The Duke Rape Case.
As this blog grows more and more political, I thought it was about time to bring this up. I've found that this quote from Newsweek sums it up, for those of you who haven't been paying attention to its development.
From the beginning, the case has provided a tawdry real-world blend of true crime, high life and low manners, for the likes of novelists John Grisham and Tom Wolfe. Raunchy rich kids. Town-gown conflict. Raw racial politics. A bedeviling forensic puzzle. But the denouement may be tragic for everyone involved, and the only sure outcome is the iron law of unintended consequences. The story has freakish turns, but it is also the product of a widespread college-age culture that proud parents do not wish to examine too closely: future Masters of the Universe who sometimes behave like thugs.
My thoughts? It doesn't matter what happened. Those boys will never go to jail, regardless of what they did that night.
Why so cynical, you ask? I grew up in the kind of community that produces boys like that. Several of the team members are from my hometown. And, how do I know how those boys get treated when they do bad things?
Because when I was a senior in high school, a boy who I had gone to school with the year before(he transferred the following year to a different school) lured a prostitute to his home and raped her with a baseball bat. You can read a small news article about it here.
Despite having plead guilty, he was sent to reform school. Not jail. Reform school. A couple of years later, one of my friends walked into her class at community college and saw him sitting there. He's not on the sex offender registry- even though he was tried as an adult.
So, why did he get off with barely a slap on the wrist? He was a rich white boy with an expensive lawyer who had raped a prostitute. If a poor black boy raped white Susie Sunshine, the girl next door, in the same manner, he'd be in jail for at least fifteen years.
So, it doesn't matter what these boys did- and I'm inclined to believe that they did do something horrible- justice won't be served. I'm sorry to bring something like this up in a light-hearted, naked pictures blog- but it's the truth.
Photography by Al. Taken in March, 2006.
From the beginning, the case has provided a tawdry real-world blend of true crime, high life and low manners, for the likes of novelists John Grisham and Tom Wolfe. Raunchy rich kids. Town-gown conflict. Raw racial politics. A bedeviling forensic puzzle. But the denouement may be tragic for everyone involved, and the only sure outcome is the iron law of unintended consequences. The story has freakish turns, but it is also the product of a widespread college-age culture that proud parents do not wish to examine too closely: future Masters of the Universe who sometimes behave like thugs.
My thoughts? It doesn't matter what happened. Those boys will never go to jail, regardless of what they did that night.
Why so cynical, you ask? I grew up in the kind of community that produces boys like that. Several of the team members are from my hometown. And, how do I know how those boys get treated when they do bad things?
Because when I was a senior in high school, a boy who I had gone to school with the year before(he transferred the following year to a different school) lured a prostitute to his home and raped her with a baseball bat. You can read a small news article about it here.
Despite having plead guilty, he was sent to reform school. Not jail. Reform school. A couple of years later, one of my friends walked into her class at community college and saw him sitting there. He's not on the sex offender registry- even though he was tried as an adult.
So, why did he get off with barely a slap on the wrist? He was a rich white boy with an expensive lawyer who had raped a prostitute. If a poor black boy raped white Susie Sunshine, the girl next door, in the same manner, he'd be in jail for at least fifteen years.
So, it doesn't matter what these boys did- and I'm inclined to believe that they did do something horrible- justice won't be served. I'm sorry to bring something like this up in a light-hearted, naked pictures blog- but it's the truth.
Photography by Al. Taken in March, 2006.
12 Comments:
Harmless naturists are "deviant perverts" who are scarred by being placed on the sex-offender list, but he's left off? How fucked up is that?!
I agree.
Very true cody,
Thanks for posting some of these links Candy.
As a 40 year old woman it's great to see younger women active and knowledgeable.
Keep up the good work
Also I'm very intrigued about your outdoor pictures. Would you mind sharing with us how it's done and how it feels.
Seems like something I would like to try. I see it as being very liberating the feeling of being free of conforming.
Anne
Anne- Easy enough. Find a photographer, or someone who you're comfortable with, and start shooting.
Lots of photographers are looking for people to shoot for free- you get a cd of images or some prints to use as you wish, and the photographer gets some pictures to a) show to clients, or b) use as art, depending on his(or her) goal. And, of course, some are looking to pay a model- even better, although you may not get pictures back.
You can find "TFP/CD" ads on craigslist, modelmayhem.com, and onemodelplace.com. Simply approach the photographer, explain what you're interested in, and ask if they're willing to shoot you. It helps if you meet before hand to discuss
If you don't want a near-stranger photographing you, find a friend with a decent digital camera who knows how to use it, and get naked.
PS. If you don't want anyone shooting you, you can always shoot yourself- see the site ishotmyself.com.
I'll look into and hopefully have some pictures of me naked
outside to show you soon.
Anne
A Special Prosecutor In The Duke Rape Case?
Susan Estrich wants DA Mike Nifong to appoint a Special Prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse rape case. Ms. Estrich believes that Mike Nifong, is outmatched for Bob Bennett hired by the Duke team parents, and wants NC’s attorney general to hire Bennett's equal to represent the state?
Why not hire Bennett's equal to represent the state? Bringing in the top guns for a complicated case would be one thing, but bringing in the high-priced talent in order to attempt the transformation of a pig's ear into a silk purse would be a waste of the taxpayer's money.
Nifong claimed that a date rape drug was used but a discovery motion filed by the defense learned that there wasn’t any toxicology done. The question of a “line-up” that guaranteed a Duke lacrosse team member would be chosen. The absolute refusal of Nifong looking at exculpatory evidence of any kind, and he continues to ignore evidence that the crime never occurred.
There is no way three drunken men, inside an enclosed bathroom with a woman violently clawing and fighting would leave absolutely no DNA behind at the alleged crime scene. Where’s her tears, sweat, saliva, and other bodily fluids? If condoms were used, were are the condoms, wrappers, boxes or evidence of lubricant on or in the alleged victim? The scene described by the alleged victim is one of violence and chaos, yet even in the most calm and best of situation, anyone who has ever had sex with a condom knows that there is no way to remove a condom without touching DNA evidence from either yourself or partner.
Ms. Estrich states: "The price to date has been paid by the accuser, who has been called every name in the book".
Really? Some think that the defendants have paid a higher price. These boys had their names, photos, addresses, personal information attached to “gang rape” in the national media and internet, they had “wanted posters” posted all over their school and community, daily protests by many sexist and racist political groups identifying these boys and calling them gang rapists, Meanwhile, no mainstream media outlet that has published the accuser's name, let alone called her a liar.
Ms. Estrich’s second point, “that the treatment of the accuser may chill other women from coming forward”
This depends on whether you think public opinion has turned because of brilliant defense maneuvering, or because of an embarrassingly weak case where evidence points to the accuser making false claim, and a DA who has a political agenda.
Ms. Estrich: “Let Nifong pick the prosecutor; if his handpicked choice believes there is no case, …then so be it.”
My guess is that Nifong will have no interest in appointing a special prosecutor prior to his election in November - in terms of Nifong's job preservation, which seems to be his motivation here. Having a special prosecutor dismiss this over the summer will be even more politically embarrassing than having Nifong take responsibility for his own behavior.
Frankly, as best I extrapolate Ms. Estrich's view, if the Duke Stripper replaces Tawana Brawley as the shorthand for false accuser, that will chill real rape victims who will fear that they will not be taken seriously. The only non-chilling outcome would be prosecutions and convictions, and that is not going to happen based on the evidence we've seen.
Blind to evidence
On Monday, May 15, a Durham County grand jury handed up a third indictment in the nothing-short-of-notorious Duke rape case. This latest indictment charges the lacrosse team's captain, David Evans, with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual assault, and first-degree kidnapping.
The charges against Evans are identical to those handed up last month against fellow players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty. Still, this final indictment does come as a bit of surprise. As I detailed in a prior column, the cases against Seligmann and Finnerty appear quite weak. As I'll discuss in this column, the case against Evans may be even shakier. It's true that the grand jury did return indictments against Evans, and previously against the other two. It's also true that the District Attorney, Mike Nifong, is forging ahead -- seemingly undeterred.
But Nifong's judgment has been poor all along- and the old adage that a D.A. can get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich" shouldn't be forgotten. Without defense attorneys there to test the prosecutor's evidence via the invaluable process of cross-examination, weak evidence can be made to look pretty convincing. It's not the grand jury's fault; it's just the reality that if you only hear one side, you tend to believe it.
At least a ham sandwich has some weight to it. As I'll explain in this column, the Evans indictment - like the two that preceded it - does not. The very evidence that may have convinced the grand jury - accuser identification and new DNA evidence - is just the kind that will ultimately fall apart when defense attorneys finally do get to cross-examine the witnesses presenting it.
The Mounting Evidence in Favor of Defendants' Innocence
All three defendants in the Duke lacrosse case have unfailingly and repeatedly proclaimed their innocence - Evans doing so most eloquently, on behalf of all three men, in a brief public comment following his being formally charged.
In fact, in a highly unusual move, newly indicted defendant Evans went to so far as to volunteer to take a lie detector test at the direction of law enforcement. When the D.A. refused, Evans enlisted a top polygrapher to administer the test anyway. He passed.
Thus far, the defense camp has come forward with a host of seemingly reliable, exculpatory evidence -evidence that will be admissible in court, and that is likely to sway a jury. I'm not talking about, maybe, kinda, sorta, or could be, exculpatory evidence either. I'm talking about weighty evidence - receipts, photos, phone records, alibi witnesses, an absence of DNA, and now actual DNA - that directly supports the defendants' claims of innocence.
A plethora of proof supporting a defendant's claim of innocence - not just the government's failure to carry its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt -- is a rare pearl in the practice of criminal defense. It should cause the D.A. to reassess his case.
The Problems with the Accuser's "Identification" of Evans
In my prior columns, I discussed the problems with evidence against Seligmann - who has strong evidence supporting an alibi - and, to a lesser extent, against Finnerty. The evidence against Evans is also weak, maybe even more so.
Evans reportedly was not initially indicted, with the other two, because the accuser couldn't identify him with certainty (only with "90 percent certainty," in her words) from a photo lineup. Ten percent doubt sounds like a lot like reasonable doubt to me - and perhaps, at least initially, it sounded that way to D.A. Nifong too. And if the accuser herself has reasonable doubt, how can a prosecution go forward?
The accuser's lack of certainty is even more worrisome in light of the fact that the photo lineup was grossly biased. It included only Duke lacrosse players - meaning that the accuser had no choice but to select a Duke lacrosse player if she were to select anyone at all. And this photo lineup was apparently the sole means of identification for all three defendants.
Finally, and perhaps most disturbingly, the accuser is reported to have said that Evans's photo "looks just like [one of my assailants] without the mustache." According to Evans's defense lawyer, Evans has never worn a mustache. And party photos support this contention.
For all these reasons, the accuser's identification testimony is likely to be destroyed upon cross-examination.
The Problems with the New DNA Evidence
Besides the accuser's testimony, prosecutors also presented to the grand jury the results of a second round of DNA testing.
Readers may recall that the first round of DNA testing was, if anything, exculpatory: There was no DNA match whatsoever linking any of the forty-six lacrosse players whose DNA was taken, to the accuser.
Following those results, D.A. Nifong reportedly hired a private lab to re-test certain samples. In so doing, the new lab found a possible connection between defendant Evans and the accuser's discarded fake fingernail, found in the trash bin inside the bathroom.
To begin, it's awfully odd that the fake fingernail found its way into the trash bin in the first place, if a rape really occurred, and if the fake fingernail broke off during the victim's struggle, as she claims. No victim would clean up after her accusers; she would flee the scene. And if a culprit had the presence of mind to clean up -- realizing that the fake fingernail might be evidence against him -- surely he wouldn't just drop it in the trash can in the very room where the rape occurred, for police to easily find.
Significantly, too, defense attorneys claim the DNA material was found on the front of the nail -- not on the underside, where it would logically have lodged had the accuser scratched and clawed at her attackers as she claims.
But even putting these points aside, the DNA connection to Evans is weak. To begin, this isn't remotely close to the kind of "match" you may be familiar with from CSI - the kind where the odds of a false positive are infinitesimally small. Indeed, "match" here is a misnomer. All that can be said is that the DNA is "consistent" with DNA voluntarily supplied early on by Evans.
Shocking? Hardly. Evans lived in the house, and therefore may have, from time to time, blown his nose, swabbed an ear, or otherwise disposed of DNA-laden waste into that very trashcan.
Moreover, it was reportedly Evans himself who fished the fake nail from the garbage, voluntarily handing it over to police and maybe, just maybe, shedding some skin cells in the process.
As for direct evidence of sex, there is none; none from any of the forty lacrosse players, that is.
While the second round of DNA testing proved that semen was found inside the accusers vaginal cavity, spokespersons close to the defense are confident the source of the semen is the accuser's own boyfriend.
In sum, after cross-examination, there is little, if any, chance that a jury will give weight to this DNA evidence. It clashes with the accuser's own story, and it's as fully consistent with Evans's innocence as it is with his guilt.
The D.A.'s Unusual Hostility to Even Viewing Defense Evidence
Defense lawyers have repeatedly implored District Attorney Nifong to meet with them and to examine the evidence that favors the defendants. But Nifong has said no - with an attitude that boils down to, "Talk to the hand."
That's unusual. More often than not, prosecutors are quite open to exchanging - or at least being entertained by - the defense's evidence. After all, it provides them with a valuable preview of what the defense's case may ultimately look like in court. Prosecutors are legally required to turn over certain evidence to the defense, but no obligation runs the other way. And since the defense goes second, prosecutors may not be able to effectively counter defense "surprises."
For prosecutors, meeting with the defense is thus typically a win-win situation: If they are convinced to drop the case, then that's embarrassing - but far less than as a loss at trial would have been. If they aren't convinced to drop the case, they've gotten a precious new edge at trial. And either way, both the reality and appearance of fairness to the defendants are enhanced.
Giving a defendant a lie detector test, in contrast, isn't a win-win situation: It may hurt prosecutors' case if the results are released to the public. (Lie detector results are rarely - if ever - admissible in court.) But at the same time, a lie detector test - while risky, and far from perfect - is likely to get prosecutors closer to the truth, which is supposed to be what they are after.
As noted above, in this case, Evans claims Nifong refused to give Evans a lie detector test. (He ultimately took one himself, and passed.) In my professional experience, a prosecutor's refusing to administer a lie detector test to a defendant is nearly unheard-of. The defendant's answers - and the lie detector's response to them - may provide the prosecutor with a road map to what his vulnerabilities on the stand may be.
Just as meeting with the defense previews the defense case for prosecutors, administering a lie detector can preview the defendant's testimony, as well as his on-the-stand demeanor, showing prosecutors what kind of a witness he will be. (Confident? Nervous? Shifty? Solid?)
I can't help but believe that, were any of these defendants to assert that they had proof that a crime was indeed committed, this district attorney would be all ears. Suppose, for instance, that Seligmann or Evans were to turn on Finnerty, to try to save themselves - surely Nifong would happily hear them out. So how can the prosecutor justify, then, turning a blind eye to evidence of any of the accused's innocence?
If There's A Card Up the D.A.'s Sleeve, the Law Requires Him to Play It Soon
Some pundits have suggested that the only explanation for the District Attorney's pressing on in the light of strong evidence that the defendants are innocent, is that he has a card up his sleeve. If so, then he needs to show that card, pronto.
The discovery statutes in North Carolina - as in most states - do not allow prosecutors to play "hide the ball." This is a judicial proceeding, not a magic show. So D.A. Nifong will have to reveal this evidence sometime before trial.
He ought to opt to reveal it right now - to give the defense a chance to counter it. When evidence suggesting innocence is as strong as it is in this case, it's wrong to just let the case go to trial and "see what the jury says." These three young men's live will be forever affected, even if they are acquitted. Even an arrest leaves a scar; the scar of trial is far deeper.
D.A. Nifong should listen to the defense, and should drop the case unless he has strong evidence supporting the accuser. Moreover, if he does have such evidence, he should show it to us now. The defendants have been forthcoming - especially Evans, who volunteered to, and then did, take a lie detector test. The prosecution should follow their example.
Police investigating the Duke University lacrosse team on rape allegations "omitted" notes from a second dancer at the party, who told authorities the alleged victim had been drinking, was acting "crazy" and that her colleague's accusation was a "crock," a defense attorney said Thursday. In court documents filed Thursday, attorney Kirk Osborn said that Durham, North Carolina, police "intentionally, deliberately and/or recklessly omitted" information from a probable cause affidavit -- information Osborn says would have persuaded the judge not to file felony charges against three of the players. The district attorney's office did not return a call seeking comment.
http://lawdogbehindthebadge.blogspot.com/2006/06/latest-on-duke-rape-case.html
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2006/06/duke-lacrosse-how-da-and-some-police.html
http://moneyrunner.blogspot.com/2006/06/more-on-duke-rape-case-second-dancer.html
Another police note obtained by the defense says the alleged victim acknowledged having two beers before arriving at the party and that she and Pittman both had a rum and coke after their arrival.
The accuser also told police that she used a vibrating sex toy during a dance in a hotel room for a male and female, but she told police that she had not had sex in the week before the party, the note says.
However, a male friend of the accuser said that he had sex with her that week and that he drove her to three other sexual encounters, according to the friend's statement.
Osborn also claims in the court documents that the nurse who examined the alleged victim was in training and not yet certified.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/08/duke.lacrosse/index.html?section=cnn_topstories
who are you, and why are you posting stuff like this?
It still doesn't effect or change my post.
The stripper originally claimed that the second stripper helped with the rape!
Just when you think this case hit rock bottom, you find a sub-basement.
If Mike Nifong doesn't get disbarred after this, then there really is a corrupt system in Durham that protects rich white guys.
regarding your question, I don't believe your post. Each state is governed by strict state and federal sexual assault laws. As much as some women seem to believe, money can't buy anyone out of jail, and federal rape shield laws would protect the accuser from being revealed as a hooker, so that blows your "if she was a "white susie sunshine" myth apart.
The problem some women enjoy embellishing rape claims and further solidify their role as "victim" to embrace all the power that comes with it. These women makes me sick.
If you continue to make posts like this, I will close this article to comments.
And I don't lie in my posts.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?archive=true&article=27472&paper=70&cat=104
"SEXUAL ASSAULT: Three former students at Walt Whitman High School were found guilty of the sexual assault of a woman lured to one teen’s Potomac home.
On Nov. 8, 2002, a 25-year old woman, identified by police as an “adult entertainer,” was lured to the home of Andrew Klepper, 15 at the time, on the 7900 block of Quarry Ridge Way, where he, Ryan Baird, 14 and Young Song, 19, assaulted and robbed her.
Klepper was sentenced to five years probation and has been in a treatment facility in Tennessee.
Baird’s case was heard in juvenile court where he plead “involved,” the juvenile equivalent of guilty. He could remain in custody until he turns 21.
Young Song had been sentenced to four years, but the sentence was recently reduced to 31 months. Song was not present at the time Klepper and Baird sexually assaulted the woman."
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