New Duke rape case developments

by Evie May 9, 2006 1:06AM PDT

If this is true ...

Report: Questions about accuser slowed Duke response

Duke's response to rape allegations involving members of the men's lacrosse team was too slow and relied too much on second-hand information, according to a university report.

That included assertions by Durham police that the accuser "kept changing her story and was not credible," the report prepared by two former heads of other universities states.

The day after the March 13 team party where a 27-year-old black woman claimed she was raped, Durham police told campus officers that "this will blow over," the report said. The woman initially told police she was raped by 20 white men, then said she was attacked by three, the report said.

Police told the Duke officers that if any charges were filed, "they would be no more than misdemeanors," the report said. ...

Discussion is locked

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Worsens her case even more

by dirtyrich May 9, 2006 1:28AM PDT

Defense attorneys will shred her claims by questioning her initial statements, and rightfully so.

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It makes me wonder ...

by Evie May 9, 2006 1:48AM PDT

... even more why charges were brought w/o DNA evidence. The case then relies solely on he said/she said, and there's been little doubt from the beginning that she wasn't in a coherent state when initially found.

Why not hold off until the rest of the DNA comes in (mid month this month last I heard) or do some checking of suspects' alibis?? The photos are questionable, but the ATM camera/time stamp and dorm swipe seem pretty easy to track down and concrete.. Yes there are some gaps in timing, etc., but it seems this wasn't even pursued by the prosecution and that troubles me when you have such an iffy complaintant. I don't buy any argument that these boys were going anywhere. If they were charged later and failed to return to NC to face those charges, they would eventually be found, and flight would ensure they would be found guilty. For all the ''rich kids'' reports, anyone familiar with the region knows that owning a million dollar home is not necessarily an indication of fluid or disposable wealth.

I can only surmise that they have something like the date rape drug in a urine test or somesuch at this point. Otherwise the progression of this case just makes no sense.

Evie

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Probably not allowed into evidence, DR!

by Dave Konkel [Moderator] May 9, 2006 3:24AM PDT

Kathleen Parker: She says ?stop,? he does, and it?s still rape?

>> FOR THE PAST six months, I?ve been staring at a 30-pound box filled with court documents and what?s left of a young man?s life following one college night and a 5- to 15-second disputed sex act. That is, 5 to 15 seconds into the act of sexual intercourse, she said, ?Stop.? He stopped immediately. She claimed rape.

Thus, before his 23rd birthday, Rich Gorman of Orlando, Fla., was locked behind bars in the Liberty Correctional Institute near Tallahassee, serving a five-year sentence for sexual battery. <<

The parallel: >>The ?victim,? whom we?ll call Chastity, contradicted herself and changed her story several times ? all documented in the box at my feet. She was drinking and making out with Gorman earlier in the evening.

She also went willingly into his apartment on the night in question, and this is key. She initially told police that she was pulled struggling from the car and dragged into his apartment, where she was raped. When she was told that parking lot cameras might have captured her going into the apartment, she changed her story, admitted that she wasn?t forced, and that she walked voluntarily into the apartment. My suspension of skepticism ends right there, but there?s much more, including a prior rape claim by the ?victim? at another college a few years earlier. Same victim, same scenario, except that she recanted in that case, saying she wasn?t sure it was a rape because she was drunk. All the preceding was ruled inadmissible during Gorman?s trial thanks to rape shield laws. <<

You won't find me agreeing with the Union Leader very often, but she's bang on this time!

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
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