Posted on 07/20/2007 8:10:38 AM PDT by Sleeping Freeper
Durham — An attorney who represented one of three Duke lacrosse players prosecuted on false rape allegations was expected to appear Friday before a special committee examining the Durham Police Department's handling of the case.
Charlotte lawyer Jim Cooney was on the agenda of the special committee's first meeting. Discussion could last from a couple of hours to as long as the entire day. Watch it now live on WRAL.com.
Cooney represented Reade Seligmann, who along with David Evans and Collin Finnerty, was indicted last year on charges of first-degree rape, sexual assault and kidnapping charges that later were all dropped.
Durham Mayor Bill Bell and members of the Durham City Council called for the 12-member panel in May following an internal police department report that found, in part, that a tense relationship between then-District Attorney Mike Nifong and defense attorneys had hampered the investigation and that detectives had done nothing wrong.
Bell said that report lacked focus and left questions about the police department's role in the case unanswered, specifically who led the investigation — detectives or Nifong.
"It's really an embarrassment that we're going through this and that we have to do this process," Durham City Councilman Eugene Brown said last month. "It's painful, but the truth, sometimes, is painful, and it needs to come out."
Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers has defended his officers' actions and has said that he wanted a third-party review and a more in-depth report before Bell called for it.
Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard heads the panel, which also includes retired Chapel Hill police Chief Gregg Jarvies, Durham attorney Ken Spaulding and a victims advocate, Aurelia Sands-Bell.
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
The university president and the Duke 88 are still on the payroll. That’s the real shame.
“The university president and the Duke 88 are still on the payroll. That’s the real shame.”
They are just as complicit, if not more so, than Nifong. They collectively (pun intended) represent how reprehensible the Wrong are in this country.
It is my sincere and earnest prayer that they be held accountable for their actions. Seems like a credible civil suit could be brought against them - does anyone know?
It's my understanding there was an out of court settlement.
I fully expect a whitewash within the PD. Nope, nobody did anything wrong there, officers perhaps erred on the wrong side of discretion but hey the system worked, blah blah.
A great example of the destruction caused by a lie. No media asking her? Telling isn't it?
Look at her life - I think she is and has been paying for a long time. But I am with you - more payment is surely warranted.
Durham, and Duke University, are defined by their behavior in this case. And any white man who does not act on that assumption is extremely incautious, at best. Why a white male athlete would commit himself to that University, and that locale, is beyond me. Anyone who is a good enough athlete to be recruited by Duke would have choices . . .But then, journalists are defined by their behavior in this case, too. Don't expect any of them to point it out if in fact Duke men's athletics becomes an all-black affair.
Well, I do believe they did nothing.
Chief of the Harness-Bulls doubletalking re exculpatory evidence here:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/1443288/
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