No, no Chronic-les of Narnia; just more lacrosse stuff…
- The Newsweek cover story this week is on the Duke lacrosse scandal; here it is in all its glory. Most notable is the new-to-me revelation that “defense lawyer Bill Thomas told NEWSWEEK that in the first round [of tests] some DNA showed up under the woman’s fingernails, though tests were inconclusive about identity.”
- Robert KC Johnson has two good posts up at Cliopatria on the scandal: one looking at the rush to judgment by nearly 90 Duke faculty members in the case, and one on the Campus Culture Initiative announced by Dick Brodhead a few weeks ago, which thus far seems to be barrelling towards reaching its preordained conclusions about Duke’s alleged culture of privilege and rape. Similar themes appear in the discussion between Margaret Soltan and I at University Diaries about New York Times public editor Byron Calme’s apologia for the paper’s excessive interest in the scandal.
- The AP reports that alumni in Durham for class reunions have expressed their concerns about President Brodhead’s treatment of the lacrosse program and indicted player Reade Seligmann in particular.
- John in Carolina links a good column by Dallas Morning News columnist Mark Davis on this case.
- Righteous Townie DA Mike Nifong fails to get the endorsement of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People; African-American challenger Keith Bishop receives their endorsement instead.
- Last, but not least, if you thought this was going to be over any time soon—guess again. Nifong says the second round of DNA results won’t be back before the preliminary hearings for Seligmann and Collin Finnerty on May 15th. The Herald-Sun also reports “Nifong also denied an allegation by some defense attorneys that the second exotic dancer at the March 13 party where the rape allegedly occurred received special treatment from Nifong’s office so she’d cooperate with the prosecutor.”
22 comments:
Stupid stripper i think she is making the whole thing up and causing racial tension in the school.
Whoa…this is the first I’ve read of this! So she arrives at a substance-abuse center in the back of a patrol car and then claims she was raped? The reporters aren’t clear about the sequence of events but that’s huge. If she knew that she was about to be tested for drug use and then claimed she was raped, we no longer have to ask what would be her motivation to lie.
Where did you read that? If this lady has a current drug problem you can bet that the private investigators will find out about it. Would any info be admissible in court?
Finnerty is dumbest person on earth if he sodimized the stripper a few weeks before his diversion trial.
Nifong is still acting as if he has an ace up his sleeve. This is the one thing that leads me to believe that all of the defense momentum may be cut short.
I think that’s a quote from the Newsweek piece; my understanding is that it was a psych facility, not a substance abuse center, that she was taken to, but I suppose that’s just a matter of interpretation (many mental health places take care of both).
Yes, it’s from the Newsweek article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12442765/site/newsweek/page/4/“Finnerty is dumbest person on earth if he sodimized the stripper a few weeks before his diversion trial.”
The public needs to be sensitive to the pressures faced by Finnerty at the time. He was under public scrutiny of an incident in Georgetown which in which he felt fully justified for his actions. All he did was get into a fight like any other youngster in an effort to protect his good name. The accuser clearly went overboard by claiming homosexual epithets caused an altercation.
Dealing with the incredible frustration must have been difficult. Trying to supress such a huge emotional confusion may have led to pent up aggression which could only be released through an extreme presentation of his control through sexual violence.
Happens everyday. Please don’t add insult to injury by calling him stupid.
Eh? I don’t even think Finnerty’s scrape with the law was public knowledge in Durham at the time. (I assume you’re being bizarrely sarcastic here…)
Ferdinand, what if the cops didn’t tell her they were taking her to a psych/substance facility? What if they said something like, “we’re taking you somewhere that you can get help”? Could be they assumed she wouldn’t go if they told her where they were going. Could be she was still trying to process her experience and considering not telling anyone what happened (which she pretty much said in the early interview…that she considered keeping it to herself.)
I’m not saying it happened, not saying it didn’t…just saying there are other possibilities other than the one you present.
I see that on several blogs the AV has been “outted” including by Drudge. This is reckless to say the least; yes, she may be fabricating, but on the chance that she isn’t, this will add to her emotional toll. Not to mention the loonies who may take it upon themselves to teach her something.
I agree with Sharon. The accuser’s name should be kept private until this case has some resolution. Drudge is just fanning the flames at this point.
As expected this was a pretty boring weekend on the news front. Any experienced media person knows that you never release juicy news on the weekend.
Does anyone know whether the defense can run their own DNA tests? Would they have access to the sample found on the AV?
I haven’t seen the AV’s name on Drudge… so you may want to double check your info on that….
He mentioned it on his radio show.
There is a lot of speculation that Finnerty is sitting on his alibi as they do not want the prosecutor to move the timeline(it would be tough thanks to that nosey neighbor). Seligmann may have been better off keeping his timeline secret until they had the final police version of the events. It seems ironclad, but Nifong can recalibrate his version of events.
Tony McDevitt who was present at the party after Seligman left looks eerily like Seligman.
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/campyskakel/duke2.html
http://www.e-lacrosse.com/2003/spotlight/parity.html
Credit to discussion thread at Talkleft.com
I heard (somewhere – CourtTV board?) that Drudge had mentioned the AV’s name on his radio show, but apparently not at the Drudge Report.
Another timeline question (shamelessly stolen from another conversation board…)
We know that Kim (aka the 2nd dancer) called 911 to report being called a nasty name, at around 12:53AM. She claimed to be driving by the house at this time, so I’ll assume that the AV was already in the car, and they both were leaving 610 Buchanan.
The next documented time is 1:22AM, when the Kroger security guard calls 911.
Now, it’s been a few years since I was in Durham, but I doubt traffic’s gotten so bad that it takes a half hour to get from East to the Kay-Roger at that time of night. So, what were the two ladies up to in that time?
Anyone recall anything definitive being published about this?
Seligman’s attorney is working hard to discredit the AV:
“This request is based on the fact that the complaining witness has a history of criminal activity and behavior, which includes alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and dishonesty, all conduct which indicate mental, emotional and/or physical problems, which affect her credibility as a witness,” the motion states.
http://www.wral.com/news/8965575/detail.html
LaxZebra, the defense is going to need that stuff for purposes of impeaching the AV’s credibility when she testifies as a witness at trial, and it would be ineffective assistance of counsel for Seligmann’s attorney NOT to request that information given the circumstances…
DA: Yeah, I don’t know what the story is on all the time in the car. The traffic at that time of night is such that it wouldn’t take 10 minutes, much less nearly 30, to drive about two miles due west. And, Kim Roberts could very well have called 911 well after they were gone from the house—it’s really not clear they were still there, although they could subpeona her cell phone records to find a GPS fix (or at least localize to a particular cell tower and sector).
It’s one of those things that I never really wrapped my head completely around—why go, of all places, to a grocery store? All I can figure is that Kim spent 1/2 hour driving around Durham trying to figure out where to dump this woman and decided the best thing was at a Kroger, which in and of itself seems a bit screwed up to me…
Chris,
You’re right.
And there’s this. At that time of night, the Kroger parking lot is about a 5 minute drive from the Duke EMR.
It’s even less time if you’re traveling with Durham Police lights flashing. Maybe 3 minutes.
Is there any Durham police officer who doesn’t know a suspected rape victim found at that Kroger parking lot should be taken immediately to Duke EMR?
Do prosecutors in DA Nifong’s office or “the team” in The Raleigh N&O’s newsroom say anything different?
John
www.johnincarolina.com
This article shows why we need rape shield laws:
http://www.essence.com/essence/lifestyle/takeastand/0,16109,1186512,00.html
And yes, I believe they should be extended to the accused until a conviction for the same reason. There’re too many loonies on either side ready to do harm. Need I mention Michelle Malkin?
Sharon-
That article doesn’t say much about rape shield laws. It says, no screams out, that somebody better get this woman some medical care pronto. whether from rape trauma or the telltale heart, this sounds an awful like a psychotic break.
…with two children in tow. Not good.
I think the death threats are a good reason to keep rape shield protection on all parties. She and her family have been receiving threats. Wonder do the threats also extend to her kids? Scary.