Cop says nurse found trauma in Duke case

But investigator's report in lacrosse case contradicts evidence in the prosecutor's files on some key points

DURHAM -- The lead investigator in the Duke lacrosse case wrote that a Duke Hospital nurse said the accuser had been subjected to "blunt force trauma" consistent with a sexual assault.

Sgt. Mark Gottlieb made this observation in a typed, single-spaced, 33-page summary of the case handed to defense lawyers in July. It is not clear when it was written.

Parts of Gottlieb's account differ at key points from medical records, other investigators' notes and other documents in the prosecutor's files. For example, the accuser's descriptions of her alleged assailants in Gottlieb's account of his first meeting with her contradict the descriptions found in handwritten notes his partner took at the same meeting.

Gottlieb is the senior investigator on the case, and his "Supplemental Case Notes" form a crucial part of the state's investigation into the charges that three Duke University lacrosse players gang-raped an escort service dancer at a team party on the night of March 13.

Gottlieb's account provides new details on what the detective said he uncovered in the crucial first month of the investigation, before any indictments were handed down. Some information is not found in previous documents produced by District Attorney Mike Nifong.

Directing the investigation, Gottlieb ordered up lineups, interviewed suspects and executed search warrants. His testimony will be crucial at any trial of the three accused players: David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md.; Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J.

Gottlieb has spent 15 years with the Durham police as a patrolman, investigator and supervisor.

He was recently in the news for his role in an alleged assault that involved racial slurs outside a Raleigh sports bar in July. Two Durham police officers have been charged with misdemeanor assault on a cook at Blinco's. Gottlieb and two other officers are under internal investigation.

Gottlieb and his partner on the lacrosse case, Investigator Benjamin Himan, did not return phone calls.

On Friday, Nifong declined to discuss the case, saying "I don't comment on what other people say about the case."

Gottlieb's account contradicts notes and documents generated earlier in the investigation, according to Wade Smith, a Raleigh defense lawyer who represents Finnerty. Defense lawyers discussed Gottlieb's account after The New York Times published an article on the case Friday.

Smith was troubled by the lack of handwritten notes from Gottlieb, who produced only two pages of handwritten notes to accompany his 33-page typed account. Those two pages, taken on April 27, described a search for a lab to conduct hair analysis.

"This is a pristine white document that fell out of the sky four months later," Smith said. "Where are his notes? How can you interview the most important witness you've ever interviewed in your life and not take notes?"

Medical evidence

Gottlieb wrote that on March 21, he took a subpoena to Duke Hospital and interviewed the nurse who examined the accuser for evidence of sexual assault. Gottlieb produced no handwritten notes of this interview.

"I asked her if the exam was consistent with blunt force trauma, and she replied yes," Gottlieb wrote.

The nurse, Tara Levicy, "stated the victim had [swelling] and tenderness to palpitation both anally and especially vaginally. She stated it was so painful to have the speculum inserted vaginally, that it took an extended period of time to insert same to conduct an examination. I asked her if the blunt force trauma was consistent with the sexual assault that was alleged by the victim. She stated the trauma was consistent with the victim's allegation."