Posted on 09/22/2006 1:20:40 PM PDT by Howlin
You know that's why Nifong won't give the exact times.
Apparently so...........LOL.
Just like he demonstrated HOW she was held from behind, remember?
He was wrong about that, too.
What did CTV have to say??
CTV's Beth Karas questioned Nifong in the court room about arraignments. Said accused won't be arraigned until closer to trial in case they want to enter a PLEA.
It sounded crazy to me; why aren't the entitled to know exactly what they are accused of?
This travesty could have happened to anyone.
nifong's poll motion was discussed. judge given copy of questions from defense team. sked for next hearing 10/20
Well, we all know that oral sex is not sex because clinton said so, and Nifong will just have to drop one of those charges. /s
When did he say that??
Hell, he's probably still hoping one of them will come forward "with the truth" about what really happened.
I'm like you; why is he driving this train off a cliff?
It seems so obvious that I'm surprised they had to make a special request (which was refused).
Clinton? When he said "I did not have sex w/that woman...Monica Lewinsky." (Oral but no penetration...ergo, no sex, according to that liar.)
No, when did Nifong claim he only gave that many interviews?
I read it in one of the articles today....can't remember which one. Will look for it.
The defense told the judge that they will probably do more polling.........and even may conduct mock trials!
They may ask for it to be moved out of Durham!
this just in...
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/489469.html
By Anne Blythe, Staff Writer
Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III refused today to order prosecutors to give defense lawyers a more precise timeline and description of the gang-rape alleged in the Duke lacrosse case.
Kirk Osborn, the Chapel Hill lawyer representing Reade Seligmann, one of three lacrosse players charged in the case, says Seligmann can account for his whereabouts from 12:05 to 12:46 on the morning of the incident. In requests for search warrants and DNA testing, prosecutors have alleged that the offense happened in a 30-minute period between the night of March 13 and the morning of March 14, but have been no more specific.
Osborn said during a pretrial hearing today that he was afraid of being ambushed in court by prosecutors alleging that the incident happened in a wider time frame.
“What we're wanting is the exact time that this occurred,” Osborn told the judge.
By his count, Osborn said, the accuser has given at least 12 versions of the incident. “Her statements are inconsistent about which bathroom it occurred in,” Osborn said. “Her statements are inconsistent about who did what to her.”
In arguments before the judge, District Attorney Mike Nifong said the whole incident probably happened in five to 10 minutes.
The accuser arrived at a Duke lacrosse team party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. close to 11:30 p.m. March 13, Nifong said in court today. When police went to the house about an hour and a half later, at 12:55 a.m., no one was there, he added.
In a hearing sprinkled with verbal sparring between the prosecution and defense, Nifong chided Osborn for telling a judge during a previous court session that his client had an “airtight alibi.”
“It's obvious that this took place between 11:30 p.m. and 12:55 a.m.,” Nifong said. “We're not required to report the exact time an offense took place.”
Nifong argued that defense lawyers would have all the evidence before trial, as required by state law, but did not need to know beforehand precisely how the prosecution would lay out its case. At the trial, he said, defense lawyers could cross-examine the accuser, who would "most certainly testify,” if they wanted to get a more specific timeline.
At the hearing today, Nifong handed over 615 pages of evidence, one CD-ROM and one cassette tape. Defense lawyers now have 2,465 pages of evidence provided by the prosecution. They still await reports about what investigators have obtained from computers and cell phones seized from lacrosse players.
The hearing today was the first before Judge Smith, who was assigned in the summer to preside over the case.
Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty each has been charged with first-degree rape, kidnapping and sexual offense.
Also on Friday, Nifong took a jab at defense lawyers when they sought more information about DNA testing.
The defense lawyers want to know more about who did the testing and how it was done. They asked for DNA reports from the SBI and private lab that did a second round of testing in case other DNA was identified during the testing.
Doug Kingsbury, a Raleigh lawyer representing Finnerty, said that other DNA might have been found that did not match any of the lacrosse players or others tested for matches.
Nifong answered that it was ironic that the attorneys now want the "typical witch hunt list" to cast doubt on how the DNA was tested.
This summer, when the lawyers received test results from the SBI and private labs, Nifong said, "they called press conferences and told everybody that the DNA had exonerated their clients."
The SBI and the private lab that did a second round of testing could produce much of the information the attorneys wanted, Nifong said, but there could be a $4,035 price tag associated with the report from the private lab.
Brad Bannon, a lawyer representing Evans, objected to Nifong's mention of cost. He said it was the state that ordered the private lab tests.
"We did not make the choice of doing the second round of testing in this case; the state did," Bannon said. "We are entitled to the information we are asking for, no matter how much it costs."
The hearing comes after a flurry of action this week by the prosecution and defense.
On Wednesday, Nifong asked Judge Smith to put all the defense lawyers under oath and ask them to explain their involvement in a phone survey that has been conducted in Durham. He called the survey a "thinly disguised" attempt to influence jurors.
Defense lawyers objected to that characterization in court today.
Joe Cheshire, a Raleigh lawyer representing Evans, accused Nifong of using the court document he filed about the poll to influence the jury pool.
“That motion has gotten in every newspaper in this state, on every TV channel,” Cheshire said. “Who is trying to use this survey to influence the jurors? We did not.”
After Wade Smith, a Raleigh lawyer representing Finnerty, told the judge that defense lawyers had contracted a company to poll 300 people in Durham, not only to gauge whether they might pursue a change of venue, but to determine the types of jurors they might eventually seat on the case.
In a city with 240,000 people, Smith said, the pollsters had contacted a small percentage of the population.
“Your honor, it's like taking a teaspoon and dipping it into a swimming pool,” Smith said.
Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.
NBC 17
AP
Nifong: Alleged Attack May Have Lasted Just Minutes
POSTED: 3:37 pm EDT September 22, 2006
UPDATED: 4:03 pm EDT September 22, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. -- Three Duke lacrosse players took five to ten minutes to rape and sexually assault a woman hired to perform as a stripper at a team party, and not the 30 minutes she originally described to investigators, a prosecutor said Friday.
"When something happens to you that is really awful, it can seem like it takes place longer than it actually takes," District Attorney Mike Nifong said.
Nifong repeatedly stated during Friday's hearing that the accuser will testify at the trial.
Nifong's comments came as Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III denied a defense request that prosecutors provide a detailed accounting of the alleged assault, including the exact time, place and type of sexual act the accuser said each defendant committed.
A grand jury has indicted three lacrosse players - Reade Seligmann, 20; Collin Finnerty, 19; and David Evans, 23 - on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense.
The accuser, a student at nearby North Carolina Central University, told police she was raped in a bathroom by three men at a March 13 off-campus party. Defense attorneys have strongly proclaimed the players' innocence.
Kirk Osborn, who represents Seligmann, said the defense needed the so-called "bill of particulars" because the accuser has told several different versions of the alleged assault, and his client has a right to know which version prosecutors will present at trial. In search and arrest warrants issued early in the investigation, police stated the accuser told investigators she was assaulted for 30 minutes.
Nifong said he is not required to state the exact time of the alleged attack, but offered that authorities believe it took place between 11:30 p.m. on March 13, when the accuser arrived at the party, and 12:55 a.m. on March 14, when police arrived and found no one at the house.
"Out of his client's whole life, we have given him an hour and a half that he has to account for," Nifong said.
The timing is crucial to Osborn, who again pledged Friday to present an alibi defense for Seligmann. He said the then-sophomore made eight calls on his cell phone between 12:05 a.m. and 12:14 a.m., when he called a cab company for a ride. The cab took Seligmann to an ATM, a fast-food restaurant, and finally back to his dorm at 12:46 a.m.
"When is the exact time this occurred, because we have accounted for our time," Osborn said.
Friday's hearing was the first since Smith was appointed to take over the case, and it was scheduled to continue Friday afternoon. During the morning session, defense lawyers again complained about the slow pace with which they said Nifong is sharing evidence.
"There is a pattern that has developed ... that we don't get discovery unless a court date is set and we're here before a judge," said defense attorney Brad Bannon, who represents defendant David Evans.
Before the hearing began, Nifong gave defense lawyers 615 pages of evidence, a compact disc and a cassette tape. Prosecution evidence must be shared with the defense under North Carolina's discovery laws.
Nifong said the evidence provided Friday included much of what was requested by defense lawyers, who had asked for handwritten notes from police officers involved with the case, reports outlining procedures used at the labs who tested the DNA of the players and notes from a mental health facility where police took the accuser after the party.
Nifong responded by telling Smith he is now personally handling discovery issues in his office.
"We're providing in good faith what we can in these circumstances," Nifong said. "Despite the feelings of some people, this is not the only case in Durham."
The 3 LAX players have already been indicted by a GJ and charged.
Nifong, I suspect, is in permanent acid flash-back states of mental cognitive disability. He's "phwamming": 'It happened, Man -- I sawit! Isawit!... "don't eat the shroommmsmsssmsms".
He is bad news.
Did Speedy Gonzales have a moustache? This case travels deeper into the Twilight Zone as we go.
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