Posted on 04/10/2006 4:40:10 PM PDT by Perdogg
Even consensual sex can leave minor bruising and, uh, friction burn...
Your faith in government omniscience is astounding.
His father-in-law sued him.
No DNA at all - outside her own, of course. Given the allegation of oral, anal, and vaginal rape, and the reported lack of DNA, latex, lubricant, etc., the detailed DNA test (including the exam to take the swabs) can be read this way.
Originally, a visual exam was done that was reported to "be consistent with rape". It sounds as though the detailed exam done for the DNA testing was not consistent with rape.
How many medical records are there out there on this incident?
Attachment for Application for Search Warrant
Probable Cause Affadavit Continued
The victim was treated and evaluated at Duke University Medical Center Emergency Room shortly after the attack took place. A forensic sexual assualt nurse (SANE) and Physician conducted the examination. Medical records and interviews that were obtained by a subpoena revealed the victim had signs, symptoms, and injuries consistent with being raped and sexually assualted vaginally and anally. Futhermore, the SANE nurse the injuries and her behavior were consistent with a traumatic experience.
The DNA test would not show if she had sexual intercourse or not, it would only show the presence of genetic material on the testing bodily areas and things.
The rape kit is what shows if intercourse actually took place, hence the attorneys statment that the "medical reports" showed she had not had sex.
What does the e-mail say?
As I said (perhaps unclearly), the detailed exam done while the DNA swabs were taken indicated no sex. We appear to be in violent agreement here! ;-P
04/11/2006
DURHAM, N.C. (CBS/AP)- Hours after defense attorneys said DNA tests found no link to their clients, the prosecutor investigating an allegation of rape at a Duke University lacrosse team party told CBS News correspondent Trish Regan that he is not closing the case.
"No, I'm not going to drop it," said District Attorney Mike Nifong, who refused to comment on the details of the investigation, including the results of DNA tests done on members of the lacrosse team.
Nifong tells The Associated Press that lawyers for team members will be "sadly disappointed" if they think the investigation is over.
The district attorney is expected to participate in a forum this morning at North Carolina Central University, where the alleged victim is a student.
"What you've seen is the defense," says Durham Mayor Bill Bell. "What we need to do is hear from the district attorney."
The D.A. says he will not be relying exclusively on this DNA evidence, that there are a number of different things he'll be looking at in this case, and that if he files charges, he will do so likely within the week, Regan reports.
Monday, defense attorney Wade Smith was adamant in insisting that the test results back up the team members' claim that the woman who filed the rape complaint — who was working the March 13 party as an exotic dancer — is not telling the truth.
"No DNA material from any young man tested was present on the body of this complaining woman," Smith told reporters in Durham, N.C. "Not present within her body, not present on the surface of her body, and not present on any of her belongings. There was no sexual assault in this case."
Nifong stopped speaking with reporters last week after initially talking openly about the case, including at one point stating publicly that he was confident a crime occurred. He also said he would have other evidence to make his case if the DNA analysis is inconclusive or fails to match a member of the team.
Smith says Nifong now has the evidence needed to change his mind.
"He doesn't have to do it (file charges)," said Smith. "He is a man with discretion. He doesn't have to do it, and we hope that he won't."
The alleged victim has told police that she and another woman were hired to dance at the party. The woman told police that three men at the party dragged her into a bathroom, choked her, raped her and sodomized her.
"I believe her to be a credible person. I would like to believe her story — to try to make up something like that is hard for me to imagine," says attorney Woody Van, who represented the alleged victim four years ago, when she was accused of stealing a taxi and trying to run over a police officer.
Van says he spoke with his former client after the alleged incident. How did she seem? "She was concerned but composed, she wanted to know how to address this process — but, overall, subdued."
The allegations led to days of protests on and off the Duke campus, and some players have moved for safety reasons.
Authorities ordered 46 of the 47 players on Duke's lacrosse team to submit DNA samples to investigators. Because the woman said her attackers were white, the team's only black player was not tested.
Defense attorney Joe Cheshire, who represents one of the team's captains, said the report indicates authorities took DNA samples from all over the alleged victim's body, including under her fingernails, and from her possessions, such as her cell phone and her clothes.
"They swabbed about every place they could possibly swab from her, in which there could be any DNA," he said.
"I would not be surprised if condoms were used," Nifong said in an interview with the Charlotte Observer last month. "Probably an exotic dancer would not be your first choice for unprotected sex."
But Cheshire argues that even if the alleged attackers used a condom, it is likely there would have been some DNA evidence found suggesting that an assault took place. He said in this case, the report states there was no DNA to indicate that she had sex of any type recently.
"The experts will tell you that if there was a condom used, they would still be able to pick up DNA, latex, lubricant and all other types of things to show that — and that's not here," Cheshire said.
Legal analyst Mickey Sherman agrees. Sherman told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm that "most experts will say that's not going to prevent an exchange of DNA."
"And, also, the nature of the alleged rape was more than just simple sex. There was violence involved, there was touching. If that was the case, there would be some DNA present," Sherman added.
However, Peter Neufeld, co-founder of The Innocence Project, which focuses on DNA as a way to clear wrongly convicted defendants, says a condom could have been used. And he said that in rape cases, "there is an expectation of DNA but, like many expectations, often it is misplaced."
"The truth is," said Neufeld, "if you speak to crime lab directors, they will tell you that in only a relatively small number of cases is there any DNA evidence."
Stan Goldman, who teaches criminal law, evidence and criminal procedure at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, agrees that negative DNA results would not mean that Nifong can't go forward with the case. But they would make the job of the prosecution much harder.
"Isn't the absence of DNA evidence, given the way the victim has described the crime, in and of itself, almost enough to raise a reasonable doubt?" he said. "That's all the defense has to do."
Over the weekend, two defense attorneys came up with other evidence they say backs up the team's versions of events: time-stamped photos of the woman arriving at the party, already bruised, and e-mails written in the hours immediately after the time the attack allegedly happened, the contents of which are said to be consistent with a rape not having happened.
Sherman told The Early Show that if they have these photos, they will "weigh heavily" in the case.
"Everybody wants immediate answers, and I just don't think that's how the real world works," said James Coleman, Duke University law school professor and advisor to the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, which re-examines criminal cases to try to clear wrongly convicted defendants.
Coleman, speaking to CBS News before the defense said it had the DNA results, said he believes this case has become too public, too soon. "You look at what's happened with the criminal investigation, for example. You've had a prosecutor who's been out there, basically developing his case in the media."
Opinion on both Duke's and Central North Carolina's campuses remain divided, Regan reports.
"People don't just come out and say they've been raped for no reason," Anthony Solomon, a freshman at Central North Carolina University, told Regan. "I think something had to happen."
Dawn Sherwood, the mother of Duke's lacrosse team's only black player, 18-year-old goalie Devon Sherwood, said she's not worried about what experts think about the evidence.
"You can find an expert to say whatever it is you want to say," she said. "It's a victory for the young men. I know they're not out of the woods, but I see it as a victory."
Robert Archer, whose son, Breck, is a member of the lacrosse team, said the test results confirm for parents what they already knew.
"I know the kids on the team and I know they're innocent," said Archer, of East Quogue, N.Y.
Eric Bishop, a junior at Duke from Arlington Heights, Ill., said he doesn't think the DNA test results will end the controversy.
"It's going to be interesting to see where this puts the debate, whether people are going to look at this and say, 'They still did it,' " he said. "I still think people are going to be upset. People are going to be talking about this a long time."
That is true whether or not charges are brought as a result of the rape allegation, which aggravated racial tensions — the alleged victim is black and the alleged attackers — at both campuses and in Durham. The rape allegation has also fixed a spotlight on what's been called the "culture" of the team, whose members have in the past several years had 15 criminal charges brought against them, none of which stuck.
The team's coach resigned in the weeks following the rape allegation, the lacrosse team had the rest of the season called off, and several blue ribbon panels have been set up to investigate the situation on campus and make any recommendations they deem necessary.
The Charlotte Observer reports that a grand jury was set to meet Monday. Durham defense lawyer Kerry Sutton, representing one of the players, said she and other defense lawyers plan to try to meet with Nifong as well, the newspaper notes.
This DA is nuts or is to stubborn to admit he's been had.
In this day and age juries want DNA evidence even for crimes where DNA doesn't exist. It's called the CSI factor and is making the job of a prosecutor even more difficult.
In the case of rape, especially when the victim is examined within hours of the alleged crime, physical evidence is easily found. Especially in cases where there is more than one attacker. Unless the DA has physical evidence he has not disclosed to the defense I can't imagine he'd be able to get a conviction in this case outside of jury tampering.
By TIM WHITMIRE The Associated Press
DURHAM, N.C. —
The district attorney said Tuesday he will not abandon his investigation of allegations that an exotic dancer was raped and beaten at a party thrown by members of Duke University's lacrosse team.
"A lot has been said in the press, particularly by some attorneys yesterday, that this case should go away," District Attorney Mike Nifong said at a community forum. "My presence here means that this case is not going away."
On Monday, attorneys representing members of the lacrosse team said DNA from the 46 lacrosse players tested did not match evidence collected from the woman who says she was raped.
"No DNA from any young man tested was found anywhere on or about this woman," defense attorney Wade Smith said Monday.
He said he hoped Nifong would drop the investigation.
No charges have been filed in the case, but Nifong has said he believes a crime occurred at the March 13 party, which according to court records was attended only by lacrosse players.
Nifong, who has said he doesn't necessarily need DNA evidence to prosecute, was calmly defiant at Tuesday's forum, attended by about 700 people on the campus of North Carolina Central University, the historically black university a few miles from Duke where the alleged victim is a student.
"The fact is that this case is proceeding the way a case should proceed," Nifong said to applause.
The 27-year-old woman told police she and another woman were hired to dance at the party. The woman told police that three men at the party dragged her into a bathroom, choked her, raped her and sodomized her. The allegations led to days of protests on and off the Duke campus.
If I had to guess I would say that there were some racial slurs called out by one or more players when they first started to dance. This is probably why the defense hasn't released any video that supposedly exists of that time.
After three minutes the girls stopped dancing. According to defense attorneys, they locked themselves in the bathroom for about a half hour. Why didn't they just leave the house? I think there is a good chance that the "Sweetheart you can't leave" comment really happened and the players refused to let them leave after only three minutes of dancing. Obviously, the defense attorneys don't want to admit this as it could lead to charges against their clients all by itself.
After 20 minutes or so, things cooled down and one of the players probably told them OK we will let you leave. One of them even walked Mangum out and helped her into the second dancer's (Kim) car. There is a photo of that. Then for some reason, Mangum re-enters the house while Kim stays in the car, Mangum locks herself in a bathroom (same bathroom?) for about a half hour. She leaves her makeup bag, cell phone and broken nails in the bathroom. She leaves the house exchanging insults with players and leaves in Kim's car.
Perhaps the staged rape was planned when the two dancers were angry and trapped in the bathroom. They knew that they needed to create a scenario where one of them was alone with the players in the house. This was accomplished by having Mangum go back in once they made it out to the car. They were either too drunk or too stupid to consider that DNA testing would reveal that none of the player's skin was on any of the broken fingernails, and that the rape kit would show that there was no sex.
At some point, Mangum abused herself with a foreign object. That was why the emegency room examination showed signs of vaginal trauma, but the actual scientific tests done with the rape kit examination showed there was no actual sex.
By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer
DURHAM, N.C. - Durham County's chief prosecutor said Tuesday he will not abandon his investigation of allegations that an exotic dancer was raped and beaten at a party thrown by members of Duke University's lacrosse team.
"A lot has been said in the press, particularly by some attorneys yesterday, that this case should go away," District Attorney Mike Nifong said at a community forum. "My presence here means that this case is not going away."
On Monday, attorneys representing members of the lacrosse team said DNA from the 46 players tested did not match evidence collected from the woman who says she was raped.
"No DNA from any young man tested was found anywhere on or about this woman," defense attorney Wade Smith said Monday.
He said he hoped Nifong would drop the investigation.
No charges have been filed in the case, but Nifong has said he believes a crime occurred at the March 13 party, which according to court records was attended only by lacrosse players. The woman said her attackers were white, so DNA testing was done on every white member of the team.
Nifong, who has said he doesn't necessarily need DNA evidence to prosecute, was calmly defiant at Tuesday's forum, attended by about 700 people on the campus of North Carolina Central University, the historically black university a few miles from Duke where the alleged victim is a student.
"The fact is that this case is proceeding the way a case should proceed," Nifong said to applause from the crowd.
The 27-year-old woman told police she and another woman were hired to dance at the party and that three men there dragged her into a bathroom, choked her, raped her and sodomized her. The allegations led to days of protests on and off the Duke campus.
Robert Archer, whose son Breck is a junior on the lacrosse team, said that while it is Nifong's prerogative to pursue the case if he so chooses, it would be a waste of time.
"I know the kids on the team, and I know they're innocent. We knew it from the start," Archer said by phone from his home in East Quogue, N.Y.
Court experts not connected with the Duke case cautioned that the DNA results could make prosecution difficult, but not impossible.
"There's an old saying that the absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence," said Peter Neufeld, co-founder and co-director of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic.
A doctor and forensic sexual assault nurse examined the woman and found evidence consistent with a rape having occurred, police documents show.
Nifong said Tuesday that in 75 to 80 percent of all sexual assault cases, there is no DNA evidence.
"DNA results can often be helpful, but you know, I've been doing this a long time, and for most of the years I've been doing this we didn't have DNA," he said. "We had to deal with sexual assault cases the good old fashioned way. Witnesses got on the stand and told what happened to them."
Loyola Law School professor Stan Goldman agreed that DNA evidence is not necessary to win a conviction but said Nifong would have a lot to overcome without it.
"In this day and age, it's the 'CSI' effect," he said, referring to the popular "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" series on TV. "If you don't find the evidence, then maybe it's not the guy. In 'CSI,' they always find the evidence."
Defense attorney Bill Thomas said authorities found none of the alleged victim's DNA in the bathroom where she told police she was attacked.
"Our experts tell us that being gang-raped by three men would leave DNA material to be examined," Thomas said.
Goldman said the failure to find any matching DNA evidence, is "not the end of the case, but it's kind of damning to the prosecution case."
"Isn't the absence of DNA evidence, given the way the victim has described the crime, in and of itself almost enough to raise a reasonable doubt?" Goldman asked. "That's all the defense has to do."
___
AP National Writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report.
Durham's district attorney says the investigation into allegations that a black woman was raped at a party hosted by members of the Duke men's lacrosse team isn't over.
District Attorney Mike Nifong was one of several speakers at a forum held this morning at North Carolina Central University. He told the audience and the other speakers that his presence at the forum means, quoting, "that this case is not going away."
Nifong says until he can identify the three men suspected of attacking the woman, members of the lacrosse team will, in his words, "are going to be walking around under a cloud."
Defense attorneys announced yesterday that swabs from 46 players failed to match evidence collected from the woman who says she was raped at a team party last month. The woman is a student at N-C Central. No charges have been filed in the case.
Stranger things have happened, but you think that this is a little far fetched?
No, this was his father in law (presuming he was his wife's father).
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