Posted on 10/27/2006 12:36:17 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Prosecutor Yet to Interview Rape Accuser Oct 27 2:56 PM US/Eastern
By AARON BEARD Associated Press Writer
DURHAM, N.C.
The district attorney prosecuting three Duke lacrosse players accused of raping a woman at a team party said during a court hearing Friday that he still hasn't interviewed the accuser about the facts of the case.
"I've had conversations with (the accuser) about how she's doing. I've had conversations with (the accuser) about her seeing her kids," Mike Nifong said. "I haven't talked with her about the facts of that night. ... We're not at that stage yet."
Nifong made the statement in response to a defense request for any statements the woman has made about the case.
"I understand the answer may not be the answer they want but it's the true answer. That's all I can give them," the prosecutor said after the hourlong hearing.
Defense lawyers said outside court that they found Nifong's statement surprising.
"One of the most interesting things to me of course is Mr. Nifong did admit that he in fact has basically never talked to this woman and has absolutely no idea what her story is, and yet he has chosen to continue to go forward with this case," defense lawyer Joseph Cheshire said.
Nifong said none of his assistants have discussed the case with the woman either and only have spoken with her to monitor her well-being. They have left the investigation of the case to police, he said.
Attorneys for indicted player Dave Evans wrote in a letter to Nifong earlier this month that they believed he had talked with the accuser based on a court motion in which Nifong stated the woman told him she had not taken the drug Ecstasy on the night of the March 13 team party for which she was hired to perform as a stripper.
In response to a claim by a lawyer for an unindicted player, Nifong said he called the accuser to ask her whether she had used the drug.
"She said, 'I've never taken Ecstasy,'" Nifong said. "That was the extent of the conversation because that's all I had to know."
Nifong said he met with the accuser and an investigator on April 11, but didn't discuss details of the case because the woman was "too traumatized." Nifong said the woman didn't make eye contact with him and often seemed on the verge of crying. Their discussion centered around how the case would develop, he said.
"She probably did not speak 15 words during the meeting," Nifong said.
Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., was charged in May with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. A month earlier, a grand jury indicted players Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., on the same charges. The accuser, a student at nearby North Carolina Central University, told police she was raped in a bathroom by three men at the off-campus party.
The players' lawyers have strongly proclaimed their innocence.
This case has been a disgusting sham from the beginning. Nifong needs to pay for this some day.
The current governor of North Carolina is a Democrat, and that party is still dominant at the state level. That should say a lot.
This must utterly astound every lawyer who reads it, as it astounds me. Basic practice requires any lawyer who's going into an adversarial proceeding to interview and prepare his primary witness, especially if that individual is a complaining witness. Without doing it the lawyer simply doesn't know whether he has a case or not. A prosecutor is ethically required at least to have a good faith belief that he can prove a case against a defendant beyond a reasonable doubt before he moves to indict that defendant. The complaining witness's testimony is the lynch pin of any rape case with a living complainant and no circumstantial evidence, like a positive DNA test. Interviewing that person is essential for the prosecutor to know if there is a minimally prosecutable case. Nifong has just admitted to blatant prosecutorial malpractice and abuse. He should be disbarred and sued for violating the defendants' Federally guaranteed civil rights by attempting illegally to deprive them of their liberty under color of law.
Nifong could represent himself, but if I were in his spot, I would want a competent attorney...
Hmmmmm... I see an ancient and revered legal principle at work here:
FISH OR CUT BAIT!
aka... PAINT OR GET OFF THE LADDER!
I think serving the county with a federal complaint for the violation of the alleged defendants' constitutional rights might move things right along.... up to an including dismissal...
This guy is a disgraced political hack.... C ya
I hope Nifongs's life is a legal and financial nightmare for years because of this.
This is BS, he interviewed her, he's just stonewalling.
Just when I thought I could not be more astounded by this case!
I can believe it. Someone somewhere either wanted to keep a job, write a master's thesis, or get revenge. There is no recourse once a person is labeled unjustly.
-PJ
The whole case is a bunch of Barbara Striesand !
If I were one of these boy's father, I'd have put that POS in the hospital by now.
It sure seems that way
I don't disagree with that at all. He represents taxpayers and if taxpayers have to pay for legal bills so be it for bringing a bogus charge..
Nifong should be jailed.
"He's stalling until after the November 7 election."
He's stalling because he has NO CASE. This travesty will never come to trial.
-TW
Maybe you're right, we'll see, but surely you expect that the accused & their families will be hitting him with civil lawsuits, don't you? I still think he's setting up a defense of incompetence for himself.
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