Friday, April 27, 2007

AG's Report

Some key findings from the full text:

"In meetings with the special prosecutors, the accusing witness, when recounting the events of that night, changed her story on so many important issues as to give the impression she was improvising as the interviews progressed, even when she was faced with irrefutable evidence that what she was saying was not credible."

"The accusing witness attempted to avoid the contradictions by changing her story, contradicting previous stories or alleging the evidence was fabricated."

Crystal Mangum showed up for an April 4 meeting with the special prosecutors significantly impaired, and admitted that before the meeting, she had taken Ambien, methadone, Paxil and amitriptyline. The report concluded that her behavior at that meeting was very similar to the behavior she exhibited on the night of the party.

The special prosecutors interviewed 17 lacrosse players and the two non-lacrosse players at the party.

The special prosecutors verified that Mangum arrived at the party around 11:40pm, and that the dance began around 12.00 midnight.

The report discusses some of the Finnerty alibi first revealed here on Wednesday.

The SP's had strong doubts about Mangun's credibility in identifying people: "When asked how she could recall with such certainty who allegedly attacked her she claimed she was good at remembering faces. When the special prosecutors brought Officer Gwen Sutton of the Durham Police Department into the interview room, the accusing witness claimed she did not know Officer Sutton and had not seen her before that day. Officer Sutton had spent more than five hours with the accusing witness on the morning of March 14, 2006."

The conclusions of SANE nurse-in-training Tara Levicy that Mangum exhibited symptoms consistent with a rape were based entirely on Levicy's subjective observations, rather than any medical evidence at all.

On the question of whether this report will hurt Nifong's June bar hearing, one example of a new problem for Nifong: "The special prosecutors met with the accusing witness a number of times and questioned her about inconsistencies that existed at the time the Attorney General’s office accepted the case, as well as other inconsistencies that had arisen since then. This was apparently the first time these questions of inconsistencies had been asked formally."

At his December 21, "no-witnesses" meeting with Mangum,
Linwood Wilson admitted that he showed her the April 4 lineup photos again, this time using the players' real names. The SP's concluded: "Showing the accusing witness these photographs which were the subject of a pending motion to suppress, along with her use of the proper names of those charged, provided the defense additional grounds to argue that the out of court and in court identification should be suppressed which would have effectively ended the case."

N&O summary here; full text here; more to come--

100 comments:

Michael said...

Is the entire document available online? I'm glad the summary hit the high and important points but I'm sure that there are lots of folks here that like the details.

Anonymous said...

One significant thing I have found is that Nifong's claim of "new information" is bogus. He could have found all of the exculpatory evidence that the AG's found. In fact, he was given the evidence, but refused to look at it.

Anonymous said...

Is this it? The potbangers will not be satisfied.

Anonymous said...

from a non-lawyer / retired professor: Quite a chronology of events laid out by the AG. I am wondering what implications this report has for Nifong's June bar date? For instance, based on my cursory reading of the report, there is no mention made of the numerous media contacts by Nifong. But there is info on the DNA. So my question is does this report help or hurt Nifong for the June bar hearing, and if so, how?

Anonymous said...

The complete report can be found here: http://www.wral.com/news/local/flash/1363139/
If that link doesn't work, it's in this article: http://wral.com/news/local/story/1363100/

Anonymous said...

Full report here: http://www.newsobserver.com/content/news/crime_safety/duke_lacrosse/20070427_AGreport.pdf

Anonymous said...

Skip the link I just posted to the N&O link -- doesn't work -- go to this link to the story about the report and click on Related Content on the right -- it's the pdf for the report.

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/568413.html

Anonymous said...

Nifongs media shows didn't need to be in the report, so weren't.

I think it hurts him by showing there was no basis for the indictments at any time.

Wilson might be even further out though since he last interviewed her.

Rich

heartmind said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Here's the full report in a more readable PDF format: Summary of Conclusions

heartmind said...

Showing the accusing witness these photographs which were the subject of a pending motion to suppress, along with her use of the proper names of those charged, provided the defense additional grounds to argue that the out of court and in court identification should be suppressed which would have effectively ended the case."

Anonymous said...

Yeow, looks like Gottleib? has some splaining to do, although they don't come right out and say his memorex report was a lie, they come close. They also don't come right out and say that Wilson? coached her in the matching the names with the pictures at the Dec. meeting, but they come very close.

From what I can tell, ALL of this information with the exception of her new new stories was available to Nifong. The ability to verifiy or not the photos, cell phone calls, etc. that definitively prove the timeline and that Seligman was innocent.

I suspected for a long time that if the case went to trial the complaining witness would have changed her story right there on the stand and it looks like she would have.

Very glad they laid out the timeline so precisely and listed all of her conflicting stories so clearly.

It will be hard for ANYONE to defend her now, especially since they kindly listed the meds she admitted she was on. Hmm, wonder how she got a methadone prescription, trying to kick heroin I would guess.

This seals the deal, Mike Nifong is going to be disbarred.

Anonymous said...

I plan to ask Fox News to fire Wendy Murphy as a legal commentator. Of course, if they are happy with Geraldo, I guess they'll be happy with Wendy. Two peas in a pod, huh?

Anonymous said...

The report very scrupulously doesn't address any of the Mike Nifong misconduct issues, but lawyers arent' stupid.

They laid out the timeline so clearly that its obvious Nifong must have known Seligman was innocent and must have known the timeline of cell phone calls made by the accuser and the 3 boys made a rape virtually impossible.

This report tells me the bar isn't going to show any sympathy for Mike.

Anonymous said...

My Wendy Murphy prediction: this doesn't prove no rape happened, the accuser could have been drugged up and raped by one or two other guys for 5 or 10 minutes...because drugged up liars can be raped too. I believe Wendy will have to admit the three boys were innocent, but she will go with 'somebody else' did it.

Anonymous said...

My favorite revelation: That there are VIDEOS of this filthy cow on that night, lurching around, stumbling and ranting incoherently, claiming "I'm a cop". Good stuff -- hope to see it soon on YouTube!!!

But I have to admit an overall disappointment in the tone and content of this report. It is crystal (ha!) clear that the Duke 3 are innocent, but I sense that the AG held some material back, or even deleted some things from an earlier draft. For instance, there are summary references to Mangum's prior contacts with law enforcement, and to her psychiatric or pharmacologic history, but we don't get those details.

As to the latter, I realize this would be part of the "sealed records", but why not point that out.

As to the former, I have long felt that her prior "contacts with law enforcement" went way beyond her psycho-drunk attempt to run down a cop with a stolen taxi. I believe that Mangum, as a working prostitute, had a longstanding arrangement with the DPD and/or Nifong, that allowed her to ply her trade in exchange for various favors, whether informational or (gag! retch!) sexual.

And, there's a lot more the AG knows, that could and should have been said, about the uttwer absence of medical and forensic evidence.

But, the AG chose to stop short in airing all the stenched laundry, feeling satisfied to say enough to justify his decision without further (and appropriate) dumping on either Mangum or Liefong.

Too bad. But I still give him a thumbs-up on doing the right thing.

Anonymous said...

I believe the AG didn't go into the prior history or reference the sealed medical history for a few reasons. DAs still have to prosecute rape cases where real victims have criminal records or mental problems. These elements are secondary to the basic reasons why the case was a fraud. The third party evidence proves the timeline and proves with no subjectivity that what she says could not have happened, that 2 of the boys had provable alibis and that her own statements prove she's a liar.

I also think they did this in a very low key just the facts ma am way to prevent any charges of racism, favoratism or what have you.

Cell phone records, photos, videos and memorialized statements that contradict each other are not open to judgement calls.

Anonymous said...

I, too, would love to see the video of her stumbling around 'post rape' calling herself a cop!!!!

Anonymous said...

So, who had the videos all this time?

Cedarford said...

It appears that the SPs and Cooper took a very deliberately narrow approach - only look at evidence of the 3 players guilt or innocence - nothing else.

Clean up the mess. Move on.

They do not follow up on any evidence of criminality uncovered - by Crystal, Kim, Nurse Levicy making false official statements. Nothing of following up in interviews with parties privy to DNA Security results covering up evidence. Nothing about them catching Linwood Wilson red-handed defying court proceedings and doing witness tampering.

Not-their-job.

Cooper's response at the press conference about not charging Mangum in response to a reporter's question was purely ad hoc. As we see, the report contains no discussions of any deliberations by the AG or SPs to charge other parties. They did indeed apparantly have that discussion about Mangum, possibly others, but omitted it from the "summary".

Anonymous said...

Oh my god.

I haven't commented previously on this case (despite following this blog closely for 4+ months). Thought there were no surprises left, but I'm just stunned.

The abuses by those supposed to uphold justice (cops, DA, etc) are so egregious, I simply don't feel much sympathy if they are sent to prison, and we all know what that will mean for them. It's needed as a warning to others that such despicable abuse of power is absolutely unacceptable.

And for what? An extra 15k per year of pension. That's the price of 3 innocent lives to Nifong.

Anonymous said...

That stuff doesn't belong in the summary. The AG wasn't charged to investigate Mike Nifong, but to review the criminal case and decide if charges were warranted, that's what he did.

I believe though that he opens the door for an investigation of ethical and criminal wrongdoing by the DPD and Wilson, though I'm not sure WHO would conduct such an investigation, the feds? the AGs office upon request?

Anonymous said...

I was angry the report didn't reveal the fact she identified four players as rapists during the April four line up. The non-indictment of the fourth player clearly indicates this was a frame job. I wonder if the DPD will ever have to answer the question why the fourth player was never charged.

Anonymous said...

Other party attendees outside the house at the same time observed her behavior. She was overheard
talking incoherently, apparently to no one in particular. In a video recorded at 12:31:26 a.m., she is talking to one of the party attendees saying “I’m a cop” and making other comments which were difficult to understand. The video also shows the difficulty she was experiencing with her balance as she attempted to walk from the back porch down the stairs, as well as her attempt to engage in a disjointed conversation with party attendees who were nearby.

Cedarford said...

I do imagine though, that as the lawsuits gear up, access to transcripts of the full, official state interviews with Nurse Levicy, Gottlieb, Meehan, Linwood etc., will be nice.

It would have been nicer if the SPs had called for criminal investigations of several of the parties though rather than signal "time to heal, move on..."

I also wish that they had recognized that a media campaign to predetermine guilt, poison the jury pool, then convict helped drive the injustice of the case...and that campaign was probably orchestrated by Nifong ordering Addison and Kammie at DPD to do his bidding....

And of course, no SP dared touch the high&mighty lawyers in black robes and their roles in some very dubious early determinations that violated civil rights...and no SP dared revisit what the Grand Jury was told that was the basis to indict the 3...

Anonymous said...

The special prosecutors concluded that the process by which the accusing witness ultimately identified
David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty as her attackers was of questionable validity.


Going for understatement here, just a bit?

Anonymous said...

I hope everyone--that's you Cash and NAACP--who opined this pathetic loser deserved her 'day in court' is now properly ashamed of themselves.

After reading this report, I can't believe even a Durham black jury would have voted guilty, there is no doubt at all that she lied about being raped. None. Zero. Nadda.

Anonymous said...

I wonder why Kim Roberts refused to talk to them....any thoughts?

My guess is she is the one who stole Crystal's money.

Cedarford said...

Anonymous 2:35 PM That stuff doesn't belong in the summary. The AG wasn't charged to investigate Mike Nifong...but to review the criminal case and decide if charges were warranted, that's what he did.

You are claiming the AG was limited by what he charged himself to do. That any criminality or law violations uncovered in an investigation are not the business of the Attorney General or the State prosecutors network.

Who then?

Anonymous said...

You are being unrealistic. The AG gives several specific criticisms of what was done by DPD and Wilson, while unethical and counterproductive, there isn't evidence that a CRIME occured. How are you going to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wilson coached Mangun on matching the names with the photos? You only have what Wilson says and whatever she says is totally unreliable. The photo array shenanigans don't rise to the level of a crime and I doubt Gottlieb's memory report do either.

He lays out a very strong set of data for a civil rights lawsuit against Nifong and the DPD based on the photo array, witness coaching and evidence of alibis that were discounted, although he doesn't say it that way.

I think you are missing the subtlety in this report and how the information can benefit lawsuits down the line.

If he had overreached from the scope of the mandate and started investigating other potential crimes and such, he would have been criticized as a Duke plant, out to get Nifong, blah, blah. We also don't know what other evidence he has that hasn't been made public that may or may not be supportive of criminal charges against anyone.

First things first. Let's get Nifong disbarred, then move on to a civil rights investigation conducted by the feds.

Anonymous said...

So, if any civil suits are brought by the original defendants, in what jurisdiction will they be filed?

Isn't the State AG the senior criminal justice officer of the state? And if that's the situation (as I believe it to be), then if he is not responsible for addressing all related justice-system misconduct in this case, who the hell is?!

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid that getting Nifong disbarred is difficult. Defense attorney Lynn Steward (left-wing wacko, democratic party activist in NYC, and full-time Al-Qaida informant) was convicted long time ago for terror-related crimes, but it was only few days ago when she got disbarred.

If convicted Al-Qaida associates do not get disbarred for years, I doubt Nifong will either.

Anonymous said...

I believe the state bar is going to disbar him and find that he not only breached his ethical responsibilities, I believe they will go further and say they find credible evidence he broke NC laws and violated the Const. rights of the defendants.

It may be that everyone is waiting for the bar trial, but who knows. Prosecutors are notoriously lax about investigating their own guys.

Anonymous said...

After reading this summary, I am even more nauseated than before. Contemplating the state of the justice system is a depressing task.

Just pray--if you're religious--or hope against hope that none of us is ever caught up inside such a hoax; however, this illustrates clearly how easily it could happen.

Astounding.

What is always an issue--and is obvious in this case--is just how common, dense, and unprofessional many of the people are who work in the various professions that put such a hoax in motion.

From the SANE's...to the cops, it's a nightmare with morons in starring roles.

I am not satisfied with Cooper's report. He should have been more detailed and comprehensive.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

I think the most important thing now is that coming criminal prosecutions should not be limited to Nifong! There was a conspiracy to frame the Duke 3, and all participants in that conspiracy need to be prosecuted.

Anonymous said...

I am most interested in the witness intimidation done by Wilson and possibly Gottleib, there may be a case here for witness tampering or obstruction of justice, which the media has mostly forgotten about at this point.

Nifong definitely violated NC law.

Whether any kind of 'criminal conspiracy' could be proven may be another matter. Not following your own rules doesn't mean you've committed a crime.

I do believe Wilson and Gottleib should be pressured to possibly turn on Nifong so we can find out exactly what directions he was explicitely given.

The nurse was unprofessional and stupid, no crime there, she has likely ended her ability to help rape victims before she ever met a real victim.

Nothing will happen to the good ole boy judges that gave Nifong every ruling he wanted for 6-8 months.

Chicago said...

KC-
I think this report from today completly justifies your critical opinion of Tara Levicy as a key player in this whole ordeal. You took some heat from normal supporters of your site in a few instances over the Levicy issue. It is now clear that at best, she was completely unprofessional and overzealous, at worst, she acted completely dishonestly and criminally with her biase.

It truly is frightening she is still employed at DUMC. Ditto that Linwood, Nifong and Gottlieb are still employed.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree there, I made several posts in support of Levicy, but after reading the report, its clear that vaginal redness doesn't normally equal 'blunt force trauma' and that the rest of her statements of the victim's medical exam supporting her story was basically 'wishful' thinking at best.

I agree now Levicy was completely unprofessional. However, I don't think she committed a crime or did it maliciously, she became a SANE to help rape victims [laudible], unfortunately before she had enough experience she ran into Crystal Mangun, and likely ended her career right there.

Chicago said...

How appropriate that this report came out the day before "Truth Telling Day" in Durham. The potbangers must be so proud!

http://truthtelling.community
server.com/blogs/from_the_plann
ing_committee/default.aspx

Anonymous said...

Considering that the report indicates that Mangum was taking "multiple prescription drugs," and that she met the DAs after taking Ambien, methadone, Paxil, and Amitriptylene, what is the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services doing to safeguard her children? With her mental and drug problems, not to mention her professions as a stripper and prostitute, why hasn't the state of NC handed the children over to her family? Why didn't Nifong try to get her and her children some very needed help, instead of trying to help himself with his state pension? Why did Nifong separate her from her family if he knew them from the time he prosecuted her uncle's killer?

Or do people still think that she is an honor student who is working her way through school as an exotic dancer because the hours are convenient and the pay good?

Anonymous said...

This girl is in a completely different universe. Paxil is used in the treatment of social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Ambien is a sleep medication. Amitriptyline is an antidepressant medication. And methadone! Does this suggest she is a heroin addict?

How did she remain conscious? Can anybody explain what the result of imbibing this cocktail might be?

You've got to feel some pity for this creature. I doubt that she had any idea what she was doing. For those who were using her for their devious ends... what can you say about them? Using a psychotic or near psychotic girl to advance their ambitions.

Anonymous said...

I may be wrong, but I think unless you are Anna Nicole Smith you don't get methadone for anything but heroin withdrawl. Patients with severe pain get morphine or oxy, not methadone as far as I know.

I also concluded long ago that if she was getting good grades she was either trading sex for grades or the standards at NCCU were lower than most grammer schools. Can't be any other answers.

Anonymous said...

Considering the way the Durham Keystone Cops work, it should come as no surprise that the Herald-Sun is reporting that they only manage to solve 1 out of every 5 break-ins. If they can't figure out something simple, how can they solve something complicated like a rape case? Although I think they did manage to successfully prosecute one rape case last year...

Anonymous said...

My guess is Durham PD is too busy following up on reports of drinking, loud music and public urination by Duke students to be bothered with home invasions.

Anonymous said...

Someone who is never discussed but who squarely shares some of the blame in this debacle, is the Durham Access Center employee who asked her if she was raped. CGM's response, yeah, that's the ticket!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but if some woman showed up at the ER with one shoe, a couple of cuts on her knee who appeared heavily intoxicated and scantily clad, it isn't that out of the realm of reality that she might have been raped, is it?

Anonymous said...

There was a conspiracy to frame the Duke 3,

agreed. RICO should apply here and all co-conspirators, including Nifong, Lifong, Gottlieb, and Tara Levicy should be sent to jail.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)

It is also important to remember (quoting Nifong:) if they are innocent, why would they need lawyers?

Anonymous said...

We STILL don't know why no tox screen was run, I am now wondering if Levicy didn't do it on purpose because she KNEW Crystal was on mutliple drugs and she thought it would hurt her case. This is standard procedure in rape cases unless the victim refuses or the nurse is incompetant.

Anonymous said...

TO 3:40PM--

Nifong knew that Mangum is, was, and will always be an abhorrent mess of a human being. He knew her family and he knew all the pathologies that they possess.

Nifong is intimately familiar with Durham's black community and what it takes to "get over".

After all, he didn't grab onto every black woman around and hug them like lovers on his campaign trail everytime a camera was nearby for nothing.

This is the story, as base and common and filthy as it is:

Nifong wanted to retire with an increased pension that only a district attorney's salary would produce.

He'd been milling about the courthouse....fresh from his years-long stint in traffic court.....hoping to get his prosecutorial groove back. After all, he had bounced his rival, Freda Black, from the premises......and now Mikey was baaaaaaaaacccck!

Mikey was riding high with a new sense of autonomy, but when he got a whiff of his old buddy Crystal Mangum having been "violated" by some rich Duke white boys......well.....

.....dreams of "Morris Deas cherry blossoms" began to dance in Mikey's head.

What serendipity!

Mikey could cop an extra fifteen thousand a year......and also go down in the Durham civil rights annals of history as the new "righteous boy at the lunch counter".

Mikey be breakin' bad.

And he wasn't about to allow anything or anyone to take away his newfound "legacy".

The one thing that Mikey will have in the end is a legacy. Just not the one he was hoping and lying for.

LOL!!!


Debrah

Anonymous said...

NCCU has no standards, At least not any that would produce literate graduates.
That's another fraud that is allowed to go unchallenged. It's an awful school.

Anonymous said...

It also occurs to me that Nifong separated Crystal from her family in order to minimize her conflicting stories.

He never interviewed her and the interviews between her and the DPD were few and limited to 'which guy did it'

Let's not forget her father went on TV to say she looked beat up in the hospital and that his daughter said she was violated with a broomstick!!! If there had been a trial, these statements would have been delved into: did she say it, when did she tell you, why isn't it in any of the other statements, etc.

He had to keep her away from as many people as possible to keep her inconsistent crazy stories down to an even dozen.

Anonymous said...

And here's a neat item from the way-back machine from Pinko Feminist Hellcat


Duke rape charges brings in the business

Good lord, this is sickening.

Since last Monday's indictment of two Duke student lacrosse players, a cloud has hung over the storied halls and tulip gardens of the university's campus.

More than a mile away at the Teaser's Palace strip club at the edge of downtown, business booms. On Friday night, one patron said he had never seen the place more crowded. A cocktail waitress told ABC News the club hadn't seen any downtime since the start of the investigation.

Elsewhere, a Charlotte strip club ran a sign that said, "Lacrosse Players Welcome." There are different levels of "service" that most dancers — what they prefer to be called — provide. Those services range from $20 "no touching" lap dances at clubs — where burly bouncers keep everybody in line — to "outcalls," where women visit private homes, sometimes alone — and where the definition of service gets murky.

This is a service industry job, pure and simple. Cashiers, maids, baristas, all are subject to verbal abuse, and the customers taking out their bad day on them. It's no different for strippers, although the nature of their work means the abuse can get much worse and much more dangerous.

While the students and graduates said they understood the difference between dancing and prostitution, between consensual sex and rape, some said they could see the margin for abuse in alcohol and testosterone-driven settings.

"The guys are awful to the women," said the Cornell graduate. "They scream at them to do lascivious acts and stick fingers in and around them."

"They would always be very obnoxious to the girls," a former student from Harvard University said. "I see how guys treat strippers, and I can totally believe there might be abuse."

One Duke alumnus in the news report asked why the strippers didn't bring a bouncer. Who knows why? Sometimes the company doesn't provide them; sometimes the dancers don't have the money to get a freelancer or the bouncer they use isn't available. It doesn't matter. Service workers aren't regarded as human on the job, and sex workers are regarded as even lower. Throw in racism and you've got a recipie for an ugly, ugly scene.

What's interesting is that even in this story, stripping and whoring are confused (and in any sexual assault involving any sex worker, the right to say no is denied by virture of their jobs). Maybe some freelancers do mix the two--it talks about how some strippers can and have negotiated an extra fee for sex acts during outcalls. But it's interesting how the Duke graduate who wondered why there were no bouncers then mixed up "bouncer" and "pimp."

"Every time we hired a stripper, she came with a bodyguard," he said. "Why would these two girls go unaccompanied?"

He added that each year his fraternity got a stripper for the new pledge class. He said that a fraternity brother also would buy drugs from the stripper and her pimp.

Here's another interesting tidbit--a stripper who does drugs or drinks will be pilloried. The White guys who buy stuff off of a bouncer (pimp? drug dealer?)--not so much. That's just boys being boys.



Seems that someone's ideology was showing.

Anonymous said...

4:07 Yes, it is an awful school. But state funds must provide some pretend sort of "college" for blacks who are illiterate when they get out of public schools. Your tax dollars at work.

Anonymous said...

What do people think will happen to her now? What is she doing, is she still stripping, outcalling?

Anonymous said...

4:02 Ask Dr Manly - she is the one who ordered the tests or lack there of = Levicy was in charge of nothing.

Anonymous said...

In my state, I am willing to have my tax money support all the school - most are not Harvard material. If one person comes out of an inferior school and can contribute to society - that is enought for me. After all this, anyone hiring live strippers to come to their home, frat,is stupid.

Anonymous said...

3:34 Methadone is safe for use when pregnant - used as a pain reliever. Unlike many drugs does not produce birth defects.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure giving someone a college degree that isn't worth the paper its written on will help them. If you can't perform your job, you are going to get fired. Even most gov. and academic jobs demand some type of base line competance.

What it will most likely do is help convince them the world is against them, they are a 'college grad' and still can't get or hold a job..it has to be racism/sexism or classism at work...can't be that they got a degree that qualifies them for nothing.

Anonymous said...

If you are getting Morphine ordered by a Physician for pain - you are usually on your death bed.

Chicago said...

4:11

Becareful with your statements. I know a lot of great NCCU grads, the media just does not show them.

Anonymous said...

Carolyn says:

NO fillers were used in ANY of the photo line-ups? I thought it was just one line-up - not all of them.

Lord, as the pages turned while I was reading, I could hear the Special Prosecutors gritting their teeth. They must have clenched those molars to the bone to merely say that Crystal's "varied accounts show her as a witness who would not be helpful to the prosecution." My god, I thought only the British were that understated.

BTW, I've LIVED in a house the size of 610 Buchanan and trust me, fellas, those bathrooms are built for Hobbits. To have expected three husky men and one fat hooker to even fit in that tiny space let alone have a violent gang rape that lasted 30 - no, wait 20 - no, wait 10 minutes is beyond belief. I can only imagine what the expressions were on the SP's faces when Crystal began telling them she also levitated in it.

This report is unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

Ah to be a fly on the wall in the SP's office as they went through the files and talk to Crystal! Wonder how many times they said "You won't believe this..."??

Anonymous said...

I can't access the entire document as yet. Any investigation of the DNA Lab and Meeham - who admitted he helped hide evidence?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it sounds like the levitating gang rape plus 10 man porch beating directly contradicted by photo/video and her own cell phone records really sent them over the edge, they give it quite a bit of prominance and excruciating detail. I wonder how her family feels reading this nonsense?

Anonymous said...

TO 4:23PM--

Your assessment is closest to reality.

A law professor friend of mine said that he has students admitted to the law school who should not be there at all because their writing and grammar are so bad.

He has even held special tutorial sessions for them in his home on weekends to try to help them.

This is the legacy of affirmative action.

He said that when they get out of law school the best firms will not hire them simply because so many other eager and better-equipped legal eagles are in abundance.

The subpar law students invariably blame not being hired on "racism"......when just the opposite--affirmative action--is the only reason they got into a good law school in the beginning. A school for which they were never prepared and consequently, never were able to excel.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

What specificaly did the AG's report write about the circumstance at Duke Hospital. No quote marks around the Subjective quotes - In SOAP notes (recommended for nurse) Subjective is what the patient tell you - Objective is what the nurse observes. As Dr Manly did the pelvic and body exam, what did she write?

Anonymous said...

I forgot: Add Dr. Meehan and his lab to RICO lawsuit. If this was not a conspiracy according to RICO, then there isn't such thing.

Anonymous said...

The document doesn't go into all the details, they say, for example, that she denied previous statement she had made to LE and others but doesn't go into those details, which statements did she deny, did she deny her own handwritten statement [I think so], but they don't say it outright, they don't get into the rape exam except to say the nurse's statements were subjective and not based on evidence.

Anonymous said...

Leading question: "One which suggests the answer or which only allows a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer." (Penguin Guide to the Law, 1986)

"It was at the Durham Access Center that a nurse asked the accusing witness if she had been raped. The accusing witness answered in the affirmative. This was the first time she had indicated to anyone that she had been the victim of a sexual assault."

Levicy ignited the fire with her leading question to CGM; "were you raped?"

One of the most important things you learn in nursing school regarding questioning clients/patients is to use open-ended questions, not leading or misleading questions. For all nurses and nursing students, this is a great example of why.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Levicy is the one who asked the question, I believe she went to Duke hospital from Durham access.

Anonymous said...

Gang88 is winning the war. Nothing will stop them, unless FIRE or similar efforts (See Horowitz's efforts) take place.

Temple University harassing students
..DeJohn entered the master's program in January 2002 but took a leave of absence after the first semester to serve in Bosnia with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. --snip-- While away, he said, he received antiwar e-mail from a mass list-serve at Temple that included professors. DeJohn asked to stop receiving the e-mail, and upon his return said he lost the support of the history department

Gary Packwood said...

Shouting Thomas 3:41 said...
...You've got to feel some pity for this creature. I doubt that she had any idea what she was doing. For those who were using her for their devious ends... what can you say about them? Using a psychotic or near psychotic girl to advance their ambitions.
::
You are right on.
The Durham Access Center employees had to know as did the employees at the Hospital.
Why did these women so thoroughly disrespect the Lacrosse team that they would stoop to using this exotic dancer to cause so much grief?
::
GP

Anonymous said...

Actually, it was the registar (admitting Clerk) who asked :Were you raped/" No medical personnal.

Anonymous said...

The most interesting part of the SP's report (aside from the "new and improved" rape stories from a drugged-up Crystal) is the revelation that there was an actual videotape of Crystal stumbling about and speaking incoherently -- and this video was taken during the only time that Crystal was separated from Kim/Nikki at the party!

I was disappointed the report did not give more details about what happened at DUMC. We know that the naive SANE-in-training Tara Levicy fell whole hog for the drug-addled hooker's screaming rape "act," but we still don't know why Dr. Manly failed to accurately diagnose Crystal's only real physical symptom (diffuse vaginal edema) as a yeast infection. The crap that went on at DUMC played a large part in getting this hoax going, IMO, and more details should have been provided.

Anonymous said...

Subjective- The complaint the patient presents with -Why are you here - the exam did not support Crystal's statements. As there are no quotes around the statement about the nurse, what exactly did the AG write?

Anonymous said...

Her family can't read, silly!

Anonymous said...

In a video recorded at 12:31:26 a.m., she is talking to one of the party attendees saying “I’m a cop” and making other comments which were difficult to understand.

I think the question about why the DPD and others went along for this ride is in this statement. When all the facts come out I think we will find that CGM was better known to some key players than previously thought and she'd been "scratching their back for years" and they couldn't afford to NOT go along and scratch her back now. IMO.

Anonymous said...

I too would love to have seen their faces when she told them, "she levitated?" You can/t make this stuff up. I can only hope this demented woman is protected from her self = most of all protection for those kids. Now the stories of the drive bys and phone calls to the parents make sense.

Anonymous said...

Does the AG say that events at duke Hospital kept this hoax going? Do they make a comment on what kept it going besides Nifong?

Anonymous said...

"It was at the Durham Access Center that a nurse asked the accusing witness if she had been raped. The accusing witness answered in the affirmative. This was the first time she had indicated to anyone that she had been the victim of a sexual assault."

Wrong, wrong, wrong. As a health professional in a mental health setting, one NEVER outright asks that question. You inquire about sexual history and any recent sexual activity but you do not ask that. If you suspect rape, whether or not the individual has made a claim, the individual is usually then referred to a physician for a complete exam. Anyone working in a mental health facility should know that. I'm still an unlicensed trainee/grad student and am already well aware of this. It's Intake/Assessment 101.

Gary Packwood said...

Anonymous 5:09 said...
...In a video recorded at 12:31:26 a.m., she is talking to one of the party attendees saying “I’m a cop” and making other comments which were difficult to understand.

...When all the facts come out I think we will find that CGM was better known to some key players than previously thought and she'd been "scratching their back for years" and they couldn't afford to NOT go along and scratch her back now. IMO.
::
Good Point!
It never crossed my mind that Precious, bless her heart, had been working with the police so long that she thought of herself as a cop.
Suppose that is why her 'run down the cop with the car game' did not get her assigned to the State Penitentiary?
Who else is she connected with?
::
GP

DaveO said...

Almost from the beginning I knew that Crystal Mangum lied, but I had some sympathy for her. I thought maybe Nifong's taking of the case and running with it caught her up in it too. Now I don't have any sympathy for her. Now that everyone knows the truth, she could have come clean about the Duke Lacrosse Hoax to the Attorney General, but instead she's still lying about those three innocent men.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

Anonymous said...

I wonder how far this case would have gotten if Duke Medical Center had done a drug test on Mangum. Just think of the field day the attorneys would have had with a report indicating beer, narcotics, muscle relaxants, etc. Instead, Nifong was able to claim that she was probably given a date rape drug.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how far this case would have gone if Dr. Manly had accurately diagnosed the whitish discharge and "diffuse vaginal edema" as the yeast infection it was, rather than assuming it was semen and swelling from an imaginary rape.

Anonymous said...

Subjective - relating to medicine -a symptom or condition perceived by the patient but not by the examiner - American Heritage dictionary = crystal's complaints was not supported by the exam - thats true

Anonymous said...

5:21 The intake Clerk at Access is not in Nursing 101 - Clerk 101 = Medical Professional did not ask this question.

Anonymous said...

www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0427071duke1.html

Anonymous said...

I, like most here, still want more details about many particulars, but the AG's report has done quite a thorough job with details relating to the incident and those details emphatically exonerate all the players. This report should be deeply humiliating for many hoax enablers. I expect that many of the details we are missing will be the subject of other investigations--surely all professions disgraced by this incident and all citizens potentially vulnerable to false accusations in the future have a vested interest in seeing to it this sort of thing NEVER happens again.

One overwhelming impression I had while reading the AG's report: thank God for modern technology. DNA typing, cell phones, cell phone cameras, and video played a crucial role in corroborating the statements of the LAX players and literally proving the innocence of the LAX team. Without those records it is not clear to me the defendants would have been declared "innocent" even with only one unreliable, half mad, drugged out prosecution witness.

Observer

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

5:21 The intake Clerk at Access is not in Nursing 101 - Clerk 101 = Medical Professional did not ask this question.

Apr 27, 2007 6:56:00 PM

Don't believe I ever mentioned Nursing 101 or Clerk 101. And the report said it was a nurse. If it was a nurse, a medical history needed to be taken and then a physician should have conducted an exam. If it was an intake clerk, a basic assessment should have been conducted awaiting further evaluation by a health professional. To directly ask this question, especially of someone who is intoxicated, is incredibly suggestive and not a first priority, unless the individual makes a claim of rape on her own (which she hadn't). The first priority at a facility like DAC is to assess what substances the patient is on, their level of intoxication, and then determine a course of treatment to deal with possible withdrawal symptoms.

I would like to know more about those who interacted with CGM at the Durham Access Center. What kind of assessment was done? What was the first priority in assessment? How was she acting? Did she indicate that she had had sex that night?

Anonymous said...

Finally able to access the report in of all places -the Bat Cave. AG states The SANE based her opinion that the exam was consistent with what the accussing witness was reproting largely on the accussing witness' demeanor and pain complaints rather than objective evidence. dumb - yeah - criminal or malpractice - no.

Anonymous said...

Everybody has been joking about this, but the fact that Mangum could operate in Durham as a prostitute, and then steal a cab, then go on a rampage that produced a car chase where it culminated in her running down a policeman, and she got kid glove treatment is very odd, indeed.
What did the DA's office do to her after all of this? Didn't she get a very light sentence? Woody Durham, IIRC was her free taxpayer paid for attorney and in the beginning he was saying on all the talk shows what a believable person CGM was.
Woody Durham is a pos.
Why would a person with such a long list of criminal convictions as Mangum receive such light treatment?
Let me tell you what I think. The DPD is full of black men and other men who would bed a monkey. She has probably been servicing them for years. A few of them could account for the 5 or 6 DNA specimens found on her dirty body. WHY ELSE WOULD THE DA NOT TRY TO FIND THE MEN WHO LEFT THE SEMEN ON CGM?
The DPD has to be turned inside out and investigated. They have to be as corrupt as Nifong.

Anonymous said...

The Doctor collected the swabs that cleared these boys to be Innocent. I don't care about a r/o yeast infection. The DNA is all that matters to me.

Anonymous said...

No one ordered a tox screen. At best, this is less than professional.

Gary Packwood said...

Anonymous 9:16 said...
...Let me tell you what I think. The DPD is full of black men and other men who would bed a monkey. She has probably been servicing them for years. A few of them could account for the 5 or 6 DNA specimens found on her dirty body. WHY ELSE WOULD THE DA NOT TRY TO FIND THE MEN WHO LEFT THE SEMEN ON CGM?
::
Is that you Professor Holloway? You trying to stir up a little more misery?
::
GP

Anonymous said...

RICO probably applies to
several things, but especially
with regard to the arrest and
prosecution of the cab driver,
(he was found innocent)
the shakedown apparently
- (or maybe transparently) -
intended to thwart his testimony
that accounted for one of the
accused's wherabouts.

I believe the functional
word is: retaliation.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Kim Roberts is a con artist and a lier.Crystal Mangum is pure EVIL.

M. Simon said...

Anon. Apr 27, 2007 2:32:00 PM.

Instapundit has a bit showing that this kind of corruption is not just in Durham.

I have also done a bit on police corruption Corruption Is Routine.

and The Biggest Cover Up Of All.

Bill Anderson among others can confirm that this is not just epidemic, it is ubiquitous.

Anonymous said...

Let's all keep in mind that the A.G. had no obligation to publicly release his reasonings for dropping the charges. Further, lets remember that he declared the Duke 3 innocent. If the Defendants had gone to trial (best case scenario) they could have been found not guilty....not innocent.

Cooper's report was really pretty non-informative, it told us things we already knew. His objective in reviewing the case was not to implicate conspirators, it was to determine if charges were warrented.

In his report, he stretched the limits of implicating people in misconduct, without ever accusing anybody of anything. He laid out his conclusions, now let's see what other Officials in our state do with that power. I really doubt Cooper will pursue anything further.

Cooper went to the wall to expain that prior to taking over the case, that insurmountable inconsistancies appeared in the accusers varied stories. Further he re-stated at least twice that After the Dec. 21 interview, the Accuser was now using proper names that she hadn't previously known. He has directly attacked the DPD and indicted them publicly...but has not taken formal action.

He has picked apart the accuser's story to such a point that her explanations can only be called lies. But he never said that, and has not taken any formal action.

He has stated facts that the D.A.'s office had directed the inquiries, but never accused it of anything improper, nor has he taken any official action.

His official obligation in this matter was to decide if charges were merited or not. He was not to decide if Nifong had betrayed his oath, or if there was corruption in the dpd. only if charges were merited.

When he declared the players innocent, he issued a verdict in the media, where the trial had taken place. When he issued his report, he issues findings of fact in the same forum. He has effectively played judge and jury in the court of the media.

Consequently...he really can't proceed with further actions against anybody involved. But at least he made sure that the ammunition was there for others to proceed where his directive was limited. His report can be used in future proceedings. Unfortunately, as I understand it, having dropped the charges, instead of going to trial, and being found not guilty....legally, the Duke three could still be recharged. (I am not a lawyer, and the A.G. may have some authority that I am not aware of). These players are not able to claim double jeopardy simply because the A.G. proclaimed them innocent. This is not a probability, but I remind you that the A.G. proclaiming innocence is an opinion, and not a finding of fact by a court. He knows this, and he has something else up his sleeve. But I'll bet that he is personally done with this case....his words will live to haunt!!!!

M. Simon said...

Tara Levicy who was in SANE training.

Is the proper way to parse it.

Say it out loud.