"BTW. sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I was taking care of some business which needed my attention.
"
Come now, taking a dump is no excuse for ignoring us!
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. X X
. O
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. / \
placemarker
Ping. New motion filed...
http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/521389.html
Lacrosse judge asked to block IDs
By Benjamin Niolet and Joseph Neff, Staff Writers
DURHAM - Defense lawyers asked a judge today to block the accuser in the Duke University lacrosse case from identifying her alleged attackers in court at trial.
If they succeed, the lawyers for three indicted former lacrosse players would undermine the foundation of District Attorney Mike Nifong’s case and give the defense a chance to have the charges dismissed before trial. The request came in a motion in Durham County Superior Court that also asks the judge to throw out the photographic lineup procedure that became the basis for the state’s rape case.
The 43-page motion methodically recounts the day-by-day progress of the investigation and the efforts of police to get a reliable identification from the accuser, an escort service worker who said she was raped by three men at a March lacrosse team party.
“Putting to one side the substantial evidence that no sexual assault ever occurred at 610 N. Buchanan, there is quite simply no evidence that any of the accuser’s identifications or descriptions of her alleged attackers are in any way reliable,” the motion states. “Rather the State is left with an incoherent mass of contradiction and error, one which not only raises the issue of a ‘substantial likelihood of misidentification,’ but which establishes that the accuser has in fact misidentified the Defendants.”
The woman has given conflicting accounts of the alleged attack in statements to police, nurses and doctors. She identified two players at the party who were not there. She twice failed in March to recognize the photograph of one player whom she said in April was one of her attackers. She told police in March that she was 70 percent sure one player was at the party; three weeks later she said he was one of her attackers.
Her descriptions of her attackers did not resemble the men eventually charged. Before picking out her attackers three weeks after the party, police told her she would be viewing photographs of all people at the party, meaning anyone she picked out could be indicted.
The document is titled, “Motion to Suppress the Alleged ‘Identification’ of the Defendants by the Accuser.’”
The motion, signed by lawyers for all three defendants, asks Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III to throw out the April 4 lineup procedure in which the accuser identified four men as her attackers. It asks the judge to bar her in-court identification and asks for an evidentiary hearing on the issues raised in the motion.
David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J. are each charged with rape, kidnapping and a sexual offense. The men maintain their innocence.
Nifong did not immediately return a message seeking comment and has said he would not comment on the specifics of the case outside of court. The case has a hearing scheduled Friday.
Today’s motion follows another filed on Wednesday, which attacks DNA testing performed by a private laboratory. According to that motion, tests showed that DNA of unidentified men was found in and on the accuser’s body that did not match any member of the lacrosse team or the accuser’s boyfriend. The results of those tests were not revealed to the defense lawyers until they got a judge to order the lab to hand over its complete files, the lawyers wrote.
In the motion filed today, the lawyers highlight evidence that they say shows the accuser incorrectly identified the three lacrosse defendants.
Seligmann
Seligmann’s lawyers had previously made public cell phone records, sworn statements and bank machine records to show that Seligmann had already left the party during the time the accuser said she was raped.
The motion highlights a further contradiction: The accuser told police that a man she later identified as Seligmann dragged her to a car after the assault. A photo taken at 12:41 a.m. shows one player helping the accuser into a car; a Wachovia ATM photographed Seligmann withdrawing cash at 12:24 a.m., about a mile from the party.
Finnerty
Finnerty is 6 feet 5 and weighs 215 pounds, with a “very noticeable freckled face”, the motion said. But when the accuser described her three attackers to police she said one of them was “short,” another was “heavy set” and the third was “chubby.”
“While he could fairly be described as ‘lanky’ no one would describe him as ‘chubby’ or ‘heavy set’,” the motion says.
The accuser would later give conflicting accounts of Finnerty’s role in her descriptions of the assault.
Evans
On March 21, police showed the accuser photographs of 12 lacrosse players. She looked at a photograph of Evans twice but did not recognize him. Two weeks later, as she looked at photographs of every member of the team, she looked at Evans’ picture for about 45 seconds.
“He looks like one of the guys who assaulted me sort of,” the accuser said. “He looks just like him without the mustache.”
Evans did not have a mustache on the night of the lacrosse party, according to the motion, which includes photographs of a clean-shaven Evans taken the day before and the day after the party.
Staff writer Benjamin Niolet can be reached at 919-956-2404 or bniolet@newsobserver.com.
Ping. New motion filed...
http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/521389.html
Lacrosse judge asked to block IDs
By Benjamin Niolet and Joseph Neff, Staff Writers
DURHAM - Defense lawyers asked a judge today to block the accuser in the Duke University lacrosse case from identifying her alleged attackers in court at trial.
If they succeed, the lawyers for three indicted former lacrosse players would undermine the foundation of District Attorney Mike Nifong’s case and give the defense a chance to have the charges dismissed before trial. The request came in a motion in Durham County Superior Court that also asks the judge to throw out the photographic lineup procedure that became the basis for the state’s rape case.
The 43-page motion methodically recounts the day-by-day progress of the investigation and the efforts of police to get a reliable identification from the accuser, an escort service worker who said she was raped by three men at a March lacrosse team party.
“Putting to one side the substantial evidence that no sexual assault ever occurred at 610 N. Buchanan, there is quite simply no evidence that any of the accuser’s identifications or descriptions of her alleged attackers are in any way reliable,” the motion states. “Rather the State is left with an incoherent mass of contradiction and error, one which not only raises the issue of a ‘substantial likelihood of misidentification,’ but which establishes that the accuser has in fact misidentified the Defendants.”
The woman has given conflicting accounts of the alleged attack in statements to police, nurses and doctors. She identified two players at the party who were not there. She twice failed in March to recognize the photograph of one player whom she said in April was one of her attackers. She told police in March that she was 70 percent sure one player was at the party; three weeks later she said he was one of her attackers.
Her descriptions of her attackers did not resemble the men eventually charged. Before picking out her attackers three weeks after the party, police told her she would be viewing photographs of all people at the party, meaning anyone she picked out could be indicted.
The document is titled, “Motion to Suppress the Alleged ‘Identification’ of the Defendants by the Accuser.’”
The motion, signed by lawyers for all three defendants, asks Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III to throw out the April 4 lineup procedure in which the accuser identified four men as her attackers. It asks the judge to bar her in-court identification and asks for an evidentiary hearing on the issues raised in the motion.
David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J. are each charged with rape, kidnapping and a sexual offense. The men maintain their innocence.
Nifong did not immediately return a message seeking comment and has said he would not comment on the specifics of the case outside of court. The case has a hearing scheduled Friday.
Today’s motion follows another filed on Wednesday, which attacks DNA testing performed by a private laboratory. According to that motion, tests showed that DNA of unidentified men was found in and on the accuser’s body that did not match any member of the lacrosse team or the accuser’s boyfriend. The results of those tests were not revealed to the defense lawyers until they got a judge to order the lab to hand over its complete files, the lawyers wrote.
In the motion filed today, the lawyers highlight evidence that they say shows the accuser incorrectly identified the three lacrosse defendants.
Seligmann
Seligmann’s lawyers had previously made public cell phone records, sworn statements and bank machine records to show that Seligmann had already left the party during the time the accuser said she was raped.
The motion highlights a further contradiction: The accuser told police that a man she later identified as Seligmann dragged her to a car after the assault. A photo taken at 12:41 a.m. shows one player helping the accuser into a car; a Wachovia ATM photographed Seligmann withdrawing cash at 12:24 a.m., about a mile from the party.
Finnerty
Finnerty is 6 feet 5 and weighs 215 pounds, with a “very noticeable freckled face”, the motion said. But when the accuser described her three attackers to police she said one of them was “short,” another was “heavy set” and the third was “chubby.”
“While he could fairly be described as ‘lanky’ no one would describe him as ‘chubby’ or ‘heavy set’,” the motion says.
The accuser would later give conflicting accounts of Finnerty’s role in her descriptions of the assault.
Evans
On March 21, police showed the accuser photographs of 12 lacrosse players. She looked at a photograph of Evans twice but did not recognize him. Two weeks later, as she looked at photographs of every member of the team, she looked at Evans’ picture for about 45 seconds.
“He looks like one of the guys who assaulted me sort of,” the accuser said. “He looks just like him without the mustache.”
Evans did not have a mustache on the night of the lacrosse party, according to the motion, which includes photographs of a clean-shaven Evans taken the day before and the day after the party.
Staff writer Benjamin Niolet can be reached at 919-956-2404 or bniolet@newsobserver.com.
Ping. New motion filed...
http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/521389.html
Lacrosse judge asked to block IDs
By Benjamin Niolet and Joseph Neff, Staff Writers
DURHAM - Defense lawyers asked a judge today to block the accuser in the Duke University lacrosse case from identifying her alleged attackers in court at trial.
If they succeed, the lawyers for three indicted former lacrosse players would undermine the foundation of District Attorney Mike Nifong’s case and give the defense a chance to have the charges dismissed before trial. The request came in a motion in Durham County Superior Court that also asks the judge to throw out the photographic lineup procedure that became the basis for the state’s rape case.
The 43-page motion methodically recounts the day-by-day progress of the investigation and the efforts of police to get a reliable identification from the accuser, an escort service worker who said she was raped by three men at a March lacrosse team party.
“Putting to one side the substantial evidence that no sexual assault ever occurred at 610 N. Buchanan, there is quite simply no evidence that any of the accuser’s identifications or descriptions of her alleged attackers are in any way reliable,” the motion states. “Rather the State is left with an incoherent mass of contradiction and error, one which not only raises the issue of a ‘substantial likelihood of misidentification,’ but which establishes that the accuser has in fact misidentified the Defendants.”
The woman has given conflicting accounts of the alleged attack in statements to police, nurses and doctors. She identified two players at the party who were not there. She twice failed in March to recognize the photograph of one player whom she said in April was one of her attackers. She told police in March that she was 70 percent sure one player was at the party; three weeks later she said he was one of her attackers.
Her descriptions of her attackers did not resemble the men eventually charged. Before picking out her attackers three weeks after the party, police told her she would be viewing photographs of all people at the party, meaning anyone she picked out could be indicted.
The document is titled, “Motion to Suppress the Alleged ‘Identification’ of the Defendants by the Accuser.’”
The motion, signed by lawyers for all three defendants, asks Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III to throw out the April 4 lineup procedure in which the accuser identified four men as her attackers. It asks the judge to bar her in-court identification and asks for an evidentiary hearing on the issues raised in the motion.
David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J. are each charged with rape, kidnapping and a sexual offense. The men maintain their innocence.
Nifong did not immediately return a message seeking comment and has said he would not comment on the specifics of the case outside of court. The case has a hearing scheduled Friday.
Today’s motion follows another filed on Wednesday, which attacks DNA testing performed by a private laboratory. According to that motion, tests showed that DNA of unidentified men was found in and on the accuser’s body that did not match any member of the lacrosse team or the accuser’s boyfriend. The results of those tests were not revealed to the defense lawyers until they got a judge to order the lab to hand over its complete files, the lawyers wrote.
In the motion filed today, the lawyers highlight evidence that they say shows the accuser incorrectly identified the three lacrosse defendants.
Seligmann
Seligmann’s lawyers had previously made public cell phone records, sworn statements and bank machine records to show that Seligmann had already left the party during the time the accuser said she was raped.
The motion highlights a further contradiction: The accuser told police that a man she later identified as Seligmann dragged her to a car after the assault. A photo taken at 12:41 a.m. shows one player helping the accuser into a car; a Wachovia ATM photographed Seligmann withdrawing cash at 12:24 a.m., about a mile from the party.
Finnerty
Finnerty is 6 feet 5 and weighs 215 pounds, with a “very noticeable freckled face”, the motion said. But when the accuser described her three attackers to police she said one of them was “short,” another was “heavy set” and the third was “chubby.”
“While he could fairly be described as ‘lanky’ no one would describe him as ‘chubby’ or ‘heavy set’,” the motion says.
The accuser would later give conflicting accounts of Finnerty’s role in her descriptions of the assault.
Evans
On March 21, police showed the accuser photographs of 12 lacrosse players. She looked at a photograph of Evans twice but did not recognize him. Two weeks later, as she looked at photographs of every member of the team, she looked at Evans’ picture for about 45 seconds.
“He looks like one of the guys who assaulted me sort of,” the accuser said. “He looks just like him without the mustache.”
Evans did not have a mustache on the night of the lacrosse party, according to the motion, which includes photographs of a clean-shaven Evans taken the day before and the day after the party.
Staff writer Benjamin Niolet can be reached at 919-956-2404 or bniolet@newsobserver.com.
Now who told? ;^)