Bad News for Duke

[Steno]

Well, some talking head on Fox News said that usually they ran around 500 - 600 bucks a pop, so I guess he got the large group rate.

[Sonny]

Why is this news?

Maybe because someone important at MSNBC.com thought so?

[Sonny]

Filing: Second dancer called allegations a 'crock'

By Joseph Neff, Staff Writer

The second dancer in the Duke lacrosse case told police early on that allegations of rape were a "crock" and that she was with the accuser the entire evening except for a period of less than five minutes.

The second dancer, Kim Roberts, made that statement when she was first contacted by Durham police one week after the party where the first escort service dancer said she was gang raped by three men.

Roberts' statements and notes of the detectives in the case were made public today in a court filing by lawyers for one of the defendants, Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Falls, N.J.

Seligmann's lawyers said police omitted important facts contradicting the accuser's story when they obtained an order to photograph and take DNA samples from the players, including Roberts' statements to police.

Investigator Benjamin Himan first contacted Roberts on March 20, one week after the lacrosse party that ended in the early hours of March 14.

"She heard that (the accuser) was sexually assaulted, which she stated is a 'crock' and she stated that she was with her the whole time until she left," according to Himan's notes. "The only time she was alone was when she would not leave and that time period was less than five minutes."

LINK:
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/448437.html

[ramey19]

Police investigating the Duke University lacrosse team on rape allegations "omitted" notes from a second dancer at the party, who told authorities the alleged victim had been drinking, was acting "crazy" and that her colleague's accusation was a "crock," a defense attorney said Thursday.

In court documents filed Thursday, attorney Kirk Osborn said that Durham, North Carolina, police "intentionally, deliberately and/or recklessly omitted" information from a probable cause affidavit -- information Osborn says would have persuaded the judge not to file felony charges against three of the players.

Another article on cnn
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/08/duke.lacrosse/index.html

[Sonny]

Officer's 'omissions' targeted in lacrosse motion

By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun
jstevenson@heraldsun.com
Jun 8, 2006 : 10:43 pm ET

DURHAM -- The exotic dancer who has accused three Duke lacrosse players of gang-raping her was drinking while taking medication that night, and had sex with at least four men and a sexual device in the days immediately leading up to the off-campus party, according to court papers filed Thursday.

And despite what Durham police have contended, a medical examination showed no signs of the sort of sexual or physical attack of which the dancer complained, according to the motion filed by defense attorneys for Reade Seligmann.

Among other previously undisclosed details, the motion says the woman at one point accused her female dance partner of helping the lacrosse players rape her and of stealing her money.

And she told one medical staffer she drank at least 44 ounces of beer, and told another she took a powerful muscle relaxant and drank beer before going to the party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. on March 13.

Lawyers Kirk Osborn and Ernest Conner contend in the motion that police Investigator Benjamin Himan and the Police Department illegally and deliberately withheld those and other details that were damaging to their investigation.

LINK:
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-742621.html

[Sonny]

The Duke Rape Case Travesty
June 10th, 2006

In the days after the alleged rape in Durham, North Carolina occurred, now-infamous District Attorney, Mike Nifong, must have believed he had died and gone to litigators’ heaven. There he sat, weeks from a city election, in a town unmatched by many in terms of racial, social and class division, surrounded by a university of unquestioned elitism and political correctness, with a potential bombshell of a case on his desk.

Even better, the claim involved not only cocky student-athletes, but white lacrosse players, many hailing from the north. While other accusations and scandals involving university sports programs are quickly quelled by coaches, administrators and other district attorneys, Nifong, who later won the Democratic primary election, jumped on this rare political opportunity.

With 45 white players summoned for DNA tests (the sole black player was excluded since the alleged victim determined all her perpetrators were white), Nifong, with the aid of the media and the vague recollection of a mid-20s exotic dancer with a less than innocuous past, quickly plucked two, wealthy white northerners (Garden City, NY and Essex Falls, NJ) as his targets for the salivating Durham community. Weeks later, an older northern lacrosse player (from Bethesda, MD) was also indicted. All three players have maintained their innocence from start to finish, and even with Nifong refusing to deliver any concrete evidence, the case continued to slowly roll along until Thursday when the evidence, crumbling for the past month, began its final collapse.

LINK:
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles ... le_id=5567

[Sonny]

Prosecutor's Silence on Duke Rape Case Leaves Public With Plenty of Questions

By DUFF WILSON and JONATHAN D. GLATER

DURHAM, N.C., June 9 — When a woman hired to dance at a Duke University lacrosse team party claimed that members of the team raped her, Michael B. Nifong, the district attorney for Durham County, responded with an aggressive, unflinching and very public investigation.

"There's no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location," Mr. Nifong said on national television after the case surfaced in March. Mr. Nifong called other lacrosse players "hooligans" who had aided, abetted or covered up for the rapists. Local police officers seemed equally certain that they had a horrific crime to solve.

But in the intervening months, the case has come to appear far less robust. Three players have been indicted, but evidence that has surfaced, much of it turned over to defense lawyers by prosecutors and then filed in court with defense motions, has thrown the woman's claims into doubt. Mr. Nifong, so vocal at first, has refused to speak publicly about the case since the beginning of April.

The result is a growing perception of a case in trouble. Increasingly, the onus is on the district attorney. People in Durham are asking what Mr. Nifong is up to, whether his prosecution was influenced by politics — he was in the midst of a campaign when the case began — and what other evidence he might have.

LINK:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/us/12 ... nted=print

[Lax_Stats]

Video from MSNBC where 2nd dancer refers to the allegations of rape as a "crock".

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=ce9f5 ... 4&fg=email

[Lax_Stats]

Durham Commissioner Considering Write-In Challenge To Nifong

http://www.nbc17.com/news/9356582/detail.html

[ACE]

I guess lacrosse players aren't the only ones that drink at Duke...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2006/news/story?id=2482061

[Lax_Stats]

I guess lacrosse players aren't the only ones that drink at Duke...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2006/news/story?id=2482061

What part of "ex-Duke" star and "Former Duke star" makes you think he was drinking "at" Duke?!?! This only made the news because Redick attended Duke and is about to be drafted in the NBA, and because Duke has been all over the news because of the lacrosse team.

[LaxRef]

This only made the news because Redick attended Duke and is about to be drafted in the NBA, and because Duke has been all over the news because of the lacrosse team.

This made the news entirely because of the former. It had nothing to do with the latter. Sure, it makes people think of the Duke lacrosse investigation, but anytime any major sports star gets a DWI it gets into the news. Heck, even the 45th man on an NFL roster getting a DWI will make the sports section.

BTW, I don't know how people missed this memo, but DWI is a really stupid thing to do.

[horn17]

I dont think this has anything to do with Duke Lax either, I think it has more to deal with JJ.....

One could argue he's bigger than Duke Lax.... All time acc leading scorer, 3 time first team all american, wooden award winner...future NBA lottery pick....

He used to be one hell of a baseball pitcher when he was growing up as well....

[ACE]

I think the point is that the Duke lacrosse team was made out to be a group of party animals while the rest of the student body were saints. This story would have made the news no matter what school he attended because of his draft status. But JJ didn't just decide to start drinking the other night. Others at Duke drink and party, we all know that, but its not the story when indicting the young men from the lacrosse team.

[LaxRef]

I think the point is that the Duke lacrosse team was made out to be a group of party animals while the rest of the student body were saints. This story would have made the news no matter what school he attended because of his draft status. But JJ didn't just decide to start drinking the other night. Others at Duke drink and party, we all know that, but its not the story when indicting the young men from the lacrosse team.

Many students manage to drink and party without hiring strippers and/or prostitutes to show up while they do it, although I suppose there's no real way anyone could have predicted that that sort of thing could turn out badly.