< Previous page

The woman has given, by Cheshire's count, at least a half-dozen different accounts to police, doctors and nurses. The woman first said she was raped to someone at a mental health facility where police took her for detoxification. At Duke Hospital, her story changed several times:

* She told police she was dancing at a party with three other women when she was pulled into a bathroom and raped by five men.

* She told another police officer that she had been groped by some men in front of the house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. but had not been raped.

* She told a doctor that three men had assaulted her vaginally.

* She told a nurse that three men had assaulted her vaginally, anally and orally.

* She told the same nurse that two men had assaulted her.

The taxi driver

In an interview Friday, Cheshire said much of the evidence handed over Thursday duplicates documents previously turned over or consists of the players' academic records.

Cheshire said he was struck that police apparently had not investigated the escort services where the two dancers worked, yet they conducted an extensive investigation of a taxi driver whose sworn statement is part of Seligmann's alibi.

When news of the investigation broke in March, protests erupted and Nifong told interviewers that he was sure a crime occurred. Nifong has not changed his mind. But even Nifong supporters are shifting their opinions.

"Unless he has a player from the team who is going to testify that this rape occurred, there is no way he will win this case and there is no way this case should have ever been brought," said Mark Edwards, a Durham criminal defense lawyer. Edwards appeared in an advertisement on Nifong's behalf during the prosecutor's successful campaign in the Democratic primary for district attorney.

< Previous page