Collin And Reade: No Wonder It Took 36 Days
These guys — Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty — have been walking around, free as a bird, for the past 36 days.
Whether they’re guilty or not, I’m having a hard time understanding how these Duke Lacrosse players avoided charges for rape and kidnapping for so long. They’re on a friggin’ roster with pictures, names, vital statistics, goals scored, etc. all available for victim identification.
From today’s NYTimes:
“This kid is just an honorable kid, never done anything wrong in his life,” said Kirk Osborn, a lawyer for Mr. Seligmann. “He is absolutely innocent and we intend to show that sooner rather than later.”
Oh, okay. So this is sooner?
William J. Cotter, the lawyer representing Mr. Finnerty, said this morning, “The grand jury, as you know, has indicted him. They hear one side of the story. They almost always indict. The next jury will hear the entire story, which includes our evidence. We’re confident that these young men will be found to be innocent. “We’re surprised that anyone got indicted, quite frankly.”
Hm…
The woman told the police she was blocked in a bathroom, held, hit, kicked and strangled while she was sexually assaulted for about 30 minutes. She said she had been separated from another dancer, who had also been hired to perform.
Police initially thought the accuser was intoxicated but later took her to the Duke University Hospital emergency room. She had “signs, symptoms, and injuries consistent with being raped and sexually assaulted vaginally and anally,” according to a district attorney’s affidavit.
Defense lawyers have told reporters that the second dancer at the party has contradicted the accuser. But that woman spoke with a local television station over the weekend, under conditions set by her lawyer that she could not be asked about specifics at the party, and she did not contradict the accuser.
Nice.
Seriously though, picture a bizarro version of this event involving two black football players. Or two white gas station attendants. Or two illegal immigrants.
If any of these people could’ve been fingered as easily as the Duke players, the emergency room report alone — whether it was considered airtight proof or not — would’ve had their asses in the slammer within hours.
Mr. Brodhead, the Duke president, said today he hoped that the case would have “a speedy resolution and that the truth of the events is fully clarified,” and said the university and the city needed to work to restore “the bonds this episode has strained.”
What a bunch of mumbo jumbo bullshit, but I guess he can’t say much more than that.
Tags: activism, AfricanAmerican, kidnapping, politics, privilege, rape.
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There is a simple way to end the racial hysteria surrounding the Duke Lacrosse team. Simply tell people it was El Duke, not Duke players that were accused the rape of a white woman, and the same civil rights leaders who are lynching the Duke Players would lynch the racist DA…
I can see it now, “racist DA perpetuates black rape myth.” And of course the nails were planted by a racist cop, “If the nails don’t clip you must acquit.”
You want an even simpler contrast, look at the executives from Enron. 5 years later and we are now going through a shame prosecution. They will get off due to their money. Pricks…
You are so deluded.
Without any regard to guilt or innocence, you want them arrested. The DA has a responsibility to build a case with evidence and to go where that evidence leads, not to give into the mob mentality of an enraged communitty with an axe to grind.
Regardless of what color these boys were or what their position was they should not have been arrested with such pathetic evidence.
It is sad that you think they should be chained and paraded before the citizens of Durham like a mob of peasents waving torches and pitchforks and baying for blood.
Past grievences of a people or communitty has no bearing on determining the guild or innocence of anyone accused of a crime.
I sure hope for your sake the girl’s story matches the evidence.
One of the boys seems to have a pretty good alibi. Plus the evidence does not match her story.
OTOH the woman in question seems to have been a very troubled person. Probably molested as a child as is quite common for women in her line of work.
Women in her line of work due to past abuse often turn to Heroin.
Which might explain her quick incapacitation.
When this is all resolved I hope she gets the help she needs.
yeah. let’s break down my point in more detail, shall we?
when it comes to charging suspects, rape, particularily sexual assualt, is very often a he said/she said situation.
there is no murder weapon. there is no paper trail. it’s usually pathetic evidence, as even DNA doesn’t always tell the full-story.
in my opinion, the only reason this case wasn’t he said/she said was because an entire team of peers was at the scene of the alleged crime and people have been pointing at her character while dismissing their degree of participation in the party in the first place.
you know, kinda like in high school where the sexually active girl is a slut, while the guy is considered a stud — except if he paid for it.
now, convince me that due diligence for pressing charges would’ve taken 36 days in any other situation.
all i’m saying is that without the high powered attorneys, the teammates keeping quiet and the pointing at her character, charges would’ve been brought earlier and these guys would’ve been swept off the street.
not found guilty and sentenced mind you — their guilt would then (as with now) have to be proven in a court of law just like anyone else.
When this trial is over and if these boys are proven to be not guilty of this crime, I will make a point of coming back here to see how you spin that.
don’t bother. you apparently can’t read.
And there you have it. This case finally acknowledged to be the b.s. it so obviously was all along. A heinous crime should never lead people to join a mob, based on no credible evidence. Luckily there are still a few people who understand what the presumption of innocence means; who appreciate the grave harm of fraudulent indictments; and who know that a prosecutor must act responsibly. Even if some great harm had been done to this accusser (which is in serious doubt), much more is necessary to justify a prosecution of particular individuals than was ever present in this case. Too bad these boys’ lives have been forever screwed by Nifong and others who wanted to take advantage of legitimate racial grievances, debasing those too.
You said it, Charleson. It’s always amusing to come back to these lynch mob blogs now that the truth is out.