Crucial to that portrait of the case are Sergeant Gottlieb's 33 pages of typed notes and 3 pages of handwritten notes, which have not previously been revealed. His file was delivered to the defense on July 17, making it the last of three batches of investigators' notes, medical reports, statements and other evidence shared with the defense under North Carolina's pretrial discovery rules.

Joseph B. Cheshire, a lawyer for David Evans, one of the defendants, called Sergeant Gottlieb's report a "make-up document." He said Sergeant Gottlieb had told defense lawyers that he took few handwritten notes, relying instead on his memory and other officers' notes to write entries in his chronological report of the investigation....Mr. Cheshire said the sergeant's report was "transparently written to try to make up for holes in the prosecution's case." He added, "It smacks of almost desperation."

Much of the article reads like a prosecution motion.

In several important areas, the full files, reviewed by The New York Times, contain evidence stronger than that highlighted by the defense.

Yet, even the Times has to agree, there's no definitive evidence a rape occurred.

The files, of course, cannot settle any arguments about the case, which is expected to go to trial next spring. Still, taken in their entirety, they help answer some important questions and raise others.