Alleged Rape of NCCU Student: (Duke Scandal)

[Drolefille]

Well she was there with the players, so there could conceivably be some DNA. However the er..."bodily fluids" tested were not a match for any of the players. Thus the defense thinks the paternity test will completely exonerate the team.

This case makes me so mad because all of the publicity and sympathy and attention could have been going to someone who was really raped and it became this whole poor vs. rich/black vs. white thing. While it isn't clear that she wasn't raped yet, that's where I'm anticipating this whole thing going. If it's fake, she should be prosecuted.

[Rain Man]

A major victory for the men's rights activists, as the rape charges have been officially dropped (and the "victim" was hung by her own rope, just as I had originally predicted).

*Rain Man erupts in cheers and applause*

Shame on you, Crystal Gail Mangum for attempting to imprison three innocent men by your lies.

Rape charges dropped in Duke case By AARON BEARD, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago

DURHAM, N.C. - Prosecutors dropped rape charges Friday against three Duke University lacrosse players accused of attacking a stripper at a team party, but the three still face kidnapping and sexual offense charges, a defense attorney said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Joseph Cheshire and attorneys for the other players have said for months the woman told several different versions of the alleged assault.

Cheshire said Friday that the accuser now says she does not know if she was penetrated, which he said led District Attorney Mike Nifong to dismiss the rape charges.

Nifong did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The accuser, a 28-year-old student at North Carolina Central University, has said three men raped her in a bathroom at a March 13 team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.

The players — Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann — all say they are innocent. Their attorneys have consistently said no sex occurred at the party and have cited a lack of DNA evidence in the case as proof of their clients' innocence.

"It's highly coincidental," Cheshire said, that the charges are being dropped a week after the director of a private DNA testing lab acknowledged that he initially, with Nifong's knowledge, withheld from the defense test results showing none of the players' DNA was found on or in the accuser's body.

Testing also showed that genetic material from several males was found in her undergarments and body.

Link to article can be found here

[Honeykiss1974]

Duke D.A. Charged With Ethics Violations

Ethics Charges Against Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Could Force Him Off Case, Legal Experts Say

By AARON BEARD

RALEIGH, N.C. Dec 29, 2006 (AP)— Ethics charges filed against the prosecutor at the center of the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case might constitute a conflict of interest that forces him off the case, legal experts said.

"It's hard for me to imagine how he can be effective as an advocate, with either the court or a future jury, when he has ethics charges pending against him … concerning his conduct of this very same case," said Joseph Kennedy, a University of North Carolina law professor.

The North Carolina bar filed the ethics charges Thursday, accusing District Attorney Mike Nifong of violating four rules of professional conduct by making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion.


Read The Rest Here

[Rain Man]

So that I'm not mis-understood or come off as insensitive in case it is proven that this woman was indeed raped, my whole point of contention in this matter is this:

If this woman was indeed raped, be it by the lacrosse players or otherwise, I want the parties that were directly responsible to be punished. In this case, I am not sure if the party being accused (the lacrosse team) was directly responsible; and that they just happened to be in her presence at the wrong time.

The million dollar question is: Was the lacrosse players responsible or "just a victim of circumstance"?

[jubilance1922]

Originally posted by Rain Man
So that I'm not mis-understood or come off as insensitive in case it is proven that this woman was indeed raped, my whole point of contention in this matter is this:

If this woman was indeed raped, be it by the lacrosse players or otherwise, I want the parties that were directly responsible to be punished. In this case, I am [u]not sure[u] if the party being accused (the lacrosse team) was directly responsible; and that they just happened to be in her presence at the wrong time.

The million dollar question is: Was the lacrosse players responsible or "just a victim of circumstance"?

Yes, if they have informatin and are not cooperating. Yes, if they witnessed this young lady being raped by one of their guests and they just looked the other way.

[ladygreek]

Originally posted by mccoyred
Okay, lets back up for a second. Did any of the articles or released information say that "there was NO DNA present on the victim" OR "the DNA that was present did not match any of the DNA from the Lacrosse Players"? There is a BIG difference!

I submit that one of the folllowing scenarios happened:

1) The woman was raped before or after she came to the house
2) The woman was raped at the house by someone other than the lacrosse players (ie guests were at the house who were not tested)
3) The woman was raped by the Lacrosse players and there was tampering with the DNA collection or processing (ie submission of DNA not from the team, lab misconduct or misreading of the results)

The fact is that based on ALL the evidence thus far, the woman WAS RAPED. Hence the reason for the DA to continue with the case regardless of the outcome.

The article I read said there was no DNA found on her body, which is why they concluded she had not even had sex recently. But that contradicts the results of the rape kit. That is why I said I wish the DNA testing had been done elsewhere.

[DoggyStyle82]

Originally posted by ladygreek
The article I read said there was no DNA found on her body, which is why they concluded she had not even had sex recently. But that contradicts the results of the rape kit. That is why I said I wish the DNA testing had been done elsewhere.

Could it be my fair lady, that she was not raped but rather had sex with multiple people that evening. I'm sure that in her line of work, she has participated in a few "trains" before and I know all of that "activity" has to leave some trauma akin to being raped. She may have left one set and went to the next job.

Secondly, those players, while leasing a Duke owned property, were not bound to dormitory rules and were acting as private citizens. If they chose to have that kind of party, off campus, and not as reprentatives of the school, the only sanctions should be handed down by the coach or athletic director, not the university president. Political correctness run amok causes us all to behave irrationally, which is to loose the presumption of innoncence in the rush to prove our "sensitivity" to an "aggreived" class of people.

Yes, call girls, hookers, and strippers can be raped, but it should be common sense to weigh their credibilty. Her story needs to be airtight and impeccable. Why, because the very nature of the job requires a different degree of character and judgement.

McCoyRed

I doubt if 46 men would stand solidly while their lives were being ruined by 3 outsiders. Somebody is dropping a dime, anonymously or otherwise. Someone is gonna crack. Could you imagine having this over your head for the rest of your life just to protect a rapist?


Again, punishment should be reserved for proven wrongs, not alleged indiscretions.

LG, sorry to be my old contrarian self.

[James]

The evidence thus far, including the rape kit, shows that her vagina was consistent with her having had sex within a few days of the rape kit being used.

Whether the sex was voluntary or not can't be told by the vagina . . in my experience the vagina doesn't speak.

The conlusion that she was raped was made by the totality of the evidence. Her vagina showed the effects of sex. She said she was raped. She had marks on her body she said were from the rape, and she was agitated in a way consistent with someone in emotional turmoil.

If she was beaten by the men at the party, and forced into sex by the men at the party . . . then she was raped.

If she had sex before the party, was bruised before the party, and was not forced into having sex with any of the people there . . . then she was no t raped .. but the physical evidence would be the same.

Originally posted by mccoyred


The fact is that based on ALL the evidence thus far, the woman WAS RAPED. Hence the reason for the DA to continue with the case regardless of the outcome.

[James]

The players said the girl was intoxicated when she arrived at the party . . . here is a new story saying that the police found her drunk and passed out on the night in question:

http://www.wnct.com/servlet/Satellit...=1137835376219

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...e/3793222.html

[mccoyred]

Interesting.

Has the woman been tested for rhohypnol (date rape drug)? Don't the symptoms appear very similar to intoxication? The police officer described this condition AFTER the party, right?

Just more questions with no answers.

Originally posted by James
The players said the girl was intoxicated when she arrived at the party . . . here is a new story saying that the police found her drunk and passed out on the night in question:

http://www.wnct.com/servlet/Satellit...=1137835376219

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...e/3793222.html

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by mccoyred
Interesting.

Has the woman been tested for rhohypnol (date rape drug)? Don't the symptoms appear very similar to intoxication? The police officer described this condition AFTER the party, right?

Just more questions with no answers.

If I remember my domestic violence advocacy training correctly (we had to tour the Sexual Victims Unit of the ER, and speak to a ton of counselors, and go through a rape kit), Rohyphnol is out of your system 12 hours after you ingest it. At this hospital, which was a pretty big urban one, you'd have to request Rohyphnol testing.

It's an upsetting situation all around.

[ladygreek]

Originally posted by DoggyStyle82

LG, sorry to be my old contrarian self.

That's quite alright.

[Gods Ivy]

Originally posted by ladygreek
I think we all just need to sit back and see what unfolds. I, too, at this point am not going to make a judgement either way. But one thing does bother me--the DNA testing was all done in Durham. It would have been better, imo, if it had been done elsewhere.

I agree

[CrimsonTide4]

Jesse Jackson's Group to Pay Tuition of Alleged Victim

Just sharing the article, not casting my views.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
Jesse Jackson's Group to Pay Tuition of Alleged Victim

Just sharing the article, not casting my views.

I saw that article in the FREE Clt Observer that was send to my parent's house