Alleged Rape of NCCU Student: (Duke Scandal)

[1browngirl]

DNA Evidence Found in Duke LAX Case


(05/11/06 - DURHAM) - Prosecutors believe they have DNA evidence to tie a third Duke lacrosse player to the alleged attack of a 27-year-old exotic dancer, sources close to the investigation tell ABC News.

Sources say the third player is the same person who was identified with "90 percent" certainty by the alleged victim in a photo lineup. That lineup was conducted by police weeks after the March 13 off-campus lacrosse team party where the alleged incident took place.

After a first set of DNA tests failed to link two lacrosse players to the alleged crime, it was widely considered that DNA evidence would not be part of the case. New results from this second round of testing will help the prosecution's case, sources close to the investigation say.

New DNA Tests 'Helpful' to Prosecution
The potential evidence a DNA sample found under a fake fingernail worn by the alleged victim and linked to the lacrosse player was recovered from the off-campus home where the alleged attack took place. The fingernail was found in a garbage can in the house, sources close to the investigation told ABC News.

Until the full results are released, it is not yet clear how useful the new tests will be to the prosecution. That complete report is expected to be returned on Monday the same day a grand jury is expected to meet and could indict the player whose DNA was allegedly found.



Read more here

[mccoyred]

Hhhhhmmm. I wonder where other DNA may be hiding?

[Gods Ivy]

My thoughts exactly they should have done those tests somewhere else.

[Rain Man]

But check out this major twist in developments:

Link: Duke Lacrosse DNA: Mystery Man Revealed

Accuser's Boyfriend is 'Single Source' of DNA on Vaginal Swab
By CHRIS CUOMO, GERRY WAGSCHAL, CHRIS FRANCESCANI and LARA SETRAKIAN

May 13, 2006 — - The second round of DNA test results in the Duke University rape investigation show "no conclusive match'' to any lacrosse players, defense attorneys said, but a vaginal swab of the alleged rape victim produced DNA from a "single male source'' -- a man not on the lacrosse team who did not attend a March 13 party that was the site of the alleged rape.

Defense attorney Joe Cheshire declined to identify the mystery man or his connection to the alleged victim, but ABC News' Law and Justice Unit has learned that the unnamed source of the DNA is the alleged victim's "boyfriend," according to her mother.

ABC News is withholding the name of the man because he is apparently not a target of the investigation. Records indicate that Durham, N.C., police gave the "boyfriend'' a cheek swab to collect DNA on May 3, ABC News' Law and Justice Unit has learned exclusively.

It is unclear if or how the first DNA tests missed what appears to be the only foreign genetic material found on the alleged victim's body, defense attorneys said. Two Duke lacrosse players were indicted more than two weeks before the cheek swab was taken from the "boyfriend."

It is also unclear whether the alleged victim had sex with the "boyfriend" the night she claims to have been raped by three Duke lacrosse players. DNA experts tell ABC News that genetic traces of semen can remain in the body up to six days after intercouse.

Defense attorneys declined to release the actual report, saying that it contained the name of the "single male source.''

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong did not return a call to his home Friday night requesting his reaction to the defense attorneys' press conference. Nifong has said recently that he would be undeterred by a lack of conclusive DNA evidence.

Experts say that the absence of conclusive DNA evidence would not necessarily be a fatal blow to the prosecution's case. They cite a figure stating that 75 percent to 80 percent of rape prosecutions do not involve forensic evidence such as DNA.

"The truth is if you speak to crime lab directors, they will tell you that in only a relatively small number of cases is there any DNA evidence," said Peter Neufeld, co-founder and co-director of the Innocence Project, which uses DNA to free people wrongly imprisoned. "In rape cases, there is an expectation of DNA. But like many expectations, often it is misplaced."

According to defense attorneys, neither Colin Finnerty nor Reade Seligmann, the two men charged, appear anywhere in the latest report. The two were charged with rape, kidnapping and sexual assault. None of either men's DNA has turned up in any test results, defense attorneys said.

Chesire conceded Friday that the results show that genetic material from beneath a plastic fingernail recovered from a garbage can at the scene of the alleged crime has "some characteristics'' of "one or two'' players' DNA, but that none of the tests show any conclusive matches. He acknowledged that the report names a third player, but declined to identify that player.

On Thursday, ABC News reported that prosecutors believe they have DNA evidence that could link a third player to the alleged attack.

Sources close to the investigation did not claim the material under the plastic fingernail was a conclusive match -- only that it would be "helpful'' to the prosecution. The player whose genetic material was found under the fake fingernail is the same player who was identified in a photo lineup by the alleged victim with "90 percent" certainty, sources said.

Nifong has said he hopes to charge a third player in the alleged rape. Defense attorneys say they are bracing for another indictment -- which could come as early as Monday.

"Monday, the grand jury is going to … consider indicting yet another of these young men,'' Chesire said. "And the travesty of justice, and the ripping apart of a community, and the intentional fractionalization of races will continue."

The fake fingernail was found inside a garbage can in the bathroom of the off campus home where the party was thrown. The garbage can also contained tissues, Q-Tips, and other materials, defense lawyers said. They said that players removed the plastic nail from the garbage and gave it to police.

"Is that consistent with someone that knowledgeably and knowingly committed a rape?" Cheshire said. "That they would leave fingernails that were ripped off a person in a violent struggle in their trash can after they're told there's an investigation and that police were going to come to their house -- and when the police do, they give them the fingernails?"

[Gods Ivy]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rain Man
[B]But check out this major twist in developments:


All interesting can't wait to see how all this plays out, there are so many gray areas and too much here say in the news. I want to know the facts and the story about what happend. What would be her motive for setting these men up if she is not telling the truth and if so why the death threats to drop the case?


Too much unknown

[Rain Man]

....the hits just keep on coming:

(DURHAM) -- There are new attacks against the credibility of the accuser in the Duke lacrosse rape investigation.

The Durham Herald-Sun reports sources close to the defense say evidence collected so far points to problems with her story.

The newspaper reports three defense sources say a forensic examination found no tearing, bleeding or other injuries associated with a sexual assault. The sources also said the accuser told police she had sex with three men around the time of the alleged rape. The men are identified as her boyfriend and two drivers for the escort service for which she worked.

District Attorney Mike Nifong neither confirmed nor denied the remarks.

Link to article

And another one....

Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer

Durham, NC (AHN)—Sources close to the defense team representing the players say the woman who has accused three members of the Duke University lacrosse team of raping her at an off-campus party told investigators several different stories about the night of the alleged incident.

According to the Fox News report, the sources say the differing accounts are included in the 1,300 pages of evidence delivered to defense lawyers last week by Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong.

Meanwhile, according to a defense filing, medical records of the 27-year-old accuser suggest she might not have been tested for drugs or alcohol. However, defense lawyers for suspect Reade Seligmann say they were not given any toxicology reports by Nifong.

Nifong told a local Durham radio station that he turned over all the evidence he has and that he will hand over any new information to the defense when he gets it.

Along with Seligmann, of Essex Falls, N.J., sophomore Collin Finnerty of Garden City, N.Y., and senior David Evans of Bethesda, Md., are among the three Duke lacrosse players who have been indicted in connection with the case. All players are proclaiming their innocence.


Link to article

[mccoyred]

Hhmmm, thats funny if the accuser wasn't tested for drugs or alcohol, esp since one of the first cops on the scene indicated that she was 'drunk'.

Also, in one of these articles, it says that there was no evidence of rape (ie tearing, etc.) yet the ER who exmined the victim the next day clearly indicated that there were signs consistent with rape which is one of the crucial points used to get the indictments.

Lastly, if she did have sex with three other men, where is the evidence?

Absolutely crazy!

[Gods Ivy]

Originally posted by mccoyred
Hhmmm, thats funny if the accuser wasn't tested for drugs or alcohol, esp since one of the first cops on the scene indicated that she was 'drunk'.

Also, in one of these articles, it says that there was no evidence of rape (ie tearing, etc.) yet the ER who exmined the victim the next day clearly indicated that there were signs consistent with rape which is one of the crucial points used to get the indictments.

Lastly, if she did have sex with three other men, where is the evidence?

Absolutely crazy!

I agree. Too many conspiracy theories. Just can't wait to see how this all pans out.

[NinjaPoodle]

Long Island
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/lo...tory?track=rss
Parties in Duke scandal talk on '60 Minutes'
The lacrosse players say they are innocent and the second dancer also denies that rape occurred
BY REID J. EPSTEIN
Newsday Staff Writer

October 16, 2006


After the performance ended, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann never saw the exotic dancer who would claim they and another Duke University lacrosse player raped her at an off-campus house, the two men said in an interview aired last night on "60 Minutes."

The CBS interviews marked the first public comment on the case from Finnerty, Seligmann and David Evans, who hosted the party.

The three are accused of holding the dancer against her will in a bathroom of the house and raping her in March. A grand jury indicted all three on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense; defense attorneys have proclaimed their innocence.

Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, said he left the party after the two women stopped dancing.

"I left soon after I saw them do their act in the room with everybody else," he said. "I saw them leave the room. I never saw them again in my life."

Also, the second dancer at the party, Kim Roberts, appeared to change her story in the CBS News interview.

After saying in previous interviews that the rape allegations were "a crock," then saying the lacrosse players were "guilty," she now says the other woman gave no indication she was assaulted the night of the party -- and actually suggested they go back to make more money.

Roberts said the two women stopped performing after only a few minutes -- they had been paid $800 for two hours' work -- because one of the men threatened her with a broomstick.

Roberts said she and the other woman then hid in a bathroom while the men in the crowd banged on the door.

"It wasn't, you know, cajoling or it wasn't sweet," she said. "It was they were coaxing us but in their own boyish, rude way."

At that point, Roberts said, she walked out of the house to her car, leaving the other woman alone for five to 10 minutes. When the other woman joined her in the car, Roberts said, she did not indicate that she had been assaulted. She even suggested the two women go back inside to make more money.

Finnerty, a sophomore who because of the charges against him is suspended from Duke, said he doesn't know how or why he and two teammates wound up charged with a rape they say they didn't commit. He said the charges against him will define him for the rest of his life.

"I never expected anyone to get indicted, let alone myself," he said. "It's unbelievable. Don't know how, why, that happened. But try to figure that out; I really have no idea how, how that happened."

Seligmann, 20, from Essex Fells, N.J., said he left the party when the dancers finished because he wasn't having a good time.

"I didn't like the tone of the party, and I just, it made me uncomfortable," he said on the program. "It's as simple as that. I thought it was a boring party and I didn't like the tone."

Evans, 23, the team captain from Bethesda, Md., who hosted the party, said he regrets the decision to combine alcohol, strippers and his lacrosse teammates.

"I was naive, I was young, I was sheltered," he said. "And I made a terrible judgment. In five months, I've learned more than I did in 22 years about life."

[shinerbock]

Its time for the DA to show his hand or let this all go. This is getting ridiculous.

[nikki1920]

THANK you!!! If you had evidence that could convince a jury that something occurred then what is the hold up?

*not familiar with legal procedures*

Did anyone see the 60 minutes interview? Homegirl was interesting.....

[Rain Man]

The noose continues to tighten around the victim's neck. She is in the gallows. Will the governor (read: DA) grant her a pardon or will she be hung by her own rope?

The DA needs to make a move, and soon.

[melissa4fun1987]

I am kinda turned on the lax team and think they are hot lol.

[PositivelyAKA]

I think (perhaps it aired already) that there is an interview with the three suspects coming up and a black lady? i don't know if she's the victim or someone speaking for her? did anyone see this or know when it will air. It makes no sense, rape is still not taken as a serious crime, race should not even be an issue, what the heck does that have to do with a violent crime. regardless of race it seems rape is just very hard to prove under the law.

[shinerbock]

It is very difficult to prove sometimes. It sucks that some people have been reckless in alleging rape, and have cast doubt on other claims. Hopefully we'll find out soon if this is one of those cases or not.