Posted on 05/15/2006 7:14:12 AM PDT by pissant
DURHAM - A Durham grand jury is scheduled to meet today, and the session could mean new charges in the investigation of a reported rape at a Duke lacrosse team party.
Two of the team's players were indicted in April on charges of first degree rape, first degree sex offense and first degree kidnapping. They are accused of assaulting an escort service dancer in a bathroom of a house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. Their lawyers say the men are innocent, and lawyers representing dozens of team members say that no sex or assault occurred at the March 13 party.
But the woman says she was attacked by three men, and Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said he has been working on bringing charges against a third person.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TODAY? If Nifong decides to submit the case, police investigators and possibly other witnesses will try to convince grand jurors in a secret session that the state has probable cause to bring a case forward. Grand jurors will hear only the prosecution's side of the case. The standard required for a true bill of indictment is far lower than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard required for a conviction.
IF INDICTMENTS ARE ISSUED, WHEN WILL THEY BECOME PUBLIC? On April 17, a judge ordered the indictments in the lacrosse case sealed. The names of the players who were indicted were not released until 5 a.m. the next day when the players surrendered at the Durham County jail. If Nifong again requests that the indictments be sealed, the law allows a judge to keep them secret until the person is arrested or appears in court.
WHEN WILL ALL THE EVIDENCE BE REVEALED? State law requires prosecutors to turn over all of their case files to defense lawyers, but nothing requires the evidence to be turned over to the public. In open court hearings, lawyers often discuss some of the evidence, but the state's case may not be revealed until trial. No trial dates have been set. When a report on the DNA testing is complete, Nifong is required by law to turn it over to all 46 members of the lacrosse team who submitted DNA samples.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The cases against Reade William Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., are moving forward. Finnerty has a court date in June. Seligmann is scheduled to appear in court Thursday. His attorney, Kirk Osborn, has filed a series of motions challenging Nifong's handling of the case and asking a judge to bar the prosecutor from further involvement.
Wow! All of a sudden, Tucker seems more virile than he ever did before!
If that happens, and I agree it's a strong possibility, I certainly hope the defense will pursue whatever avenues are available to get a factual finding of innocence, as well as a pursuing a civil suit against her in order to get her inconsistencies on the record.
Don't be surprised if Nifong tries to finagle a way to keep her from testifying, such as lack of mental capacity, fear for her life, etc., and still pursue the case, or get the court to agree to allow her to testify from behind a screen by video, something like that - anything to allow her to lie without people getting to see her face and reactions to questions, and to get sympathy from the jury.
Don't be surprised.
I don't know why newsies keep interviewing that lying bastard.
Onyx, he's new, not a troll. Be nice.
Doc, seniority does matter around here, and you haven't been here long enough to call anyone out as a troll, whether they are or not.
Plus, one of the rules here is that we stay on topic and don't bring up posts made on previous nonrelated threads to accuse posters. I learned that the hard way when I first joined here as well. :-)
Welcome to FR by the way! I love that this case is bringing in new posters. Just make sure your skin is thick and you've got your asbestos-lined pajamas on!
We (myself included) often make the mistake of assuming newsies are interested in who, what, when, where, how and why. Their aim is to sell newspapers or attract TV viewers...
Well I "hearded" it was because of his dazzling and charming repartee
Right. Baker is using smoke and mirrors.
I wonder if this Baker is any relation to the professor Baker at Duke that sent that really vicious open letter to Duke administration early on just after the case became public knowledge.
That isn't surprising to me. Kim wasn't suspected of anything and seemed, at the time, to be acting as a good samaritan. They had no cause to search her car.
He is a such a colossal liar, it's downright comical. The trouble is, because he is the father of the "victim", he is considered to be in some sort of state of grace or reverence.
The talking heads and other cast of media characters who still interview him, like Rita Cosby last night, don't seem to realize that all this does is degrade their own credibility as reporters and journalists. I can't take seriously anybody who would continue to interview him after all that has been exposed about him.
LOL! Are you suggesting that now there is some requirement that all defendants make public statements because one chose to and was allowed to do so by his attorney?
Keep in mind that Dave Evans is a team captain and is used to speaking for them in a leadership role.
What this signaled to me is that all the speculation that Nifong has a player in his pocket who has turned on the others is hogwash.
Good giref. He was told repeatedly to stop bringing arguments from other threads to this one.
He was trolling for marajade.
Read on, you'll see that Howlin had to yell at him, long after I went to bed.
What??? You heard that the old man said one of those alleged attackers was her brother???
No, the defense needed documentation of Nifong's refusal. Delivering the information would not accomplish that, and would benefit Nifong.
No.
I was saying that having your attorney do it wasn't as effective as standing up there and doing it yourself.
The AV's father is saying that RS and CF must be guilty since they didn't profess their innocence like DE did.
Of course the AV's father is well off plumb....
Why take care of yourself when you can stand on a bridge and scream at the government through media cameras that you haven't had a hot meal for two days (even though you look like you're eighty pounds overweight and it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity so who wants a hot meal anyway?) and vocalize DEMANDS that YOU be helped IMMEDIATELY?
anyone watching The Abrams Report?
Personally, I think something else happened 3 years later and that's how she wound up in the police station. The three year prior rape was likely her excuse for "illicit behavior". You know... blame something else.
Her father is such a colossal liar and opportunist, he is pathetic. He's a disgusting human being, imo. I will not be surprised if we learn someday that he had incestuous relations with Crystal when she was a child, as a means of explaining how mentally screwed up she is.
Keep in mind that Kim changed clothes in the bathroom before they left the house. This tells me that she either had plans to go somewhere else (besides home) after leaving OR that she knew in advance she would have to be having contact with the cops in order to dump Mangum and did not want to be dressed in stripper's garb such that the cops would make a connection between them.
If it gets thrown out, Nifong will have hell to pay with the black vote.
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