More details are dribbling out:
Nifong, bolstered by a medical exam that found injuries on the woman consistent with sexual assault, says he is confident that she was assaulted in the university-owned house. Nifong said last week at a forum at NCCU that the accuser identified at least one of her attackers.
Until Sunday night, the only other witness, the second woman hired to dance at the party, had remained silent. In television interviews, she told her story.
The woman’s attorney, Mark Simeon of Durham, declined Monday to make her available for an interview. She spoke on the MSNBC cable news network, which did not identify her and showed her in silhouette. Simeon confirmed that it was his client on MSNBC.
The woman told MSNBC that she did not witness a rape and does not know whether one occurred.
The woman said she arrived thinking that she would be dancing at a bachelor party of 15 people. She was not expecting a party of lacrosse players, many of whom she said were in a drunken stupor. The woman said she was infuriated to learn that some players photographed her dancing.
The accuser did not appear to be on drugs or to have been drinking when she arrived, the second dancer said. She was “absolutely fine and in control of herself.”
I still am curious what information the prosecutor has to indict them…
Faux News
Speaking of strippers, this Onion article is rather amusing:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46936
Mr Furious
Someone probably rolled. And if he can place the assault in the house, he’s got enough to go forward…
wilson
Nifong says he has identification and a V who claims no consent, so he has enough to get to a jury.
On the plus side, filing of charges should give lax players some rights to discovery. No doubt they want to see the med exam report. I suspect a high blood alcohol level, possible other evidence of intoxicants.
Perhaps Duke and other med schools should rethink how they train the nurses and MD’s who do med exams in cases of alleged sex assault. It seems best to just record objective findings. Leave out comments about how the “affect” is consistent or not consistent with having been through a rape. Also leave out characterization of the observed injuries, if any, as consistent or not consistent with forced sex. The injuries are what they are. Let the jury decide what must have happened. Here, it looks like the MD and nurse came up with “false positive” med exam test results for rape.
I suspect the folks that sign up to do “rape kit” exams (should be “alleged rape kit” or simply “med exam”) are naturally biased toward finding sex assualt. Then, over time, I suspect they are trained and groomed primarily by DA’s and police to become still more biased.
More broadly, it seems to me that Durham does not appreciate what Duke does for undergrads, or how property values in Durham are probably bolstered by having 6400 Duke undergrads. Perhaps Duke should announce a plan to move undergrad slots elsewhere – say 25% to Redmond, Washington, and 25% to the SF area. Belinda Gates is a Duke grad, I think, and the Gates family could certainly seed a great undergrad campus away from the “we love to hate Duke” crowd in Durham.
With communications as cheap as they are now, and getting cheaper, colleges can and should branch out geographically. Why not have Duke lead?
Duke already has away-from-Duke programs in places like Mexico, New York, etc. Princeton, Duke, Harvard, Yale etc. all encourage junior year abroad (or away from the home school).
From Durham City council sessions, one would think there is no underage drinking or noise at UNC or other colleges, only Duke. Duke needs to find and develop more facilities and programs away from the vocal and prominent “Duke folks are jerks” crowd in Durham.
Why not rotate the undergrads to places like NYC, Redmond, Mexico City, SF, San Diego, Dubai, London, instead of parking them in Durham for 4 years? Duke takes a huge hit in “beauty contests” before prospective top faculty and students because it is in Durham. Why not change that with infrastructure elsewhere?
Mr Furious
The DA said there was no DNA…so how could the details be “dribbling out?”
[sorry]
Andrew
UNC has its own town-gown issues, but they are a walk in the park compared to Duke’s.
Everyone in Durham knows how important Duke is for the economy, especially the quiet majority of blacks and whites, but this episode really crossed the line for most people. Of course the opportunists went nuts, but even the level headed community members are mad.
—
On to the case:
One of the indicted students, Collin Finnerty, is also facing assault charges in a gay bashing incident in Washington, D.C. This punk is not an upstanding citizen.
DougJ
Not to rain on anyone’s thread here, but I think it’s probably best if we sit this one out and let the courts handle it.
ZZ
I seem to recall reading this is an election year for the DA.
If true, may have a bearing on his desire to go forward with the case despite lack of DNA evidence,
Also, a Grand Jury indictment may not lay out all the prosecutors cards. He only needs to give them enough to vote a true bill and even then since procedings are secret, the defense may see very little because discovery is limited.
My perception is there is a great deal more under the table that has yet to be rolled out. But the media, et al have to make the most (too much) of what “dribbles” out.
wilson
“One of the indicted students, Collin Finnerty, is also facing assault charges in a gay bashing incident in Washington, D.C. This punk is not an upstanding citizen.”
Spend any time comparing the lax players to the bio of the alleged V?
I am shocked that V got a few weekends of community service for stealing a taxi, driving drunk, almost running over a cop.
Not sure either offense (V or Finnerty) gets admitted into evidence as to credibility, guilt or innocence.
Photos of lax players on DrudgeReport do not say “thug” and “gang rapist” to me.
I suspect if we compared the photos of the sophomores to the photo of the 27 year old, mother of two, divorcee, Navy washout, the possibility of misconduct by V (or hallucination?) might be more apparent.
I would investigate the possibility V had some sex, including anal, before she went to the lax party.
$400,000 of bail is pretty hefty – $40,000 in premium down the drain. Judge probably set bail amount so 10% premium would be equal to about a year of Duke tuition plus room and board.
Change of venue motion seems warranted.
fwiffo
God forbid we let experts actually testify to conclusions they’re qualified to make. Maybe we should tell astronomers to just comment on what lights they saw with their fancy “telespcopes” and have a jury of laymen decide what they really are. Maybe DNA testing labs should just take pictures of the RFLP gels and show them to the jury without including their interpretations on whether they’re a match or not.
And you know this how? Were you there? Do you have another expert’s interpretation of the medical exam?
capelza
is wilson a member of the defense team?
Doug J has it right
Ryan S
OK.. thats it. I’m tring to eat here.
besides those detail prolly dribbled out right after…..
Wow I think I’ve crossed some kind of line.
Andrew
Perhaps we should leave her punishment to the lacrosse team. Hooker-pants, anyone?
Steve
You think you were joking, but see here.
zzyzx
Now that the media and the spinners have gotten involved, there’s no way that we’re going to know anything about what actually happened here, but that will be offset by the number of people who are sure that they know everything about the case.
I was stunned at how many people in another community I’m in were quick to blame the alleged victim because if a stripper shows up to a party without a bodyguard, she should know what’s going to happen. Usually claims that all men would rape if given the opportunity are left to the Dworkin camp of feminism, not men who think that they’re defending an alleged rapist.
capelza
Steve..I wasn’t joking.
The Other Steve
wilson wrote:
You know, I thought the movie V for Vendetta was kind of cool and all. But you have to realize that it was fictional. The character V was not a real person.
You might want to not watch so many movies in the future, if you have such trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality.
Laura
You’re not actually stupid enough to think you can look at a photo and know whether someone’s a rapist, are you? What an ass.
DougJ
Both sides are wrong here. The players were wrong to rape that woman — if they really did it — and she was wrong to have had a criminal record herself — if she really has it.
Steve
Laura, I think you know exactly what he meant by that. We all agree that Willie Horton looked like a dangerous criminal, right? Of course we do.
Pooh
Good luck with that.
The Left has a good point as well
A whole lot of rubbernecking and now the usual people are making the usual noises. How long before Fred Phelps shows up to say something horrible?
oopla
My guess is that one of the Lacross players has gone to the DA, and offered the DA his testimony against other players if the DA would hold off announcement of a witness untill the Duke Semester is over and he can find another college to transfer too. Because anyone who testifies would/will face huge harrasment on the Duke Campus.
Laura
Yes, I do. I guess it’s good that he’s at least overt with his bigotry. But it’s jarring to me. What really kills me is knowing that there are people who would nod their head in agreement, thinking what he said made perfect sense.
Bob In Pacifica
Having a history of defending people as a shop steward in the Post Office (no rapes or murders), big news trials are always interesting for me. The two sides are still sparring, I see that the defense now says it has evidence from ATM receipts and a cab driver’s testimony (hopefully not the one that the alleged victim had problems with a few years back) that they weren’t at the party when it happened.
There’s just not enough of the prosecution’s case out there in public for me to make a determination, not that my determination means jackshit. At THE NEWS BLOG Gilliard and his amen corner are trying to get a conviction based on race and social status. At Talkleft the conversation is a little less heated, more from a defense attorney’s point of view.
At this stage it’s more compelling than Natalee Holloway.
Steve
Maybe Father Bobby could be their alibi witness.
Stormy70
I am going to wait to see what the prosecution has before I can come down on either side. Too much murkiness, and the defense and prosecutors are spinning what little info that has come out.
Nice Guy
Stripper claims: She struggled so hard fighting off these three white men that five of her press on nails fell off.
Facts: nails were recovered and no DNA were found under the nails; no scratches were found anywhere on any of the boys. No scratch marks were found anywhere on any of the boys’ bodies.
Stripper claims: three men raped her on the bathroom rug,
Fact:
• No vaginal or seminal fluid, no skin, blood, or hair were found anywhere in the bathroom, bath towels, bath rug, door handle, bathroom floor, basin, water faucet handle, etc.
• A man cannot take off a condom and not get DNA from himself or the female on his hands and not transfer it to everything he touches?
• Accuser claims she was vaginally penetrated; accuser claims she was panicked and thought she was going to die; Where is her vaginal fluid, urine, or blood anywhere in the bathroom? Does her body defy basic physiology capable of keeping any ejaculate from spilling out?
• Accuser claims she was anally penetrated; Where’s her fecal material or scat smears in the bathroom? Does the accuser have inhuman anal sphinter control that prevented any of the ejaculate from dripping out?
• Accuser claims she was orally sodomized; where is DNA from her saliva and tears? Did she lick up every drop and swallowed any evidence?
DNA evidence not connecting the boys to the “criminal stripper” is significant enough, but absolutely no DNA at all is significant in suggesting the rape never occurred at all!
Stripper claim bruises were result of an attack from three boys:
Fact: Time-stamped photos prove stripper arrived bruised and cut while drunk.
Pictures show the stripper performed without the finger nails, and her knees were bruised before she arived.
Nifong stated that a condom was used, if this is true than where is the spermicidal lubricant evidence? Where are the condoms? Where are the condom wrappers? Where is the empty condom box?
If no DNA material were present on the stripper, than why were DNA samples taken? The District Attorney vigorously claimed that these DNA evidence will clear the innocent.
The second stripper stated that she didn’t notice any rape, and when they got back in the car the “accuser” didn’t mention anything about being rape.
Apparently the “second stripper charged with embezzling $25,000” changed her story to conspire with the “lying stripper under-probation-for-larceny-and-trying-to-kill-a-police-officer-with-a-stolen-car” as part of a deal with Nifong to get released from jail, also contacted a public relations firm to “not let this opportunity pas her by and to spin it to my advantage”.
This in the wake of pictures surfacing showing that the “lying stripper” had those fake finger nails missing before the time she lied that a rape occurred.
With the taste of his own foot still lingering in his mouth, District Attorney Mike Nifong has another piece of evidence blow up in his face, I wonder how’s his ulcer is doing?
So would it be his own aura or is it the universe’s way of getting back at Nifong for destroying these young boys lives?
It would be funny if Nifong’s ulcer leads to a colonoscopy, or would it be “ironic” or “poetic justice” that he screws 47 boys over a false rape claim and have to take a 36 inch colonoscopy tube up his @ss for his part in the fiasco he created.
Lets not forget that not only that there lacks any DNA evidence of the boys, but there’s an absolute absence of DNA from her who claims she was raped vaginally, anally, and orally… why wasn’t any of HER vaginal, urine, blood, sweat, fecal, saliva, or tears not found anywhere in the bathroom? Nifong claims that condoms could have been used, then where are the condoms? The condom wrappers, the condom box, the spermicidal evidence from the rape kit?
Some feminist claim the boys were drunk and where so overwhelmed with excitement that they couldn’t ejaculate- not even one, obviously these women have never had sex with a 19 year old male or any male.
Finally, don’t forget the three boys who lived in the house agreed to be questioned by the police for over six hours, and volunteered to a lie detector test. When the boys were told to surrender DNA samples, none called their parents r tried to block the order, they complied because they new the “stripper with the criminal record” was lying. These are not the actions of guilty boys, but Nifong claimed that they were all covering up for each other and will charge each of them with aiding and abetting because the only information they had is that no rape occurred.
These boys were and continue to be put through hell by these criminal strippers and an unscrupulous DA. Hopefully these three will be held accountable for the racial riots pending the acquittal of these innocent boys.
Below is the text of the e-mail sent by Kim Roberts to 5W Public Relations in New York. Roberts, an exotic dancer, accompanied the woman accusing members of the Duke University men’s lacrosse team of raping her the night of March 13.
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 2:21 PM
To: Ronn Torossian
Subject: duke lacrosse scandal
Hi!
My name is Kim and I am involved in the Duke Lacrosse scandal. Although I am no celebrity and just an average citizen, I’ve found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country. I’m worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage. I am determined not to let any negative publicity about my life overtake me. I’m so confused as to who to talk to for relevant advice and I hope that you can return my e-mail. If you cannot help, do you know of any names and numbers I can call?
Thanks for your time,
Kim Roberts
Stripper, Model, Escort, Witness
Rape shields were created in the 1970s to protect the alleged “victim” from having her reputation ruined by baseless assumptions, unfair judgments, public humiliation, and character assassinations, but any of this could describe what’s happening to every member of the lacrosse team.
Irresponsible “special interest groups” have held protests everyday holding the name and pictures of anyone on the lacrosse team, to having their pictures and hate slogans pasted all over school. The actions of these groups against these men are nothing short of harassment and unfair character assassination.
Media hungry District Attorney Mike Nifong stated he is positive a rape has occurred, but he isn’t sure if it’s by the members of the lacrosse team, yet he obtained an order to get DNA samples from only the members of the team, then he stated on a national news program that the lacrosse team has a “rowdy” reputation on campus – obviously playing up to sexist stereotyping of jocks to further play his case for the media. As Nifong continues to publicly massacre the characters out his case for public consumption, he claims that the team is “stonewalling the investigation” because they claim not to have any knowledge of what transpired, but is Nifong now believing the men to be telling the truth as he recently changed his tune stating that even if the DNA evidence clears these boys that he’ll have other evidence.
Opportunistic political groups have descended on Duke’s campus using unscrupulous methods to get media attention at the expense of innocent young men who happen to be on the lacrosse team. Young men who were too recently, only boys not yet ready to handle this ugly side of the world. In today’s climate, we need the rape shield laws extended to protect all the innocent, including those who just happen to get in the way of media hungry district attorneys and opportunistic political groups.
District Attorney Mike Nifong’s should be held accountable for the irresponsible actions he’s taken in this rape investigation.
The boys are being tried in the national media before there is any charge are made. Nifong stated that someone else could have assaulted the 27 year old stripper, yet he publicly damned the men’s lacrosse team and only the men’s lacrosse team as gang rapist, and still not knowing whether or not the “alleged victim” was telling the truth, or if the three men sought are on the team, Nifong claims the team is stonewalling to protect its own.
In response, daily protest are held with hate comments made directly to the lacrosse teammates, pictures of the teammates with rape slogans are plastered all over Duke’s campus, and now gang members are driving by the east campus threatening students.
Nifong’s circus-like antics to perform for the national media has put the whole campus in danger.
Nifong proclaimed in the national media that the DNA sweep of 46 boys would find the guilty and clear the innocent. DNA tests prove that the boys of the lacrosse team were telling the truth, but Nifong wants to go ahead with the case only weeks before his election against a woman and a black man. There should be laws in place to prevent unscrupulous politician like District Attorney Mike Nifong from bulldozing over 47 innocent boys just to bask in the international media spot-light.
scs
Not that this has anything to do with anything, but I visited Duke a few years ago to visit a friend of a friend who was in a fraternity there. I was used to seeing plenty of drinking before, but I too was shocked at the amount of drinking that went on there. They had some sort of drinking game there that basically was just go around in a circle and just drink as much as you can at one time – not too many rules actually. Plus I heard stories of group masturbation and other sexual stories in the fraternity. In short, a very immature bunch, even for college students. Now I don’t know if this behavior was specific to this group, but now that I hear some more stories about Duke, I wonder if it is not a more campus culture type thing. Other campuses I have visited did not impress me in this negative way. If it is a culture thing, then I am glad a spotlight is being shown on it.
scs
Plus I still think it’s wrong that so many commentators are slamming this accuser because she is a stripper with a past. Okay, so maybe she’s a drunken stripper with a criminal record. Does that mean she can’t be raped? By that logic, any uppercrust boys can take all the strippers into bathrooms they want to and rape them and because the stripper is likely to have a shady past and therefore is not considered a “credible witness”, they can get away with it. Obviously those boys knew that with their comment “She’s just a stripper.”
To hear all these commentators saying there is no case is laughable . After all, the stripper was there at the party, and in the bathroom for 30 minutes and came out with significant injuries. Along with her testimony, what the hell else do you need for a trial? If the players have evidence to clear themselves, it will come up at trial. To hear everyone decrying that we should even dare think about bringing this case to trial because the accuser’s a stripper is very upsetting and seems very racist and classist to me. Seems we haven’t gotten that far after all. All I can say is thank god for people like Wendy Murphy and Nancy Grace to bring a little balance to the debate and speak up for the victim for a change.
scs
I meant to say a stripper with a criminal record.
Nice Guy
With the taste of his own foot still lingering in his mouth, District Attorney Mike Nifong has another piece of evidence blow up in his face, I wonder how’s his ulcer is doing?
So would it be his own aura or is it the universe’s way of getting back at Nifong for destroying these young boys lives?
It would be funny if Nifong’s ulcer leads to a colonoscopy, or would it be “ironic” or “poetic justice” that he screws 47 boys over a false rape claim and have to take a 36 inch colonoscopy tube up his @ss for his part in the fiasco he created.
They are innocent! The drunken black stripper with the long criminal record and history of making false accusations…lied.
• Stripper made a false claim of rape by three boys in 1996.
• Stripper made a false claim of kidnapping in 1998
• Stripper charged with larceny, auto theft, and trying to kill a police officer in 2002
• 1st round of DNA shows no link to the lacrosse team.
• 2nd round of DNA shows no link to the lacrosse team
• DNA proves stripper had sex with boyfriend/pimp which accounts for the “rape kit” evidence of recent sexual activity.
• Innocent boy who picked up finger nail and threw it in the trash left his DNA on the fake press-on nail and will be charged for rape.
The stripper’s account of the night has serious integrity issues:
1) First she claimed 20 boys raped her, then she narrowed it down to 3 in a bathroom
a. The bathroom is absolutely and completely devoid of any evidence of a rape. Where is her DNA? Urine, blood, vaginal fluid, saliva, or tears?
b. Many people’s DNA were found under her nails but none from the innocent lacrosse boys.
c. She lied about losing her fake finger nails in a desperate struggle in the small enclosed bathroom, but pictures show that she removed her nails before inadequately performing her routine. No scratches were found on any of the innocent lacrosse boys’ bodies.
d. The 2 innocent boys she “eeny meeny miney moed” to be her rapists weren’t even at the party the time she claimed the rape occurred. She claims that she’s 100% sure, but she told her father that she’s not sure.
e. She took drugs before coming to the house, something illegal.
The stripper obviously lied, and she’s putting these innocent boys and families through hell. She deserves to be in prison for the rest of her pathetic life. She is worthless as a person and human being. Her one lie destroyed innocent boys. I hope her and Nifong’s aura catches up to them and they both get what they deserve. I hope everyone wishing this rape claim to be true, in spite of all the evidence that it never occurred, gets what’s coming to them.
I was surprise of how many false rape accusations have been made by several independent surveys reveal that 42% to approximately half of all accusations made are false. Most cases involve divorce battles involving the custody of children, some for revenge for withdraw of affection, monetary gains, an excuse for infidelity, or misidentification.
• According to the FBI, one of every 12 claims of rape filed in the United States are later deemed ‘unfounded,’ meaning the case was closed because the alleged victim recanted or because investigators found no evidence of a crime.
• Howard County Police classified one out of every four rape allegations as unfounded in 1990-91.
• The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers says around 600 teachers a year are falsely accused – a trebling since the 1989 Children’s Act.
• Citing a recent USA Today article, discussing the miracle of DNA and FBI studies of sexual assault suspects, DNA testing exonerated about 30% to 35% of the more than 4,000 sexual assault suspects on whom the FBI had conducted DNA testing over the past three years.
• Purdue sociologist Eugene J. Kanin, in over 40% of the cases reviewed, the complainants eventually admitted that no rape had occurred (Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 23, No. 1, 1994).
• 1985 the Air Force conducted a study of 556 rape accusations. Over 25% of the accusers admitted, either just before they took a lie detector test or after they had failed it, that no rape occurred.
• 1996 Department of Justice Report, of the roughly 10,000 sexual assault cases analyzed with DNA evidence over the previous seven years, 2,000 excluded the primary suspect, and another 2,000 were inconclusive.
• Linda Fairstein, who heads the New York County District Attorney’s Sex Crimes Unit. Fairstein, the author of Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape, says, “there are about 4,000 reports of rape each year in Manhattan. Of these, about 50% simply did not happen.”
• Craig Silverman, a former Colorado prosecutor known for his zealous prosecution of rapists during his 16-year career, says that false rape accusations occur with “scary frequency.” As a regular commentator on the Bryant trial for Denver’s ABC affiliate, Silverman noted that “any honest veteran sex assault investigator will tell you that rape is one of the most falsely reported crimes.” According to Silverman, a Denver sex-assault unit commander estimates that nearly 50% of all reported rape claims are false.
Nice Guy
OMG! “All I can say is thank god for people like Wendy Murphy and Nancy Grace to bring a little balance to the debate and speak up for the victim for a change.”
Wendy Murphy said:
1) that this woman is a hero who fought for her country and a single mother just trying to survive. Facts are that she made a false claim of rape by three boys in 1996, made a false claim of kidnapping in 1998, was charged with larceny, auto theft, and trying to kill a police officer in 2002, has a drug and drinking problem, and has a pattern of hurting innocent people.
2) That ejaculate was found on the towels in the first DNA tests, but later it was proven that it was normal skin cells from toweling off after a shower.
3) Claimed that these boys watch CSI and know how to clean up after a crime, but why were the fake nails left behind?
Wendy Murphy doesn’t defend the victim, she defends that a rape happened whether it did or not. She has come up with every scenario to claim a rape occurred. She claims nothing for guilt or innocence as long as many boys end up in jail.
Nancy (dis)Grace is so unprofessional and bias and has a long history of cutting off people who disagree with her, repeating her behavior would be too lengthy.
betty friedan
Duke Lacrosse Rape Accuser Mentioned No Condoms Were Used
It seems the defense keeps finding more to support their side of things, with each new piece of information they get. Now from that stack of 1,300 papers, they have discovered that the stripper accuser mentioned no condoms were used. No condoms and…
The stripper’s body was completely void of any sign of a sexual assault (except for signs of recent vaginal and anal from her boyfriend). The alleged crime scene was completely devoid of DNA.
It is impossible that a crime scene with three drunk men in a small enclosed room with a fighting and clawing woman being orally, virginally, and anally penetrated not leave any DNA evidence of urine, blood, vaginal fluid, sweat, fecal matter, scat smears, saliva, tears, or semen… especially if condoms were used. How would they take off the condoms during all this chaos without spilling, smearing, or touching the content inside or outside of the condom?
When investigators questioned the stripper after DNA tests on the semen found inside her vagina and rectum didn’t match any of the Duke players, the stripper admitted to having had sex with at least three men around the time of the alleged rape. The stripper named her boyfriend and two men who drove her to Duke.
When questioned, the “drivers” said they would drop her off at several places, including hotel rooms.
It appears that the stripper has sex with men for rides to her strip shows…Nasty!