Newsweek: Doubts about Duke

[pnwmom]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13392547/site/newsweek/

"June 29, 2006 issue - The order had come, signed by a judge, requiring that the Duke lacrosse team give DNA samples. The prosecutor was trying to identify the three players who had allegedly raped an exotic dancer at the house rented by three of the team's co-captains on the night of March 13-14. All 47 players had gathered in a classroom near the lacrosse field to hear their lawyer, Bob Ekstrand, tell them what they needed to do. Ekstrand was about to tell the players that they could appeal the order as "overbroad," too sweeping in its scope, when the players got up and started heading for their cars to drive downtown to the police station. (The team's one black player was not required to go; the accuser, who is black, claimed her attackers were white.)

"Ekstrand was struck to see how little hesitation the players showed. After all, if the DNA of any one of those men matched DNA found on the accuser's body, it could ruin his life: disgrace followed by many years in prison. But there was no talk of hiring individual lawyers or stalling for time; the players seemed to want to get on with it. "I was watching to see if anyone hung back," Ekstrand told NEWSWEEK. No one did.

"It is possible, almost three months later, that the players are maintaining a conspiracy of silence. But it seems highly unlikely. Rather, court documents in the case increasingly suggest that Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong had very little evidence upon which to indict three players for rape. Indeed, the available evidence is so thin or contradictory that it seems fair to ask what Nifong could have been thinking when he confidently told reporters that there was "no doubt" in his mind that the woman had been raped at the party held by the lacrosse team.

"The media coverage of the case has been enormous. NEWSWEEK put the mug shots of two of the players—Reade Seligmann, 20, and Collin Finnerty, 19—on its cover the week after they were indicted. Some early accounts raised doubts about the guilt of the players, but the story more typically played as a morality tale of pampered jocks gone wild. Lately, as more evidence from police or medical reports have been filed or cited in court documents by defense lawyers, the national and local media have been raising questions about Nifong's conduct of the case and his motivations."

SNIP

[Erika]

1. The LaCrosse members were spoiled frat brats

Rich kids who hired Black strippers for their party. That is disgusting in itself. W can identify with them. Most of the rest of us cannot.

[Kagemusha]

2. Identity doesn't equal guilt though.

For them, for young black men on trial for violent crimes against white women, for anyone. We shouldn't bend principles of justice just because white young men descended from the wealthy are the ones on trial.

Perhaps I am in the minority on that.

[Fovea]

3. I agree

this case is not breathtaking new ground in case law.
But it is one big ass Rorschach test for race, class, and gender
triggers.

It is the kinda story the Repubs love because it is a club *and* a wedge.

[pnwmom]

10. As a woman, and a liberal, I initally found myself drawn to the

accuser's claims. But as her case gets weaker and weaker, I have trouble understanding how anyone can justify continuing the prosecution. The courts are clogged enough as it is. The victim won't benefit by dragging on this charade. The State of North Carolina won't benefit. The only ones who will gain will be Nifong -- who still has the November election to contend with -- and the defendants' attorneys.

These students (and their parents) have already paid a permanent price for the mistake they made in attending a drunken party. It's time to end this now. If the prosecutor doesn't have enough evidence for a trial within 6 months of the indictments, he should drop the case.

[ugarte]

4. Well said. Political correctness isn't the issue in this case...nt

[TomInTib]

6. Nobody forced those girls into that job.

Rule #1 in the escort/dancer biz is 'do not work frat or team parties'.

This whole thing is worthless bullshit.

Why aren't we talking about the one in four female college students who are sexually assaulted?

Tom

[pnwmom]

11. It doesn't have to be an either/or thing, Tom.

Of course the issue of rape is important. But I think what this case reveals about the way the justice system works is important, too. And it has been interesting to see how many DU'ers assumed the guilt of the students, based on such things as the political affiliation of the students' parents or the fact that they're frat members or jocks. And how many liberals seem to implicitly trust a prosecutor . . . despite all the evidence that he had much to gain, politically, from this prosecution.

I'm not sure what there is to talk about with regard to the high percent of college students who are assaulted. The statistic is horrifying. You bet I talked a lot to both my daughter and my son before they went to college (and during). But I think DU'ers are pretty much united on this issue . . . so there is less to talk about. Do you have something in particular in mind?

[TomInTib]

16. I agree with you.

100%

[pnwmom]

8. Uh-huh. First they came for the poor blacks in the ghetto.

Then they came for the spoiled frat brats.

Then they came for . . . you?

Personally, I want them to stop prosecuting people on spurious grounds before they get to me. But maybe you trust prosecutors like Nifong to leave good people like you alone.

I don't.

[pnwmom]

12. Are they worse because you think they knowingly hired black strippers

for their party?

Or are they disgusting simply because they hired strippers at all? Do you really think it is so unusual for college students to hire strippers? Is it that much better for them to go to a club, or do you think that is unusual, too?

Nowadays, when you can just turn on HBO and see strippers (Sopranos, etc.) I doubt that kids think it's that big an issue. And that's our fault.

Just for the record, they didn't actually try to hire black strippers. When asked for race, they specified white and hispanic. So now you can blame them for discriminating in the other direction.

[DubyaSux]

14. That's pretty racist...

Basically, you've dismissed the presumption of innocence of a horrible crime because of their skin color and class in society. I can't see how that is any different then assuming guilt of a person because they are poor and black.

Other than the accuser's word, there's not a shred of evidence they had anything to do with it.

[Solo_in_MD]

15. The longer this goes on, the more politically motivated it looks

by Nifong. Racial tensions have clouded things, but it looks more and more he did it to support his election.

Some of the media is saying that Nifong has a reputation for taking a position and defending it to the death, even if the facts no longer support it. If that is indeed true, he has no place in the justice system.

[marshall]

17. What frat boys want

Actually the frat boys thought they were hiring white strippers, or so says the second stripper. She got there first and they seemed to be satisfied with her. She is African American/Korean American, and they took her for Hispanic in her opinion. Then the second stripper got there and her race was more obvious, and the name calling began.

[TomInTib]

5. This whole thing should be non-news

This ridiculous crap has fomented so many reactions, both Left and Right.

What should pop up out of this idiocy is the fact that one in four college females are sexually assaulted.

Instead, it has devolved into a cesspool of black/white haves/have-nots culture bullshit.

[MnFats]

7. speaking of news: I wanted to puke when..

...i'm on an eliptical machine trying to burn a few calories...they've got FOX on the tv above the machines...

...one of the 'teaser' lines they have at the bottom of the speaker reads: "Source: Dancer did more than dance at parties."

that's FAUX journalism for you. what an outrage.

[pnwmom]

9. You're right. Nifong should have done his investigation quietly

and not in front of the news cameras. But he did. And now the fact that these students face what look like political indictments (politically helpful for Nifong) is worthy of attention. What kind of justice system are we willing to settle for?

My niece has a roommate that was raped in college -- twice. Both times someone slipped her something in a drink (a can of beer, and a can of soda) and she woke up to find herself having been raped. The first time she thought she knew who did it (he had been bothering her and she had sent him out of her room). The second time, she woke up on a sidewalk and had no memory of what happened.

Both times, the hospital neglected to do the appropriate testing.

I'm afraid that the more highly-publicized, botched cases we have, the harder it is going to be for real victims, like my niece's friend, who face enough obstacles already.

[90-percent]

13. "did more than dance"?

remodeling, tax returns, hook up the stereo, clean the catbox, network the computers, mow the lawn, what, already?

-85%

[marshall]

18. assault rates

And I'm sure the sexual assault rates for exotic dancers is much higher than one in four. Hopefully it will cause people to be more cautious--just as the one good thing to come out of the Natalee Holloway news festival is that parents will be more cautious about where they send their kids for high school graduation trips.