Posted on 02/04/2012 5:00:45 PM PST by abb
LSU AD Alleva Deposed in Duke Lacrosse Suit Posted by: Walter Abbott on Saturday, February 4, 2012, 18:20
Louisiana State University (LSU) Athletic Director Joe Alleva was deposed last month in a lawsuit filed nearly five years ago regarding the notorious Duke Lacrosse Case, where a prostitute falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape.
Alleva was Duke’s athletic director at the time and was famously quoted as telling lacrosse coach Mike Pressler as he was cancelling the team’s season that “It’s not about the truth anymore,” because of the intense media coverage of the controversy.
Mike Nifong, the district attorney who filed the bogus charges was later disbarred and spent a night in jail for his role in the attempted lynching.
From the latest filing in McFadyen v Duke:
During his deposition on January 20, 2012, Mr. Alleva testified that he made positive and truthful statements about Plaintiffs and their teammates’ character at the University’s press conference on March 28, 2006.
See here the court filing.
See here earlier coverage of Joe Alleva at Lincoln Parish News Online (LPNO).
Archive for the ‘Joe Alleva’ Category
When you're dealing with the 'intentions' of people, you have to cover every base because they will try to explain bad motivations away with some excuse.
I agree with you that the longer this drags on, the worse it looks for Duke. Of course, the initial scandal was bad enough - this just keeps it in the news.
My daughter was applying to colleges about the time this all broke, and we crossed Duke off the list. Even though my mom was Duke '48.
Though I never defended a high-profile case like this, I would think that somebody should have contemplated settlement very, very seriously rather than let things drag on this long. But the same pride and liberal delusions, plus blind belief in their own perfection, led to the scandal in the first place and will probably lead them to go to trial. They might get lucky, but they may have a hard fall.
An interesting thing about trying this in federal court is that Duke will not get a Durham jury. The panel will be drawn from all over the division (five counties), and I don't think Duke will get much sympathy outside its immediate orbit.
No one seemed to bat an eye when the chief dropped out of sight. I can’t wait until he is deposed.
You may be right, but I definitely heard Cooper say that the three were innocent. As soon as he proclaimed it, there were gasps from those gathered.
A NIGHT?
He tried to put boys he knew not to be guilty in jail to gain a political advantage in an election and spends ONE NIGHT in jail?
THAT SHOULD BE MANDATORY 20 YEARS (in general population- A prosectutor would have a lot of fun there with guys he probably sent there)
A NIGHT?
He tried to put boys he knew not to be guilty in jail to gain a political advantage in an election and spends ONE NIGHT in jail?
THAT SHOULD BE MANDATORY 20 YEARS (in general population- A prosectutor would have a lot of fun there with guys he probably sent there)
Of course shysters pile up billable hours, that’s their job! And where did you get the idea that in an adversarial judicial system “justice” is the shyster’s job!?
Hypothetical: I get caught for felony theft. I hire an attorney. If I find out that rascal has taken my money and is working for “Justice” as opposed to getting me off, I’ll have him before the Ethics Board, have him on the wrong end of a civil suit, and might well get him disbarred!
Actually Duke is a pretty good school. Just give them the SMU “death penalty” on all intermural NCAA sports as happened to SMUs football program.
Broadhead. Isn’t that the name of a certain kind of catfish?
The Duke Lacrosse case wasn’t the first time.
While at Yale he tried to destroy James Van de Velde’s career:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/gaynor/070611
Truly a despicable sack of ...Broadhead.
By the way, note how far ahead of the curve this Van de Velde guy was at the time.
Actually, its the plaintiffs who are resistant to a settlement. We over at Liestoppers have some limited contact with them, and infrequently correspond.
You see, the entire thing was a frameup from the start. The cops, Duke, Nifong - all of them knew there was no rape from the beginning and before it hit the headlines. But they pushed it anyway, for various reasons - DA Nifong, to win an election; Duke, to curry favor with the Marxist crowd on campus; the cops, to settle old scores with uppity students; the prostitute accuser, to score a big payday. And so on.
The plaintiffs overarching goal is that the truth of the attempted lynching be exposed for the world to see. It isn't about settlements or money.
It's about the truth.
As it should always be. More power to the TRUTH!
How often does that happen, not “not guilty”, not “innocent”, but “no crime in the first place?” Especially in a case of this seriousness and publicity. Rare? Rare-squared? Off the graph? Never heard of it?
That being the case, all bets are off.
Duke has offered a substantial sum in settlement, which has been refused? Then the defendants will twist and turn and try to delay the trial, but the whole purpose of delay on the part of the defense is to try to leverage a settlement. If the plaintiffs aren't interested in a settlement, then all the delay in the world will, in the end, do no good.
And sooner or later the judge is going to deny a motion for extension of discovery time, and set a trial date.
If they are just deposing Alleva, though, and haven't yet deposed the police chief, and the defendants are filing motions for protective orders to limit discovery, we are probably not near the end of discovery.
But this could get . . . interesting.
I was completely blown away. I don't recollect EVER hearing any public official say anything so absolutely uncompromising. That's the point at which you say, "Uh-oh." Especially if you're in the DA's office.
FYI, Locomotive Breath (who has followed the case from the very beginning) was actually AT that press conference. He was denied access to the room because of overcrowding. At least that was the excuse used.
Yes. Lots of discovery yet to go, and all of it very revealing. Which is why Duke U has spent uncounted millions trying to prevent it.
One other tidbit: There’s no statute of limitations on felonies in North Carolina. And since it was a deliberate attempt to pin a rap on innocent people, there’s plenty to go around.
Although some have moved on to other higher ed jobs, most are still at Duke. It will take lots of work to root them out.
Before you take depositions, you have to have the documents to pin the deponent down. So the plaintiffs sent requests for production to Duke and the other defendants. Duke filed motions for protective order, those were heard and the judge ordered them to produce documents, which they then produced in a "document dump" of thousands of irrelevant similar items. The plaintiffs' lawyers (actually, their paralegals and summer associates) sat around and sifted through the silt of thousands of documents to come up with the nuggets of evidentiary gold.
Those items lead, of course, to more items which the defendants had hoped to avoid producing. Another round of motions to compel/for protective order ensues - and it looks like that's what we're seeing as depositions get under way.
The judge is probably getting irritated about now. If the plaintiffs can show that one or more defendants have been playing 'hide the ball' with documents, things may get pretty intense.
We'll await developments with interest. It seems clear to me that there was malfeasance at the bottom of this (that was pretty darn clear as soon as the AG made his bombshell announcement). Just how blatant will depend on the documents that surface -- and how truthful the deponents are under oath.
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