Posted on 04/16/2006 9:05:32 PM PDT by Michael2001
With a grand jury now expected to convene Monday to weigh indictments of two or three of the Duke lacrosse players tied to allegations of raping an exotic dancer, defense lawyers say they fear their clients are being targeted in a setup or sting operation possibly perpetrated by law enforcement. The lawyers have advised the players not to trust or respond to any e-mails sent to each other, one attorney tells Time.
The explosive allegations stem from an e-mail message sent in the last few days to several players from the e-mail address of another player, stating he was going to tell the police a crime occurred and implicate key players. The player denies he sent it. This comes after the recent revelations of the now infamous email sent by a Duke player hours after the alleged crime, in which he joked he was going to have more strippers over and "kill the bitches'; defense lawyers do not dispute that message's authenticity, though they insist it has no bearing on their clients' culpability. "The police said (the new e-mail) came from a confidential informant, but we have reason to believe it came from the police, hoping it would make all the players nervous," says one defense lawyer. "That didn't work." A spokesperson at the Durham Police Department would not comment on the allegations of a set-up, and said she would not forward Time's inquiries to any of her superiors over the holiday weekend. No one at the Durham County District Attorney's Office could be reached for comment Friday.
The lawyers' unsubstantiated accusations came on a busy Good Friday in Durham, when it became known that Durham police investigators had attempted the night before to interview some players on campus about the case. Meanwhile, defense lawyers tell Time they spent part of Friday trying unsuccessfully to talk the Durham County district attorney Michael Nifong out of taking the rape case before a grand jury after the Easter weekend. "What I wished and hoped he would do is conclude there is not enough evidence to proceed," says one defense attorney.
Despite the highly publicized lack of initial DNA evidence linking any player to a crime, grand jurors will be presented with the accuser's statement, her visual identification of the players from photos and a police report from a hospital examination stating "injuries consistent with being sexually assaulted vaginally and anally." Nifong is also still awaiting results of DNA analysis from a private lab in North Carolina to compare with those already received from the state's own crime lab. Blood was taken from the three captains of the team. Saliva cheek swabs were used to gather DNA from 43 players; the lone black player on the team was not tested, as the African-American accuser has said her attackers were white. So far none of the Duke players have been subpoened to appear before the grand jury as witnesses, nor has a second woman also hired as an exotic dancer at the team's Spring Break party at an off-campus house on the night of March 13.
On Thursday, Durham police released the audio tape of a dispatch call made by a responding officer from a Kroger parking lot about four miles from the house where the team party took place. The officer, responding to a 911 call, noted that the accuser was in a drunken state. "She's just passed out drunk," the officer says. D efense lawyers also point to the officer's statement that he has a "24- hour hold" situation — meaning possibly a night in jail on a drunk and disorderly charge. Defense lawyers tell Time they will argue that it was expressly to avoid that possibility that the accuser fabricated the rape charge. "I know which I'd choose," says one defense attorney.
Harder to explain away is the hospital examination report. Defense lawyers will try to poke holes at it by searching for a lag time between the 911 call and the accuser's arrival at the hospital. The district attorney's office has not made public the police report stating time of arrival, and neither has the hospital.
Lawyers say a photo taken of the accuser at 12:40 a.m. shows her being helped into the car by some of the Duke players. The 911 call was made at 1:30 a.m., and she reportedly left the hospital at approximately 11 a.m. later that morning after spending five or six hours there.
Defense lawyers tell Time they also have pictures, not yet turned over to the DA's office, of the main room at the party showing the players sitting in a semi-circle "watching the show." "They are bored, they're practically yawning. This is not a group of rowdy, dangerous people," says one of the attorneys.
No one should be surprised that District Attorney Nifong is proceeding with the case despite the lack of initial DNA evidence. Nifong made his intentions clear on April 11, the day after the initial DNA results went public, at a forum at North Carolina Central University, where the accuser is a student. "Anytime you have a victim who can identify her assailant, then what you have is a case a judge must let go to the jury," he said.
One of my Brother's best friends is the older Brother of one of the Duke players. What is not being revealed about this email, is that the phrase they are quoting is a line taken from the movie, American Psycho.
Positions trump facts.
The main fact we know for now is that both sides -- the lacrosse players and the woman -- made bad choices before they ever met.
The lacrosse players decided it would be cool to have a stripper at their party.
The woman decided to come to a private home and dance for money.
They put themselves in a spot where the bad things being said about them are believable.
The rest of us have put ourselves in a spot of believing too fast.
"This is beyond crazy if true"
Which part?
It sounds like a pretty clever law enforcement ruse to me.
I'd think you would have to be pretty stupid to fall for it, though.
Wouldn't most people just pick up the phone?
This really amazes me. The stripper says the guy(s) were white, so they don't test the black guy. Hey, just maybe, she LIED!! MAYBE IT WAS THE BLACK GUY BUT SHE DOESN'T WANT TO SAY SO! Wouldn't it be simple due diligence by any competent police department to test this guy too, just to cover all the angles? This really shocks me.
Off topic, but I saw one guy on FNC yesterday taking the side of the stripper saying that the nurse had examined thousands, yes thousands of rape victims! Hopefully, that'll be the last time he'll be on there as an expert commentator!
One of the things I don't see reported is how many men's semen did the "dancer" have on, in, around her? What other DNA evidence is there?
This is critical evidence and it does not seem to be coming out.
If there is any semen at all, the prosecution is going to have a very hard time.
When I was in high school, I got called in to my counselor's office mid-day during a school day. Both my parents were already sitting down; the expression on my Dad's face made me realize I had really stepped in it this time (although what it was I did, I hadn't a clue). My counselor asked me why I was giving death threats to my math teacher. I nearly burst out laughing, until she showed me a math exam I had taken earlier in the week. I hadn't studied at all for this test, and so decided to have some fun with the answers:
("1. Answer: Good question! 2. Answer: Double-double with fries and a shake. 3. Answer: Confidential; I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
It was obviously the third answer that got me in hot water. Apparently nobody had seen the movie Top Gun, and so I was left trying to explain how it was really just a joke.
Needless to say, they didn't get it. My friends all thought it was hilarious though. They all thought I'd should start drawing pictures of knives and guns on my next exam -- my teacher had to be convinced to even let me back into her class, so I thought she'd find even less humor in that.
Given that she identified her "assailents" AFTER their pictures were printed in the Sunday paper, this case has nothing.
Do you mean all the RACISTS in front of the players' homes? Or the anti-male feminazis?
President of Duke needs to resign.
It's a shame this is happening because we're all told to do the right thing and help stop crime but when no evidence of a crime occurs you have a DA and activists who demand that people be jailed. This is turning into a modern day lynching.
It's like in the movie "Crash"where they find out the black detective the cop shot was probably doped up out of his mind with a couple hundred thousand in the trunk they decided to prosecute him anyways because the racism of the constituency demanded it.
So yea, next time I hear anyone say the justice system is biased against black people I'll be sure to just recall this little nugget.
Positions trunp positions
DOES ANYONE HAVE FACTS ON ALL THE DAILY RAPES IN IRAQ? the republicans knew this wold happen when they sent our women into combat with convicted criminals because they're afraid of political repercussions if they start the draft! I've seen a few articles by BBC and other foreign news sources about US female GI's being raped by our own troops. does anyone have a current story?(Actual Duke rape case thread post on Democratic Underground)
Follow the logic -
The DA wanted to run DNA evidence. He stated - in legal docs (in order to get order to take DNA samples) that it would prove who was there.
The defense said "You will find nothing linking our boys to the scene with DNA" - prior to test results. They also said "We will go public with test results as soon as they are available" -
Now ask - why would they do that? The only reason is if they knew the results would come back negative. And how would they know that? Because they knew they didn't do it!
If there was any chance of positive DNA, they would have started spinning about "It was consentual, now she is claiming rape, etc." make it a he said she said.
They didn't do that. Logically the only reason is they knew they would pass the test.
This is the state of racism/sexism in america.
let me guess... You're a black exotic dancer?
NBC17 reported that tonight.
I'm waiting for the rerunn right now.
Wait, what? Northern Alliance wanted the black dude tested even though the victim said the attackers were white. How does that even make any sense?
Knock that off.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.