REPORT: DUKE LACROSSE ACCUSER HAD 'BLACKOUT' DAYS BEFORE ALLEGED RAPE...

NCCU chief is on short list to head Fla. A &M

BY JAMIE SCHUMAN : The Herald-Sun, Dec 8, 2006

DURHAM -- N.C. Central University Chancellor James Ammons is on the short list to become president of Florida A&M University, where he graduated from college and worked for 18 years.

Ammons, provost at Florida A&M before he came to NCCU in 2001, was one of six candidates presented for consideration Thursday to the Tallahassee institution's trustees.

Only one other short-listed candidate is a university president.

Florida A&M, a historically black university, hopes to name a new president by March, a spokeswoman there said.

Ammons, who is from Winter Haven, Fla., said a head-hunting firm contacted him about the job. But he said he began considering the nomination after people who are "very influential" in his life and family encouraged him to do so.

"It was like when I decided to apply to come here," Ammons said, referring to NCCU. "Once I found out who the people were who nominated me, I just couldn't ignore that."

Ammons declined to speculate on whether he would accept the job, if offered.

"Right now, I'm still the chancellor of North Carolina Central University, and I'm focusing on the visions and the goals we have right here at NCCU," he said. "I'm just not at a point where I can really divide my attention."

Ammons, who became head of NCCU in June 2001, has deep ties to Florida A&M.

He got a bachelor's degree in political science there, and worked there for 18 years as professor, assistant and associate vice president for academic affairs, and provost.

The college has had an interim president since January 2005, after its trustees voted to dismiss Fred Gainous from the top job, citing finance and administrative problems.

The college has waited nearly two years to short-list candidates because its trustees have said it is "their most important duty" to hire the right person for the job, Florida A&M spokeswoman LaNedra Carroll said.

The university held focus groups and hired a private search firm.

The other five short-listed candidates are Lawrence Davenport, executive vice president for university advancement at Florida Atlantic University; Howard Johnson, provost at the University of North Texas; Larry Palmer, president and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation; Patricia Pierce Ramsey, provost at Bowie State University; and Thelma Thompson, president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

The candidates will go to Tallahassee for interviews next week. By Dec. 15, the Florida A&M trustees will name three finalists, who then will have additional interviews, Carroll said.

Ammons said he liked working at Florida A&M partly because it saw success and growth while he was there.

The university added 22 degree programs, re-established its law school and led the nation in recruiting National Achievement Scholars while he was provost there.

The National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding black American high school students. Black students enter the National Achievement Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and meeting other requirements for participation.

"The kind of successes we're having here at NCCU are kind of repeating the kind of successes that I enjoyed during the time I was there," Ammons said.

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-797284.cfm

[For the record]

State activist Ben Ruffin dies at 64

By BILL STAGG and JAMIE SCHUMAN : The Herald-Sun, Dec 8, 2006

DURHAM -- Benjamin S. "Ben" Ruffin -- who grew up in Durham's rough-and-tumble West End neighborhood and saw his star soar in the state's civil rights, corporate, political and educational universes -- died Thursday of an apparent heart attack. He was 64.

Mr. Ruffin, the first -- and only -- black chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, was stricken at his home in the Winston-Salem suburb of Lewisville after jogging Thursday morning and could not be revived, said UNC spokeswoman Joni Worthington.

"The University lost a great leader today," UNC President Erskine Bowles said in a statement. "... Our hearts go out to the family of this great North Carolinian."

Former Gov. Jim Hunt learned of his former aide's death during a trip to New York.

"I'm deeply distressed," Hunt said. "I consider Ben Ruffin to be one of the most effective leaders of our state in the last half-century. Ben's death is a special loss to me. He's probably the hardest working person with whom I ever worked. People said at the time that he was the only person who outworked the governor.

"He worked tirelessly to see that everyone could be part of the North Carolina dream."

Durham Mayor Bill Bell said word of Mr. Ruffin's death came as a complete shock.

"I was in Orlando yesterday, he called me and I called him back," Bell said. "We were trying to meet [Thursday]. ... I told him after I got back to town I'd call him after looking at my calendar."

Bell called Mr. Ruffin's impact on the community "immeasurable."

"He made contributions in so many different ways, from his time as a community activist to the time he was working with the governor, and his contributions on the [UNC] Board of Governors," Bell said. "And the little things he'd do in terms of staying in contact with people in the community.

"It's a shock. I've had some things to shock me, but that's one of the biggest shocks."

Lavonia Allison, chairwoman of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, said Mr. Ruffin was a man respected in everything he did who "always gave 200 percent as a public servant."

The Durham Committee honored Mr. Ruffin in 2005, citing his contributions as an educator, civic leader, humanitarian, motivator, organizer and visionary.

State Sen. Jeanne Lucas of Durham said Mr. Ruffin's death "leaves a terrible void in North Carolina."

State Rep. Paul Luebke of Durham said Mr. Ruffin had such remarkable skills that Gov. Jim Hunt chose him in 1977 as his special assistant for minority affairs.

"He'll be sorely missed," Luebke said.

At the time of his death, Mr. Ruffin was an emeritus member of the UNC system's Board of Governors, which oversees the system's 16 campuses.

Mr. Ruffin would sometimes talk about growing up in poverty in Durham and how his mother, Catherine, encouraged him to excel in school, said James Ammons, NCCU chancellor and friend of Mr. Ruffin.

"He really did come from the rough side of the mountain, and I think because of that he learned to care for other people and to try to always make it better for them," Ammons said, adding that Mr. Ruffin established a scholarship fund at the university in honor of his late mother.

Besides excelling in school, Mr. Ruffin also was heavily involved in the civil rights movement in Durham. He and others helped organize sit-ins and other demonstrations aimed at integrating businesses in Durham, said state Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham. The activists' work served as a model for similar efforts across the state and the South, Michaux said.

"Ben was always out front with it," Michaux said. "He had a sense of community and a sense of pride. He had a sense of knowing where he was going."

Bowles said Mr. Ruffin's 16 years on the UNC board were "a remarkable statement about the respect and trust" he earned from his fellow board members.

" ... Ben will always be remembered for his positive outlook on life, his great loyalty and determination, and his bedrock belief in the power of education to make our state a better place," Bowles said.

"The leadership and wisdom that Ben Ruffin brought to everything he did will positively impact the lives of the people of North Carolina for generations to come."

Brad Wilson, a former chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, was vice chairman under Mr. Ruffin, whom he knew for more than 30 years.

"Ben was a great guy and we're going to miss him, that's for sure," Wilson said. "Ben was a passionate and articulate spokesman for the many issues that he cared about in North Carolina."

The issues weren't limited to leadership in higher education, Wilson said, but included civil rights, access and quality in higher education or "helping a friend."

When Mr. Ruffin spoke in support of what he believed, "he did it with great energy and the utmost compassion," Wilson said.

Mr. Ruffin cut his leadership teeth in the civil rights protests of the 1960s, then went on to work with Hunt, chair the Durham Housing Authority, lead the N.C. Human Relations Council, become a senior corporate official with North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Durham and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. of Winston-Salem, and serve two terms as UNC Board of Governors chairman.

As chairman, Mr. Ruffin was lauded by colleagues for his insistence on inclusion and participation in board debates. He cited his personal experiences and struggles for equality.

"You are a creature of your environment. My environment [growing up] was one where I was excluded," he said when he stepped aside in 2002. "So when I got the chance, I erred on the side of inclusion. I know what a university can do, and I know what it did for me personally."

Mr. Ruffin surprised many people when, in 1978, he went to work as a special assistant for minority affairs for Gov. Hunt, longtime friend Maceo Sloan said.

"He had been an outside activist, and I think what happened when he decided to work for the governor is he realized it's a lot easier to change things from the inside," said Sloan, who knew Ruffin growing up and worked with him at Durham's North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co.

At the time of his death, the Hillside High School, N.C. Central University and UNC alumnus was leading his own consulting firm, The Ruffin Group.

Mr. Ruffin is survived by his wife, Avon, and two children. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Thursday night.

-- Staff writer Ray Gronberg and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-797286.cfm

[For the record]

N.C. House pages stayed with felon

Speaker Jim Black let the program's coordinator retire, and he later hired her as House historian

Dan Kane and, J. Andrew Curliss, Staff Writers, N&O, Dec 08, 2006

Former state House Page Coordinator Ann Lassiter admits she made a serious mistake when she arranged for teenage pages to stay with her son, a felon with a history of drug and alcohol problems.

But after her mistake became known to House Speaker Jim Black, he allowed her to retire from the position in April 2005 and then hired her back a month later as House historian, a position he created.

Lassiter now makes $50,627 a year, but has no office, is rarely seen at the legislature and says she is unlikely to produce her major project -- a report on the history of the House -- before her temporary position runs out at the end of the year.

Lassiter, 61, a career state employee, said her work as historian has turned out to be more than she expected.

"I started out with big dreams for it," she said. "But it's like a lot of things -- you get into it and you can get bogged down."

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, declined to be interviewed for this story. He said in a statement that the revelation of Lassiter's son's having a criminal record and hosting pages led him to shift the program to House Principal Clerk Denise Weeks. Weeks has instituted criminal background checks for families that host pages from out of town when the legislature is in session.

"Ann Lassiter clearly made a serious mistake when she allowed her son to keep pages at his home, and I was extremely upset when I heard about it," Black said.

Black said he approved the historian position because he was "amazed" the legislature did not have a "detailed history of our chamber." The Senate has no such position.

Because Lassiter is a temporary employee as House historian, the only person who had to approve her hiring was Black, said Wesley Taylor, the legislature's financial services manager.

Black is seeking a record fifth term as speaker despite state and federal investigations into his campaign and legislative activities. He has not been charged with a crime, but four people who worked with him have been convicted of various crimes.

'My bad judgment'

In a series of interviews, Lassiter offered differing explanations for how the new job came about.

It is clear the major factor in her departure as coordinator of House pages was that she had steered pages to her son, Stephen Patrick Lassiter, shortly after she took over the program in mid-2003.

Her son had been convicted on a felony charge of selling and delivering marijuana to a Cary police officer. He was in prison from April to September of 2000. Additionally, court records in Wake and Chatham counties show that he was charged with breaking the law more than 30 times in the past decade. The charges cover speeding, driving while intoxicated, selling marijuana and resisting arrest. Most were dismissed or withdrawn by prosecutors, records show.

"It was my bad judgment to have him in the program," Lassiter said. "That was my choice. My call. It should not have happened."

Pages come from across the state and typically work at the legislature for a week. The pages' parents pay the host families $100 a week to provide a bed, transportation and some meals.

"If you are sending your child to be a page, you want to know that they are going to be in a safe environment," Weeks said. Weeks said she makes sure families are visited by a House official to check out the home.

Lassiter said she allowed her son to house as many as three pages in his home per week during the 2003 session. He lived in Apex.

It's unclear how many pages Stephen Lassiter hosted or any personal details about them. He could not be reached.

Ann Lassiter estimated her son hosted between one and three pages a week in May, June and July of 2003. He was not charged with any crimes during that period, according to court records.

"They liked him -- he had video games and things like that," Lassiter said of her son, who she said was 24 and married at the time. Lassiter said no one complained about her son's care.

She said she caught wind of gossip about the arrangement and realized it was a mistake. She said she stopped referring parents of pages to her son after about three months.

Weeks said she received one complaint about Stephen Lassiter -- that he had dropped off pages at the legislature without serving them breakfast, which would have been part of his duties.

Weeks said she found out about Lassiter's criminal record in July 2004, at the end of the legislative session. She said she told Black and then co-speaker Richard Morgan.

"They both said 'Oh my gosh,' or something to that effect," Weeks said.

Lassiter said that in early 2005, as the legislature returned to Raleigh, she heard from friends that others at the legislature were talking about what she had done.

She said she decided to retire, but needed to work until March to qualify for retirement benefits. She is now drawing more than $17,000 annually in retirement on top of her pay as historian.

Historian's job

Weeks said Rep. Bill Culpepper, who provided oversight for the page program as chairman of the House Rules Committee, asked her in March 2005 to take over the program. Weeks received a roughly $32,500 pay increase that year, in part for taking over the program. Weeks has hired a new page coordinator, Bonnie Trivette, who makes $51,127 a year.

Culpepper left the legislature at the end of last year after Gov. Mike Easley appointed him to the N.C. Utilities Commission.

During a telephone interview Thursday, Culpepper initially said there were no concerns about how Lassiter ran the page program. Culpepper later said that he and Black had been told of Stephen Lassiter's criminal record.

Lassiter said her son was upset at the removal, both for the loss of income and because he had done nothing wrong.

Culpepper said he told Lassiter she was being removed. He said he then asked her what kind of job she would like instead.

"She came up with the idea of House historian," Culpepper said. "And she was describing to me what her vision of the position was and it sounded like a good idea to me, and I took it to the speaker and he agreed that it would be OK."

Culpepper, who continued to supervise Lassiter, said she was entitled to the job because she had stepped in to run the page program in a pinch in 2003 and had "signed on" with the speaker's office to work for him during the 2005-06 term.

In her career, she also had been a Department of Transportation public information officer and worked for a state highway safety program. Lassiter worked as a sergeant at arms in the legislature, which provides security in the building before taking over the page program.

After months of work, Lassiter said, she is likely to produce only a 20-page report on the House speakers since 1963, detailing biographical information and some key legislation that each sponsored.

She said her main goal was to produce a complete history of the House of Representatives, but she won't finish.

"You have to go way back on something like that and I started in the 1600s," she said. "I'm up to the 1800s, but that's it. ... Unfortunately, it's a lot of research."

(News researchers Lamara Hackett and Paulette Stiles contributed to this report.)

http://www.newsobserver.com/1179/story/519143.html

[For the record]

N.C. Mutual aims to edge drop

By JEFF ZIMMER, Herald-Sun, Dec 10, 2006

Facing its fifth straight year of losses, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co. is searching for ways to boost its shrinking surplus as state regulators and the insurance rating firm A.M. Best Co. closely watch the company's financial position.

The 108-year-old Durham firm's surplus has dropped from $22 million at the end of 2003 to $11 million as of Sept. 30, according to financial reports the company has filed with the state Department of Insurance. During the same period, it racked up $17 million in losses.

Earlier this year, Mutual's dwindling surplus triggered a downgrade by A.M. Best of the firm's financial strength rating from B+ (very good) to B (fair). The revised outlook, which was issued in July, pushed Mutual's financial strength from a "secure" position to "vulnerable," according to A.M. Best.

The rating company's action came after an audit of Mutual's financial report for 2005 caused the company in the third quarter to amend its reported 2005 surplus level from $18.7 million to $12.6 million.

"The company's current surplus position as measured by Best's capital adequacy ratio model has been substantially weakened," A.M. Best wrote in a news release announcing its downgrade. "North Carolina Mutual's management is contemplating several alternative means to bolster its surplus position."

Last month, Mutual cut its Durham work force by 22 people, with 10 workers laid off and another 12 longtime employees taking early retirement.

The reduction will shave about $700,000 off expenses and left the company with about 80 workers at its 12-story headquarters on West Chapel Hill Street downtown and fewer than 150 employees at all its offices.

The cuts followed a third quarter that saw the company post a $1.6 million loss, bringing the Durham company's 2006 loss through Sept. 30 to $2.9 million, according to a quarterly financial statement the firm filed with the state insurance department.

Mutual's recent losses are the result of building up its individual insurance line, said James Speed, N.C. Mutual's chief executive.

Speed said every $1 in premium revenue generated by a new individual policy costs $2 in marketing and commission costs. But after taking a first-year hit, he said, those new policies will start generating positive cash flow.

"We have to go through these growing pains on the individual side to continue to have a viable company moving forward," he said Friday. "One way we could make money is to stop issuing new business, but that wouldn't be the right thing to do as we try to build a strong company."

Another way the company could shore up its surplus is to issue surplus notes, which are securities issued primarily by mutual insurance companies much as public companies issue stock. Investors buy the notes, which have a finite maturity, and the resulting funds are classified as surplus for the insurance firm. Speed was in Chicago on Friday talking with potential investors about issuing millions in surplus notes.

"In lay terms, it's just like a loan," he said. "We're seeing such success with growing the business and that's why people are interested."

Driving N.C. Mutual's interest in issuing the notes is the need to boost the company's surplus level.

Like all life insurance firms in North Carolina, Mutual has set aside money to pay claims and cover future risk. As of Sept. 30, Mutual had more than $110 million set aside to cover future risk, with $77 million in bonds representing most of it.

The company's surplus, meanwhile, is considered more of a safety net for operations.

"So it's the cushion they have," said Debbie Walker, chief financial analyst with the state insurance department.

Meanwhile, the company's losses and its need to boost its surplus have generated rumors that N.C. Mutual was considering a sale of the landmark building it moved into in 1966.

"We're not selling the building," said Charles Watts, N.C. Mutual's secretary. But both Watts and Speed, who is a certified public accountant, acknowledged the need to boost the company's surplus level.

The company can ill afford another downgrade by A.M. Best and the giant company is watching, especially after downgrading N.C. Mutual earlier to a B rating.

"The 'B' rating indicates that in A.M. Best's opinion, the company has a fair ability to meet its ongoing obligations to policyholders, but is financially vulnerable to adverse changes in underwriting and economic conditions," Joseph Zazzera, managing senior financial analyst with A.M. Best, wrote in an e-mail.

But "his does not mean that there is no hope for this company. North Carolina Mutual is implementing a number of capital raising efforts and business strategies and has some good business ideas on how to improve its business, capitalization and profits."

Of the likelihood that A.M. Best soon will revisit the company's position and issue a rating, Zazzera said it depends "n how our discussions go with the company concerning their ability to bolster NCM's surplus position."

The state Department of Insurance also is watching. During the first quarter of 2006, the department conducted a "target examination" of N.C. Mutual because of the company's declining surplus and adjustments to its 2005 financials -- which included lowering its surplus by $6.1 million -- related to accounting mistakes an independent auditor found.

Based on the results of the target examination, the department started a "comprehensive financial examination" of the company, according to the notes in Mutual's third quarter financial statement.

Regulators were at the company's office last week as part of that examination. Speed and department officials referred to the department's ongoing financial review as a normal, periodic occurrence.

While the amount of surplus a life insurance company is required to have is tied to a complex formula, the insurance department does have something called an authorized control level that serves as a danger gauge.

The authorized control level is a surplus amount that varies based on a company's size, and it opens the door to regulators taking action on a company. "That is one trigger," said Walker, the DOI official.

In Mutual's 2005 annual statement, the authorized control level is identified as $5.4 million. Meanwhile, Mutual's total adjusted capital, its surplus plus adjustments, was $14.3 million at the end of 2005, according to DOI.

Walker would not go into specifics about the department's ongoing examination. "I can say they are currently in compliance with our laws with the reviews we've done," she said.

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-797906.cfm

* Howard Clement's employer. No longer largest black business in the USA?

Free the 'Duke 3'

In reading The Herald-Sun editorials and letters to the editor, I see how the paper has framed the Duke lacrosse case and evidence, especially exculpatory evidence.

For example, we hear that the accuser told multiple stories, and that constitutes "proof" that a rape occurred because she must have been so traumatized that she could not remember what had happened.

Then we are given Sgt. Mark Gottlieb's 33-page account, from memory, that claims the accuser told a consistent story. That too, according to many in Durham (and The New York Times) constitutes "proof" that the "Duke 3" are guilty of rape. Of course, those two different accounts are mutually exclusive, but we are told that both are equally true and valid.

Likewise, we hear from District Attorney Mike Nifong that the accuser was too badly injured to work. When we find she was on the job immediately, we are told that people who are raped go right back to work. Two mutually-exclusive statements, both are said to be "proof" of a rape.

In other words, if there is exculpatory evidence, then it is explained away by an insistence that mutual exclusivity means both things must have happened simultaneously, which is a logical absurdity and in most cases would be seen as evidence that there was no rape.

So, let's face it. The Herald-Sun, and Durham in general, simply want to railroad a conviction, not find the truth. No wonder Professor K.C. Johnson calls Durham "Wonderland."

William L. Anderson
Cumberland, Md.
December 7, 2006

Published: Dec 15, 2006 09:56 AM
Modified: Dec 15, 2006 02:07 PM

Head of DNA lab says he and Nifong agreed not to report results

By Joseph Neff, Benjamin Niolet and Anne Blythe, Staff writers*, N&O, Modified: Dec 15, 2006 02:07 PM

The head of a private DNA laboratory said under oath today that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape.

Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security of Burlington, said his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear, pubic hair and rectum of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March. Nurses at Duke Hospital collected the samples a few hours after the alleged assault. Meehan said the DNA did not come from Reade Seligmann, David Evans, or Collin Finnerty, who have been charged with rape and sexual assault in the case.

Meehan struggled to say why he didn t include the favorable evidence in a report dated May 12, almost a month after Seligmann and Finnerty had been indicted. He cited concerns about the privacy of the lacrosse players, his discussions at several meetings with Nifong, and the fact that he didn t know whose DNA it was.

Under questioning by Jim Cooney, a defense attorney for Seligmann, Meehan admitted that his report violated his laboratory s standards by not reporting results of all tests.

Did Nifong and his investigators know the results of all the DNA tests? Cooney asked.

I believe so, Meehan said.

Did they know the test results excluded Reade Seligmann? Cooney asked.

I believe so, Meehan said.

Was the failure to report these results the intentional decision of you and the district attorney? Cooney asked.

Yes, Meehan replied.

At that answer, several people in the packed courtroom clapped. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III warned the standing-room only crowd to be quiet or leave.

Meehan s testimony differed from a statement Nifong made at the beginning of today s hearing.

The first I had heard of this particular situation was when I was served with this particular motion on Wednesday, Nifong told the judge. After court, Nifong clarified his remarks to say that he knew about the DNA results.

"And we were trying to, just as Dr. Meehan said, trying to avoid dragging any names through the mud but at the same time his report made it clear that all the information was available if they wanted it and they have every word of it, Nifong said.

Joseph B. Cheshire V, a lawyer for Evans, said he was troubled by today s testimony.

If any of the lacrosse players were excluded, they simply wouldn t put it in the report, he said. It raises some troublesome questions about (Nifong), who has an obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence and turn it over to the defense.

In a response to reports that the accuser in the Duke lacrosse case gave birth recently, UNC Health care issued a statement at about 1:30 p.m. saying that the woman is at UNC Hospitals for care related to her pregnancy but has not given birth.

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/521773.html

* Three stooges-- pitiful.

Killing case verdict: guilty
Durham man gets 15-year-plus term

Benjamin Niolet, Staff Writer, N&O, Modified: Dec 14, 2006 02:52 AM

DURHAM - A jury convicted a 21-year old man Wednesday in a 2004 slaying that prosecutors said was motivated by a $30 drug debt.

After two days of deliberations, a Durham County jury found Roy O. Bodden, 21, guilty of second-degree murder for the death of Nathan Alston, 24. Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand of Wake County sentenced Bodden to at least 15 years, nine months in prison. The sentence was more than Bodden's attorney argued for, but it was still less severe than the sentence of life without parole that would have been mandatory had Bodden been convicted of first-degree murder.

In finding Bodden guilty of second-degree murder, the jury decided that the shooting was done with malice but not premeditation.

The prosecution's case held that one day in February 2004, Bodden went to the Cornwallis Road public housing community where he sold drugs. He gave Alston and another man $30 worth of crack to sell. Both men were addicted to the drug, and they quickly smoked it, Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline told the jury. When Bodden found out, witnesses said, he confronted the men, and Bodden said he was going to kill Alston.

Sometime later, Bodden returned with another man, who authorities think was Michael Goldston. Alston was shot five times. When police arrived, Alston told an officer that Bodden was involved but was not the shooter.

Later, in the emergency room, when a police officer asked who had shot him, Alston said, "Roy."

The state argued that under North Carolina law, if Bodden was involved in a plan to kill Alston, he was guilty of first-degree murder.

Bodden's attorney, James "Butch" Williams, argued to the jury that it was not known who shot Alston and that the only witnesses the state had to the shooting were either on crack at the time or had selfish motivations to lie about that night.

After the verdict, Cline told the judge that after Bodden was arrested and released on bail in the slaying, Bodden picked up at least five more charges, many involving a weapon or drugs. She asked Rand for a long sentence. Williams told the judge it was unfair to lengthen the sentence because of other charges that were not related to the murder case. Cline said the other charges show that Bodden's role in Alston's death was not a bad day in an otherwise good life.

"We don't have someone who made a mistake, got involved with the wrong people," Cline said. "This is what he does. He sells drugs."

Before Bodden was sentenced, he was given a chance to speak. He denied that he was the incorrigible offender whom Cline described.

"I'm not the person she makes me out to be," Bodden said. "I wasn't raised like that, to kill a man over $30 ... that doesn't make any sense."

Williams gave Rand notice of appeal. Cline said after the verdict that Goldston is likely to go to trial next year.

http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/521304.html

Fewer apply early at Duke
Lacrosse case seen as one factor

Jane Stancill, Staff Writer, N&O, Dec 15, 2006 03:13 AM

Applications for early admission to Duke University dropped by nearly 20 percent this year in the aftermath of the lacrosse scandal.

This year, 1,198 students applied early to Duke, committing to enroll if they received an offer of admission. That is a decline from 1,496 early decision applicants last year.

The university sent offers this week to 469 high school seniors from around the world for a spot in the Class of 2011.

A Duke official said the slide is probably partly attributable to months of negative news about the case in which three Duke lacrosse players were accused of raping a dancer from an escort service at a team party in March. The players have denied the charges.

"It would have surprised us if all of the media coverage hadn't had some effect," said Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions.

But he pointed out that early decision applications declined this year at other highly ranked schools, including Yale and Rice universities. That could indicate a trend against early decision, which has been the topic of media attention since Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia announced plans to drop the practice this year, Guttentag said. Early decision has been criticized because it tends to attract more affluent students.

"I don't think it's unreasonable to think that the critical view of early decision as a whole might have affected some people's decisions overall," he said.

Duke typically fills about 30 percent of each class during the early admissions process, but there is no specific target for the number of students to be picked early. Guttentag said the overall quality of the admitted students was the same as last year. "I'm very pleased with where we ended up," he said.

It remains to be seen whether the decrease in early applicants foreshadows trouble for Duke. The university's regular admissions deadline is Jan. 2, and the vast majority of students apply in December, Guttentag said.

http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/521622.html

* Word gets around.

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