Bad News for Duke

[DanGenck]

If this were all the information, then there would be a good deal of reasonable doubt.

[CATLAX MAN]

The DAs in the OJ case had more than this against OJ and we know how that turned out . . . . . . . .

[Danny Hogan]

BV,

it appears that the DNA test says there was no sex recently, but the rape kit says there was?

what were they comparing the duke player's dna samples to?

[Steno]

Here's something interesting..check out this response on lax.com:

http://www.lax.com/stories/1586

Very different flavor from what has been expressed on the USLIA forums. My post at the bottom gave them a little Liberal Arts education...

[Bluevelvet]

Danny,
They were trying to see if there was DNA from any player on the victim's body. So they compared her swabs from all over her body and her cell phone and clothes to the player's DNA samples. According to the defense, they found no foreign DNA in those swabs, period. That could mean there was a condom used, there was no semen/DNA because no one ejaculated, a foreign object was used, or the victim was lying. Or any number of other reasons.
The rape exam showed that there was trauma to the victim's body in the genital area. The rape kit exam does not always show the presence of semen. It frequently only shows evidence of genital trauma. The problem for the prosecution is who caused the injuries and how old are they. There was no DNA to corroborate the results of the rape kit test nor to show who the perpetrator was.
No case is ever perfect. There are always conflicts in the evidence.

[ZagGrad]

Everyone is blaming Coach Pressler for not teaching his boys what it means to be a man and the difference between right and wrong. I personally blame the coaches at the youth levels for not instilling the proper ethics and morals in their players.

What about the parents of these kids, or any kids like this? It's a parent's job to teach what is right or wrong to their children. A coach teaches how to play a game and the values that come along with sportsmanship and winning. If a coach is responsible for teaching moral values along with that...yikes!

I know one of the Duke players accused in this whole thing and have met his parents, who are great people. On that, I say innocent, but that's only one guy.

[Campbell]

From the NYTimes:

Still, some of Mr. Nifong's friends say the extra attention he has received has not flustered him. Mr. Nifong, who had been an umpire for a local Little League for two years, is used to the pressure, they say.

"He was heckled as an umpire, but he could take it because he has thick skin," said Chuck Campbell, a league official and Mr. Nifong's friend. "He's handling this the same way."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/sport ... ?th&emc=th

Nothing like little league officiating to prepare you for a nationally covered rape investigation.

[cjwilhelmi]

From USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... tion_x.htm

[Gregg Pathiakis]

Something a little lighter:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/47162

[Sonny]

From USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... tion_x.htm

Interesting stuff from that article:

No charges have been filed. But while answering a question from the crowd on why no arrests have been made, Nifong for the first time said the woman was able only last week to identify any of the alleged attackers from March 13. He also told a questioner she was wrong when she asserted three suspects had been identified.

Students at the forum, some visibly angry, were especially critical of the media.

"I'm angry at two groups, and the Duke lacrosse team isn't one of them," said North Carolina Central senior Shawn Cunningham, a political science/criminal justice major. "I feel sorry and pity for them.

"Who I'm angry with first of all are those who choose to blame the victim. (Applause.) The second group I'm also angry with is all these people with cameras and all these people with notebooks, because the press has disrespected this young lady. (More applause.) They have minimized my sister to a stripper and an exotic dancer. ... You don't identify her as a mother, you don't identify her as a student, you don't identify her as a woman." (Standing ovation.)

Accusations from the woman, who was hired with another woman to perform as exotic dancers at a team party, have led to a string of emotionally charged events at Duke, including protests, the suspension from school of one lacrosse athlete for a vulgar e-mail, the resignation of the coach and the cancellation of the team's season.

Emotions have run high on the N.C. Central campus as well. Tolulope Omokaiye, a senior, drew loud applause when she told the forum crowd, "We all know that if this happened at Central and the young lady was from another school or another persuasion the outcome would have been different; they would have been in jail."

Nifong quickly responded to Omokaiye's contention.

"Certainly I have heard the criticism that if the situation were reversed, it's usually said that if this was a white girl and the focus was on the N.C. Central basketball team, they would all be in jail right now, and I understand that is a sentiment in the community, but I just want you to know, that's not the way I conduct business," Nifong said.

[Sonny]

(04/12/06 - DURHAM) - An anonymous staff member is giving a detailed account of what happened the night a stripper said she was raped.

"She was hysterical. She was crying. She was pretty banged up. She said she was sexually assaulted, but she didn't say by whom," the staff member told ESPN The Magazine's Eric Adelson.

The staff member went on to say the sexual assault nurse found injuries in the woman's pelvic area.

"She never said one thing about Duke, any athlete or anything," the source said. "She just kept hollering and screaming. She never said who did it."

LINK:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?secti ... id=4074964

[swampthing]

"Certainly I have heard the criticism that if the situation were reversed, it's usually said that if this was a white girl and the focus was on the N.C. Central basketball team, they would all be in jail right now, and I understand that is a sentiment in the community, but I just want you to know, that's not the way I conduct business," Nifong said.

they shouldn't try to play the race card i think that is a completely unreasonable thing to say - this isn't the 1960's, the only reason the media is all over this in the first place is b/c duke lacrosse is seen as spoiled, over-privaleged kids and they know people will be eager to get at them

[semilaxed]

for those of you who don't know durham and all its wonderful people here is the wedsite for a documentry filmed in durham. The only place it was ever shown on the big screen was in Dukes Union. The area where the film was shot is with in a few miles of dukes campus.

I MUST WARN YOU THERE IS BAD LANGUAGE AND EXTREAM VIOLENCE. If YOU ARE GOING TO GET OFFENDED DON'T WATCH THE TRAILER JUST READ THE STORY. ITS NOT REALLY WORSE THAN WHAT YOU WOULD SEE ON A&E. THOUGH

But if u see this you will see why the area is so divided. Theres a kid from my middle school football team in the trailer so im buying it when it comes out.

http://www.welcome2durham.com/inside/trailer2.htm

[/url]

[LandonMLudlow]

The families of the players have banded together since that politico trash DA said he was running the trial. Lets see how this powermongering D-bag does aginst the lawyer that got Clinton off the hook.

Moral of the story is don't cater to your constituents if they're idiots and/or crazy, and don't mess with old money when names are on the line.

[LAXFAN]

I can see if I got shot with somethin small(you know what im sayin) but da@% the first time getting hit you get hit 2 times with a da@% Mossberg pump

What a trailer. Nice post semilaxed.