february 2007
news
the stentorian | ncssm
Duke lacrosse case at crossroads
Defense asks for change of venue as intense media attention continues
By Max Rose
Attorneys for the three former
Duke lacrosse players charged with
sexually assaulting a North Carolina
Central student during a March 2006
party have filed a motion to change
venue, arguing that the defendants
cannot receive a fair trial in Durham
County.
The case against Reade Seligmann,
20, Collin Finnerty, 20, and David
Evans, 23, has attracted national
media attention. According to the
motion, CNN has referenced the
alleged, sexual assault about 577,000
times.
“My local news is telling about
what happens in Durham,” said
junior Daniel Ratzlaff, who lives in
Windsor.
The defense said in the motion
that the publicity created bias and
focused on the defendants as opposed
to circumstances of the crime.
“As a consequence of the
inflammatory publicity in this
case, significant segments of this
community have taken clear, and
entrenched positions about the guilt
or innocence of the defendants,” the
defense wrote.
The defense argue that it would be
impossible to select unbiased jurors in
a county in which the major newspaper.
The Herald Sun, has published over
295 articles concerning the case and
in which 88 professors at the county’s
largest employer, Duke University,
spoke out against the defendants.
The defense said that the venue
should be moved to a surrounding
county in order to remove these
influences in the July trial so that
the verdict will be the result of the
“evidence and rule of law.”
The events that occurred at 610
Buchanan Ave., just a few blocks from
the NCSSM campus, are very much
still in question. The lacrosse team
hired two NCCU students for $400 to
strip at a party. In the early hours of
March 14, the strippers were separated
and the defendants allegedly sexually
assaulted the 27-year-old victim in the
JPM
bathroom.
Many members of the Durham,
Duke and NCCU communities
protested daily at what they saw as a
“wall of silence” from the lacrosse team
and a lack of urgency from the office
of District Attorney Mike Nifong. He
later faced pressure from members of
the Duke community who claim the
innocence of the defendants.
“I would like
to think that
somebody [not
involved in the
attack] has the
human decency
to call up and
say, ‘What am I
doing covering
up for a bunch
of hooligans?’,”
Nifong said two
weeks after the
alleged assault.
In the motion to change venue, the
defense cited this statement as well as
others by Nifong as causing prejudice
in the potential jury pool.
In mid-April, Seligmann and
Finnerty were indicted for first degree
rape, first degree sexual offense and
first degree kidnapping, and the
indictment of Evans on all three
charges came a month later.
Original reports indicated that
the assault may have been racially
motivated and that the black victim
was subjected to racial slurs from
the white defendants. National civil
rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and
A1 Sharpton focused their attention
on Durham. The New Black Panthers
Party, led by Malik Shabazz, held a
protest at which they called for the
defendants to be found guilty.
Durham Mayor William Bell said
to the Associated Press that Durham
had been reduced in news reports to
“a city of poor blacks...and you’ve
got Duke off to its own— a white
university, a wealthy university.”
The rape charge was dropped
on Dec. 21, after the victim told
investigators that she could no longer
definitively say that she was vaginally
CL
... significant segments
of this community have
taken clear and entrenched
positions about the guilt
or innocence of the
defendants.
- the defense
penetrated by the defendants.
Soon after, Nifong, facing charges
from the NC State Bar that he made
inflammatory statements to the media,
took himself off the case to avoid
a conflict of interest. On Jan. 24,
Nifong was charged with withholding
evidence. He could face disbarment if
convicted.
The media attention has not
focused
solely on the
defendants. The
victim’s identity
was exposed in
the press and
the defense has
made an issue
of the victim’s
newborn baby
and sexual
history.
“This is
strong evidence of innocence in a
case in which the accuser denied
engaging in any sexual activity in
the days before the alleged assault,
told police she last had consensual
sexual intercourse a week before
the assault, and claimed that her
attackers did not use condoms and
ejaculated,” the defense said to the
Associated Press.
Yet, in the motion to change
venue, submitted in mid-December,
the defense maintains that the protests
and “inflammatory media” would not
have happened without statements by
the prosecution and police.
Senior Andrew Telesca said that
the media was focused on the lacrosse
case because it involved Duke and the
defendants are athletes. He thinks that
the attention prevents the media from
reporting on other issues.
“Then, you don’t hear anything
about the murders that happen every
day,” he said.
The Attorney General’s office has
taken over prosecution of the case and
has promised to review all charges. If
convicted on the remaining charges
of kidnapping and sexual offense, the
defendants could face up to 30 years
in prison.
Photo by Luis Zapata
This house, located across the street from Duke East Campus, was rented by captains of the Duke lacrosse team. An
NCCU student accused three lacrosse players of sexually assaulting her in the bathroom during a party at this house.
The Events
• Night of March 13
The Duke lacrosse
team throws a party at 610
Buchanan Ave.
• Early March 14
Accuser tells authorities
that she was raped by three
men in the bathroom.
• March 23
Police take DNA
samples from the 46 non
black members of the
lacrosse team.
• March 28
District Attorney Mike
Nifong calls lacrosse
players “hooligans” in an
interview.
• Aprils
Duke President Richard
Brodhead ^Minounces that
the lacrosse season is
cancelled.
• April 10
DMA from the accuser
shows no matches with that
ofthe46 players, according
to defense attorneys.
• April 18
Reade Seligmann and
Collin Finnerty are charged
with first^legree rape, first-
degree sexual offense and
kidnapping.
• Mayl
Tlie New Black
Panthers Party holds a
protest outside Duke West
Campus, in which they call
for convictions.
• May 15
David Evans is also
charged with all three
crimes.
• Dec. 22
Rape charges against the
defendants are dismissed
after the accuser tells
investigators that she is not
certain that she was raped.
• Jan. 12
Nifong removes himself
from the case am id NC State
Bar charges that he made
inflanjmatory statements to
the media. State Attorney
General’s office takes over
prosecution.
• Jan. 24
Nifong is charged by
the Bar for withholding
evidence.