Vex
Member
In a case such as this, it is the job of the police to report and record all evidence and not tamper with witness statements.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/08/duke.lacrosse/index.html
I normally side with the police, a form of professional courtesy, giving them the benefit of the doubt. But I think this is inexcusable. I wonder what the motivitation for the police was to "forget" specific information.... race, perhaps?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/08/duke.lacrosse/index.html
(CNN) -- Police investigating the Duke University lacrosse team on rape allegations "omitted" notes from a second dancer at the party, who told authorities the alleged victim had been drinking, was acting "crazy" and that her colleague's accusation was a "crock," a defense attorney said Thursday.
In court documents filed Thursday, attorney Kirk Osborn said that Durham, North Carolina, police "intentionally, deliberately and/or recklessly omitted" information from a probable cause affidavit -- information Osborn says would have persuaded the judge not to file felony charges against three of the players.
The district attorney's office did not return a call seeking comment.
The accuser, a 27-year-old student at nearby North Carolina Central University, was hired as an exotic dancer at an off-campus team party, where she said three white men pulled her into a bathroom and assaulted her March 14.
Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, New Jersey; Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, New York; and team co-captain David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Maryland, are facing charges of first-degree forcible rape, first-degree sexual offense and first-degree kidnapping.
But Osborn says that wouldn't be the case if the judge had seen a written statement by the lead Durham investigator summarizing an interview with Kim Pittman, aka Kim Roberts, the second dancer at the party.
Pittman referred to the accuser's report that she had been sexually assaulted as a "crock," the investigator wrote, and "she also stated that she was with her the whole time until she left," except for five minutes -- not the 30 minutes reported by the alleged victim, according to court documents.
Pittman said in a handwritten note dated March 22 that the accuser, to whom Pittman refers as "Precious," wanted to stay at the party and earn more money, even after one of the players made a verbal threat.
"Precious became 'crazy' and eventually passed out and had to be carried to Pittman's car by some of the Duke athletes," the statement says.
Another police note obtained by the defense says the alleged victim acknowledged having two beers before arriving at the party and that she and Pittman both had a rum and coke after their arrival.
The accuser also told police that she used a vibrating sex toy during a dance in a hotel room for a male and female, but she told police that she had not had sex in the week before the party, the note says.
However, a male friend of the accuser said that he had sex with her that week and that he drove her to three other sexual encounters, according to the friend's statement.
Osborn also claims in the court documents that the nurse who examined the alleged victim was in training and not yet certified.
I normally side with the police, a form of professional courtesy, giving them the benefit of the doubt. But I think this is inexcusable. I wonder what the motivitation for the police was to "forget" specific information.... race, perhaps?