Posted on 06/22/2006 2:23:47 AM PDT by abb
DURHAM -- District Attorney Mike Nifong plans to give defense lawyers at least 300 additional pages of information about the Duke University lacrosse rape case, adding to 1,298 pages of documentation surrendered previously.
Without describing their contents, Nifong said the new documents would be handed over during a preliminary hearing today for three recently indicted lacrosse players: Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans.
The three are accused of raping, sodomizing and restraining an exotic dancer in a bathroom during an off-campus party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-March.
All are free under $400,000 bonds as they await a trial that, according to Nifong, might begin next spring.
None is expected to attend today's hearing.
In addition to a transfer of documents, the hearing will include a request from Seligmann's lawyers that his bond be lowered to roughly one-tenth its current level. The lawyers filed an affidavit in support of that request Wednesday.
Signed by Philip Seligmann, the defendant's father, the affidavit said that Seligmann had been recruited by every Ivy League university to play football or lacrosse, and that he accepted a 90-percent scholarship to be on the Duke lacrosse team.
"This case has taken an unbelievable and horrendous emotional toll on all my family, especially my wife," the elder Seligmann wrote. "We are committed as a family, along with Reade, to do everything necessary to restore our good name."
According to the affidavit, Seligmann's bail money was provided by a family friend whose "loss of income is substantial" as a result.
In a related matter, the News and Observer Publishing Co. moved Wednesday to make public certain documents -- reportedly pertaining to the alleged rape victim's medical records -- that were filed by defense lawyers under seal.
"In this case, the fact that there are charges of sexual assault is unfortunate and controversial -- either because a woman has been sexually violated or because the defendants have been wrongfully accused -- but neither is a justification for sealing a court proceeding," a lawyer for the newspaper wrote.
The lawyer, Hugh Stevens, also said the sealed documents raised questions about Nifong's handling of the case. He said that when the conduct of public officials is at issue, it is an added reason for making the pertinent files public.
Meanwhile, several defense lawyers predicted Wednesday that Nifong's latest 300-plus pages of documentation would do little to help him, since earlier paperwork -- in their view -- was more beneficial to the defense than the prosecution.
For example, attorneys Joe Cheshire and Brad Bannon have said the earlier documents showed a "very significant and disturbing deficiency" in Nifong's evidence.
Specifically, there were indications that Nifong began making public statements about the accuser's medical records even before they were in his possession, according to the two lawyers, who represent Evans.
Cheshire and Bannon said the District Attorney's Office subpoenaed the accuser's medical files from Duke Hospital on March 20 -- six days after the alleged rape.
However, the files were not printed out in compliance with the subpoena until March 30, and Police Investigator Benjamin Himan didn't pick them up until April 5, Cheshire and Bannon wrote in court paperwork last week.
But the lawyers said Nifong told a local television station on March 27 that he had no doubt the exotic dancer was raped, based on a "personal review" of her medical records. They quoted the district attorney as saying, "My reading of the report of the emergency room nurse would indicate that some type of sexual assault did in fact take place."
Citing the 1,298 pages of documentation given them by Nifong earlier, various defense lawyers also have contended there were numerous inconsistencies in the accuser's version of events, along with unacceptable omissions in a sworn affidavit prepared by police. The affidavit was used by Himan to obtain judicial permission for his evidence-gathering efforts.
Among other things, Himan failed to mention that a co-dancer had described the rape allegation as "a crock," even though she was with the accuser for all but about five minutes on the night in question, according to defense lawyers.
Nifong has bristled at that and other defense characterizations of his evidence, while attacking the national press corps for -- in his opinion -- blindly reporting the characterizations without checking their accuracy.
"Is anyone surprised that the defense attorneys are spinning this case in such a way that things do not look good for the prosecution?" Nifong wrote in an e-mail to Newsweek magazine last week.
"Their job, after all, is to create reasonable doubt, a task made all the easier by an uncritical national press corps desperate for any reportable detail, regardless of its veracity," the district attorney said.
The e-mail traffic was made public by Nifong on Monday.
URL for this article: http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-746370.html
the tubby radio guy from Durham says the insiders all say Nifong has no case...
I'd put my money on the tubby radio guy.
tubby = not very pc. shoulda said gravitationally challenged...
I have previously suggested that after this is over the defendants might go after Nifong etal using the RICO statute. The appear to be a criminal conspiracy to me. That would get the defendants treble damages.
RICO was used against the right to life demostraightor. Certainly RICO would be more appropriate with this gang.
Yeah, I saw a bit of it. Missed the SI guy. They seemed very critical of the lacrosse players.
OK, I thought I heard on that same FOX show that there is going to be a hearing on the lineup ID on July 3rd.
I haven't heard that before.
Am I hallucinating, or did I miss something?
That is what I heard that surprised me. I believe it is a typical media error. I believe the motion to quash Nifong's grab for the home address and key card information on the other Duke lacrosse players will be heard in early July. That is probably what she was confusing with the motion about the lineup.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I had to clean house -- all the time I spend at the office -- you could write your name in the dust on all the table tops and everytime I walked in the kitchen, my shoes were sticking to the floor. All ship-shape and tidy now.
I agree. Again, in our case, when the accuser's story didn't fly at the high school, she introduced the "alleged" racial slur as the "cherry on the top of her story" some 48 hours after her initial performance. Her story was like that party game where somebody starts a story, the next person adds something and so on.
I might add that had she not introduced the racial "bomb" our son would have been back at school in time for the championship game. He was originally suspended for 3 days for trash talking, then the accuser upped the ante by saying he threatened her with scissors and it went to a ten day suspension -- so she went for broke with, "he was going to shank my black ass -- I may have to call in the Rev. Al" and it went to expulsion. I guess you could say that the racial slurs are the magic words.
Damn. Ruth Sheehan? Did one of guys take over her computer?
Did you note that she says, "there's no way that a non prejudiced jury would ever come close to convicting these boys of rape."
The condition on the jury - A NON-PREJUDICED JURY.
This case is so elemental that even a radical liberal like Ruth S. came identify the Crux of the matter.
thanks for the info
Does history repeat itself?
1961: North Carolina 81, Duke 77. Duke's Art Heyman and Carolina's Larry Brown—
rivals since their high school days on Long Island—start a brawl with nine seconds left
that requires 10 cops to break up. A Durham lawyer with ties to the Tar Heels would
swear out an assault warrant against Heyman over an altercation during the melee with
a North Carolina male cheerleader.
Heyman believes private detectives hired by Tar Heel partisans tailed him for the
rest of his career, which may explain why as a senior he was arrested at a
Myrtle Beach, S.C., motel—where he and a lady friend had checked in as
Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Robertson—and charged with transporting a woman across
state lines for immoral purposes.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/college/features/1998/photogallery/dukeunc/greatmoments.html
Who is the Durham lawyer?
Why don't you tell us?
Hey folks Dukeadomas is back with a new puzzle!
Because he wants attention.
Sounds like he got along fine with Mrs. O. Robertson
apologies if already posted:
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http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:8-yPFpLMdYkJ:mikenifong.com/news02.php+linwood+wilson&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=18
Newly hired bad check collector hits right note Durham employs former officer, singer to make people pay up
Originally published in:
The Herald-Sun
Monday, January 02, 2006
Edition: Final
BY JOHN STEVENSON jstevenson@heraldsun.com
When it comes to collecting worthless checks, the Durham District Attorney's Office has just been reinforced by a bass voice of CD quality, over 6 feet of height and more than 200 pounds of weight.
Enter Linwood Wilson, a former policeman, retired private investigator and singer in a nationally known gospel quartet.
He is the new No. 2 person in a program that hounds the writers of bad checks until they pay up, allowing merchants to recoup their money free of charge and keeping those cases out of over-clogged courtrooms.
Wilson likes to joke that pressure from his wife, coupled with trickery by District Attorney Mike Nifong, induced him to take the job.
"My wife told me I had to get work," said the 57-year-old Wilson. "If mama ain't happy, nobody's happy. I got a job."
Nifong confessed that he had two ulterior motives for hiring Wilson.
"For one thing, I was trying to find people older than me so I wouldn't be the oldest person in this office," he quipped.
The chief prosecutor is 55.
In addition, anyone who knows Nifong is aware that he is an unabashed music fanatic. He said it didn't hurt that Wilson has 39 years of singing experience with the Spokesmen Gospel Quartet, and that he once sang with the Stamps Quartet, which provided background vocals for Elvis Presley.
"If we ever want an office quartet, we've got the bass now," said a smiling Nifong.
There also were professional reasons for the hiring.
"I'd known Linwood for awhile," Nifong said. "I knew he was an honest man. I knew his experience in investigations would be a help to the job. He's big and he can be intimidating if he wants to be. But he's not naturally that way. He's the kind of guy who can add a little gravitas to any situation. No one else brought to the table the combination of talents, abilities and experience Linwood had. He was a perfect fit."
Wilson began working with the Durham Police Department, then known as the Department of Public Safety, in 1971 and stayed until 1980. Then he became a private investigator, retiring in 1997.
"I'm enjoying it," he said of his new position as a worthless-check collector. "I think this program can be very beneficial."
Check writers pay.
The way Nifong sees it, the program's beauty lies in its cost-effectiveness. "Not only does it collect money for merchants," he said. "It also pays for itself. It doesn't cost the merchants or taxpayers anything."
Writers of bad checks pay all the fees.
Nifong and his predecessor as district attorney, Jim Hardin Jr., had bets with a previous worthless check collector.
Last year, Hardin wagered she couldn't reach a collection goal of $75,000. She came through with $104,000.
This year, the wager hinged on a target figure of $200,000. More than $202,000 had been raked in by mid-November.
But Nifong has no similar bets with Wilson.
"I bet Linwood will more than earn his salary," he said. "That would be my only bet right now."
Thank you. I wanted to see that article on Linwood.
I had read it, but he didn't mean much back then!
Looks like he's earning his keep for Nifong.
Thanks for the link!
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