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| Blog and Media Roundup - Friday, April 8, 2011; News Roundup | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 8 2011, 03:22 AM (1,011 Views) | |
| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:22 AM Post #1 |
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12693248/article-Armed-robbery-leads-to-UNC-review?instance=homefourthleft Armed robbery leads to UNC review 04.07.11 - 10:55 pm BY BETH VELLIQUETTE bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632 CHAPEL HILL -- UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp has convened a group of administrators and student representatives to review the Alert Carolina policy after students complained they weren't informed quickly enough that an armed robber was on the loose on campus Monday night. "We know that many of you have questions about how the Alert Carolina notification system works -- how and when the sirens are deployed, when you get a text message, and what you're supposed to do in emergency situations," Thorp wrote in the letter. The students had more than questions. In public online forums, some complained bitterly that they didn't find out about an armed robbery inside of Morrison Hall that occurred about 12:20 a.m. Monday until hours later. They wondered why the Public Safety Department did not follow the Alert Carolina policy, which states that sirens are the best way the university has to quickly inform the campus about an imminent, life-threatening emergency. Among the stated reasons to sound the sirens is if there is an armed and dangerous person on or near campus. "I think our public safety officers responded appropriately," Thorp wrote in the letter. "The question is really one of communication." The Public Safety Department received a call of an armed robbery in progress at 12:20 a.m. at Morrison Hall, which is next door to the Public Safety Department. Officers rushed to the dormitory, and confronted two men as they were leaving the building. The officers were able to apprehend one of the men, but the other got away. When they searched the man they caught, they did not find a weapon, according to Randy Young, spokesman for the department, although later they charged the man with assault by pointing a gun and robbery with a dangerous weapon. The officers did not know for sure that someone had used a handgun in the robbery until they interviewed the victims of the robbery, and by then the officers had ascertained "he was out of the area and no longer a threat to the campus area," Young said. The alert, which would have included sirens and text messages to students, was not initiated at that time. A brief explanation of the armed robbery was not posted on the Alert Carolina Web page until about 11 hours after the robbery. Police later learned that someone in the dormitory had let the two men into the dormitory. "The incident earlier this week in Morrison Residence Hall has made us think about how we communicate with the campus about possible dangerous situations," Thorp said in the letter. "Our emergency preparedness should always reflect constant re-evaluation of current procedures along with best practices within the higher education and law enforcement communities," he wrote. Thorp ended the letter by saying that as more information became available about the Morrison Hall robbery, the university would post updates to alertcarolina.unc.edu. As of Thursday afternoon, the man who was able to evade capture shortly after the robbery had not yet been apprehended. Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Michael DeAngelo Williamson, 26, of Lillie Drive, Durham. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:23 AM Post #2 |
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12690122/article-Orange-to-hold-another-tax-referendum?instance=main_article Orange to hold another tax referendum 04.07.11 - 06:28 pm BY BETH VELLIQUETTE bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632 HILLSBOROUGH -- The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted to hold a quarter-cent sales tax referendum during the municipal elections in November rather than wait until next May, when more county voters would likely turn out to vote during the presidential primary. Despite claims by the commissioners that they were not trying to do an "end run" on rural voters by scheduling the referendum when the towns are holding their municipal elections, a group of rural residents wasn't convinced. They questioned why the commissioners would hold another referendum on the tax when one just failed in November. "We told you in November, no more sales taxes," Kathy Anders said. The voters deserve respect from the commissioners, she said. "Bullies force their will upon others," she said. Another resident also questioned why the commissioners would once again ask the voters to raise the sales tax, especially when so many people are struggling financially. "What in the name of God has happened since November to try to force feed it?" Bill Knight asked. Commissioner Earl McKee led a contingent that wanted the referendum to be on the ballot in May 2012 on the day of the presidential primary. Tracy Reams, director of the Orange County Board of Elections, told the commissioners that more voters are likely to turn out for the May primary in 2012 than during the municipal elections in November 2011. Rural voters would still be able to vote in the November election, but the only issue on the ballot for them would be the tax referendum. A 25 percent turnout would be high during a municipal election, but during the presidential primary the turnout rate could be as high as 40 percent, she said. Commissioners Steve Yuhasz said the county needs to move forward quickly. "I strongly feel the sooner we get on with it, the better off Orange County is going to be," he said. Another unexpected issue came up during the discussion. The commissioners learned that according to the N.C. Attorney General's office, if they put the referendum on the ballot during the municipal elections, the county would be obligated to pay the full cost of the election, which is estimated to be about $84,000. Previously, they were told it would cost the county about $26,000 to open up and staff the rural precincts, and the municipalities each would pay for their own elections. Orange County attorney John Roberts said he disagreed with the Attorney General's Office, but it has the power to enforce it the way it wants. "One, they're wrong, and two, they have the authority to be wrong," he said. McKee made a motion to hold the quarter-cent sales tax referendum on May 8, 2012, and Valerie Foushee seconded it, but his motion failed. Commissioner Barry Jacobs then made a motion to hold the referendum on Nov. 11, and it passed 5-2, with McKee and Foushee voting against it. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:33 AM Post #3 |
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http://williamlanderson.blogspot.com/2011/04/truly-heroic-public-defender.html Thursday, April 7, 2011 A truly heroic public defender I received this email recently, and am publishing it with some changes, as suggested by the author. It is the story of a public defender who tore up a prosecutor's false accusation case. This attorney now is in private practice. In May of 1997 my ex-wife made a false allegation of child sexual abuse to Child Protective Services. I went through nine months of hell. I was earning $28,000 a year at the time so my only choice for legal counsel was to accept the services of a public defender. The PD, a fairly young woman named Camille Neider was full of integrity and very hard-working. In January of 1998 she came to the preliminary hearing with two three-inch-thick binders full of documents she had subpoened. She had key passages highlighted and had put tabs on the key pages. She was calm and brilliant. After a few minutes it became apparent that this woman was working a miracle. She questioned my ex-wife and two of my sons. At some points it seemed the judge was about to fall off his chair in astonishment. After about an hour and 20 minutes (most of the time being taken up by Ms. Neider), the judge said he wanted to see the prosecutor and the defender in his chamber. They emerged about 20 minutes later. The judge announced he was taking the case under advisement and would let all parties know within 30 days whether or not the court would proceed to a full hearing. Then Ms. Neider took me into a separate room where I met with her and her legal intern. She said, "Now I'm going to tell you what really went on in the judge's chamber." She said that the prosecutor said, "There's no way in hell I'm going to prosecute this case." The judge replied, "Don't worry, I wouldn't let you...Like this woman is going to convince a jury that her son isn't lying?! I don't think so." Ms. Neider told me that they had to come up with a diversion. I asked what she meant. She said the judge had to help the prosecutor "cover his ass." “How so?” I asked. She explained that in these days of "so much hysteria" over child abuse allegations it could destroy the prosecutor's career if he comes to be viewed as not being willing to prosecute a case of alleged child abuse. Two days later the prosecutor dropped the charges on his own (without a diversion having been worked out). The next day the judge dismissed the case entirely. I started the process of having my record expunged with all the relevant agencies (city police, county sheriff's office, state office of criminal investigations (whatever it's called), and the FBI). I also called the Office of Administrative hearings and told them I wanted CPS's "substantiation" expunged. The head guy there told me it was too late...I had missed some deadline. I said that the case had just been dismissed a few days ago and asked if he would have allowed me to appeal the substantiation while the case was still pending. He said, "Good point" and eventually scheduled a hearing with the agent from CPS who had substantiated against me, and himself, and me. That hearing took a full morning in May or June of 1998. In that meeting the CPS agent admitted that she had substantiated against me in violation of state regulations (she had substantiated after speaking with only one person: my ex-wife). The administrator asked her why she did that. Her answer: pressure from the police. (And yes, I had foolishly trusted the police and met with an officer without having a lawyer present...and boy do they twist things!) In November 1998 I got a letter from the Office of Administrative Hearings. They had completed their investigation and ordered CPS to unsubstantiate the prior substantiation (from May 1997) (there is no mechanism in our state law to expunge a substantiation). In May of 1999 I got a letter from CPS saying that they had changed the original report from "substantiated" to "unsubstantiated". I'm leaving out many, many details of the severe anguish the false allegations caused me. Unfortunately the damage to my six children was also very real, especially to two of them. My ex-wife had put these two (who were also my most troubled son and daughter) in counseling with a "therapist" who believed in the recovery of repressed memories. (In one of the subpoened documents containing the therapist's notes to himself he stated that he "supported my son" by telling him that all his troubles came from "the fact" that his father had molested him! Of course, he would have gotten that idea from my ex.) In the hearing my son answered Ms. Neider as noted here. Ms. Neider: How certain were you at the time the report was first made, that your father had molested you? Son: Not very certain [or something to that effect] Ms. Neider: How certain are you NOW that your father molested you? Son: Completely certain [or something to that effect] [I still have a complete 160-page transcript from that hearing.] My son and I eventually reconciled—though he was troubled for years. Then it seemed he was making good progress from the time he was 19 (2000) until the day he committed suicide (early January 2009). I believe that a child who thinks he or she was molested suffers just as much psychological damage as a child who was molested. My troubled daughter is now 25. She has just taken the initiative during the last 3 weeks to reconcile with me. She didn't know me well due to the fact that my wife left me when my daughter was 7 years old. To keep peace with her mother my daughter was more or less required to hate me. One year ago I feared she'd die prematurely due to the heavy burdens that she carried. She's made some miraculous changes in her life since then—including marrying a man who seems to truly love her. She and her husband have moved to another state and are therefore also away from the influence of her, dare I say, vindictive mother. Of course, there's a lot more to this story. I can't say how grateful that I am for the good people who helped me (and my children) along the way. I would say that my state’s judicial system is as screwed up as that of any other state, but I recognize that I was fortunate enough (blessed enough) to have dealt with some very honest, intelligent, dedicated, and kind-hearted professionals who made the difference between justice having been met (for a large part—though not entirely, of course) and my possibly having gone to prison for 15 years for a crime that I didn't do and that in fact never happened at all. Your work is important in alerting Americans to the plight of corrupt laws and, worse than that, corrupt officials. I do not doubt that many innocent persons are unjustly imprisoned. What amazing stories will come out and what fitting punishments and rewards will be handed out come judgment day! Posted by William L. Anderson at 10:42 PM |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:35 AM Post #4 |
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http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/grad-student-not-harmed-robbery Grad student not harmed in robbery By Chronicle Staff [4] April 8, 2011 A female graduate student was robbed at gunpoint on Ninth Street early Thursday morning. An armed man approached and proceeded to rob the graduate student, who is pursuing degrees in the Fuqua School of Business and the Nicholas School of the Environment, around 12:25 a.m. The 28-year-old was walking from her vehicle near the 1000 block of Ninth Street. The male took the victim’s purse before fleeing in a red, large-body pickup track that was driven by a second male, Kammie Michael, Durham Police Department public information officer, wrote in an email Thursday. The victim’s handbag and its contents were valued at $145, according to the DPD incident report. The victim did not suffer any injuries from the robbery, the report states. The suspects have not been discovered. The armed man is described as a Hispanic male, age 18 to 24, with a medium build and height ranging from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6 inches. At the time of the robbery, he was wearing dark clothing and a hooded sweatshirt. The accomplice in the truck was described as a male with medium build, 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 6 inches, in his late teens or 20s. In response to the incident, Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek sent an email to the student body around 12:40 p.m. Thursday, asking students to take recommended safety precautions. Michael added that Durham police officers are conducting “directed patrols in this area” in response to the robbery. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call investigator Jason Salmon at 919-560-4582, ext. 29238, or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:39 AM Post #5 |
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http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke-freshmen-shine-attack Duke freshmen shine on attack Caroline Rodriguez/The Chronicle : Christian Walsh and Jordan Wolf comprise a dynamic freshman duo that has combined for 33 goals this season. By Dawei Liu April 8, 2011 It may have been the move that changed Duke’s entire season. With the team off to a slow start after two straight defeats, head coach John Danowski decided to switch freshman Jordan Wolf and Christian Walsh from midfielders to attackers. “It just seemed on paper to be a better fit [for them to be midfielders],” Danowski said. “But after we lost to Penn 7-3, we decided to get them back into their comfort zone…. The rest is kind of history.” The two starting attackers helped the Blue Devils (8-3) reel off seven straight victories before they finally lost to Syracuse, the No. 1 team in the nation. As the second and third-leading scorers on the team, both players have been critical to No. 4 Duke’s success. Walsh, at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, is the bigger of the two players. From Baltimore, Md., Walsh has scored 13 goals this season and assisted on seven more. At this point in the year, though, the freshman believes there’s still much room for him to improve. “I don’t know if it has clicked.” Walsh said. “I’m still waiting for that moment. I’ve had a couple good games, but also a few really bad games that I haven’t been satisfied [with].” Wolf, at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, has accumulated 20 goals and 12 assists. Hailing from Wynnewood, Pa., he is currently leading the team in assists and ranks second in goals scored. The freshman made his impact felt in the first game he ever started, scoring the winning goal in overtime against ACC rival, and No. 7 team in the nation, Maryland. “I attribute everything to my coaches and teammates,” Wolf said. “They’ve helped me out along the way. I’ve been fortunate to be at the right spot at the right time.” This upcoming Saturday, the freshmen and their teammates travel to Bethpage, N.Y., to face No. 10 Denver (7-2) in a neutral field contest. The Pioneers average 13.11 goals per game, the second-best scoring offense in the nation. Denver has two of the top six players in the nation in terms of points per game, as well as the third-best goal scorer in the country, 6-foot-4 junior Mark Matthews. The Blue Devils will have a tough game as they look to rebound from their 13-11 loss against Syracuse last weekend. “We were very disappointed about our overall approach to the [Syracuse] game.” Danowski said. “Denver is an excellent team, and this is a big game in the national picture.” With only four more regular season games left, the Blue Devils will try to build momentum before the ACC Tournament, held on the weekend of April 22-24. Duke finishes the season against Presbyterian and Jacksonville, as well as a final ACC match against No. 9 Virginia. The Blue Devils hope that the two freshmen will continue to have a great impact on the team’s success, as Duke goes down its final homestretch. Edited by abb, Apr 8 2011, 03:43 AM.
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:41 AM Post #6 |
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http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/response-get-faculty-board-kunshan In response to “Get faculty on board with Kunshan” By Thomas Pfau April 8, 2011 It ought to be pointed out that the proper procedure would have been to present a coherent and responsibly detailed vision for Kunshan to the faculty before committing to this venture. Once again, however, the Duke administration has chosen to bypass faculty counsel on another major issue of strategic planning, preferring instead to present the Kunshan adventure as a “fait (presque) accomplit.” Even more disturbing is that this particular initiative highlights the administration’s growing confusion as to Duke University’s identity. We are (and hopefully will remain) a dynamic and complex research institution in Durham. What we are not (and should not pretend to be) is some multinational corporation peddling an increasingly amorphous and empty commodity marketed as the “Duke Experience.” Had The Chronicle’s independent Editorial Board done due diligence, they would have inquired about the collateral effects of the Kunshan adventure on our finances here at Duke, which, contrary to the starry-eyed projections of our administration, remain a zero-sum game. For some time now, the administration has been financially squeezing and intellectually starving its academic core units (aka departments), and it continues to do so even now, ostensibly because of a sizeable budget deficit in Arts and Sciences. This worrisome development has manifestly reinforced the University leadership’s strategy (well known to observant faculty) to shift attention and support to new centers, programs and a flurry of often uncoordinated and ephemeral initiatives—of which Kunshan is only a recent and conspicuous instance. Much of the growing resistance to the Kunshan adventure (correctly noted in the editorial) stems from the faculty’s pervasive alienation from, and distrust of, a University administration that consistently fails to consult its faculty’s collective expertise and wisdom before the fact. No doubt, it is assumed that the Academic Council and other relevant bodies will eventually rubber-stamp a project in Kunshan that, when the question is posed, will have advanced beyond recall, even as its intellectual merits, financial rationale and institutional necessity were never convincingly articulated. A less high-handed and more timely, consultative approach would have allowed everyone to consider and evaluate the Kunshan adventure’s comparative merits vis-a-vis various other, far less cost-intensive (albeit less headline-grabbing) proposals, such as a formal and focused comprehensive faculty exchange initiative. Thomas Pfau Professor of German and Eads Family Professor of English |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:57 AM Post #7 |
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/08/1114000/no-reporters-are-finalists-for.html Published Fri, Apr 08, 2011 02:00 AM Modified Thu, Apr 07, 2011 11:39 PM N&O reporters are finalists for award From staff reports Two News & Observer reporters have been selected as finalists for a national journalism award for their work about the State Bureau of Investigation, award sponsors announced Thursday. Mandy Locke and Joseph Neff are among four finalists for the Michael Kelly Award, presented by the Atlantic Media Company to reporters who exhibit "the fearless pursuit and expression of truth." Kelly was the editor of National Journal and The Atlantic Monthly who died while covering the war in Iraq in 2003. Locke and Neff researched and wrote a four-part series, "Agents' Secrets," last August. It revealed that some SBI agents were bullying vulnerable suspects and that some lab analysts had pushed past the accepted bounds of science to deliver results that helped prosecutors' cases. Locke, 32, came to The N&O in 2004. She covered the case of Greg Taylor, a Wake County man who served 17 years for murder before being exonerated early in 2010. It was that case that led to the "Agents' Secrets" series. Neff, 51, is a veteran investigative reporter who has written extensively about criminal justice. He laid bare the prosecutorial misconduct of former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong in the Duke lacrosse case, and in 2008, he worked on a series about the state's crippled probation system. Other finalists for the award include journalists from The Associated Press, Mother Jones magazine and Slate. The finalists will attend a dinner in Washington later this month, when the winner will be announced. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 03:58 AM Post #8 |
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http://www.ksbw.com/r/27466370/detail.html Jury: De Anza Baseball Players Not Liable Jurors reached a verdict, Thursday, in the civil trial of two former De Anza College baseball players accused by a young woman of involvement in a gang-rape. The jury ruled that Kenneth Chadwick and Christopher Knopf are not liable for an alleged gang rape at a wild off-campus house party on March 3, 2007, according to the The San Jose Mercury News. The woman was awarded $0 in damages. The former baseball players' attorneys said the woman, who was a 17-year-old high school student at the time, invited the players to have sex with her. The woman was seeking $7.5 million in damages from Knopf and Chadwick. The woman's lawyers argued that the 17-year-old was too intoxicated from drinking numerous shots of vodka to have consensual sex and was rescued by three players on college's women's soccer team. The young woman originally filed a civil suit against eight men after prosecutors declined to file criminal charges. Six players were dropped from the case. De Anza College suspended eight members of the baseball team from all school athletics when the accusations were first made in 2007. The team's coach at the time, Scott Hertler, is still the head coach. De Anza College's baseball team came under fire the same year three Duke University lacrosse players were cleared of all criminal charges in a false rape case. The Duke lacrosse team was caught in a media firestorm after an exotic dancer hired for a team party said three of the players raped her on March 13, 2006. The players were portrayed as immoral and egotistical athletes from wealthy families who thought they were above the law. Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has since been disbarred for his handling of the case. The dancer, Crystal Mangum, was arrested in 2010 on charges of attempted murder, arson and child abuse. Some on the Central Coast were outraged when the Santa Clara County District Attorney chose not to prosecute the De Anza players because of insufficient evidence. Female soccer players at the party were declared heroes by city officials for saving the woman and taking her to the hospital. Two soccer players said they were horrified when they saw eight players surrounding the woman. The men blocked them from getting in the room and said, "She wants to be in here," a soccer player told KTVU. The party was thrown to celebrate two De Anza baseball players' birthdays. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 04:07 AM Post #9 |
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http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_17793153?nclick_check=1 No defendants found liable in De Anza rape trial, no damages awarded By Tracey Kaplan and Tracy Seipel Mercury News Posted: 04/07/2011 09:38:11 AM PDT Updated: 04/07/2011 10:11:12 PM PDT Four years after a teenager claimed she was gang-raped by a group of De Anza College baseball players, a grim-faced civil jury refused Thursday to hold the men liable or award her a penny in damages. The unequivocal decision -- after a nine-week trial and 3 ½ days of deliberations -- was hailed by the young men and their supporters as a complete vindication but condemned by women's advocates as discriminatory. As the clerk read the long verdict form, one of the defendants broke into a huge grin and another's eyes filled with tears, while the now-21-year-old plaintiff began sobbing uncontrollably. "A weight is off my chest," said defendant Kenneth Chadwick, whose eyes were red from tears. The young woman had sought $7.5 million in damages for emotional distress based on her claim that a group of at least nine men sexually assaulted her in a tiny bedroom at a raucous San Jose house party when she was 17 years old and highly intoxicated from drinking more than 10 shots of vodka. Three members of the De Anza women's soccer team barged into the room after spotting through a windowpane in a door what they described as a semi-comatose girl lying in vomit, and brought her to the hospital. The verdict would appear to resolve a politically charged case that garnered national attention and helped defeat Santa Clara County's previous district attorney because of her controversial decision to not file criminal charges in the case. None of Advertisement the other seven men originally on trial was found liable either: They were dropped or settled for relatively small sums compared with the millions the plaintiff sought, shortly after testimony began and the defense turned up recent Facebook pictures of the young woman partying in scanty clothing. But District Attorney Jeff Rosen on Thursday said the civil verdict does not negate the possibility he'll file criminal charges. "We're still going to test all the evidence and review everything, and then I'll make a decision about whether to file charges against anyone," Rosen said. "If I decide to, that will speak for itself. If I don't, I will explain my decision." Relief for defendants The verdict was a relief to the two remaining defendants -- Chadwick and Christopher Knopf -- and their families, who waited anxiously while Judge Aaron Persky sent the jurors back to the jury room at the last minute Thursday morning to finish signing the long verdict form. Chadwick, who was in the bedroom for less than a minute, faced one cause of action: negligence. The young woman's legal team sought $2.5 million in damages from him. But jurors said they believed he tried to rescue her by alerting a resident of the house that she was "basically getting gangbanged," and that it wasn't Chadwick's fault the housemate didn't follow through. The young woman sought $5 million from Knopf for 10 causes of action: negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, rape of an unconscious woman, rape of an intoxicated woman, false imprisonment, battery, sexual battery, invasion of privacy, unlawful intercourse and conspiracy. "Thank God," Knopf's mother exclaimed after the clerk finished announcing one "No" after another on the question of whether her son would be found culpable. Knopf was the first man in the bedroom, but jurors believed the teen invited him in and that he may have left before most of the other men came in. The jury of six men and six women had to wade through a mountain of conflicting evidence about what happened in the 84-square-foot bedroom. Outside the courtroom, some jurors said their ruling should not be interpreted as a put-down of the young woman or an endorsement of what happened in the South Buena Vista Avenue house that March 3, 2007, night. But most apparently did not find the testimony by the soccer players, April Grolle, Lauren Bryeans and Lauren Chief Elk, persuasive. A few said they would have held some of the other baseball players who were dropped from the trial liable. "It was exactly the wrong guys in my mind," said juror Courtney Ridings, a schoolteacher. "We were very angry we were left with these two." Juror No. 3, a 47-year-old San Jose widow, agreed. "If there had been other defendants left in the case -- and it was a travesty there weren't -- this verdict would have looked a lot different," she said. Opinions varied But other jurors believed the men and other witnesses, who testified that the girl brought beer to the party, performed a public lap dance and invited them in explicit terms to have group sex. "She came there kind of looking for it," said one male juror, a 62-year-old software engineer. Another female juror, No. 8, of Los Gatos, was not convinced that the teen had reached a peak blood-alcohol level of 0.27 in the bedroom, as the plaintiff's expert toxicologist had testified. The defendants' expert, on the other hand, said she peaked later. "I don't think she was comatose," she said. "She was just having a good time -- they were all having a good time." Even the sole juror who voted most often to hold the men liable, biotech quality-control manager Marc Ancheta, said he wouldn't have awarded the young woman millions. "But how could you not give her something? A couple hundred thousand dollars," he said. "She obviously needs a lot of therapy, and it will take a couple of years and that's expensive." Rape survivor Lisa Jensen, who followed the trial closely and has worked as a rape-crisis counselor, dubbed the verdict "unfair" and said she fears it will dissuade women from reporting rape. "Judging from this verdict, even today in the 21st century, we live in a society where blame and responsibility are assigned to the survivors of sexually violent crimes instead of to the perpetrators," Jensen said. "The impact of this unfair verdict will be far-reaching with potentially devastating consequences for the victims of sexually violent crimes." Golf commentator Roger Maltbie, whose son was dropped from the case, blamed the media for inflaming the public. "As far as I'm concerned, the media convicted those kids from Day One," Maltbie said. "This has been a vindication for (former District Attorney) Dolores Carr (who declined to file criminal charges). This was a money grab. I can't speak for every kid, but they knew our son never touched the girl, but they still charged him with rape." Settlements paid The plaintiff's lead attorney, Barbara Spector, said her client walked away with a "significant settlement from a number of the defendants." The settlements are confidential, but sources close to the case said Scott Righetti's insurance company paid about $500,000 to $600,000, and Stefano Rebagliati's, no more than $50,000. Righetti is alleged to have stood guard at the bedroom door; Rebagliati allowed his grandson to live in the house for free even though he allegedly knew his grandson gave wild parties. The young woman, now a single mother of a 2-year-old son, may net all or part of that, depending on her arrangement with Spector's firm. However, she is also responsible for Knopf's and Chadwick's costs, excluding attorney's fees, which could be about $150,000. "Jane Doe could have walked away without being subjected to the onslaught of personal accusations she knew would be coming," Spector said. "Instead, she took the stand and told her story. She is the bravest young woman we know." |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 04:09 AM Post #10 |
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http://www.mercurynews.com/scott-herhold/ci_17795505?source=rss Herhold: Different opinions endure after De Anza verdict By Scott Herhold Mercury News Columnist Posted: 04/07/2011 03:25:12 PM PDT Updated: 04/07/2011 09:45:08 PM PDT About 40 minutes after a jury dismissed the last civil charges against two young men in the De Anza rape suit, Juror No. 10, a compact, dark-haired man named Marc Ancheta, embraced the female plaintiff as she walked from the courthouse with her attorneys. For almost a minute, Ancheta tried to console the sobbing red-haired young woman, who has gone by the name of Jane Doe. Ancheta was sobbing, too: In one of the most emotional cases on the court's docket, he dissented forcefully. "We really picked it apart," he told me. "We all sat on the same case and listened to the same trial. But once you get into a jury room, there were very different perspectives." The De Anza case -- can we call it a rape case anymore? -- was unusual in that everyone brought their own template to the facts. And it wasn't just Ancheta, who said he was deeply bothered that the young men got away "scot-free." One template came from the three soccer girls who rescued the drunken 17-year-old from a party on Buena Vista Avenue. They saw one girl and eight or nine guys in a small alcove and concluded -- rightly, I think -- that whatever happened wasn't consensual. A second template came from the boys, who wanted to diminish their own roles. A third came from politicians, who have sought to evade any blame in handling the investigation. And the final template came from the media, which largely adopted the photogenic soccer girls' version. Turning points The case turned on precise facts -- the meaning of penetration, or the precise elements of negligence. As the jury was polled, it was clear that the female jurors, on the whole, judged the young woman more harshly than did the men. "We were all emotional on certain points," said the jury forewoman, Percenel A. Jones, a Cisco Systems (CSCO) program manager. "But bottom line, it was the law we followed." In the end, the young plaintiff and her attorneys failed to find a way to create enough sympathy. Maybe it was the Facebook photo that showed her pouring drinks from her cleavage eight months later. Or maybe it was her declaration -- despite the testimony that she had done a lap dance, grabbed the crotches of the boys, and asked for sex -- that she was not embarrassed about her actions, that she was standing up for what was right. Regret From her testimony, I had the feeling that Jane Doe did regret those actions, and that what she sought from the jury was not just money, but a kind of absolution. Her first words to the soccer girls, remember, were "I'm sorry." Her attorneys reached a settlement reported in the mid-six figures with the insurance company for one defendant, Scott Righetti. And there may be other insurance settlements. But a public vindication won't happen. "The boys have been convicted in the court of public opinion for a long time," said Roger Maltbie, the golf broadcaster who is the father of a defendant dropped from the case, Spencer Maltbie. "This was a pretty good spanking (for the plaintiff). And I think it's appropriate." The defense did a much better job of lawyering, yes. But if Ancheta is right, and something terrible did happen, you wonder whether real justice was served, whether the parameters of law and the last-man-standing quality of the trial mocked common sense. We saw the trees, not the forest. Contact Scott Herhold at sherhold@mercurynews.com or 408-275-0917. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 04:10 AM Post #11 |
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http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_17797429 Mercury News editorial: Mercury News Editorial Posted: 04/07/2011 08:00:00 PM PDT Updated: 04/07/2011 08:05:55 PM PDT On March 3, 2007, at a house party in a county pocket of San Jose, something horrible happened. It has forever changed the lives of dozens of people. That is a truth unaltered by Thursday's outcome of the civil trial in what's become known as the De Anza rape case. The two defendants who remained at the end of the trial were deemed not liable, although some jurors say others among the nine original defendants might have brought a different verdict had they not been dropped from the case. Some of these defendants apparently settled with the plaintiff, whom we're calling Jane Doe, now a single mother of a 2-year-old, but the amounts are not believed to be significant. This has to be crushing for Jane Doe and for the three courageous young women -- Lauren Chief Elk, Lauren Bryeans and April Grolle -- who rescued her from the room where men were having sex with her as she lay, semiconscious at best, in vomit. But for many watching the tableau of accusation and defense unfold over four years since -- reporter Tracey Kaplan's front-page story today encapsulates the history -- this is less about crime than it is about right and wrong. Lawyers and family members crowed Friday that the civil jury verdict vindicates "the boys." How can anyone possibly be proud of the behavior described at the trial? In the most charitable interpretation this was group sex with a completely inebriated 17-year-old. Does anyone really think this was an Advertisement honorable activity? The defense is that it was consensual. Oh, please. If somebody consents to be shot, is it OK to shoot him? Some things are just wrong, even if they aren't provably criminal or don't merit financial compensation, which the civil trial sought. This incident was one. Young men grounded in a moral sense decline this kind of invitation. Back in 2007, then-District Attorney Dolores Carr decided there was insufficient evidence to file criminal charges in the case. The way Carr initially handled it -- appearing to lack sympathy for the victim and her rescuers -- turned out to be a bellwether of problems that ultimately cost her the office. But the state attorney general later concurred with her decision not to prosecute. It was thought that a civil suit for damages might be easier to prove. The grueling trial, if nothing else, showed the futility of criminal prosecution in a case marred by drunk witnesses and a delayed police investigation. What's unnerving about all this is what it says to victims of sexual assault, especially when drink is involved. It's hard to get victims to come forward as it is; rape crisis counselors noted a difference after the original decision not to prosecute. This verdict may make that worse. Lots of men and even some women think taking advantage of a woman -- or a girl -- who's been drinking is normal. This was a clear viewpoint in the trial. Jeff Nevin, a lawyer for one of the defendants in the case, said: "If it's negligence to have sex with a gal who is drinking, then put me away." We'll presume he wasn't referring to group sex with an underage girl. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 04:12 AM Post #12 |
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/08/BA6E1IS7NS.DTL 2 former De Anza students cleared of rape charges Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, April 8, 2011 (04-07) 16:30 PDT San Jose -- Two former De Anza College baseball players are not liable and will not pay civil damages in connection with an alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at a San Jose house party four years ago, a jury determined Thursday. The Santa Clara County Superior Court civil jury cleared Kenneth Chadwick and Christopher Knopf of any liability in a case in which a group of up to nine men had been accused of sexually assaulting the girl, identified only as Jane Doe, at a March 2007 party at a San Jose-area house. The plaintiff had accused Chadwick of negligence and Knopf of sexual battery, rape, false imprisonment and other allegations. But one juror revealed that the panel had been divided by the case during three days of deliberations. In civil courts in California, a jury can render a verdict if three-fourths of the jury agree. "I heard people say justice was served, and justice wasn't served," juror Marc Ancheta told reporters. "We all knew what happened. It was a terrible event. Sure, a 17-year-old girl made a mistake, but also these guys should be held accountable. These guys were animals. They took advantage of a very young, drunk girl." Jeff Nevin, Knopf's attorney, said, "Jane Doe will hopefully disappear into the seam-work where she came from, and we'll go on with our lives, but the jury system clearly worked." Nevin said his client's reaction was "absolutely joy" and "relief. ... To say he's happy is a tremendous understatement." Bruce Funk, Chadwick's attorney, said, "It's been a long four years for Mr. Chadwick. They made a lot of allegations against him that were really completely unfounded." Funk said jurors were split either 10-2 or 11-1 in favor of clearing the men of any liability. When the case began, then-District Attorney Dolores Carr declined to file criminal charges against anyone, noting that many people at the party had been drinking. Several men questioned by sheriff's investigators said the sex was consensual. The plaintiff had originally filed suit against 10 men in civil court, but the other defendants were either dropped from the case or settled out of court. Three young women who were members of the De Anza women's soccer team said they rescued the girl from an attack. "Nothing that happened today undermines the bravery of these women or what they saw when they walked in that room, which was a barely conscious 17-year-old girl," said Jim Hammer, an attorney who represented the three soccer team members as they pressed to have the case pursued. "You have to keep in mind with the verdict today that the most seriously involved young men had already been removed from the case." E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com. |
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| abb | Apr 8 2011, 04:16 AM Post #13 |
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http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/christine_flowers/119441284.html Posted on Fri, Apr. 8, 2011 Christine M. Flowers: Crystal Gail Mangum strikes again By Christine M. Flowers Philadelphia Daily News IT'S BEEN a long time since I thought about the Duke rape case. I hesitate to resurrect the story now because the three young men whose lives were shattered by a perfect storm of lies, political ambition and institutional bigotry deserve to be left in peace. But their accuser has struck again, stabbing her most recent boyfriend with, according to the indictment, "intent to kill." So maybe it's time to take a look at Crystal Gail Mangum one more time, a woman who stands as Exhibit A in the case of women who cry rape. Please spare me the emails about how this woman doesn't represent the majority of sexual- abuse victims. This isn't a column about them. This is about women who decide to manipulate the law because they can, cynically taking advantage of our society's attitudes toward sex crimes and, in Mangum's case, some folks' utter disdain for privileged white men. IT'S TRUE that, for years, the system was stacked against women. In many states, a man could force himself on his wife, and she couldn't accuse him of rape, even if he held a knife to her throat. In the courtroom, judges like our own Common Pleas Judge Bernard Avellino thought they could get away with wondering out loud why a criminal defendant would even bother raping a woman who was "coyote-ugly." Clearly, there was a need for reform. But as usually happens, the rectifying pendulum eventually swung too far in the opposite direction, so we now have classes teaching college women how to avoid so-called date rape, and an 18-year-old can be sentenced to decades behind bars for having consensual sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend. And a stripper is able to mobilize almost the entire upper crust of an elite university and an army of the nation's ultraliberal sports columnists to her defense with a transparent lie. Mangum was never raped by the Duke lacrosse players she accused in 2006. All charges were dropped by the North Carolina attorney general more than a year later, and the boys were declared "actually innocent." Those unfamiliar with the criminal system need to know how rare it is to be found "innocent." Many defendants get off on doubt and technicalities, procedural irregularities that force a judge to dismiss the charges. Not here. The three athletes were absolved of all guilt by the state's highest prosecutor. And it never should've taken a year to clear them. But that's what happens when the system believes a poor black woman over rich white men simply because she's poor, black and a woman, and they're rich, white and male. Mangum was never indicted for any crime. Even after she'd been proven to be a liar, there was an unwillingness to criminalize her behavior. And that's because we've become completely brainwashed into believing that women, even ones who make up horrific rape stories, are still victims. Some even argued that what Mangum and her sister in arms Tawana Brawley had done was simply payback for all the years that white women had lied about being raped by black men, cases that often ended up in the death of innocents. But two wrongs, as they say, can violate your rights. Any time a false accusation of rape is made, a life is destroyed. It's impossible to escape the label of "accused rapist." No matter how many years pass or how many times someone's innocence is declared, there will always be the suspicion that there is fire behind that smoke. And lest you think this is about race or privilege, it's just as easy for an upper-middle-class white woman to cry rape as it is for a destitute minority. A few months ago, a weathercaster in New York who had a part-time gig on "Good Morning America" admitted she'd made up a rape story to get some attention. Apparently, she suffered from depression, and being the focus of a police investigation helped raise her self-esteem. She should've tried lithium; it would have cost the Big Apple taxpayers a lot less. These aren't isolated stories, despite the protests of feminists who think that you should always give sisters the benefit of the doubt. They seem to fear that holding women accountable for their fabrications will make it harder for legitimate victims of abuse. But it's exactly the opposite. Every time a woman lies about being raped, she makes it that much harder for the next person to be believed. And when she lies, she should be prosecuted with swift and certain justice. The kind denied the Durham Three. Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer. E-mail cflowers1961@yahoo.com. She blogs at philly.com/philly/blogs/flowersshow. |
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| LTC8K6 | Apr 8 2011, 06:38 AM Post #14 |
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Assistant to The Devil Himself
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IIRC, that was the consensus here at the time... |
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| Joan Foster | Apr 8 2011, 07:23 AM Post #15 |
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When will someone have the courage to take on the Mysteries of Crystal Mangum's Teflon status in the Durham legal system? "the fearless pursuit and expression of truth." Guess that's just too tough. (where's the "hiding-under-the-bed" emoticon when ya need it?) |
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