Tales vary on stripper's dancing
By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun
November 1, 2006 11:23 pm
DURHAM -- Radically differing accounts emerged Wednesday about an exotic dancer who has accused three men of raping and sodomizing her at an off-campus Duke University lacrosse team party.
One of those accounts had her performing supple and athletic dance routines at the adults-only Platinum Club in Hillsborough on March 17, 18 and 26.
At that time, she was complaining to physicians and police that she still suffered extreme pain from the alleged rape on the night of March 13-14. And she told District Attorney Mike Nifong as late as April 11 that she continued to be too traumatized to even talk about the sex-assault case, Nifong has said in open court.
The account of the three March dance performances was given to several lawyers by a former bouncer at the Platinum Club, H.P. "Fats" Thomas.
The lawyers, in turn, provided Thomas' account to The Herald-Sun on Wednesday. They quoted Thomas as saying he was certain about the March 17, 18 and 26 dates. They also said Thomas described the woman's movements as almost contortionist in nature.
Previous news accounts had the woman dancing at the Platinum Club only on March 26 and did not mention any earlier dates in March.
In fact, a CBS "60 Minutes" segment last month showed a short video clip of a woman -- purportedly the accuser -- performing at the club on a date that was said to be March 26. The clip was fuzzy, and the woman's face was not shown in full.
But Platinum Club owner Victor Olatoye said in a sworn affidavit, a copy of which was obtained by The Herald-Sun on Wednesday, that the bouncer's account was not true.
He said the woman danced at his nightspot beginning in December 2005 and continued for about three months, stopping in February.
In addition, he said he had reviewed the CBS video clip and disagreed that it was shot on March 26.
"The video is at my club and was prior to the rape," Olatoye wrote. "I am certain of this because [the accuser] has not stripped at my club since the rape occurred."
Olatoye could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Linwood Wilson, an investigator in the District Attorney's Office, would not comment.
Thomas, the former bouncer, initially agreed to an interview with The Herald-Sun but later said he could not answer questions without his lawyers listening in. That could not be arranged by press time Wednesday.
Meanwhile, several attorneys close to the case -- but who do not represent any of three indicted suspects -- said they believed Thomas rather than Olatoye.
For example, Durham lawyer Bill Thomas -- no relation to the former club bouncer -- said Wednesday he considered H.P. Thomas to be credible despite a lengthy arrest record. He also said the former bouncer's accounts shattered the alleged rape victim's credibility.
"It speaks volumes about her veracity," said Bill Thomas, who represents an unindicted lacrosse player.
Bill Thomas cited medical documents indicating the woman told physicians she was experiencing pain at a level of 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, while she reportedly continued to dance at the Platinum Club.
"Her version of events to doctors and police simply cannot be reconciled with her dancing," said Bill Thomas. "The dancing is not consistent with someone experiencing extreme pain. This paints a picture of a woman who is not telling the truth to her doctors and law-enforcement officials. I think it puts her credibility in question."
Nor was that the only inconsistency in the woman's story of an alleged rape, Bill Thomas added.
He cited accounts in which she once said there were twenty assailants, then five and finally three.
Her accusations led to the indictments of Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans. All are free under $100,000 bonds as they await a trial that is expected to occur next year.
Bill Thomas said Wednesday he saw a longer version of the March 26 dance video that was shown on "60 Minutes."
"It wasn't motion-picture quality," he said. "But I was able to look at the tape and conclude it was her. So was everyone else who has seen this video. I feel comfortable saying it was her."
The defense lawyer also said he accepted H.P. Thomas' assertion that the woman danced at the Platinum Club on March 17 and 18 as well.
"Fats tells a very credible story as far as I'm concerned," the attorney added. "And it will not just be Fats' word against that of the club owner. Many people will be available to corroborate his story."
The lawyer said his opinion was not changed by H.P. Thomas' criminal record, which includes arrests for everything from failure to pay child support to worthless checks to computer hacking and carrying a concealed weapon.
Bill Thomas said the former bouncer's story should spur prosecutor Mike Nifong and his investigators to take a second look at the rape case.
Last week, Nifong said in open court that he had never personally interviewed the accuser about her version of events. He also said a probe of the alleged rape was winding down.
"I find that appalling and unforgivable," Bill Thomas said Wednesday. "Being afraid of what you might find is not a sufficient reason to stop investigating a case. There is a duty to get to the truth of the matter. There is too much at stake."
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-784083.html
Wake DA: Resume Blinco's trial
By Ray Gronberg, The Herald-Sun
November 1, 2006 9:58 pm
RALEIGH -- Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby is trying to persuade a judge to reverse herself and resume the trial of two former Durham Police Department officers accused of assaulting a man outside a sports bar this summer.
Court papers filed Tuesday by Wake prosecutors argued that District Judge Debra Sasser "did not apply the substantive and procedural law of North Carolina" before dismissing misdemeanor assault charges against former officers Gary Lee and Scott Tanner.
Willoughby said he's had four of his assistants research the case law behind the motion.
"It's a matter of considerable public interest," he said, explaining why he's pushing the issue. "Because there are law-enforcement officers involved, the handling of this case strikes at the integrity of our court system. That victim is entitled to his day in court, just like anyone else."
Sasser tossed the case on the grounds that one of Willoughby's assistant prosecutors, Matt Godwin, failed to demonstrate during Monday trial proceedings that the scene of the alleged crime, Blinco's Restaurant and Sports Bar, 6711 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, is in Wake County.
Relative to the Durham/Wake border, the bar is almost seven miles inside Wake County, but Godwin didn't ask alleged victim Rene Dennis Thomas or two Durham police officers who testified for the prosecution a question that would have specifically established that.
Defense lawyers Thomas Manning and Duncan McMillan moved for dismissal as soon as Godwin rested his case, arguing that the prosecutor hadn't established that Sasser had jurisdiction over the case.
But Willoughby and his staff contend that the defense team misrepresented some of the fundamental tenets of North Carolina criminal procedure.
The state's courts have said that improper-jurisdiction claims can only address whether an offense occurred in North Carolina, and whether the alleged crime should be tried in Superior Court or District Court, they said, invoking a 1986 N.C. Court of Appeals ruling authored by then-Appellate Court Judge Sarah Parker, now the chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.
Moreover, defense lawyers can only challenge venue -- in other words, claim a case should be tried in another county -- by filing a motion to that effect before a trial begins. Manning and McMillan didn't, so they "waived [their] right to raise the issue," Willoughby and Godwin's reconsideration request said.
The prosecutors are asking Sasser to resume the trial "to prevent manifest injustice," or, failing that, to put her findings and legal reasoning that justifies the dismissal down on paper.
Willoughby and Godwin's arguments tracked the advice given to criminal lawyers by the "North Carolina Defender Manual," a publication of UNC's School of Government.
The book's chapter on venue noted that in 1989, the Court of Appeals allowed a Wake County drug prosecution of a cocaine sale that actually happened in Franklin County to stand because the accused's lawyer didn't raise a timely objection, and said the proper way to handle such issues was to file a dismissal motion at arraignment or within 21 days of a defendant's indictment.
Willoughby has criticized the defense team's tactics, telling one local TV station that Manning and McMillan "bushwacked the judge" with a claim "that may be the law on Judge Judy" but doesn't hold water in the state's courts. He voiced confidence Wednesday that he and his staff have the right read on it.
"If Mr. Manning has law that says the opposite, I'd love to see it because we've had four lawyers working on this for two days and we haven't been able to find it," Willoughby said.
Manning and McMillan didn't return calls on Wednesday seeking comment on the matter.
Sasser has been a judge for less than two years. For about five years prior to her election, her law practice focused mainly on the protection of abused and neglected children. The résumé she posted on her 2004 campaign Web site specified that her most recent criminal law experience came while she was working for a Charlotte law firm from 1992 to 1994.
Her decision to dismiss the case came after Durham police officers James Griffin and Richard Clayton testified that Lee took a swing at Thomas, the alleged victim, and that Tanner kicked at him. The alleged assault followed a verbal altercation outside Blinco's as the four officers and three other men, all current or former Durham police, were leaving the bar. Thomas was working there as a cook and was outside on a smoke break.
The case has attracted interest in part because Clayton and one of the other officers present, Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, have worked on the Duke lacrosse rape investigation. Supporters of the three players indicted in that case have speculated that Gottlieb participated in the Blinco's incident, or at least witnessed it.
Durham police have said Gottlieb was in a parked car and didn't see what happened, and nothing said in testimony Monday by Thomas, Clayton and Griffin implicated the sergeant.
Willoughby echoed the Durham department's take on Gottlieb's role. "Gottlieb may have been somewhere in the vicinity, but he wasn't anybody we thought was a witness or had any involvement that we know of," he said.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-784079.html
That is false reporting, as Lietoppers points out:
http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/2006/11/ultimate-in-micro-management.html
Check out the background on Olatoye. From Liestoppers:
Without knowing on what Dr. Olatoye bases the statements contained in his affidavit, it is difficult to make an assesment of what value to place on his assertions. It appears unlikely, however, that his statements are based on first hand observations.
In addition to owning the Platinum Club in Hillsborough, Dr. Olatoye is also the founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Royalty Enterprises USA which started as a small consulting business in 1994 and has grown into a giant worldwide enterprise consisting of more than eight subsidiaries including an airline, a petroleum retailer, a vaccine marketer, a furniture distributor, an embroidery shop and, of course, "upscale" night clubs.
According to his website, each of these enterprises operate under his direct leadership. Given the extent of his business empire, it would be quite understandable for Dr. Olatoye to have missed the accuser's performance from the night described by Mr. Johnson and the dates given by Mr. Thomas.
In addition to serving as President and CEO for parent company, Royalty Enterprises, Dr. Olatoye is also the CEO of Royale Air Nigeria Limited, Director of Africargo International (located in Banjul, The Gambia) and President & CEO of RTP Scientific.
http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/2006/11/ultimate-in-micro-management.html
I wonder what Olatoye would think if he saw a certain internet ad by a lonely woman in Raliegh, looking for a man, with the same name as his wife, who also happens to be from Africa?
http://royaltyenterprisesusa.com/management.html
Dr. Victor O. Olatoye
President & Chief Executive Officer
ceo@royaltyenterprisesusa.com
Royalty Enterprises USA and all its subsidiaries are under the direction and leadership of Dr. Victor O. Olatoye. He founded the company in 1994. Royalty Enterprises started as a small consulting company and grew to the giant that it is today with over eight subsidiaries.
Dr. Olatoye is a visionary and opportunist and that is why he is the President and the Chief Executive Officer.
World Corporate Headquarters: 9309 Royal Crest Dr. Raleigh, NC 27617
Tel: (919) 806-1936 Fax: (919) 806-1870
Email: info@royaltyenterprisesusa.com