Lawyers: Dropped counts doom Duke case

[citizen snips]

DURHAM, N.C. - A prosecutor's decision to drop rape charges but keep other counts against three Duke University lacrosse players has left many legal experts — including some who had supported him — wondering what case he could have left.

Sexual offense and kidnapping charges remain against the defendants, but even some former backers of District Attorney Mike Nifong say the accuser may have lost her credibility for good after backing off a key allegation.

"I don't understand why all the charges aren't being dropped at this time," said Norm Early, a former Denver prosecutor who works with the National District Attorneys Association and had previously approved of Nifong's handling of the case. "It's such an incredible credibility problem that you wonder how the prosecution could rehabilitate her on the other charges."

The woman says Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans attacked her March 13 at a team party where she had been hired as a stripper. In a five-page statement she gave police in early April, she wrote that she was raped vaginally, anally and orally.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061223/ap_on_re_us/duke_lacrosse

[NaturalHigh]

1. This case was a frame job from the beginning.

It's time for charges to be filed against the accuser for filing a false report. Of course, that likely won't happen, since this whole thing has become such a political bombshell. It's much more likely that we'll read all sorts of outraged op-eds opining that the lacrosse players got away with raping and assaulting this poor, disadvantaged stripper.

[IndianaGreen]

2. The accuser wanted to drop all charges, according to her cousin

The accuser's cousin told Greta van Susteren on her Faux show yesterday that the accuser had asked twice for the charges to be dropped, but that Nifong had refused. The accuser's cousin also said that the family was concerned that Nifong had manipulated the accuser for his own purposes.

[citizen snips]

3. this is something I have not heard

if that is true then Nifong should be sacked.

[IndianaGreen]

8. The accuser's family complained a month ago they were being kept

from seeing or communicating directly with the accuser. They had to use Nifong's office as an intermediary.

[seriousstan]

4. The drunken whore wants to get in the "wayback" machine after

ruining these young men's lives. FUCK HER!!

[greccogirl]

5. No kidding. At this point Nifong is trying to figure out how to

save his job. I hope he isn't successful and the three sue the state.

[Renew Deal]

15. He'll never be elected to anything again.

And if some of the stuff is true about hiding evidence and manipulating witnesses, he might get thrown out.

[greccogirl]

26. Not only that, I am beginning to suspect that Nifong has used this

girl as well - I've read several accounts now that say she wanted to drop the case twice and he either talked her out of it or kept it going. I feel sorry for this girl, she has obviously got a LOT of problems, way sorrier for the wrongly accused AND NO SYMPATHY for Nifong who should lose his job, his license, and do some jail time, the rat.

Think of all those women/girls out there who will now be more afraid to come forward because of this farce................. and in some small way if it stops a false accuser maybe some good will come out of it but I think only if she is punished. I am waiting for the DOJ to take this over and for Nifong to get what he so richly deserves.

[The Deacon]

6. The Sad Thing Is

At this point no one will ever know what the truth is, or was. Women who might have filed charges will be discouraged. And the "accuse the accuser" forces will gain a new debate point.

Too bad we can't just base cases on their merits anymore.

[Renew Deal]

14. She has done so much harm to other/future victims.

That should be a crime in itself.

[The Deacon]

16. Exactly

As has Nifong - apparently to win re-election.

[Leilani]

7. These young men will have this shadow following them

for their entire lives, even if all charges are dropped.

Duke University has been smeared.

A probable lacrosse national championship was lost, after a cancelled season.

A coach lost his job.

Families & friends have been hurt, not to mention money spent for lawyers.

Where do these people go to get justice?

Truly an outrage of epic proportions!

I'm also waiting for some remorse from DUers who assumed they were guilty because they were white, or jocks, or rich, or Duke students.

[Renew Deal]

11. Or all of the above

That's the worst part of this for those guys.

[citizen snips]

12. Admissions to duke have gone down.

[Leilani]

19. That is truly sad

because Duke is a world-class institution.

And contrary to some opinion, it is not a school for the "rich."

If a student is accepted, a package is worked out of payments, loans & work.

[pnwmom]

23. I would have told my sons not to apply

because of the way the Duke administration and faculty have treated the students. Who wants to send their child to a school that has so little respect and faith in its own students?

[Leilani]

27. You have a point!

Duke was trying to be politically correct & blew it.

[Captain Hilts]

60. The kids I've known that went there were from wealthy families.

Being wealthy helps.

[greccogirl]

28. Sadly you are right. I remember once when my husband and

I were at a park and getting a drink at one of those public fountains, a little girl was trying to reach it and he bent down and lifted her up to drink. Her mother ran across the way and snatched her away from my husband and if looks could kill! He told me later he has never forgotten how he felt in that moment. While we all know that tons of women are raped, abused, beaten and even killed every hour in this country, we must not lose sight of the fact that if you are a man, simply being accused can mark you for a long time.

[Porcupine]

43. Doors will mysteriously close in their faces, they'll lose job..

opportunities, they may be denied professional licences. Being accused of a crime by a DA now is as good as being guilty due to private background checking services.

These services trade and share databases and care not on bit about their accuracy. The more often they can dredge up crap about applicants the more their service seems needed. Who cares if all charges were dropped; certainly not corporate types seeking to cover their asses.

Who gives these guys their lives back?

[theoldman]

9. It may not have happened the way it was reported in the news

but the men are not totally innocent. If the case is not dropped, I think they will be convicted of lessor charges. Like in all criminal cases the public never gets to hears all of the facts. Even the jury never gets to hear all of the facts. My point is that something had to happen to get this mess started.

[Renew Deal]

13. Reported in the news?

"In a five-page statement she gave police in early April, she wrote that she was raped vaginally, anally and orally."

What am I missing here? She has no credibility and she is the only witness. The case is over.

[citizen snips]

17. we now know they are innocent of the rape charges.

but kidnapping c'mon she is the one who went there.

[pnwmom]

21. "Something had to happen to get this mess started."

Why? Do you think all prosecutors are honest? Do you think an innocent person has never been framed?

Here's what I think happened to "get this mess started."

Someone (they've identified him, and it's not the accused) makes an objectionable statement about dancing with a broomstick, so both dancers decide to leave after 5 minutes (after taking the $800 for a much longer performance.) Words are said, including racist words, by both the students and at least one of the dancers. The dancers leave, drive around, until "Nikki" can't get "Precious" to leave her car. So she calls the police. The police decide Precious is drunk (she had had 2 20-ounce beers, plus Flexeril -- so she probably WAS out of it) and they take her to the drunk tank. This means trouble for her because she's on felony probation, and being caught drunk in public could put her in jail for a couple of years.

A nurse isn't getting Precious to say much, so the nurse decides to violate the rules and to ask specific questions -- one of which was "were you raped?" Precious realizes that the correct answer might get her out of the drunk tank, and says "yes."

Precious gets taken to the hospital, where she tells the policeman that she wasn't raped. Then she tells a nurse that she was. And she, who has a history of drug abuse, asks the nurse for some pain killers. The nurse notes in her report that Precious isn't showing any physical areas of tenderness or signs of pain. The hospital has a note in the file warning medical personnel not to give her painkillers, because of her abuse problems. So a few days later, she goes to another hospital with complaints of pain due to the attack, and again asks for pain killers. She's back at work pole dancing, looking limber as ever (some of her work involves doing splits practically down to the floor), and she tells other dancers there that she's going to be making some money off of some white boys.

Meanwhile, DA Nifong is looking at the case that has landed on his desk. The details are pretty sketchy -- no one's even interviewed the accuser -- but it's good enough for now. Wow! The publicity! Nifong, who lags in the primary race and is being outspent 3-1 by his more well-known competitor, sees his way to a free media blitz. Between the time he hears about the case and the election he gives more than 50 media interviews. He wins the election with a plurality (45% compared to 42% of the second place winner).

That's how I think this mess started.

[greccogirl]

29. Not totally innocent?

Why do you think so? It is entirely possible that nothing happened "to get this started".

[marshall]

32. Something happened, but who did it?

The semen collected from the anal swab is from five unidentified males--not matched to the three accused or ANY of the forty something othr lacrosse players or the woman's at-the-time boyfriend. Where are these five men and why isn't Nifong trying to find them???

[Pavulon]

34. They paid their bill

this is a billing dispute. Names were called. Nifong will be really lucky if he is a bar member in a year.

[cigsandcoffee]

57. And charge them with what?

...engaging in prostitution?

[marshall]

58. It's where the evidence leads

She charged gang rape during a time when she was drunk and/or on drugs. DNA was collected from at least five different men. None of that DNA matches any of the suspects. At least in the DA's mind it should have occurred to him that in her state she could have misremembered the exact events, and that in fact she was gang raped by five unknown assailants while she was blacked out somewhere. In light of what we know now I know that doesn't seem likely, but at least early on it should have been investigated as a possibility. Certainly it would have been better to try and identify who those five men were rather than to suppress the evidence and act like it never existed. At the very least one of those five men could have provided testimony in favor of the case Nifong was building against the lacrosse team.

[cigsandcoffee]

61. She ID'd 3 players. They DNA'd everyone at the party.

You now want her to say the rape happened somewhere else altogether, without the Lacrosse team? That's just beyond the realm of credibility.

I think it's pretty clear that the DNA found on her was "work related" if it didn't come from the Duke party.

[IndianaGreen]

62. The only person she identified with 100% certainty was in a dorm room in Raleigh

Almost lost in the uproar of the past week, a 42-page defense motion filed on Dec. 14 raised new questions about the woman’s reliability in identifying the men who stand accused of kidnapping and sexual offenses.

The police showed her three sets of photographs during the first three weeks of the case, one with 24 lacrosse players, one with 12, and, after she failed to identify any suspects, one with all 46 white players.

She identified only one person with 100 percent certainty in two photo arrays as having been present at the team party. But that person, Dan Ross, was not there. He was 24 miles away in a dorm room in Raleigh.

The woman also identified the wrong player as having held up a broomstick while making a sexually crude remark to the two dancers.

As previously reported, she did not identify two of the defendants — Mr. Seligmann and David F. Evans — as attackers when she saw their pictures in the first photo arrays. She said it was harder than she thought because “the people in the photos looked alike,” police investigators wrote. Yet she later identified Mr. Seligmann with 100 percent certainty and Mr. Evans with 90 percent certainty, saying he “looks just like him without the mustache.” Mr. Evans has never had a mustache.

[marshall]

63. I agree with you

But I am talking about what the DA should have done. From his point of view last year when this all started. He believed her story, but he got conflicting evidence about the boys. He should have at least entertained the possibility that the woman was confused about what exactly happened, or for some other reason did not want to identify the "real" rapists. He should have tried to identify the five men whose DNA was found. They are at least more likely suspects than the boy he indicted who had an iron clad alibi.

Ultimately I think the fact that he did not follow the lead with the DNA indicates more clearly that he was not interested in actually solving the crime and finding justice. He was interested in using this woman and the circumstances to win the primary and reelection. As much as he seems to continue to be supported by the African American community in his area now, I hope they turn on him when he finally heaps all the blame for this fiasco on the dancer and tries to walk away from this.

[Solo_in_MD]

33. At least one of them was provably not present

so I can not see any convictions, at least for him.

At this point Nifong has no case, but if he drops it now, the calls for his resignation will increase. All he needs is a hung jury and he can justify the entire farce.

[IndianaGreen]

35. Reade Seligmann was definitely not there!

There is the cab driver's testimony, plus the time stamp on the bank ATM camera and the card key time stamp to Seligmann's dorm.

[Solo_in_MD]

40. My point exactly

[Captain Hilts]

59. Hiring her to perform at their party is not a crime, as tasteless as I might think it is. nt

[Renew Deal]

10. This case is over either way.

They can drag it out and these guys will be found not guilty of everything or they can drop it now. The accuser has absolutely no credibility in court and she is the only witness.

[citizen snips]

18. it should be over

but there are still some serious charges that they are up against. I think kidnapping carrys a sentence of 30 years.

[xchrom]

20. indeed, nifong is still playing a VERY dangerous game with thee young mens lives.

[pnwmom]

22. And there are too many people in Durham

who probably feel the same as the DU'er above -- "something" bad had to have happened.

[Pavulon]

24. Something

being the stripper got mad when these guys called them by the n word. A terrible thing but not worth 20 years in prison.

This case was all about the buzz. All the buzz words were in play. race class

[citizen snips]

25. they said racial slurs

but they don't deserve to go to prison for that.

[pnwmom]

36. And if they did, then so did "Nikki" because she

acknowledged on national television (w/Ed Bradley) that she'd started it with a white boy slur.

[NaturalHigh]

50. There are plenty of people here on DU who feel the same way.

I couldn't believe some of the truly idiotic statements posted here several months ago when I tried to point out how bogus this case was. "Blaming the victim" was one of the more common hate screeds.

[greccogirl]

30. I'd like to think so, but after O.J. Simpson I can believe

anything can be gotten by a jury.

[mainegreen]

31. Only fact I see is that the prosecutor is a complete nut job and a total disaster.

I wonder how many cases he's screwed the pooch on? I wonder how many innocent people he's put in jail and how many convicts he's let walk?

If I was his boss I'd fire his ass.

[pnwmom]

37. It's an elected position and his bosses -- the voters -- just affirmed

their confidence in him.

[robcon]

38. The slow death of this case is ugly to watch.

Nifong should be removed from office, IMO, for misconduct, depriving defendants of their rights, disobeying a court order, and lying in his letter to the defendants and the court in May...

Last week, the testimony of the DNA lab representative suggested a conspiracy by Nifong and the lab to deprive the defendants of their rights.

The following is devastating to Nifong's ability to stay in office, IMO:

"...On Thursday, Mr. Nifong acknowledged knowing about those test results before any players were indicted last spring. He also acknowledged that the results were relevant and “potentially exculpatory,” and he said he should have given the results to the defense before May 18, the day he signed a filing that said “the state is not aware of any additional material or information which may be exculpatory in nature.”..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/23/sports/23duke.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th

[pnwmom]

39. Exculpatory evidence: "That wasn't something I was concentrating on,"

claimed Nifong.

So we're supposed to believe it was just an accident that he failed to include these test results with the rest of the evidence in May. Right.

[Kagemusha]

41. Because if it wasn't an accident, it's a serious federal crime

But unfortunately for him, what the DNA lab head guy said pretty much confirms a conspiracy in the eyes of the law. Now whether or not enough will be done about it, I don't know, but clearly, having two people agree to deny a defendant or defendants the right to a fair trial, is emphatically not cool under the law.

[BattyDem]

45. He needs to resign immediately.

That's an admission. He wasn't paying attention to any evidence that didn't support his case. That's not an accident or a mistake or an oversight. He didn't care what the facts were - he just wanted a conviction in a high-profile case. He should be charged with a crime!

[IndianaGreen]

42. A 42-page defense motion raises new questions about accuser's reliability

Almost lost in the uproar of the past week, a 42-page defense motion filed on Dec. 14 raised new questions about the woman’s reliability in identifying the men who stand accused of kidnapping and sexual offenses.

The police showed her three sets of photographs during the first three weeks of the case, one with 24 lacrosse players, one with 12, and, after she failed to identify any suspects, one with all 46 white players.

She identified only one person with 100 percent certainty in two photo arrays as having been present at the team party. But that person, Dan Ross, was not there. He was 24 miles away in a dorm room in Raleigh.

The woman also identified the wrong player as having held up a broomstick while making a sexually crude remark to the two dancers.

As previously reported, she did not identify two of the defendants — Mr. Seligmann and David F. Evans — as attackers when she saw their pictures in the first photo arrays. She said it was harder than she thought because “the people in the photos looked alike,” police investigators wrote. Yet she later identified Mr. Seligmann with 100 percent certainty and Mr. Evans with 90 percent certainty, saying he “looks just like him without the mustache.” Mr. Evans has never had a mustache.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/23/sports/23duke.html?pagewanted=3&_r=5&th&emc=th

[BattyDem]

44. This is why I think the media shouldn't report on rape cases

Because of all the media attention, Duke treated the students as if they were already convicted (and their lives will never be the same), Nifong dragged this out waaaaay longer than he should have because he tried to create something out of nothing for political gain, and future rape victims will either be reluctant to come forward or the false accusations in this case will be used as a basis to create doubt about their story.

I believe in freedom of the press, but there needs to be RESPONSIBILITY in the press! STOP trying to judge the case and simply report the FACTS as they become known! STOP sensationalizing rape cases and let the investigations go forward so that justice can be served! STOP convicting people in the press because a certain "villain" will get higher ratings - it only makes it more difficult for a victim or someone falsely accused to put their life back together when it's all over!

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[robcon]

46. I agree: prosecutors should limit the reporting on rape cases.

Nifong held press conferences, issued press releases and smeared the Duke lacrosse team back in April/May - in addition to hiding the results of the DNA testing from the court and the defense.

But I think Nifong's most extraordinary act was last Thursday, when Nifong agreed to a New York Times request for an interview on an ongoing criminal investigation.

I've never heard of that on any criminal case anywhere. Nifong should be disbarred.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/us/24duke.html?ex=1324616400&en=1246a6d61dac634f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[NashVegas]

48. Can We Get the Same For Defense, Please?

At this point, one might think the defendants happily anticipate going to trial, where, due to Nifong's bumbling, they'll be exonerated.

And yet, the defense continues to use publicity to apply pressure for the case to be dropped.

[marshall]

49. Nifong is in no position now to request a gag order

After the way Nifong dragged this case into the media with over fifty press conferences, he would look even more corrupt if he were to have requested a gag order on the defense. He has used the media by maniupulating the information, suppressing evidence that would be in favor of the defendants, etc. I am sure that Nifong is miserable and is wishing he had never gotten into the whole mess, but he tied his own hands by his early actions and he just has to ride it out now.

It's difficult to accept that he could be so craven, and I really don't think he started out with the notion to railroad three innocent boys. But his actions have gotten more and more suspicious. The dropping of the rape charges right before a long Christmas weekend is obviously designed to cover his ass as much as possible. I expect next Friday the aother charge will be dropped just in time for the New Years' holiday rush. Maybe he'll save the announcement that all charges are dropped for the Martin Luther King holiday.

[robcon]

52. I think the defense wants much, much more than dropping the case.

I think they smell lawsuit for wrongful prosecution, denial of defendants' rights, and a suit for payment of the defense costs by the Durham DA's office for the three lacrosse players.

[NaturalHigh]

64. Good for them.

I hope they sue the hell out of the DA's office, Nifong himself, and the accuser in this case. Splatter her full name all over the front page of every major newspaper in the country, just like they did the Duke players. She should also face some serious jail time for filing a false report, although we all know that is very unlikely.

[citizen snips]

47. Pressure on Nifong in Duke case

Misstatements may cost him his career

DURHAM - To press forward in the Duke University lacrosse case, District Attorney Mike Nifong must rely on scanty evidence while deflecting serious questions about whether he broke the law or violated the ethics rules governing prosecutors.
Nifong has acknowledged that the case now hangs on what the accuser says from the witness stand in a hearing scheduled for February. Meanwhile, pressure on Nifong continues to build.

The State Bar has received multiple complaints demanding that he be disbarred. A congressman has called on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate him. And when the case returns to court, Nifong might have to explain repeated misrepresentations to judges about what evidence he had and why he did not disclose it all, as state law requires.

Nifong dropped the rape charges on Friday, but felony charges remain pending against three former members of the Duke University lacrosse team: David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md.; Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y.; and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J. They are charged with attacking their accuser, an escort service dancer, at a team party last March.

more...
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/525091.html

[robcon]

51. I think Nifong strongly hinted that he'll drop the case...

Since the accuser, by some accounts, has had six different accounts of the night - from oral, anal and vaginal penetration to no penetration at all - I think Nifong used the NY Times interview on Thursday to 'announce' in advance that he would drop the case due to accuser's unreliability/unbelievability...

"...And in a three-hour interview on Thursday, Mr. Nifong said he would not hesitate to drop all the charges if the accuser expressed doubt about the identity of the men she has accused when she sees all three defendants at a pretrial hearing set for February.

“If she came in and said she could not identify her assailants, then we don’t have a case,” Mr. Nifong said. On the other hand, he continued, “If she says, yes, it’s them, or one or two of them, I have an obligation to put that to a jury.”..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/23/sports/23duke.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[marshall]

53. I knew it would come down to this

Nifong is going to save his own ass by blaming the accuser. In my opinion he took a fragile disturbed drug addled woman and rode her for all she was worth. He still seems to have the support of some African American leaders in the community, but when he finishes throwing her under the bus I hope they wake up and realize that what the DA did to her is at least as bad as what the boys were accused of doing to her.

[IndianaGreen]

54. Why are we still treating the accuser as a rape victim? Let's name her name!

Her name appears on the various motions filed with the court, including the motion to suppress her identification of Reade Seligmann (the one she said had a mustache). They are public documents and the accuser is not entitled to the protection accorded to rape victims since there is no longer a rape charge.

The court documents are public documents, and can be found on the internet.

So let's stop referring to Nifong's sole "witness" as the "accuser" and let's call her by her name!

[marshall]

55. How about her stage name?

I don't have any problem with referring to her as Precious. The other dancer has been interviewed and quoted by media referring to her by that name.

I'm not sure if rape shield laws don't also apply to sexual assault cases. In some states rape isn't as narrowly defined as it is in North Carolina.

[cascadiance]

56. Whew! For a minute I was thinking Brent Wilkes was getting off the hook!

... amongst others like Virgil Goode and Katherine Harris with the subsequent investigation into Duke Cunningham's mess when I saw this subject line!