Free Republic

DURHAM — Former District Attorney Mike Nifong will not be able to hide from a lawsuit in bankruptcy court, a federal judge ruled today. The three exonerated lacrosse players who filed suit against the fallen prosecutor in October will be able to pursue their claims in federal civil court, Judge William L. Stocks ruled. The ruling came more than a month after lawyers representing the players and Nifong presented their arguments in court. Nifong was stripped of his law license and ousted from office last summer for his misconduct in the Duke lacrosse case. Nifong was supposed to file a...

Collin Finnerty wanted Loyola to win in its NCAA Tournament assignment Saturday afternoon at Duke, where awkward moments could have superseded anything else. The top-seeded Blue Devils defeated Loyola as expected in men's lacrosse, then took aside a former teammate and shared a special moment. Finnerty posed for an impromptu photograph near midfield with his ex-teammates, capping a strange get-together on a splendid, yet windy, Saturday afternoon at nearly full Koskinen Stadium. Duke players say Finnerty remains part of their group even though he wore the opposing uniform during the Blue Devils' 12-7 victory. He was one of the three...

<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and other Democratic leaders are calling on scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann to resign.</p> <p>Dann's response to his fellow Democrats is that he is staying on the job.</p> <p>Strickland, Sen. Sherrod Brown, other Democratic state officeholders and all Democratic state legislators sent Dann a letter Monday saying his actions hurt his ability to do his job.</p>

Thursday, May 01, 2008 LieStoppers is open for Business Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Blog Hooligans we have now opened the Meeting Place for viewers. A giant thanks is given to our "Tony Soprano." What he has personally accomplished since last Saturday is truly amazing! Viewers can now read the threads without registering. More importantly it means that the efforts of those who tried to prevent them from learning the facts of the Hoax/Frame have failed. The dirty laundry of those in Durham and at Duke who perpetrated this attempted frame of the 2006 Duke Lacrosse Team will...

Published: Apr 28, 2008 12:30 AM Modified: Apr 28, 2008 01:44 AM Sexual assault reported in Durham From Staff Reports Durham Police are investigating a reported sexual assault in the 900 block of Gilbert Street at 7:51 a.m. Sunday. The victim was taken to Durham Regional Hospital for treatment.

CRIME LOG From staff reports : The Herald-Sun news@heraldsun.com Apr 27, 2008 Three charges for rape suspect DURHAM -- Police have charged a Durham man with first-degree rape, assault on a female and second-degree trespassing in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred on April 22. Eric Dwayne Thomas, 35, of 704 E. Maynard Ave., Durham, was held in the Durham County Jail pending a $750,000 secured bond on the rape charge. City police arrested him Friday. A magistrate also ordered that Thomas be held without bond for up to 48 hours in connection with the assault on a female...

Deadline moved for federal lacrosse suit By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun gronberg@heraldsun.com Apr 26, 2008 DURHAM -- Lawyers on both sides of one of the three federal civil-rights lawsuits stemming from the Duke lacrosse case have agreed to move back a deadline for the city government and Duke University to file dismissal motions. Defense motions in the case filed by unindicted lacrosse players Breck Archer, Ryan McFadyen and Matt Wilson had been due Friday. But instead, lawyers for the players, the city, Duke and other defendants agreed to wait until July 2. The delay will give defense lawyers time...

WINSTON-SALEM -- U.S. District Court Judge James Beaty Jr. on Tuesday denied a motion for sanctions filed by Duke University and the City of Durham and ruled that the legal team for 38 members of the 2005-06 Duke lacrosse team had violated ethical rules by using a Web site, news conference and news release to publicize the filing of their case. The players have filed a civil rights lawsuit against Duke and the city, demanding reparations arising from the since dismissed Duke lacrosse sexual offense case. Beaty also ruled, however, that the content published on that Web site -- www.dukelawsuit.com...

Durham, N.C. — Attorneys for three former Duke University lacrosse players filed a motion this week asking a judge to lift a stay that keeps them from suing former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong. Nifong filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January, listing a debt of $180.3 million and David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann – as well as three other players who filed suit – as unsecured creditors, each owed $30 million. Attorneys for Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann, however, say in the April 8 filing that bankruptcy was a tactic he used to avoid a federal civil rights...

Sports Director Jim Henderson reports that Duke Athletic Director Joe Alleva will be named as the new AD at LSU.

Woman pleads guilty to false rape report By Peyton Whitely Seattle Times Eastside bureau A 22-year-old former Woodinville woman pleaded guiltyTuesday to making a false rape accusation against a local college professor last June. King County District Court Judge Peter Nault called the case one of the "saddest" he'd ever seen in court and one that is likely to have long-term impact on future investigations. "That we hurry to castigate a person who turns out to be entirely innocent ... I don't know how it could be worse," said Nault, saying the incident will make it harder for real sexual...

2 in lacrosse case quit police force Principal investigators in the case have resigned, the Durham police chief says Stanley B. Chambers Jr., Staff Writer DURHAM - Sgt. Mark Gottlieb and Investigator Benjamin Himan, the Durham Police Department's principal investigators in the Duke lacrosse case, have both left the department in the past several weeks, Chief Jose L. Lopez said Tuesday. Gottlieb, who joined the department in 1992, had contemplated leaving for a few months, Lopez said. "I did not ask him to leave," Lopez said. "I wasn't looking for his resignation." Lopez said Himan, a Durham officer since 2002,...

At the end of February 2004, I wrote a letter that would never be received. The intended recipient was Cameron Todd Willingham, a Texas prisoner on death row. Months earlier, Willingham had written me a ten-page, hand-printed essay about his life in solitary confinement and his last experience in the open air. In it, he recalled a cluster of "blazing purple flowers," the first he had seen in more than eight years. The flowers were "gifts to the world," he wrote, reminding him of his own gifts, which had been "taken away." This was a reference to Willingham's daughters, and...

Officers from both the Durham Police Department and the Duke University Police Department responded to reports early Monday morning of a possible narcotics violation by a student in Bell Tower Residence Hall, sources confirmed. DUPD Maj. Gloria Graham said a residence coordinator contacted police about the violation, but when officers arrived on site and tested the substance in question they determined that it was aspirin. No arrest was made and officers left the building at about 1:30 a.m., students said. Chris Ellis, the residence coordinator for Bell Tower, Blackwell and Randolph dormitories, did not respond to requests for comment Monday...

Friday, February 29, 2008 Duke files motion to take down this website Duke and other defendants have filed a motion to shut down this website. Click here to read it. Posted by Bob at 2:48 PM

Thirty-eight current and former Duke lacrosse players are filing suit against Duke University, according to an email I just got from the Robert H. Bork Jr. PR firm. The parents of the players will formally announce the suit tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the National Press Club: Charles J. Cooper, attorney for the players will explain the complaint and answer questions from the media. Only credentialed media will be allowed. Media who are unable to be present at the news conference may call (888) 882-0114 to hear audio from the event and ask questions during the Q&A. The complaint and...

Mike Nifong, the former Durham District Attorney who lost his job and law license for misconduct in the Duke lacrosse case, makes too much money to seek bankruptcy protection, a federal court administrator has concluded. Michael D. West, a bankruptcy administrator, filed a statement in the case late last week. Nifong's case, West said in his statement, should be "presumed to be an abuse" because his annual income would be higher than federal limits. The administrator's statement is a recommendation, not a ruling. But if a judge agrees, that could make it more difficult for Nifong to hide in bankruptcy...

When a mentally deluded stripper accused three Duke University lacrosse players of a brutal gang rape at a March 2006 off-campus team party during spring break, dozens of activist Duke professors were not content merely to give great credence to the rape charge, even as evidence of its probable fraudulence poured into the public record. They also treated the lacrosse players as pariahs for having hired strippers at all. So, too, did Duke President Richard Brodhead, Board Chairman Robert Steel, other campus administrators, many in the media, and others. Never mind that hiring strippers violated no law or university rule....

Attorney Simon Glik, 31, was a defendant in Boston Municipal Court today as his lawyer, June E. Jensen of Wayland, asked a judge to dismiss wiretapping, disturbing-the-peace and aiding-a-prisoner-escape complaints, which were issued against him last fall. Jensen told Judge Mark H. Summerville that Glik was arrested in Boston on Oct. 1 for allegedly using his cell phone to record the arrest of a 16-year-old juvenile in a drug case. She said the Moscow-born lawyer was walking through the Boston Common at 5:30 p.m. when he used his phone’s camera to videotape three police officers investigating the teen. “If you...

CRIME WAVE SWEEPS DURHAM Grad student killed in off-campus apartment By: Chelsea Allison Posted: 1/18/08 A Duke graduate student was found shot to death at 11:30 p.m. Friday inside his home at The Anderson Apartments, just 1.6 miles from West Campus. Abhijit Mahato, 29, was a second-year Ph.D. candidate in the Pratt School of Engineering studying computational contact mechanics. The Durham Police Department is treating the crime as a homicide, which authorities said appeared to be motivated by robbery. It was the city's second murder of the year, with 2008's first killing occurring just hours earlier on Burke Street, 1.4...