update on duke lacrosse case...

[hwbs]

AP sources say the district attorney will drop all charges wed morning...

[ILuvGurls]

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-837861.cfm

i hope they throw nifong under the bus, cause he sure fuck up the lives of those kids.


Decision in Duke Lacrosse Case Awaited

By AARON BEARD : Associated Press Writer
Apr 11, 2007 : 5:50 am ET

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Three members of Duke University's lacrosse team could learn as early as Wednesday whether state prosecutors will drop the remaining charges accusing them of sexually assaulting a stripper at a team party more than a year ago.

"I think it's likely that they will do that," said Wade Smith, an attorney for charged player Collin Finnerty. "We certainly hope that would be true. But until we hear it, we're not going to acknowledge that's the truth. We'll wait and see."

No formal announcements have been scheduled by the state attorney general's office, which took over the case in January after the local district attorney was charged with several ethics violations tied to his handling of the sensational case.

But a person close to the case told The Associated Press on Tuesday that prosecutors in the attorney general's office, which for weeks has said it was close to completing its investigation, wrapped up additional interviews last week.

The person, who spoke to the AP on a condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made, said Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans could learn as soon as Wednesday whether the state plans to drop the charges or take the case to trial.

A grand jury indicted the three players on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense last spring after a woman told police she was assaulted at a March 2006 team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper. All three have steadfastly maintained their innocence, with Evans calling the allegations "fantastic lies."

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped the rape charges in December after the accuser changed a key detail in her story. He recused himself a few weeks later after the state bar charged him with violating several rules of professional conduct.

Among the ethics charges, Nifong is accused of withholding potentially exculpatory DNA evidence from the defense and lying to both the court and bar investigators. Nifong faces a June trial before the bar and could be disbarred if convicted.

Nifong's recusal put the players' fate in the hands of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who promised "a fresh and thorough review of the facts" when he took over the case in January.

There were other signs Tuesday that an announcement from Cooper might come soon. Seligmann, 21, of Essex Fells, N.J., and his family arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and Smith said the Finnerty family was also expected to arrive later Tuesday from their home in Garden City, N.Y.

"We are not going to have any expectations until we hear officially," Smith said. "When we get the word, we'll have the word."

Evans' attorney, Joseph Cheshire, declined to comment when asked if his client was planning to be in Raleigh on Wednesday.

While Evans, 24, of Bethesda, Md., graduated the day before he was indicted in May, Duke temporarily suspended sophomores Finnerty and Seligmann in the wake of their arrest. Finnerty, 20, was also convicted in July in an unrelated assault case in Washington, D.C., and sentenced to six months of probation.

Finnerty and Seligmann were both invited to return to campus, but neither has accepted. John Danowski, the former coach at Hofstra who took over the Duke program last summer, has also said that both are welcome to continue their lacrosse careers with the Blue Devils.

[Quinn]

In my opinion, if the charges are dropped today, both Nifong and the accuser should have to serve out the same terms of incarceration the accused were originally looking at. Frankly, even that would be too lenient (dirt nap?). Anyway, you can be sure that the accused and their families will launch a multitude of civil suits if the criminal charges are dropped.

My only question is if Jesse Jackson and Rainbow Push are still going to pick up the cost of the accuser’s college education. Fucking idiots.

-Quinn

[chefmike]

She's probably stripping full-time by now anyway...

[ILuvGurls]

did you happen to see the "60 minutes" where they had the families of the 3 accused? the families said that nifong had definately picked the wrong people to fuck with. you are right there will be reprecussions.

as i said earlier i just hope nifong gets hammered, he used this case solely to get the black vote for re-election.

[Kabuki]

She's probably stripping full-time by now anyway...

Checkout the accuser's MySpace...lol

http://www.myspace.com/preciousindurham

[backthen]

anyone who watches the news already knows?

[hwbs]

well when i posted it im sure too many people didnt know.....noobs :smh :smh :smh

[ILuvGurls]

i was born and raised in Durham and actually attended Duke for 1 year. I'm real happy to see this come to an end.

key here is that the AG for N.C. said innocent, and dropping all charges.



http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-838303.cfm


Defense: 'We're ... very, very angry'
Audio excerpts from attorney Joe Cheshire

By Mark Donovan and Bryan Strickland : The Herald-Sun
news@heraldsun.com
Apr 12, 2007 : 12:25 am ET

RALEIGH -- For defense attorney Joe Cheshire, Wednesday's exoneration of three Duke lacrosse players in the racially charged sexual offense case was "not a great day for celebration."

"We're not happy. We're angry -- very, very angry," Cheshire said at the podium of a ballroom dais at Raleigh's downtown Sheraton Hotel.

Cheshire was joined by the players in a case that began with allegations of rape by an exotic dancer at an off-campus team party in March 2006.

Rape charges were dropped in December, but first-degree sexual offense and first-degree kidnapping charges had remained against the three athletes -- David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty -- until they were pronounced innocent Wednesday by state Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Each of the exonerated players made a statement. But under ground rules set by attorneys, they would not answer any questions. Family members of the players also remained silent.

In the audience were many members of Duke's current men's and women's lacrosse teams who, along with the three players' friends and family members, were generous and thunderous with applause -- particularly after the defense team lashed out at Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong and the news media.

Singled out were The Herald-Sun, "community activists," Duke officials, teachers and some students and anyone else the defense regarded as having abandoned the principle of "innocent until proven guilty."

"If the Durham Herald-Sun had bothered to stand up and demand proper processes, the presumption of innocence and doing things the way our Constitution provides, do you think Mike Nifong would have rolled forward?" asked Jim Cooney, Seligmann's attorney.

"On March the 30th of last year, when the press was completely out of control and these boys were the guiltiest people on the face of the Earth and everyone in this country was pillorying them as hooligans and rapists, I called a little press conference .... and I said -- and I was scared when I said this -- 'You all are wrong, and when this case is over, you're going to be embarrassed if you don't open your eyes and listen to what the truth is,' " Cheshire said.

"[Attorney General] Roy Cooper said a word today, and the word is I-N-N-O-C-E-N-T. I want to make sure everybody got that, and that that's how it's spelled."

The three players thanked their families, lawyers and supporters and lashed out at Nifong and their accuser.

"It's been 395 days since this nightmare began," Evans said. "And we're just as innocent today as we were then. We never wavered in our story."

Finnerty said simply, "Today's the day we've all been waiting for."

Seligmann said one of the most difficult things he faced was the possibility of "30 years in prison for a hoax" and "being railroaded with no evidence whatsoever."

The defense team reserved most of its vitriol for Nifong, who faces State Bar charges of ethics violations in the case.

"This is a case study in what is and can be wrong with our criminal justice system," Cheshire said. " ... Nifong had not a care in the world about justice, just about himself. ... He misled the community, the media and even the court. ... His acts tore his own city apart. ... He exploited racial tensions. ... He has had the audacity to say he's done nothing wrong."

Looking down the road, the defense team said it was leaving the door open to all possible avenues of recourse. That could include civil lawsuits, Cheshire said. But he refused to discuss possible targets of any such action, saying simply it was "under consideration."

A couple of hours after Finnerty, Seligmann and Evans learned that the charges had been dropped, several of their former teammates got a brief opportunity in Raleigh to congratulate them and commiserate with them.

"We actually joked with Collin and Reade," senior lacrosse captain Matt Danowski said at a team news conference on campus Wednesday night, "telling them that we have practice at 8 o'clock tonight. You better put your cleats on and be ready to go."

Finnerty and Seligmann are eligible to return to Duke, but whether they will do so remains uncertain. Evans graduated last May.

For Duke's current players, the relief was evident on a bus ride from campus to the Raleigh news conference. Thirty-eight of Duke's 41 current men's players (three had academic commitments) and all 31 of the current women's players loaded into two buses around the time Cooper rendered his decision, hearing the announcement on the bus radio.

There were no roars or high-fives exchanged when the men's team heard the ruling.

"It was more of a relief, more of a collective sigh," team captain Ed Douglas said at the Wednesday night news conference on campus. "Certainly there is some aftermath, but obviously the chance to move forward is something special."

Especially for Finnerty and Seligmann, the prospect of moving on could be a slow process at first.

"I could never imagine what they've gone through," Evans said in Raleigh. "I was indicted the day after my graduation. As difficult as that weekend was, finding out on Friday before I was indicted on Monday, I had reached a place in my life where I could take some time off though I still worked through it. I didn't want to have idle hands. But these boys were ripped out of school, and the team that they loved and their friends -- everything that they had ever worked for -- based on lies."

In their statements to the media, Finnerty and Seligmann both expressed their desire to return to college in the fall but didn't indicate where that might be. Attorney Wade Smith said that Finnerty "has not decided that he will not go to Duke University," but was only beginning to weigh his options. But Cooney pointed out what he considered a major obstacle to Seligmann possibly returning to Duke.

"The problem is for Phil and Kathy Seligmann to send their son back into Durham County while Mike Nifong is still the elected district attorney -- who in their right mind would send their child back into that atmosphere?" Cooney said. "That makes it extraordinarily difficult to think about returning to Duke as long as that prosecutor is still sitting in his position of close to absolute power."

One person who obviously won't be returning to the lacrosse field for Duke is former coach Mike Pressler, who resigned after 15-plus seasons on April 5, 2006, and accepted the head job at Division II Bryant University in Rhode Island four months later.

Pressler was on campus Tuesday to attend a memorial service for Duke men's golf coach Rod Myers and addressed his former team at practice. Pressler's wife, Sue, was on the bus with the men's team Wednesday to lend support.

Cooney likened the anguish brought upon Seligmann's family to that of a family dealing with a child's potentially fatal disease, waiting to see day by day if they'd survive the ordeal or be taken away.

Wednesday, those families got a new lease on life.

"Today marks the end of a year-long nightmare that has been emotionally devastating for all of our families," Seligmann said. "This dark cloud of injustice that has hovered over our heads has finally cleared, and now we look forward to moving on with our lives."

[tubgirl]

did anybody happen to hear the new law that the new DA is pushing for? wow...

[TJT]

Let's all drive over to Wilbers BBQ in Goldsboro. All the Yankees living in the Triangle these days have ruined the food around there.

[joeboz]

So any word on when the Rev. Jesse Jackson will meet with the 3 lax players to apologize???

[ILuvGurls]

Let's all drive over to Wilbers BBQ in Goldsboro. All the Yankees living in the Triangle these days have ruined the food around there.

Bullocks BBQ on hillsbrough rd still mighty good.

[wendy48088]

* Deleted *

[backthen]

So any word on when the Rev. Jesse Jackson will meet with the 3 lax players to apologize???

your dreaming

[blckhaze]

One of the duke players made a point about how they got railroaded and how his eyes were open to the injustice of some and how if they(the proscecution) can do so much damage to someone with decent resources, that its unimanigable to think what is done to people with little to no resources. While i agree with wut he said, its kinda make your wonder what these upper middle to upper class people be doin all day. like do they watch the news at all? i guess not

[Quinn]

One of the duke players made a point about how they got railroaded and how his eyes were open to the injustice of some and how if they(the proscecution) can do so much damage to someone with decent resources, that its unimanigable to think what is done to people with little to no resources. While i agree with wut he said, its kinda make your wonder what these upper middle to upper class people be doin all day. like do they watch the news at all? i guess not

This is a great point, and I'm glad it was mentioned during the news conference. There's no doubt that if the families of the accused didn't have the resources they did, their kids would all be going to prison for a very long time. The bills for that sort of legal representation are, to put it mildly, considerable – presenting a nearly insurmountable barrier to middle-class and poor defendants alike.

-Quinn

[wendy48088]

* Deleted *

[Baron Of Hell]

I can not really go for accuser be held responsible for anything. Just because she changed the times of event a few doesn't mean she lied, it could just be its hard to keep track of events while being raped.

I personally think there is far less evidence here that she lied than in the Kobe case. Since nothing happen with the kobe girl nothing should happen to this girl.

The problem here is the guys names should never have been released or the girls name should have been released with the guys. Even if she was raped this case shouldn't have been brought to trial without evidence (physical, eye witness, etc).

[flabbybody]

If you're going to hold the accuser responsible for changing her story and bringing on grief to these boys, you'll have to strart going after the tens of thousands of so called upstanding citizens who spill coffee on themselves at Macdonald's and then initiate multi-million dollar lawsuits. Of course, greety liability lawyers are also guilty because they prompt these cases by convincing the plaintives that they are somehow entitled to monetary awards when common accidents occur.

[sucka4chix]

The only question I've always had is why these guys of means paid for such a low level of entertainer. Apparently they had some motive, but what was it?

[Quinn]

The only question I've always had is why these guys of means paid for such a low level of entertainer. Apparently they had some motive, but what was it?

She was one of two stripper hired to entertain at what was esentially a frat party. If you've ever been to any, it's a fairly regular occurance and never involves anything fancy or costly. IMO, I don't think there was any motive beyond the common, standard ones associated with that type of gathering.

-Quinn

[sucka4chix]

The only question I've always had is why these guys of means paid for such a low level of entertainer. Apparently they had some motive, but what was it?

She was one of two stripper hired to entertain at what was esentially a frat party. If you've ever been to any, it's a fairly regular occurance and never involves anything fancy or costly. IMO, I don't think there was any motive beyond the common, standard ones associated with that type of gathering.

-Quinn
I understand that, but we're talking about Duke University and white lacrosse players. If those girls had showed up at a historically black university football party, they woulda been sent back. From what I have seen, granted it wasn't much, both of these girls were rather low-budget. I'm sure they could've called a different agency if they were not looking for "hot chocolate ghetto mamas" in the yellow pages.

[TomSelis]

Two words: Loser Pays.

[sucka4chix]

Two words: Loser Pays.
lmao! ok

[Cullowhee]

To really understand this case you have to be familiar with Durham and it's citizens. The kids at the party probably weren't saints but they were a long way from being sinners. Durham probably has the highest minority population of any city in North Carolina (70%) add that to the population of the Duke campus which is very liberal and you have a situation where if the case wasn't prosicuted there would have been all sorts of reprecussions on the DA. A poor single black female taken advantage of by a group of rich white kids. Nifong was just playing to the crowd trying to get reelected. He really was in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. He should have just kept his mouth shut and waited for the facts to be known before he jumped to conclusions about the case. It's a shame that no one in the media really looked into what really drove the handling of the case. Now five lives have been screwed up because no one had any common sense.