Duke Lacrosse team rapes a woman???

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
KH is right.

Nice of you to say, but slightly redundant.

[The Mad Monk]

If at first you don't succeed...

New DNA Evidence in Duke Lacrosse Case
Sources: DNA Ties Third Player to Alleged Rape; Defense Says Evidence Is Misleading

By CHRIS CUOMO, CHRIS FRANCESCANI and LARA SETRAKIAN, ABC NEWS LAW & JUSTICE UNIT

May 11, 2006 — 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.

Last month, a grand jury indicted two sophomore lacrosse players, Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, on charges of kidnapping, rape and sexual assault.

Earlier in the case, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said he had hoped to indict a third player in the alleged crime but did not have enough evidence at the time.

"Investigation into the identity of the third assailant will continue in the hope that he can also be identified with certainty," Nifong said in media reports.

The Durham Herald Sun newspaper in North Carolina reported today that the tissue sample used for testing did not allow for a 100 percent match, but that it was "consistent" with the DNA of the third player. Because a complete DNA pattern was not obtained from the sample on the fingernail, it was impossible to match that sample with near certainty to the third player, the newspaper said.

That newspaper's reporting largely mirrors what sources close to the investigation have told ABC News. When pressed, however, those sources would not say there was a perfect match between the third player and the sample tested.

Defense: DNA 'Inconclusive' and 'Misleading'

Defense sources said the results from an initial round of DNA testing had failed to produce any DNA evidence. They point out, to this day, that no DNA evidence matching the lacrosse players has been found on the alleged victim. They insist that results from this set of DNA tests are also inconclusive and that there is no match, and that to say otherwise is "very misleading."

They also say it would not be unusual to find players' DNA in the bathroom or garbage can of a house where some of them lived and many others spent time.

The defense will almost certainly argue that these new DNA results should not be permitted in court, because they are not a perfect match. In cases where DNA evidence is not a perfect match it is sometimes considered inadmissible as evidence.

The case — tinged with class, race and social issues — has riveted the city of Durham and drawn national media attention since the allegations first surfaced nearly two months ago. The accuser, a mother and a student at nearby North Carolina Central University who was working that night as an exotic dancer, is black, and the accused players are white.

The potential new DNA evidence in the case comes as Duke University seniors prepare for graduation on Sunday.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=1948939

[The Mad Monk]

Meanwhile, back at the railroad...

Lacrosse defense witness arrested
Cabbie questioned in 2003 incident

Joseph Neff and Samiha Khanna, Staff Writers
DURHAM - A Durham police detective investigating the Duke University lacrosse case arrested an alibi witness Wednesday on a 2 1/2-year-old misdemeanor warrant.

Taxi driver Moezeldin Elmostafa said Investigator R.D. Clayton and another officer asked whether he had anything new to tell them about the rape case before driving him to the Durham County jail. He said no and was held for five hours, until a friend posted his bail on a shoplifting charge.

Ernest Conner, a Greenville lawyer who represents defendant Reade Seligmann, said the cabbie's arrest amounted to intimidation. "It appears to me they are trying to pressure a witness who supports our defendant's rock-solid alibi," Conner said.

Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, the supervisor of the investigation, refused to answer questions Wednesday night.

Elmostafa signed a sworn statement in April saying he picked up Seligmann from a Duke lacrosse team party just after midnight March 14. Seligmann and another player, Collin Finnerty, have been charged with raping an escort service dancer during the party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.

Elmostafa's affidavit said he picked up Seligmann at 12:19 a.m. that morning and drove him to an automated teller machine, a fast-food burger joint and back to his dorm. To corroborate the taxi driver's statement, Seligmann's lawyers filed copies in court of phone records, security photos from the ATM and electronic records showing when Seligmann entered his dorm.

The lawyers have said that Elmostafa's account and the records exonerate Seligmann.

Clayton, who is working under Gottlieb on the case, picked up Elmostafa on Wednesday afternoon.

"The detective asked if I had anything new to say about the lacrosse case," Elmostafa said. "When I said no, they took me to the magistrate."


Moezeldin Elmostafa was held for five hours at the jail.

2003 charge

Elmostafa was charged with a misdemeanor larceny that occurred Sept. 2, 2003, when a woman stole five purses worth $250 from the Hecht's department store at Northgate Mall.

Elmostafa said Wednesday that he had picked up Lisa Faye Hawkins and her daughter at their home and had taken them to the mall. Elmostafa said he waited in the taxi with the daughter while Hawkins shopped and then he drove the two home.

Elmostafa said he later received a call asking him to speak with Hecht's security. The security officer at Hecht's said Hawkins had stolen some purses before getting into the taxi, Elmostafa said.

Elmostafa said he gave the woman's address and a copy of his driver's license to the security guard, who thanked him for his help.

"I am not responsible for what she did inside the store," Elmostafa said. "I am just a taxi driver."

Hawkins pleaded guilty to the larceny three months later.

Elmostafa said he heard nothing about the case until his arrest Wednesday. He spent five hours at the Durham County jail before a friend put up $700 for the bail.

A Hecht's spokesman could not be reached Wednesday evening.

Conner said it was highly unusual for police to arrest someone for a misdemeanor more than two years after the crime. He contrasted the treatment of the taxi driver with that of Kim Roberts, the other dancer at the party. Conner said Roberts initially told police no rape occurred at the party but changed her story after she was arrested on a probation violation. District Attorney Mike Nifong later reduced Roberts' bail.
Staff writer Joseph Neff can be reached at 829-4516 or jneff@newsobserver.com.

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/438305.html

[rah]

I doubt dna evidence found in a garbage can is going to convict anyone.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by rah
I doubt dna evidence found in a garbage can is going to convict anyone.

Certainly not one of the boys, anyways. Not these lads, no sir, not a dukie.

[rah]

If the fake fingernail was still on her when they discovered the evidence that might be something else.

I'm not saying they're not guilty, I'm just saying the evidence is pretty weak and shouldn't get then convicted. The prosecution has fumbled this one past the point of return.

[Dis]

I don't think I posted the other article, but this woman has claimed rape before.

[Dis]

if anyone still cares, genetic material of several males was found in her body and in her underwear, but none were by Duke players.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/13/D8M06HMG0.html

[Flubber]

SO she probably was raped or at least had sex with multiple guys but it wasn't the Lacrosse team.

[Wiglaf]

See

Women claim rape all the time

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by General Ludd


Certainly not one of the boys, anyways. Not these lads, no sir, not a dukie.

His claim is based on evidence (or the total lack thereof). Your insinuation is based on....the fact that all men are rapists?

[Darius871]

More likely his ass-umption that they won't be convicted because they're rich.

[KrazyHorse]

Hey, normally I like to see the rich hung out to dry as much as the next guy. But these kids didn't do it. You've got a drunk-ass ho's word against the word of a bunch of preppie *******s, a total lack of evidence, the word of a cab driver and ATM records.

[Darius871]

You're reaching to the choir here.

But once an investigation/trial devolves into a media circus "evidence" becomes irrelevant for most people. O.J. should have gotten that point across by now.

[Straybow]

At least he's finally told us how he would've done if only somebody else didn't beat him to it.