided into groups, cliques,whatever.
Nifong
Ashley
Tracey
Stormy
Couch
Nifong is close with Judge Stephenson
Freda..she worked well with what cops and what other ADA's?
Obviously sheworked well with Orlando, hence the rumors.
Simeon is an idot who was caught in Hardins office looking for case files (or another lame excuse such as that) and shortly ended up declaring in the race for DA against Hardin.
The Herald Sun went with Hardin, but as the lesser of 2 evils.
I "think" I read the Bar sends recommendations to the Gov regarding an appointee.
So maybe The Bar and Hardin signed off on Nifong?
The Committee? Did they voice an opinion to the Gov?
Bar likes Nifong better than Freda? Finesse is President. That answers my own question.
Lastly, all those who expected Freda to endorse Nifong raise...... nah ,maybe on another board, but no one at FR.
http://www.wral.com/news/10235876/detail.html
Durham cops....
Nifong's immediate firing of Freda
did create an opening in the DA's staff.
Nifong was passed over so many times-
Hardin was an ambitious Duke law grad,
practically a kid when Jim Hunt appointed
him, to succeed Ron Stephens.
Received a call today from Mary Easley,
asking for support of Linda Stephens as
judge. Wanted to ask how her husband
Mike was doing over at the Gov's mansion,
seeing as Decker has just ratted on Jim Black.
Also how her colleague at NCCU, Joyner, was
doing monitoring the lax case for the NAACP.
But it was only a computer calling.
Did you notice the last line of Jarriel's statement?
Not the addition, but the original.
He heard from Crystal on Thursday.
Crystal calls her driver on the day The Platinum opens that week. March 16th. Wonder if he took her there to dance?
Inside Edition Expose--
Great film of Precious at Platinum!
Salacious!
She danced the night of March 17th.
Repeated visits to UNC hospital,
complaining of neck and back pain
from the fake assault! Days and weeks
after. "Fats" Thomas verifies all.
"The girl complains she's in pain. Then she's dancing like she's not in pain," Thomas said. "Miracles happen, I guess."
http://www.insideedition.com/ourstories/inside_stories/story.aspx?storyid=462
Also, I hadn't heard the video shows Crystal performing a lapdance.
"In one section of the tape the woman can be seen giving a patron a lap dance."
Video Shows Woman Idenified As Alleged Duke Lacrosse Victim Pole Dancing Days After She Claims She Was Attacked
In an exclusive video obtained by INSIDE EDITION, a woman identified as the alleged victim in the Duke University lacrosse scandal, can be seen pole dancing at a strip club, just 13 days after she claims three lacrosse players raped her.
In the video, which is date stamped March 26th, the woman seems limber, and can be seen high-kicking her white boots over her head.
INSIDE EDITION spoke with H.P. Thomas, who was security manager at the strip club the night the video was shot.
Thomas said of the video, "it says that she was well enough to dance after the alleged incident."
Just two days after the tape was shot, the woman went to a hospital complaining of intense pain from the alleged rape.
"The girl complains she's in pain. Then she's dancing like she's not in pain," Thomas said. "Miracles happen, I guess."
The woman claims she was attacked March 13th. Thomas says just four nights later on March 17th, she was back at the club dancing.
According to court documents, two days after the March 26th video was shot, the accuser went to the hospital in Chapel Hill, North Carolina complaining of neck, back and knee pain from the alleged attack at the lacrosse team party. Eight days after the video was taken, she returned to the hospital, complaining of neck pain so severe it was 10 on a scale of one to 10.
The video also shows Thomas at the club on the night in question. He says a friend took the video, and it was only later that he realized that the alleged victim was even on the video.
In one section of the tape the woman can be seen giving a patron a lap dance.
District Attorney Mike Nifong did not return INSIDE EDITION's request for comment on the video.
The Duke players have all strongly denied the dancer's allegations, and now this new video could cast more doubt on the woman at the center of the storm.
http://www.insideedition.com/ourstories/inside_stories/story.aspx?storyid=462
Yet more evidence to show this whole thing was a hoax. Gottlieb lied his rear end off in his report. I was just telling Mrs. Recall that if you wrote a fictional story with these facts, nobody would believe it because it is so over the top.
What's the pulse in Durham? I have heard that Cheek is in a tight race with Nifong but was curious as to what our Durham Freepers are hearing.
To borrow apopular saying among us conservative.....
CHESHIRE, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!!!!!!
LOL! I gotta wonder if HO Thomas made any money off of that video!
Did you see this at the abc board?
Re: Re: Dr. Olatoye made a mistake...it is Precious on the pole!!! Author: krddurham
Epub wrote:
Anyone who clings to the notion that there was ever a rape at that house that night is either seriously delusional or in Nifong's pocket.
I remember reading/ hearing early on that the reason they didn't go to the club as usual was because several of the younger players didn't have fake IDs.
"CHESHIRE, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!!!!!!"
ditto that!
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