The Duke rape case had some rather dramatic developments Thursday, with the
defense team arguing to toss out the lineup which violated even Durham's own
rules for lineups, and then the later revelation that the alleged victim gave
birth in Chapel Hill later in the evening.
The defense argues that the lineup amounted to <!span class="vitstorybody" target=_top>"a
multiple choice test in which there were no wrong answers." Duke's
Prof. James Coleman was quoted as saying that if the lineup was tossed, the case
is effectively over, because the attackers can't be identified.
<!span class="vitstorybody" target=_top>We'll find out about that soon enough. Just
as interesting is the AV's pregnancy. It seems impossible, but here it is:
the birth came<!i> nine months to the day after the lacrosse party.
We now know that the DNA tests revealed the semen
of five different men, none of whom were members of the lacrosse team, and all
of whom could be the father.
In a bizarre twist which most novelists wouldn't
try to pull off, KC Johnson, who is blogging and covering the hearings from
Durham, took a cab from Chapel Hill to Durham. His cabbie? Moez
Elmostafa, who of course was the guy who picked up Reade Seligmann, and who
verifies his alibi. You
can read about that on KC's site, with tons of other stuff.
<!span class="vitstorybody" target=_top>The next issue to consider is what exactly
happened between Mike Nifong and the lab. If Nifong and the lab
director worked together to withhold evidence, not an unreasonable thing
to think at this point, then <!a href="http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/" target=_top>as
Jason Trumpbour points out, he is useless as a witness, because he'd likely
opt to take the fifth rather than face conspiracy or obstruction of justice
charges.
So at some point, Nifong and director Needham have
a lot of explaining to do. It should be interesting.
Kathleen Eckelt has
a rather thorough explanation of DNA testing and why the test is