Appreciation luncheon held for beleaguered district attorney

DURHAM -- "District Attorney Appreciation Week" was launched Monday for embattled Durham chief prosecutor Mike Nifong, who suggested the event's organizers are more in tune with reality than countless out-of-state hecklers who criticize his handling of the controversial Duke lacrosse sex-offense case.

"If you rely on certain media, you might think there is universal disapproval of me," Nifong said, referring largely to national television outlets that have relentlessly hammered him over the lacrosse incident.

Two of those behind Monday's Nifong appreciation luncheon in the DA's Office in the Durham County Courthouse were Victoria Peterson, rebuked by City Council members last month for making an anti-Duke statement at a public meeting, and former school board member Jackie Wagstaff, who five years ago received a favorable plea bargain on charges that she used a nonprofit organization to falsify requests involving $1,452 of taxpayers' money.

Nifong was not chief prosecutor at the time, but was a veteran assistant district attorney. He reportedly had nothing to do with Wagstaff's deal.

Peterson, Wagstaff, Durham resident Minnie Brown and another woman were the only nonstaff Nifong supporters on hand when a Herald-Sun writer dropped by late into Monday's luncheon -- about 1:15 p.m. Peterson said other members of the public had been there and left. Roughly a dozen others still around the table at 1:15 work for Nifong.

No additional events are scheduled for "Appreciation Week," but Peterson said she hoped more people would participate by sending flowers, cards or any token of support to the beleaguered district attorney.

"A lot of people have asked me -- probably 100 or 200 -- to let Mr. Nifong know he is appreciated," said Peterson. "We feel he's done a lot of hard work for more than 27 years here. He's been loyal to the community. He's been faithful to the community."

"I see people at church who tell me they are praying for him and supporting him," Peterson added. "At the grocery store, people ask me to tell him to keep his head up and hang in there."

Numerous letters-to-the-editor writers from far-flung places are not representative of the real sentiment surrounding him, Nifong contended.

"I don't represent the people who write in from elsewhere," he said. "I do represent the people of Durham. They're the ones I need to do a good job for. Many people tell me they are very happy with our work. I think the results we're getting in court speak for themselves. The DA's Office has always been about more than just one case."

But as they munched barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes and corn at an "Appreciation Week" luncheon Monday, no one mentioned the fact that Nifong's law license is on the line for allegedly making unethical statements about the lacrosse incident and -- also allegedly -- withholding evidence favorable to three indicted defendants.

A hearing committee of the N.C. State Bar is expected to decide in June whether Nifong is exonerated, receives minor punishment such as a warning letter or is disbarred for the alleged misconduct.

Peterson, a local activist and frequent candidate for elective office, was called down at a City Council meeting in January after she became the only person to speak against a proposed rezoning of Duke's Central Campus.

She said the rezoning application should be rejected because of the university's role in the lacrosse case, and because of what she said was a rising tide of crime attributable to Duke students.

"Because it's Duke with their money and influence, you want to overlook a lot of the stuff they've done," Peterson admonished council members, who promptly silenced her.

Published: Feb 21, 2007 11:07 AM
Modified: Feb 21, 2007 11:12 AM

Warrant reveals details in rape case
By Anne Blythe, Staff Writer

DURHAM - The woman who told police she was sexually assaulted at an off-campus Duke party earlier this month broke down in tears after emerging from the bathroom and immediately recounted the incident to a friend, according to a search warrant.
The accuser, according to the warrant, had danced with the suspect at the party organized by members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

When she went to use the bathroom around 3 a. m., and, according to police and the warrant, the suspect came in behind the accuser and closed the door.

"Once inside of the bathroom," the warrant application said, "the suspect forced her to the ground causing her to hit her head on the sink, he then sexually assaulted her."

Michael Jermaine Burch, 21, of 322 Junction Road, Durham, was charged on Monday with second-degree rape. He was released from the Durham County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

The arrest came eight days after Durham investigators were called to 405 Gattis St. early Feb. 11.

A search warrant, filed in Durham County Court late Tuesday, reveals details that led investigators to their suspect.

The document also provides a glimpse of a college party that had an invitation list of about 300 people posted on facebook.com.

After the 18-year-old Duke freshman emerged from the bathroom of the duplex several blocks from Duke's West and East Campuses, her friend had her sit in a car outside the party while she tried to gather more information, the document says.

The friend went back inside the duplex. One of the partygoers, a student at Durham Technical Community College, identified the suspect as "Chris," the document says.

On Feb. 16, investigators picked up the Durham Tech student and gave him a ride to a police substation. The investigators learned there, according to the documents, that the suspect played basketball at Wilson Gym most Saturdays.

With that information, police were able to track down another regular at Wilson Gym. That contact led them to the suspect and the Brentwood Apartment Complex at 322 Junction Road, where the suspect lived.

Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.

A timeline of events in the Duke lacrosse investigation: Associated Press

A chronology of events in the case of Duke lacrosse team members accused of raping a dancer hired to perform at a team party:

March 13, 2006 -- Duke lacrosse players throw a team party at an off-campus house, hiring two strippers to perform.
March 14 -- One of the dancers tells Durham police three men at the party forced her into a bathroom, where they beat her, raped her and sodomized her. It is later learned she told authorities several different versions of the alleged attack in the hours after the party.
March 23 -- Forty-six of the team's 47 members comply with a judge's order to provide DNA samples and be photographed. The team's sole black member is not tested, because the victim said her attackers were white.
March 25 -- School announces lacrosse team will not play two scheduled games, citing the team's decision to hire "private party dancers" and underage drinking at the party.
March 28 -- Duke suspends lacrosse team from play until it has a "clearer resolution of the legal situation" involving team members.
March 29 -- In an interview with the News & Observer of Raleigh, District Attorney Mike Nifong calls the members of the lacrosse team "a bunch of hooligans."
April 3 -- Nifong stops granting interviews about the case.
April 4 -- The accuser identifies her attackers in a photo lineup suggested by Nifong. The defense later called the lineup "an incoherent mass of contradiction and error."
April 5 -- Lacrosse team coach Mike Pressler resigns. Duke President Richard Brodhead cancels the team's season after authorities unseal a search warrant containing an e-mail from player Ryan McFadyen in which he says he wants to kill and skin strippers. Although the context of the e-mail is not clear, McFadyen is suspended from school.
April 6 -- The accuser provides investigators with a five-page, handwritten statement detailing the alleged attack.
April 10 -- Defense attorneys announce DNA test results find no match between the players tested and the woman accusing the players of rape.
April 11 -- District Attorney Mike Nifong says he will continue investigating the rape allegations.
April 17 -- A Durham County grand jury returns sealed indictments against two Duke lacrosse players.
April 18 -- Duke lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty are taken into custody on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Each is released after posting bond. Nifong says authorities are continuing to try to identify a third possible assailant.
April 25 -- Granville County authorities confirm the accuser told police 10 years ago she was raped by three men when she was 14. None of the men were charged.
May 1 -- A Duke University committee recommends the school's lacrosse team resume play next season, but adds the team needs strict monitoring because of a history of problems tied to alcohol.
May 2 -- Nifong fends off two challengers to win the Democratic primary for district attorney.
May 8 -- A university report concludes Duke administrators were slow to react to the scandal in part because of initial doubts about the accuser's credibility.
May 12 -- Defense attorneys say a second round of DNA testing finds no conclusive match between the accuser and any lacrosse players.
May 15 -- A grand jury indicts Duke men's lacrosse team co-captain David Evans. Evans speaks publicly before surrendering to police, saying, "You have all been told some fantastic lies, and I look forward to watching them unravel in the weeks to come."
June 5 -- Duke's president reinstates the men's lacrosse program for play in 2007, but under strict rules and close monitoring.
June 29 -- McFadyen, an unindicted player, is reinstated at Duke following his suspension for sending a vulgar e-mail about killing strippers.
July 21 -- Duke hires John Danowski from Hofstra to coach the lacrosse team. His son, Matt, is a Duke senior and All-American attackman for the Blue Devils.
Sept. 4 -- The lacrosse team returns to practice for the first time since March 27 for fall workouts.
Oct. 31 -- Nifong insists in an interview with The Associated Press that he and police have not mishandled the case and said his only regret was granting so many interviews early on.
Nov. 7 -- Nifong is elected to a four-year term as district attorney, beating out a write-in candidate and an unaffiliated candidate who did not actively campaign.
Dec. 15 -- The director of a private DNA lab testifies that, as part of an agreement with Nifong, he omitted from a May report the fact that no genetic material from any member of the lacrosse team was among that from several males found in the accuser's underwear and body.
Dec. 21 -- An investigator in Nifong's office interviews the accuser, during which she changes several key details of her account.
Dec. 22 -- Nifong drops rape charges against the three players, citing the accuser's statement from the day before in which she said she was no longer certain whether she was penetrated vaginally by a penis, a necessary element of rape charges in North Carolina. The players remain charged with kidnapping and sexual offense.
Dec. 28 -- The North Carolina bar files ethics charges against Nifong, accusing him of making misleading and inflammatory comments to the media about the athletes under suspicion.
Jan. 2, 2007 -- Nifong is sworn into office in a private ceremony.
Jan. 3 -- Duke invites Seligmann and Finnerty to return to school as students in good standing, saying the circumstances in the case have changed. The accuser gives birth to a girl at a hospital in Chapel Hill.
Jan. 4 -- Former Duke player Kyle Dowd and his parents sue the university, alleging that one of his professors unfairly gave him a failing grade because he was a member of the team.
Jan. 10 -- The judge overseeing the case orders a paternity test to determine the father of the accuser's child. Nifong and the defense agree the pregnancy is unrelated to the team party, but both sides agreed the test should be conducted to silence any doubts.
Jan. 11 -- Citing a prosecution report, the defense says in court papers the accuser told investigators during the Dec. 21 interview that Seligmann did not commit any sex act on her during the alleged attack, but was repeatedly urged to join in.
Jan. 12 -- Nifong asks the state attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor in the case, saying he worries the pending ethics charges might result in an unfair trial.
Jan. 13 -- State Attorney General Roy Cooper agrees to take over the case. "Agreeing to accept the prosecution of these cases doesn't guarantee a trial, nor does it guarantee a dismissal," Cooper said.
Jan. 24 -- The bar amends its ethics complaint against Nifong, accusing him of withholding evidence from the defense and lying to both to the court and bar investigators.
Feb. 24 -- Duke is scheduled to play Dartmouth in its first game in 11 months.

http://nwitimes.com/articles/2007/02/24/sports/
college_sports/doc4acb0090c4190a2f8625728b00732cc3.txt

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