Justice For The Duke Boys
By
Bonnie M. Wells
Although this page will contain news clips, articles and quotes -- primarily from FOX NEWS sources, my readers can rest assured I will have a few comments of my own that I intend to make.
All Sex-Assault Charges Against Duke Lacrosse Players Dropped; Players Glad Ordeal Is Over
The three Duke lacrosse players cleared of raping a stripper at a team party lashed out at both the prosecutor who pursued them and reporters who were enthralled by the prospect they were guilty.
"For everyone who chose to speak out against us before any of the facts were known, I truly hope that you are never put in a position where you have to experience the same pain and heartache that you have caused our families," said Reade Seligmann, one of the three players.
"Your hurtful words and outrageous lies will be forever linked to this tragedy. Everyone will always remember that we told the truth."
Nifong once called them "hooligans" and insisted that DNA evidence would identify the guilty, but continued to seek indictments after tests failed to connect any of the players to the accuser.
Defense Attorney Joseph Cheshire said of Nifong - "The Duke lacrosse case was prosecuted by a man who had not a care in the world about justice, but only about himself and his personal agenda." "He is a man who ignored overwhelming evidence of innocence ... and deliberately misled this community, misled the media and even mislead the court in his search for a false conviction."
The North Carolina State Bar has charged the 29-year veteran of the Durham County prosecutor's office with a series of ethics violations, including making misleading comments about the players and withholding evidence from the defense.
"This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed," Seligmann said.
"If police officers and a district attorney can systematically railroad us with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, I can't imagine what they would do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves."
A chronology of events in the Duke lacrosse case:
March 13, 2006 _ Duke University lacrosse players throw a party at an off-campus house, hiring two strippers.
March 14 _ One of the dancers tells Durham, N.C., police she was forced into a bathroom by three men and beaten, raped and sodomized.
March 23 _ Forty-six of 47 team members comply with judge's order to provide DNA. The sole black member is not tested, because the accuser said her attackers were white.
March 28 _ Duke suspends lacrosse team from play.
March 29 _ District Attorney Mike Nifong calls members of the team "a bunch of hooligans."
April 4 _ The accuser identifies her attackers in a photo lineup.
April 5 _ Lacrosse coach Mike Pressler resigns. Duke President Richard Brodhead cancels the rest of the season.
April 10 _ Defense attorneys announce DNA tests fail to connect any of the players to the accuser.
April 17 _ Grand jury indicts Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty on rape and other charges.
April 25 _ Granville County authorities confirm the accuser told police 10 years ago she was raped by three men when she was 14. None of the men was charged.
May 15 _ Grand jury indicts team co-captain David Evans on rape charges. He calls the allegations "fantastic lies."
June 5 _ Duke president says team can resume play in 2007 under close monitoring.
Nov. 7 _ Nifong wins election to continue as district attorney.
Dec. 15 _ Director of a DNA lab testifies that, in an agreement with Nifong, he omitted from a report that genetic material from several men _ none of them team members _ was found in accuser's underwear and body.
Dec. 22 _ Nifong drops the rape charges, saying the woman is no longer certain whether she was penetrated. The players still face charges of kidnapping and sexual offense.
Dec. 28 _ North Carolina bar files ethics charges against Nifong, accusing him of making misleading and inflammatory comments to the media about the athletes. (He is also later accused of withholding evidence and lying to the court.)
Jan. 3, 2007 _ Duke invites Seligmann and Finnerty to return to school. (They have not returned.) The accuser gives birth. Both sides later say she was not impregnated at the party.
Jan. 12 _ Nifong asks to withdraw from case because of ethics charges.
Jan. 13 _ North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper takes over the case.
April 11 _ Cooper drops all charges, accusing Nifong of overreaching.
Comments From Bonnie M. Wells
I heard Reade Seligmann say that the entire country had been against him and the other accused lacrosse players. He was wrong. I NEVER believed for one instant that they were quilt and have stated that repeatedly to everyone who broached the subject with me.
"This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed," Seligmann said.
I know what Mr.Seligmann is saying and how he feels because I got my first glimpse of this same 'system' as far back as 1986, when the son of a banker was accused, tried and convicted of murder. I said he didn't do it, and I talked to everyone who would listen to me. It did no good, and only succeeded in putting me at the head of their 'watch her close' list.
Five and a half years later the young man in question got a new trial, and when the fabricated evidence against him was not allowed into the court room, he was found not guilty!
This experience must surely have left a horrible scar upon this young man's heart and mind. I know for a fact it was the beginning of my own distrust of people whom I so much wanted to believe in and trust.
The fact that even though this man was eventually found not guilty, had no bearing upon any of those who had originally framed him for the crime. NOTHING was ever done with any of them -- some of which went on to do other horrible things to people -- simply because they knew they could get by with it.
At one point today, while watching FOX NEWS, I heard Attorney Cheshire say something to the effect that no one realized what it had cost the team of attorney's who took a stand in these young men's defense. He said they were subjected to some pretty cruel treatment by the system and people in general.
Well, I have news for Mr. Cheshire. There are some out here who know exactly what it means to take a stand against injustice. And I might add, at least the attorney's in the Durham cases had education, titles and money, and they had their own team to support one another.
Wonder how they'd like to try the same thing, for not three clients, but for a dozen, while being uneducated, unemployed housewives, with no titles, no money and no support system? Think about that for awhile Mr. Cheshire, and then think about those dozen 'clients' who don't have a team of well educated, highly trained attorney's to fight their battle for them. Think about the innocent men who have only one stubborn woman in their corner.
Reade Seligmann said - "If police officers and a district attorney can systematically railroad us with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, I can't imagine what they would do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves."
Well, I'll give a few [local] examples of what happens when a person doesn't have the money [and/or the attorney's] to fight a corrupt system, and the general population either doesn't care, or they believe by going along with the thugs they will spare themselves the same treatment in the future. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps not.
A twelve year old boy is accused of a double homicide. There is virtually no evidence in the case against the boy, but he has a cousin who is a police officer, and who supposedly obtains a 'confession' from the child. The confession is rather confusing though because 'murder' is never mentioned. Such misleading terms as -- 'Would you expect to be punished if you did something really bad?" are tossed at the child, with neither parent present, and his 'yes' answer is taken as a confession!
I wonder what Mr. Cheshire would think if he knew this same boy was denied a trial by jury, although he asked for one?
And then there's the case of the guy who was a state trooper - in fact, Trooper of the Year in 1995, and accused of murdering his wife in 1996.
Experts far and wide testified in that case. Dr. Joshua Perper was good enough for the Anna Nicole Smith case, but his word wasn't any good in Washington County Ohio.
None of the so called evidence matched - didn't matter.
The supposed murder weapon was taken from the 'crime scene' by a cop and was out of everyone's sight for several hours, before showing up altered to prevent ballistics. Didn't matter.
The lead 'detective' planted the idea that the trooper's wife had ran away with another man - but then said the trooper said it. It was all on tape, and the jury heard it. Didn't matter.
The prosecuting attorney advised the trooper to sue for divorce and gain custody of the children so his wife and her boyfriend could not come back and take the children while he was at work. Then he turned around and used that against the trooper in the court room, saying, he knew his wife was dead. {And I wondered - so, why spend the money on a divorce action?] Didn't matter what I wondered.
The sheriff who was supposed to 'investigate' the crime, [refused] to speak to the accused - even though his attorney offered. In fact the sheriff told the attorney he didn't want to hear anything the accused had to say because he intended to hang him! And yes, this was [before] the man was actually arrested and charged!! [Because I asked questions and had many doubts about this case, the sheriff began to slander me by telling people I was an ungodly liar whom he would not believe one word that came out of my mouth, and besides that I was a witch!]
There was exculpatory evidence, but the prosecution wouldn't permit the person to testify! [Yeah, it's in the transcripts. That's where I found it. A secret meeting in the judges chambers, and no one ever knew that I had already told the sheriff and his detectives about the man whom the witness described. The jury never knew.]
I Built A Web Site
Bill O'Reilly says "he's watching out for the folks," and I suppose he is. He doesn't answer this 'folk' when she writes to him - and she has, several times.
Shawn Hannity, Shepherd Smith, Gretta van Susterin, and dozens more .... I see them on tv every day. They seem to care so much for 'the folks' everywhere but here. Nobody cares about the people here. Nobody cares that innocent men rot in prisons while the guilty continue to kill at will.
I wrote a 25 book series about this mess, but as luck would have it, I didn't have the money to get any of the books published -- maybe because I've spent so much of my own money buying O'Reilly; Coulter; John Douglas; and other people's books! Never the less, not to be permanently silenced, I decided to design web pages and tell the stories that way.
Maybe some day, someone will come along, and we the people will get to see a miracle such as the folks of Durham, North Carolina have just witnessed. One can hope - and pray .... and I do both.
All the cases that I have mentioned above can be found on this web site, along with a whole lot more. I cannot post all of them at one time, due to web space. However, many are posted each month, and others are posted in my special categories -- ie; The Symbolic Cases; Without A Trace Series; Lookin' For A killer Series; etc. and I'm willing to post anything that is requested.... at least for awhile.
The following links will provide more information and more background on the above mentioned cases, as well as some others that fit into the same category -- Justice Gone Awry!
Meanwhile, if any of my readers know anyone who would give a hoot in hell about any of this, let me know. I'm tired of standing here by myself!
