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Rhune
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Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« on: Oct 13^th, 2006, 7:15pm »

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Second Exotic Dancer in Duke Lacrosse Case Says Alleged Victim Was 'Fine'
New Interview May Affect Prosecution's Case
ABC News

Oct. 13, 2006 Kim Roberts, the second exotic dancer at the now-infamous Duke University lacrosse team party, is changing her story about what happened on the night of March 13, 2006.

This spring, three Duke lacrosse players David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty were indicted on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after a student from nearby North Carolina Central University told police she was raped in a bathroom by three men at a lacrosse team party, where she had been hired as an exotic dancer.

From the beginning, there has been doubt as to whether the alleged victim gave Durham, N.C., prosecutors a straight story, and the latest interview with Roberts has raised more skepticism.

Just months ago, Roberts was considered the backbone of the prosecution's case against the three players.

"If the truth was on their side, why are they supporting it with lies?" Roberts said in April.

But in a "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcast this Sunday on CBS, Roberts dropped a bombshell: She no longer supports the alleged victim's story.

"Did she give you any reason to believe that she had been assaulted?" Ed Bradley asked Roberts.

"No," Roberts said. "She obviously wasn't hurt, because, you know, she was fine."

For the three players charged, Roberts' change of heart could hold the final key to their defense.

Already, two of the defendants say they weren't in the house when the alleged rape occurred.

For the first time, one of them is speaking out.

"Thirty years," Evans said. "I could go to jail for something that never happened, based on a lie."

DNA tests have reportedly failed to link the players to the alleged crime, but for now Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong says he will continue to press the case."The lack of scientific evidence is starting to pile up," said ABC News Consultant Joe Tacopina. "Now, when her friends are calling her a liar, there's really not much left for this prosecution."

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #1 on: Oct 13^th, 2006, 8:37pm »

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. . . From a related thread, posted on April 17th, 2006

Re: Attorneys: No DNA matches in Duke lacrosse sca
Ť Reply #9 on: Apr 17th, 2006, 2:39pm ť Quote Modify Remove

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Photos Offer Some Insight About Duke Lacrosse Team Party

from the Raleigh News & Observer
UPDATED: 10:38 am EDT April 17, 2006

DURHAM, N.C. -- One day before possible indictments of some of Duke University men's lacrosse players, defense attorneys stood behind what they have maintained for more than a month: no sexual assault took place during a party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in the early-morning hours of March 14.

Attorneys have said that DNA taken from 46 lacrosse athletes failed to match DNA evidence taken from an exotic dancer who says she was raped, sodomized and beaten for 30 minutes by three team members.

In addition, defense attorneys have said that time-stamped photos taken at the party on the night in question prove their clients' innocence. For the first time Sunday, news reporters got a look at the photos, which were taken with a digital camera with an internal time stamp.

Sources said the 19 photos, taken between 11:02 p.m. and 12:41 a.m. by a person they would not identify, matched watches in the photographs.

The first photo, taken at 11:02 p.m., shows young men sitting around and drinking.

Another photo, taken at midnight, is the first picture of the two dancers, including the accuser, who were hired to dance at the party. The accuser is dressed in a pink and white negligee. Attorneys have said that although the women were given at least one drink at the party, they believe the accuser was already impaired when she arrived at the party.

Pictures taken over the next few minutes show the women on top of one another other. The photos also show what appear to be bruises on the accuser's knee. Her right shoe is off, and her press-on nails are missing. The men in the background are sitting back casually watching without much noticeable reaction.

Three minutes after they begin to dance, at 12:03 a.m., the dancers are photographed near the door. Attorneys say they are leaving the party.

More than 25 minutes later, at 12:30 a.m., the accuser is photographed again at the back of the house. She has a purse and her shoe is still missing from her right foot.

Seven minutes later, at 12:37 a.m., the alleged victim is lying on the back stairs. Attorneys have said that they believe she stumbled and fell, which caused some of her cuts and bruises. A tan spot in the photo, they believe, is her purse lying in the back yard.

At 12:41 a.m., attorneys say the accuser gets into the other dancer's car.

There is a gap in the photos from 12:03 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. in which the two dancers were not photographed. Attorneys believe the women were in a bathroom, alone.

One woman, they believe, was changing her clothes during that time, and the accuser may have been painting her fingernails. They believe that because later on, when she fell on the back stairs, there were pink marks on the stairwell.

Another photo does show the accuser about 10 minutes before she left on the stairwell with her mouth open and teeth showing. Defense attorneys say she is smiling, but she is not posing and it is difficult to determine whether she is actually smiling.

Defense attorneys said they had offered to show the pictures to District Attorney Mike Nifong, but he declined to see them.

"As I understand the exchange, as it was reported to me, the DA is not interested in a discussion about our evidence," said defense attorney Bob Ekstrand.

Nifong -- who has come under criticism for both prosecuting the case after DNA results came back negative and for not proceeding with the investigation quickly enough -- has said he believes a sexual assault did occur and that a medical examination of the alleged victim was consistent with a rape.

Just as defense attorneys have said Nifong has not seen their evidence, they do not know what happened after police drove the accuser away.

"Something happened in the interim to cause her to be admitted into the hospital later that morning," Ekstrand said. "And we should be very interested to know what it was."

At 1:22 a.m. on March 14, Durham police received a call from a security guard at a Kroger grocery store located on Hillsborough Road. The guard told the 911 dispatcher that a woman named Kim, believed to be the second dancer at the party, pulled up and was worried about her friend. The guard said the alleged victim did not smell like alcohol, but that she appeared to be drunk.

At about 1:30 a.m., a police officer who responded to the 911 call told a police dispatcher that the woman was drunk, but not in distress. It is not known, however, whether a breathalyzer or any drug tests were conducted.

Adding to the confusion, attorneys said the Kroger security guard told a private investigator for defense attorneys that the second dancer said she merely picked the woman up on the side of the road.

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IMO, this supposed "rape" case is starting to really
smell like week old fish.

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My opinion hasn't changed since posting on this in April. This case is CRAP!

The real shame is that this "victim" probably doesn't have a pot to pee in and when these fellows sue her for defamation of character (and win hands down!), they won't recoup a nickel of the many thousands of dollars that they have had to spend to defend themselves against her lies.

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Julia
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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #2 on: Oct 14^th, 2006, 10:13am »

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I don't believe the stripper/accuser at all.. None of this makes any sense at all...

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #3 on: Oct 30^th, 2006, 8:02pm »

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Dancer: Accuser In Duke Lacrosse Case 'Talking Crazy' After Party
Kim Roberts Previously Called Accuser's Allegations 'Crock'

UPDATED: 8:13 pm EST October 30, 2006

DURHAM, N.C. -- According to a recent interview given by a second dancer who was at a Duke lacrosse team party, the woman who alleges she was raped was clearly impaired and "talking crazy" afterward.

"The trip in that car from the house went from happy to crazy," Kim Roberts said on "Good Morning America" Monday. "I tried all different ways to get through to her."

Roberts, who has previously called the rape allegations "a crock," left the party with the accuser and drove her to the parking lot of a nearby grocery store. Unable to get the accuser to leave her car, Roberts said she pushed on the accuser's arm and leg to try to force her out.

At that point, Roberts said, the accuser said: "'Go ahead, go ahead. Put marks on me. Go ahead. That's what I want. Go ahead.' And it chilled me to the bone."

While Roberts said she feels that detail should be considered at trial, she is worried it will lead people to rush to judgment about what happened at the party.

"It's going to solidify their opinions so much that they're not going to want to hear the other aspects of the case, which I think are just as important," she said, adding, "It's going to make people not listen to any other part of the story."

The accuser, a student at North Carolina Central University, told police she was raped in a bathroom by three lacrosse players at a March 13 off-campus team party. A grand jury later indicted three players -- Collin Finnerty, David Evans and Reade Seligmann -- on rape, kidnapping and sexual offense charges; all three have strongly declared their innocence.

In April, Roberts told The Associated Press she was not in the bathroom and therefore couldn't say if a rape occurred, but said those at the party were guilty of something other than underage drinking. In her single police interview, Roberts said the rape allegations were a "crock" and that she was with the accuser the entire time they were at the party, according to documents filed by the defense.

Roberts has since said the two women were separated at various points during the party.

Last week, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong said during a court hearing that he still hasn't interviewed the accuser about the facts of the case, leaving that to police. Roberts' attorney said she has not spoken with the police since an initial interview in March and never with Nifong. She's not sure if she will be called as a witness at a trial, which isn't expected to start until spring.

"Because ... so much of (the accuser's) statement differs from mine ... I might not help the prosecution at all as a witness," Roberts said.

Nifong told WRAL Monday that he plans to interview witnesses and the accuser on his own timetable and won't be rushed into talking with Roberts or anyone else. He said he's comfortable with the way he's handled the case.

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:toilet:

I'd be willing to bet Nifong's "timetable" is AFTER the local election for Prosecutor.

IMO This Prosecutor seized on this case as a vehicle to get himself re-elected. Not only should this case be flushed down the toilet like a pile of crap . . . . . he should be too!

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AmberJ
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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #4 on: Oct 30^th, 2006, 8:04pm »

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I find it quite interesting that the Prosecutor has never actually discussed the case and what happened with the alleged victim

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #5 on: Oct 30^th, 2006, 8:10pm »

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This case was on 60 Minutes (?I think it was) a few weeks ago. I was amazed at the lack of evidence, the fact that they've never discussed it with the accused, and that the two "dancers" have different versions of what happened... I agree, Bumper, this case is Crap! And it has ruined the lives of these guys by getting all over the news. They have been tried in the press rather than in the courtroom, unfortunately, that is becoming the case all too often these days.. Sad

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Bumper
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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #6 on: Oct 31^st, 2006, 7:01pm »

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IMO, most of these Documentary Shows, ie, 60 Minutes, Dateline, 20/20 and the rest, have given the U.S. viewing public a skewed vision of what happens in a Court proceeding. They've taken the American Judicial system and tried to make it a TV show. The viewing public in turn, already ingrained into seeing a "story" complete with a tidy plot that flows neatly with a beginning and an end . . . . all tucked into a 60 minute time slot, wants to see the logical "bad guy" get what's coming to them in the end. Well sometimes, THAT is not how it winds up and definitely NOT how the Judicial system works day in, day out. The law, the Rules of Evidence, what is allowed to be introduced into the record and what is not . . . most times does not make intresting TV viewing. These facts often inferiate the general viewing public.

As someone who has been around the judicial process for a long time, I'm not surprised that the Proscutor in the case mentioned above, has not interviewed the "victim". In most large cities, the Prosecutor relies on the case, investigated and prepared by the Police, to form the basis of his prosecution. The Prosecutor (or one of his deputy Prosecutors) will interview the victim and any other material witnesses just before trial basically to see what he/she is going to say on the stand. (Contrary to belief, most times you don't ask a question in Court that you don't already know the answer to.)
What IS unusual in this case is that THIS Prosecutor saw that this case was sure to be an "attention getting case" and seized upon it and made it into a re-election issue for his campaign.

I've always said, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit. Well, I don't think there's any question now about what THIS hotdog Prosecutor wound up with.

I would not be surprised that if this Prosecutor DID take this case to Court, that the case would most likely be dismissed on a "Motion to strike the evidence" by the Defense lawyer. There are just too many conflicting statements from the Prosecution's victim and witnesses. (If this case were a boat, it would be sitting on the ocean floor!) Based on what I have seen regarding the evidence, DNA and otherwise, (or lack thereof) and published information related to statements of witnesses and defendants, this case will never even make it to a Jury, and rightly so.

IF Justice is to be served in this matter, these young men who have been slandered by this "victim" and villified in the press should get their good names restored, . . . . and Mr. Nifong will be looking for a job.

« Last Edit: Oct 31^st, 2006, 7:24pm by Bumper »

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #7 on: Oct 31^st, 2006, 8:43pm »

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"........you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit!" If ever a statement described this case........!

The "victim" is unreliable and the evidence doesn't support the charges. The true victims are the boys charged with this crime and the public which is footing the bill for this foolishness.

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #8 on: Nov 5^th, 2006, 10:46am »

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Prosecutor Nifong Faces Unexpected Election Challenge

POSTED: 4:08 pm EST November 4, 2006

DURHAM, N.C. -- Not long after voters picked Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong in May's Democratic primary, the embattled prosecutor insisted the election wasn't a referendum on the Duke lacrosse rape case.

Six months later, that's exactly what he and voters face on Election Day.

"There have been people who have sought to paint me as some kind of evil figure in Durham or are encouraging people specifically to vote against me," Nifong said. "And that makes the dynamic in this race a little bit different."

Of that, there is no question.

After Nifong won the primary, he appeared headed toward an easy November win _ there wasn't anyone else on the November ballot. But as criticism of how Nifong handled the lacrosse case increased over the summer, two candidates emerged to run on the same platform of booting Nifong from office.

Both face an uphill battle to reach that goal. County Commissioner Lewis Cheek collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot, but doesn't actually want the job. Steve Monks is a Republican running a write-in campaign in an overwhelmingly Democratic county.

Neither has vowed to end the controversial prosecution of the three lacrosse players charged with rape should they beat Nifong, who had a wide lead in the only poll taken on the race. He has generally refused to talk about the case in recent months, but told The Associated Press this week he doesn't pay much attention to his critics.

"There are people who are going to support any defendant you prosecute," Nifong said. "They're going to have friends and family members who hope you wouldn't prosecute them. It's just not the kind of job where you can achieve anything close to unanimity of approval."

Regardless of Tuesday's outcome, Nifong's name will be forever linked to the case that began when a woman told police she was raped at a March team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper. The accusations came as Nifong, who was appointed to fill the unexpired term of his predecessor, was preparing for his first run for public office.

Nifong had thrust himself into the story in the days after the accusations became public, granting numerous newspaper and TV interviews. In April, a grand jury indicted players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense.

Two weeks later, Nifong earned 45 percent of the vote to beat his two primary opponents. A grand jury later indicted a third player, David Evans, on the same charges as Seligmann and Finnerty. Defense attorneys have proclaimed their clients' innocence, and have repeatedly said Nifong used the case for political gain.

"He just says whatever he wants to say because he's got his indictment, which was based on nothing that he did to interview or check out credibility of the (accuser)," said defense attorney Joseph Cheshire, who represents Evans. "He just went and indicted these boys."

The ballot box challengers popped up this summer. While Monks only collected enough signatures to become a write-in candidate, Cheek's campaign got more than 10,000 _ significantly more than the 6,303 needed to add his name to the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate. But Cheek has said he would not serve if elected, which would force Gov. Mike Easley to choose a new district attorney should be win.

"For me, what ends up happening with that case still isn't the point for me," Cheek said. "The point is much bigger than that in my mind. ... The point is how is the district attorney in Durham is going to handle cases?"

Both campaigns have quibbled over which candidate has the best chance to beat Nifong and whether one should drop out so they don't split the anybody-but-Nifong vote.

"I think everybody ought to do what they think is the right thing to do," Cheek said. "I intend to vote for the name 'Lewis Cheek' on the ballot and we'll see what happens." While it's important to have a choice other than Nifong on the ballot, Monks said, "it is even more important to replace him."

Bumper says . . . Amen to that!

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #9 on: Dec 14^th, 2006, 3:18pm »

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Bumping this up so that it's closer to the related thread.

Sadly, the voters of Durham were unable to get this Jerk voted out of office. Nifong won a close run-off election and will continue as Prosecutor. . . . at least for a while. Partisan Politics . . . it's enough to turn your stomach.

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #10 on: Dec 14^th, 2006, 5:27pm »

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Duke Lacrosse Defense Wants Photo IDs Thrown Out

POSTED: 4:10 pm EST December 14, 2006
UPDATED: 5:58 pm EST December 14, 2006

DURHAM, N.C. -- Defense attorneys in the Duke lacrosse case now want the judge presiding over the case to throw out the photographic lineup in which the accuser identified the defendants.

In a motion filed Thursday, attorneys for Reade Seligmann, 20, Collin Finnerty, 20, and David Evans, 23, also ask that any "in-court" identification by the accuser be barred on the grounds that it is unreliable "as a result of tainted procedure as a result of the numerous errors and misidentifications made by the accuser."

Experts have said such a motion, if successful, could keep prosecutors from bringing the case to trial.

"If the court throws out the out-of-court identification and rules that it is so suggestive that there can't be an in-court identification, then the case is effectively dismissed," said James E. Coleman Jr., a Duke University law professor.

The motion says that the alleged victim had failed to identify any of her attackers in an identification procedure before the April 4 lineup -- the one in which she did identify Seligmann, Finnerty and Evans as her attackers.

It goes on to say that District Attorney Mike Nifong directed that a different identification procedure be used in which photos of all the white members of the team who were at the March 13 party where the alleged attack occurred were assembled in a PowerPoint presentation for her to view.

Attorneys write that this happened despite the fact that two people at the party were not members of the lacrosse team.

"In short, the accuser was asked to pick three people as her attackers from those present at the scene, and because only those thought to be at the scene were shown to her, she was, in effect, given a multiple-choice test in which there were no wrong answers," attorneys wrote.

They also write that the accuser's identification is "riddled with errors," with the accuser identifying two players who were later determined not to be at the party.

"In the process of identifying her three attackers, the accuser actually identified four separate men as her attackers. The state apparently just chose three or four to indict without further investigation," the motion reads.

It also states the woman did not recognize people whom she had identified previously and misidentified people as doing things at the party that the investigation showed they did not do.

This is not the first time defense lawyers have asked the court to disallow the photo lineup. In an earlier motion, the defense called the procedure "unnecessarily suggestive" because the accuser was shown only photos of lacrosse players.

But Thursday's motion makes a much more detailed argument. It details efforts by police investigators and Nifong to assist the accuser in identifying the three men she said gang-raped her in a bathroom.

This latest motion comes one day before a scheduled hearing in which Nifong is expected to hand over more evidence to defense attorneys. All three suspects in the case have maintained their innocence.

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Re: Second Dancer in Duke Case Changes Her Story
« Reply #11 on: Dec 17^th, 2006, 11:38pm »

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Nifong Probe Possible, U.S. Attorney General Says

Posted: Dec. 17 6:29 p.m.
Updated: Dec. 17 6:51 p.m.

Raleigh The United States Attorney General suggested Sunday that his office might investigate the way District Attorney Mike Nifong has handled the Duke lacrosse rape case.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confirmed he received a letter asking for a federal probe into the investigation, in which an exotic dancer claims three lacrosse players raped her at a March 13 party.

"Well, that is a letter that we recently received," Gonzales told Fox News' Brian Wilson. "It's being evaluated at the (Department of Justice). I can't say anything -- anything beyond that."

Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-North Carolina, sent Gonzales the letter last week asking for a federal investigation into possible prosecutorial misconduct, and specifically, to determine whether the defendants' civil rights were violated.

"I was offended by the way (Nifong) has handled this case," Jones told WRAL last week. "I think he has been out of control."

Gonzales said that even though the case is a state and local matter, the federal government could still become involved "if an investigation is conducted in such a way that civil rights laws are violated, that would be something that we might look into," Gonzales said.

Last week, defense attorneys also filed several motions in the case. One, criticizing the way DNA evidence was revealed, indicated that no DNA from any of the defendants was found on the accuser's body but that there were numerous male matches.

"There was no attempt to hide anything from the way the report was done," Nifong told reporters on Friday. "If anything, we were trying to be fair to all the people who were not going to be involved in this case."

Other motions asked that a photographic lineup be dismissed as evidence, because it was slanted. A third motion asked for a change of venue, saying that Nifong has polarized the local community with comments he made during the initial stages of the investigation.

All three men charged in the case David Evans, 23, Collin Finnerty, 20, and Reade Seligmann, 20 -- have maintained their innocence from the beginning.

The next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5 when defense attorneys are expected to ask Judge Osmond Smith to throw out the photo identification lineup.

The accuser in this case is also expected to be in court.

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