New Duke Rape Allegation: DA Says Not His Job
A female, lesbian Duke student alleges she was raped by a male student following a dorm pot-smoking, drinking party on the last day of classes. The male denies they had sex.
DA Mike Nifong says it's not his job to be involved unless police ask for his help.
"The Duke lacrosse case was very different from the way we normally get rape cases," Nifong said. "The District Attorney's Office is normally not contacted during the course of an investigation unless the law enforcement agency needs some special kind of assistance," such as obtaining a court order, he said. "That has not been the case in [the latest] investigation."
Duke police did get a search warrant and order for DNA testing. Nifong's explanation:
The investigation appears to focus on a single suspect, Nifong said.
"It's a different situation if you have a focus on a specific individual, as opposed to a specific address," he said, referring to 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., where the lacrosse party took place.
Does anyone else detect a bit of doublespeak here?
Also on Duke: The DA seems pretty sure he has physical evidence to back up the accuser's rape allegations in the Duke Lacrosse case. Further DNA results are expected around May 15. Nifong had this to say about the first DNA results the day after he won the election:
"My guess is that there are many questions that many people are asking that they would not be asking if they saw the results," Nifong said.
I'm wondering, did they test the broom handle for her DNA or for fecal matter? If they did, and it came back positive, those results might not have been turned over to the defense. Since no one had been charged at the time, the only results they would have been entitled to then were results of the DNA tests of their clients, the players.
Also, maybe the commenters here can clue me in. Why isn't there more news on whomever dropped her off at the party? Isn't this her current boyfriend? Did he go back to pick her up? Didn't he also go to the hospital to see her the next day? If either are true, he's certainly been interviewed by the police.
The crucial photo was taken, defense sources say, at approximately 12:41 a.m., and shows the accuser calmly being helped into a car to leave the party. Taken together with other time- stamped photos from earlier in the evening, it is crucial to the defense argument that there was not enough time that night for a rape to occur. In fact, prosecutors will argue, that photo actually shows the accuser being dropped off at the party, not leaving it, and that it was taken well before midnight. In that photo, the accuser is shown in a black or dark-colored car, which matches a description of the car defense and prosecution sources say dropped her off at the party. The person in the driver seat of that car is not Kim Roberts, whom prosecutors will argue drove the accuser away from the party after the alleged rape.
| < Juror Explains Refusal to Convict Awadallah | New Autopsy: Guards Killed Fla. Boot Camp Teen > |
