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Published: Aug 06, 2006 12:00 AM
Modified: Aug 10, 2006 10:40 AM

Lacrosse files show gaps in DA's case

A review of prosecution documents in the rape investigation reveals that the district attorney's public statements promised more than the evidence released so far indicates

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Both sides in the Duke lacrosse rape case are investigating, and District Attorney Mike Nifong has promised that he will hand over more evidence to the defense.

Lawyers for the three defendants have filed a small stack of motions. They've asked for more evidence, for the prosecutor to spell out exactly when and how the crime allegedly occurred, and for Nifong to step aside from the case. Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. Titus has said he won't consider those motions until the discovery phase is complete. The next hearing is scheduled for the week of Aug. 21.

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But they offer the most complete picture thus far of evidence in the case that has put Durham and Duke in the national spotlight. The documents -- police notes, court orders, DNA tests, interviews and handwritten statements -- show what the prosecution has learned and how it conducted itself in State of North Carolina vs. Collin Finnerty, Reade W. Seligmann and David Forker Evans, who could face decades in prison if convicted.

The accuser's stories

At 1:22 a.m. March 14, Sgt. John Shelton of the Durham Police Department was called to the Kroger supermarket on Hillsborough Road. A scantily clad woman was passed out in a Honda Accord and wouldn't get out of the car. Shelton got no response when he talked loudly to her, his notes on the encounter say.

As Shelton pressured her wrist to goad her out of the car, the woman grabbed the parking brake, struggling to stay inside. Once out, she collapsed on the parking lot. Shelton ordered his officers to take her to a 24-hour mental health facility where intoxicated people can be held.

"Since she would not speak with us, we did not know her name or where she lived,'' Shelton wrote in his notes. "Taking her home was not an option."

Eventually the silent woman, a student at N.C. Central University, began talking to doctors, nurses and police officers. Her accounts diverged widely on details of sexual contact, physical assault, alcohol consumption and the behavior of Kim Roberts, the second dancer, whom the accuser called "Nikki." The accuser danced under the name "Precious."

Police drove the accuser from Kroger to Durham Access, the mental health facility, where she was checked out by the supervisor, a staff nurse and a security guard.

"During the check-in process, the victim was asked if something had happened to her and she said yes," Officer Joseph Stewart wrote in his report. "She was then asked if she had been raped and she stated yes."

A registered nurse at Durham Access said the woman was incoherent and her responses appeared "as if she were psychologically hurt," Stewart wrote. The nurse said the accuser's answers to the questions were "more of a traumatic response rather than a drunk response, because her thoughts were broken, but logical due to her trying to hold on to reality."

Officer Willie Barfield took the woman to the Duke Hospital emergency room, Barfield wrote in his notes. The woman told Barfield that "Nikki" had taken all her belongings, including $2,000 in cash obtained by dancing at the party, her cell phone and her identification.

At the Duke emergency room, Sgt. Shelton met again with the woman, who had become cooperative. According to Shelton's notes, she told him that she and Nikki had left the party and gotten into Nikki's car. Someone from the party wanted the women to return. Nikki wanted to go back inside, but the accuser said she didn't want to go in. The woman said the men groped her, but no one forced to her to have sex.

The woman also spoke with Officer Gwendolyn Sutton. She told Sutton that she had danced at the party with three other women. She said that Nikki wanted to have sex with one of the men and tried to talk her into it. "She did not want to," Sutton wrote. "Nikki wanted her to come into the bathroom with her and the guys. She ended up in the bathroom with five guys who forced her to have intercourse and perform sexual acts."

A registered nurse examined the woman for injuries, swabbed her for DNA evidence and wrote an account of the woman's story.

The accuser told the nurse that Nikki had urged her to have sex with her and one of the men, "Brett." The woman said something didn't feel right and she stormed out of the house. She said she argued with Nikki in the car. Brett and Nikki then carried her back into the house, the nurse wrote.


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Staff writer Joseph Neff can be reached at 829-4516 or jneff@newsobserver.com.
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