| Blog and Media Roundup - Friday, September 29, 2017; News Roundup | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 29 2017, 04:08 AM (130 Views) | |
| abb | Sep 29 2017, 04:08 AM Post #1 |
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The ousted Durham DA had her law license suspended. Will she get it reinstated this year? By Anne Blythe ablythe@newsobserver.com September 28, 2017 4:27 PM DURHAM Tracey Cline, the former Durham County district attorney who was ousted from office five years ago in an unusual proceeding related to stridently worded comments toward a judge, wants to start practicing law again in North Carolina. The former prosecutor has asked the State Bar, the organization that oversees lawyers in NC, to reinstate her law license two years after it was suspended. Margaret Cloutier, deputy counsel for the State Bar and one of the attorneys for the organization who prosecuted the misconduct allegations, has objected to Cline’s request, saying she has not complied with conditions in the disciplinary order. The objections are tied to the Bar’s attempt to send certified mail and unsuccessful efforts to get sworn statements from Cline during the past two years. A hearing is set for Dec. 13. Efforts to reach Cline were unsuccessful. The seeds of trouble that led to the suspension of Cline’s law license in June 2015 were planted in 2011 when she thought several Durham defense lawyers and Durham’s chief resident Superior Court judge, Orlando Hudson, were conspiring with a reporter at The News & Observer to discredit her. In September 2011, The N&O published an investigative series titled “Twisted truth: A prosecutor under fire” that focused on complaints against Cline in three cases. Cline said she was frustrated after trying to find out what was behind those complaints and she thought she was being rebuffed by people she had hoped would help her. Cline told a Bar disciplinary panel in 2015 that Hudson, a man she considered a mentor, wouldn’t help her figure out what to do and had ruled against her in several high-profile cases. In court documents, she criticized him of corruption and bias. She claimed that Hudson was working in league with the newspaper to “demean the district attorney at all costs.” Cline has said she regretted the language she used against Hudson, but has maintained that she was trying to stick up for crime victims and their families who she thought were being harmed by his rulings. Nonetheless, the former prosecutor was ousted from office in March 2012 after a judge found she made statements with malice and reckless disregard for the truth about Hudson. How long has she been out of practice? Cline appealed the ruling, and while that process was underway, the State Bar brought professional and ethics misconduct allegations against her. In June 2015, the N.C. State Bar issued a five-year suspension of Cline’s law license for violating professional conduct rules related to the Hudson comments. The panel decided that after two years of not practicing law, Cline would be eligible to apply for restoration of her license. It remains unclear whether Cline practiced law since the court proceeding held by Judge Robert Hobgood in March 2012 that removed her from her elected post. The panel ruled that any time she had not practiced since then would apply toward the suspension. In her three-page opposition to Cline’s request, Cloutier contended that Cline had failed to submit her membership card and license to the State Bar within the time frame required and that Cline was not up to date on payments she owed the Bar for fees and continuing education courses. “Cline has failed to certify to the period of time in which she has not engaged in the practice of law,” Cloutier contended in the objection filed with the State Bar on Sept. 14. ‘Disturbing’ things in Durham Cline’s father, Baptist minister the Rev. Lee Thomas Cline, and Terry Cline, her brother, testified to her character at the June 2015 State Bar hearing. They described Cline, who grew up in Cherryville, a small Gaston County town, as a bright, hardworking and public-minded person who endeavored to do the right thing. “We all know Tracey; we know what she brings to the table,” Terry Cline said. “She is very credible. She’s very, very lovable, yet she’s very, very staunch in her belief about helping people.” The disciplinary panel had ruled in February 2015 that Cline’s criticism of Hudson violated several rules of professional conduct. In June 2015, the panel also found that Cline violated conduct rules when she asked an investigator for the Durham district attorney’s office to file court motions in 2011 seeking prison visitation records of two inmates – without telling the prisoners or their attorneys about the filings. The panel also ruled that Cline misled a judge about court documents filed in those cases. The panel, however, did not make similar findings for another State Bar allegation against her, and members acknowledged their understanding of some of Cline’s contentions about troubles in the courthouse during the time of her misconduct. “We see things that were disturbing to us about what was going on in Durham County, but we’re not here to try those issues,” Steven D. Michael, the Kitty Hawk lawyer who led the disciplinary panel, said after ruling on the misconduct. “We’re here to try the conduct you engaged in, and that’s all that is before us.” Anne Blythe: 919-836-4948, @AnneBlythe1 Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article175952641.html#storylink=cpy |
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| abb | Sep 29 2017, 04:10 AM Post #2 |
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Apparent FBI informant in college basketball scandal had previous ties to UNC athletes By Andrew Carter acarter@newsobserver.com September 27, 2017 6:08 PM An informant who is said to have helped build the federal case that on Tuesday rocked the college basketball world appears to be a Pittsburgh-based financial adviser who once attempted, in violation of NCAA rules, to lure former North Carolina football players to his financial advising business. The informant is not identified by name in the documents the Department of Justice released on Tuesday, when it revealed a years-long FBI investigation that has uncovered widespread fraud and corruption in college basketball. According to the Washington Post and ESPN as well an examination of FBI documents related to the case, the informant is identified as Marty Blazer, who in the past has had ties to former UNC football players Chris Hawkins and Greg Little. Blazer in the FBI documents is described as “CW-1,” short for “cooperating witness.” He began cooperating with the government in 2014. Though he is not named in the document, the FBI describes “CW-1” as having agreed on May 6, 2016, “to settle civil charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to CW-1’s violations of certain securities laws.” The only SEC case settled on May 6, 2016, was the one involving Blazer, who, according to the SEC’s litigation release, was “accused of taking money without permission from the accounts of several professional athletes in order to invest in movie projects and make Ponzi-like payments.” Blazer in 2017 pleaded guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft without admitting to or denying the allegations against him. Amid his federal case he cooperated in the FBI’s college basketball investigation, which confirmed the kind of sordid corruption at the depths of the sport that had long been assumed but has been difficult to prove. Blazer helped the FBI establish a link to Munish Sood, an investment adviser who is accused, with others, of funneling $100,000 to the family of a basketball player who committed to Louisville in June. That player is believed to be former N.C. State target Brian Bowen. An effort to reach Marty Dietz, a lawyer for Blazer, was unsuccessful. Dietz declined to comment to the Washington Post, citing the ongoing investigation. Blazer’s apparent role as an FBI informant comes a little more than two years after he surfaced in the state of North Carolina’s case concerning the violation of laws governing sports agents. In that case, the state alleged that Chris Hawkins, a former UNC football player whom the university had banned from its athletic facilities and prohibited from contacting its athletes, violated the state’s sports agent laws. Investigators determined, according to court documents, that Hawkins and Blazer worked together to induce former UNC football players to sign with a certain agent or financial adviser, Blazer included. Hawkins and Blazer sent each other “numerous” emails discussing payments, or pending payments, to former UNC players while they were in college, according to documents The Associated Press cited. The UNC players whom Hawkins and Blazer discussed paying, according to documents The Associated Press cited, included Robert Quinn and Kendric Burney. Both players were involved in the UNC football program’s impermissible benefits case, which the NCAA investigated in 2010 and 2011. Eventually, the NCAA ruled Quinn and Greg Little to be permanently ineligible for receiving improper benefits from agents. UNC dismissed another player, Marvin Austin, for similar conduct against NCAA rules. It is unclear to what extent Blazer’s actions contributed to the UNC football program’s NCAA troubles. NCAA investigators asked UNC football players about Blazer during their probe seven years ago into financial perks agents or their associates had given the athletes, transcripts released by UNC after a public records lawsuit showed. Blazer wasn’t named in the allegations that ultimately led to a bowl ban, $50,000 fine, scholarship losses and vacated victories for the football team. Still, documents related to the state’s case involving sports agent laws revealed, according to The Associated Press, that Quinn received $13,700 to be steered to Blazer and Peter Schaffer, a sports agent. According to those same documents, Little told investigators that he also received payments from Blazer while Little was still in school. Little received those payments, according to The Associated Press, through an account linked to Hakeem Nicks, a former UNC teammate. Years later, in 2013 and 2014, a New Jersey bank sued Blazer over unpaid loans for which Blazer had signed as a guarantor. One of those loans, according to reports, was taken out in 2011 on behalf of Little, who went on to play for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. Staff writer Dan Kane contributed to this report Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/unc/unc-now/article175770971.html#storylink=cpy |
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| abb | Sep 29 2017, 04:12 AM Post #3 |
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http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2017/09/170929-kerman-city-council The Chronicle's guide to Durham city council elections By Sarah Kerman | 09/29/2017 There are three Durham City Council seats up for grabs in the local election, and the upcoming primary will filter the field of candidates down for the Nov. 7 general election. In Durham’s non-partisan primary system, the two candidates with the most votes in each race after the primaries Oct. 10 will move on to the general election. Early voting is already underway, with the polling site for Duke’s campus by the Patterson Recreation Center on Crest Street. City members can vote for candidates across all wards. Ward 1 Brian Callaway Callaway serves as the coordinator of energy and sustainability for Durham Public Schools. His website notes that he has a background in engineering and city planning and plans to prioritize housing, tax reform and law enforcement reform if elected. Cora Cole-McFadden An incumbent elected to the council in 2001, McFadden currently serves as Mayor Pro Tempore. She is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and has served the Durham city government in various social work and equity assistance roles. Her re-election Facebook page notes that she has experienced success in working on youth issues, having created the city’s first youth council. DeDreanna Freeman Freeman currently serves as special assistant to the president for East Durham Children’s Initiative—a nonprofit focused on college and career access—and is an M.P.A. student at North Carolina Central University. A resident of the Golden Belt neighborhood, she co-founded the Durham Equitable Economic Partnership, which focuses on creating affordable housing in minority communities. John Tarantino A former school teacher and Army National Guard retiree, Tarantino has a history of running for office. He was also a candidate for city council in 2015 and ran for senator in the North Carolina General Assembly in 2010. Ward 2 LeVon Barnes Barnes is a teacher at the School for Creative Studies and the Durham Democratic Party precinct chair. His campaign focuses on leveraging the City Council to improve the welfare of Durham’s youth, with his campaign’s Facebook page noting the potential impact of young people brought to the table. In addition to having taught in the city's public schools for 13 years, Barnes founded the Young Male Achievers Program to teach about civic duty. Robert Fluet Although initially trained in education, Fluet is now the director of client engagement at Client Savvy. He is running a self-funded campaign, and his website asks supporters to donate to a local charity rather than to his campaign. Having moved from Massachusetts to Durham in 2009, Fluet said that raising his young daughters in Durham has made it feel like home. His campaign website notes that he values data analysis, in addition to inclusion and respecting the values of others. Deanna Hall Hall is an Interplan administrator at Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina. Her campaign motto is “Moving Our City Forward," with her campaign Facebook page noting that she hopes to be a bridge between city leaders and residents. Mark-Anthony Middleton Middleton is a pastor and radio talk show host who has been involved with community activism in Durham, focusing specifically on higher wages for Duke University employees. His campaign website notes that he plans to focus on affordable housing, police reform and better transportation if elected. Dolly Reaves A former homeless single mother, Reaves has experience working for Women, Infants, and Children as a breastfeeding peer counselor. Her campaign website notes four issues of focus: poverty, environment, affordable housing and education. John Rooks Jr. Rooks serves on the boards of two organizations: Love over Hate N.C. and R.E.A.L. Kids United, a youth development organization. His slogan, “committed-transparent,” represents his intent to address issues of crime, affordable housing and economic development if elected. Ward 3 Vernetta Alston Having graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School in 2009, Alston has a background in death penalty litigation. She has served on the Board of the Durham People’s Alliance since 2016 and the Durham Citizen’s Advisory Committee since 2015. Alston notes some of the most important issues in her campaign to include policing, economic development, affordable housing and supporting immigrant and LGBTQ communities. Sheila Ann Huggins Huggins is an attorney who notes the issues she cares about the most to include economic inequality and job creation, equitable development, compassionate governance and community budgeting. She has a wide range of experience in office, ranging from her current role as a member of the Democratic National Committee to her prior experience on the Democratic Party State Executive Committee. Lenny Kovalick Kovalick is a pediatric nurse practitioner at the UNC Department of Pediatrics and is a member of the city's appearance commission. He noted in an interview with the Durham Herald-Sun that his primary goal is "to give back to my community and help make decision that [he feels] are best for all residents of Durham." Don Moffitt Moffit, who works at the CDS Consulting Co-op, is an incumbent, having served on the council since 2013. He is the former chair of the Durham City-County Planning Commission. |
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| abb | Sep 29 2017, 04:16 AM Post #4 |
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http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/slu-basketball-players-at-center-of-sexual-assault-allegations-lawyers/article_3bef0814-9907-5a2a-b1f1-2e5c8311b103.html 4 SLU basketball players at center of sexual assault allegations; their lawyers don't expect charges By Christine Byers St. Louis Post-Dispatch 14 hrs ago (28) ST. LOUIS • Four St. Louis University basketball players are accused of sexual assault, but their lawyers say they don’t think criminal charges will be filed. Three women reported sexual assaults by St. Louis University student-athletes early Sunday, police said. The women — two of whom are students at the university — went to a St. Louis hospital about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, less than two hours after the alleged assaults occurred. The women said the incidents happened at an on-campus apartment in the first block of North Grand Boulevard. Attorney John Rogers said Thursday he is representing one of the basketball players and that St. Louis police have told him it is a “noncriminal investigation.” But a St. Louis police spokeswoman said the investigation is ongoing and detectives have not determined whether the alleged incidents are criminal. Police have not released the names of the players under investigation. “The complaining witnesses have given law enforcement and St. Louis University inconsistent statements, and their credibility needs to be called into question during the Title IX investigation,” Rogers said. “I have every belief this student-athlete will be exonerated at the conclusion of the Title IX investigation.” He continued: “I’d be shocked if charges are pursued by the circuit attorney’s office.” Rogers said there was no crime and no allegation of anything nonconsensual initially reported. “This information is in contrast to what has been represented to St. Louis University,” he said. Attorney Scott Rosenblum, who is representing three basketball players, said Thursday that no disciplinary actions had been taken against his clients. “I can’t imagine they will be charged,” he said. “I don’t think there is anything to the case. They are absolutely, completely innocent.” University President Fred Pestello issued a statement Tuesday about the alleged assaults. “First, I want to say how deeply troubled I am by these allegations, which involve behavior that runs counter to our mission and values,” Pestello said in his email. “SLU seeks to foster a safe and supportive atmosphere where students, faculty, clinicians, and staff can flourish in an inclusive environment that is free from harassment and harm. Sexual assault, misconduct and harassment of any kind have no place at our University.” Pestello and police have given few details about the incident. St. Louis police were called to the hospital and then informed university officials of the allegations. Shortly thereafter, a campuswide notice went out, in accordance with federal law. The university is working with outside counsel to conduct a formal Title IX investigation. The Billikens open the regular season Nov. 10 at home against Seattle. Their first official practice is scheduled for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Police ask anyone with information about the allegations to call the St. Louis police Sex Crimes Unit at 314-444-5385. |
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| abb | Sep 29 2017, 06:28 AM Post #5 |
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http://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2017/09/27/campus_rape_investigation.html Inside the Legal Labyrinth of a Campus Rape Case By Ashe Schow, Real Clear Investigations September 29, 2017 The music was thumping at the sprawling brick fraternity house as the Valentine’s Eve bash stretched into the wee Sunday hours in Chapel Hill. Students danced on a makeshift living-room dance floor while chugging beer from plastic cups. University of North Carolina football player Allen Artis hit it off with Delaney Robinson after being introduced by a teammate. As the party wound down, the two students kissed outside -- not in farewell, but as a prelude. They left together. Artis, then 19 and a full-scholarship sophomore defensive back from Marietta, Ga., was pursuing a business and economics double major. He had had a few beers and shots throughout that evening, but did not appear intoxicated. Neither did Robinson, an attractive brunette freshman from the prosperous Raleigh suburb of Apex who had also been drinking. They got into an Uber car with another couple – Artis’s teammate and a close girlfriend of Robinson’s -- for the short trip to the on-campus Rams Village apartments. Security logs show the four arrived there around 2:50 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2016. They then paired off, with each young woman accompanying one of the players to his apartment. Robinson’s friend would later testify that as they split off to go with the men, Robinson shot her a knowing glance – a sign she interpreted to mean that Robinson knew what she was doing and had the situation in hand. The Rams Village apartments Robinson and Artis had sex that night -- that is not in dispute. Much else would be, though, after she lodged a rape accusation, touching off a 17-month legal ordeal. Most of the case remained out of public view until it was resolved this summer. Police, court and campus documents obtained by RealClearInvestigations, as well as exclusive interviews offer a rare inside look at the complex dynamics of sexual assault accusations and justice on American campuses. They illuminate a dense and murky landscape where the “he said, she said” vagaries of sexual consent are exacerbated not only by drugs and alcohol but politically charged campus rape-response procedures. President Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has vowed to reform this process – last week rescinding Obama administration guidelines meant to counter what some have called a college rape epidemic fueled by “toxic masculinity.” DeVos and other critics argue that those guidelines pushed schools to adopt procedures that denied the accused due-process rights and used a burden of proof for sexual assault lower than for, say, plagiarism. The way forward for universities is as yet unclear. But the Artis case suggests that the challenges of dealing with campus rape could well outlive the policies of the Obama era. Inevitably, three separate agencies properly investigated the incident -- UNC administration, campus police, and the city of Chapel Hill. And both accuser and accused eventually engaged their own legal teams -- an emerging trend in such high-stakes cases. The result was a legal labyrinth of costly, overlapping inquiries; more opportunities for mistakes; conflicting agendas; and justice delayed -- putting lives in limbo, imperiling reputations and tying the schools involved in knots. Here is a chronicle from the campus-rape maelstrom. The Hookup This account of what happened when Allen Artis and Delaney Robinson went to his apartment is based primarily on Artis’s recollection. Robinson says she doesn’t remember much after leaving the party earlier in the evening. Allen Artis When they went to his bedroom at 3 a.m., Artis says, he started streaming the horror comedy “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” from Netflix and turned off the light. He said a bemused Robinson asked: “Really, this movie?” “Don’t judge me,” Artis responded. The two laughed before Artis began kissing her lips and neck, he recalled. Artis says he helped Robinson remove her shirt and that he struggled to unsnap her bra because his right hand and wrist were in a cast from a football injury – so she took off the bra herself. Artis told investigators that Robinson made “sounds of enjoyment,” urging him to “put it in” after he penetrated her with his fingers. She gave no indication she wanted him to stop, he said. But Artis was turned off. “It was kind of dry, I wasn’t enjoying it,” he told investigators. “The sex wasn’t feeling good, so I didn’t want to be rude, so I said I didn’t feel good and my stomach hurt. So I went to the bathroom.” He sat in the bathroom for a few minutes, he said, to give the impression that he was sick. When he returned to his bedroom, Robinson was dressed and told him she decided she should leave. He walked her to his door and the two said goodbye. Artis returned to his bed and fell asleep, later saying he was unaware that anything was wrong. To Robinson, the encounter was as wrong as could be: It was rape. She said she didn’t even remember going to Artis's room, only being on her back on the bed and feeling pain from his assault. The Accusation Memory lapses and changing recollections are common in disputed cases of sexual assault, when women say they were too incapacitated to give consent. Robinson has maintained that she didn’t remember getting dressed, and that her next memory was sitting outside in the cold. She said she banged on doors and windows, but no one helped her. In another interview, she said she didn’t remember doing this. Phone records show that Robinson called her girlfriend nine times and sent three texts, including one confusing message that read: “Why woshebr. Help.” Two of the calls were listed as “missed,” another was cancelled, and five calls lasted between one and 38 seconds. The final call lasted three minutes. After speaking with her girlfriend (whose name is being withheld by RealClearInvestigations), Robinson called another male student with whom she had been flirting earlier in the evening, according to phone records. She finally found a UNC police officer sitting in his patrol car nearby, and told him she couldn’t find her friend. Robinson was in tears, but Officer Ray Rodriquez said he thought it was because she was alone and cold. Receiving word that Robinson’s friend was looking for her, the officer drove less than a block and picked her up. In the patrol car, Robinson was “hysterical,” according to her girlfriend, so she asked: “What did he do to you?” But Robinson wouldn’t say. Rodriquez dropped the two off at their dorm. They did not stumble as they walked to the building, he wrote in his report of the evening. Once in their room, Robinson’s friend asked if she needed to go to the hospital. Robinson said yes. But first she went to the bathroom, where she urinated into a cup, which she brought with her to the UNC Medical Center. Images of marks left on Delaney Robinson's neck. Less than hour after leaving Artis’s room, Robinson told a sexual assault nurse examiner and campus police that she had been raped. She underwent a rape examination, with the hospital taking its own samples of her blood and urine. Photos were taken -- of the multiple marks on her neck, a bruise on her upper thigh and another mark on her shoulder. In an observation that would become more important later, the nurse examiner, Suzan Henson, described the marks on Robinson’s neck in her report as “hickeys,” and said she saw no indication that Robinson had been choked. Henson also found vaginal tearing, an ambiguous characteristic in such cases: She told investigators it was consistent with sexual assault but also rough consensual or poorly lubricated sex. The nurse told campus investigators: “Looking at her in total it definitely looked like someone had been pretty rough with her. She did not have her bra on when she got [to] the hospital, and she was missing a sock.” Parallel Investigations The campus police investigation began immediately, a rarity at today’s colleges, where administrators typically deal with rape cases first. UNC Police Investigator Ross Barbee left the hospital after interviewing Robinson and the nurse, and within hours had interviewed Artis and his teammate. Three weeks later, on March 9, Robinson filed a formal complaint with university administrators, who then began a parallel inquiry. It turned out that Robinson and the university were unsteady allies. Early on in the police investigation, Robinson retained an attorney, Denise Branch, who raised concerns with the way UNC was handling the complaint. Branch questioned whether Barbee was properly trained to investigate a sexual assault. Shortly after Robinson filed her formal complaint, university officials got word that she intended to sue the school over its response to her rape charge. Notes from a meeting of UNC officials on March 22 said they couldn’t talk too much to police investigators “because it’s become clear that Robinson is going to sue the school.” The nine officials at the meeting were so-called Title IX administrators, working to ensure the school’s compliance with rape-investigation guidelines issued under sweeping anti-discrimination federal statutes enforced by the Department of Education. University funding hinges on following those guidelines, so schools across the country have spent millions to hire Title IX investigators focused on sexual assault cases and other gender-related matters. Harvard, for example, has 55. UNC-Chapel Hill has at least 17. Nonetheless, the investigators’ task was daunting. Artis’s account of what had transpired in the bedroom could not be corroborated because the only other witness was Robinson, whose memory was spotty. Holes of memory, often created by alcohol or drugs, mean that questions of whether sex was consensual or coerced often hinge on whether the alleged victim was truly capable of making an informed judgment whether or not to have sex in the first place. In this way, campus policy and law enforcement don’t differ. Given the lack of other reliable evidence, the investigations turned to whether Robinson was “incapacitated,” which UNC’s protocols define as a state of “sleep, unconsciousness, intermittent consciousness, or any other state where the individual is unaware that sexual contact is occurring.” The Alcohol Factor Robinson’s account was especially complicated because neither she nor her friends said she drank to excess or appeared drunk. Robinson told investigators that by the time she arrived at the Chi Psi frat party she had consumed a glass and a half of wine before heading to a party in nearby Carrboro at around 11:30 p.m. There, she had two cups of “party juice,” or spiked punch, which she described as “weak, like water.” She told a campus investigator: “I had control over my body, I could feel I had alcohol, but I wasn’t -- it was the beginning stages of drinking, I guess.” Her girlfriend, who was with Robinson nearly the entire night, characterized Robinson as being “slightly tipsy” and talking more than usual. “I wouldn’t classify her as drunk or wasted,” the friend told campus investigators. “She was coherent and handling herself.” Nevertheless, Robinson said she didn’t remember much after the Carrboro party. Her next memory is at Chi Psi, where she recalled helping a young woman who, she said, “wasn’t okay.” Robinson said it was “very possible” her drink was drugged while she was helping the young woman, but at the hospital no date-rape drugs were found in Robinson’s system. Robinson also told investigators that she had texted with another football player about meeting up later that night. She texted him between 12:45 a.m. and 1:45 a.m. The texts were flirty and coherent. Apparently referring to how sloppy the revelry was becoming, Robinson asked the football player: “Why did I bother no [sic] wearing sweatpants???” She immediately sent a follow-up text correcting her spelling error. At 3:19 a.m, the football player texted Robinson: “Where you at?” and included three grinning emojis. He then texted her again at 3:35 a.m, saying, “Damn, well maybe Sunday? (today) haha.” Robinson did not respond immediately. This was around the time she was at Artis’s apartment. She would place a call to this man after leaving Artis’s apartment, prompting him to text her back: “Hey? Are you okay?” Allen Artis with his mother, Stephanie Artis, right, and his aunt, Dr. Avis Artis. AP Photo/Gerry Broome Tentative Exoneration By June 2016, school officials concluded that they lacked enough evidence to find Artis culpable of sexual assault. A draft report of the school’s findings stated: “a preponderance of the evidence supports that the Reporting Party [Robinson] was not incapacitated.” Another draft report, dated July 18, found “photographs, text messages, call logs, and witness accounts that reflect that it is more likely than not that the Reporting Party was not incapacitated during her sexual contact with the Responding Party.” Still, the school decided not to clear Artis, opting to wait until it received the toxicology report from the urine and blood samples taken at the hospital. That would not be received until October, fully seven months after the alleged crime. But it would throw into doubt much of what the witnesses remembered about Robinson’s behavior. In the meantime, after determining that university police would clear Artis, Robinson and her attorney took advantage of a North Carolina law that allows civilians to press charges against others without police action. All Robinson needed for the “civilian warrant” was to show Orange County Magistrate Jamie Paulen photos taken of her at the hospital and present her side of the story. Paulen, who previously served on the Board of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, issued the warrant for Artis’s arrest on Sept. 13, 2016. Going Public Immediately afterward, Robinson, her father, and Branch, her lawyer, held a press conference where they accused Artis of rape and claimed the police had mistreated Robinson. Delaney Robinson with her father, Stacey Robinson, at a Raleigh news conference in September 2016. AP Photo/Emery P. Dalesio Robinson said police asked her a string of “humiliating and accusatory questions” including: “What was I wearing? What was I drinking? How much did I drink? How much did I eat that day? Did I lead him on? Have I hooked up with him before? Do I often have one-night stands? Did I even say no? What is my sexual history? How many men have I slept with? I was treated like a suspect.” She also said investigators treated Artis much differently, laughing with him and telling him not to worry. At that news conference, Branch displayed a photo of Robinson taken at the hospital that appeared to show large, purple and black bruises covering nearly all of Robinson’s neck. Video and transcripts from her interviews suggest Robinson was not mistreated by investigators. She was asked about her clothing because, as Investigator Barbee later said, Robinson said she was missing items and police needed to know what to look for. Transcripts also show that Robinson knew why she was being asked about the amount of alcohol she consumed. “For court, right, right,” she said. Barbee further explained that defense attorneys would ask such questions and he wanted “to go ahead and cut those off at the knees.” Transcripts also support Barbee’s denial that he asked Robinson accusatory questions regarding her sexual history. He did ask if Robinson and Artis had exchanged phone numbers, but he explained that he did so to see if there would be relevant evidence in their communications. Just before Robinson and her attorney went to the magistrate, Branch also sent a lengthy letter to UNC-Chapel Hill claiming it had mistreated her client and had done “nothing” to help her. Discord The school pushed back hard. It detailed several efforts to help Robinson: issuing her a parking pass for therapy appointments and notifying her professors confidentially of her situation to ensure she would be accommodated academically. It was UNC officials who urged Robinson, repeatedly, to file a formal complaint with the school, which she finally did. The school issued a “no contact” order against Artis within days, to keep him away from her, and agreed to help her pay her medical bills. More important, UNC was following the Title IX guidelines. Under the Obama administration, schools were told that cross-examination – a tenet of due process – could be hurtful to accusers in sex assault cases. So procedures were tilted in their favor, with accused students like Artis losing the right to an attorney in university investigations -- and the ability to question witnesses and accusers. Even though Artis never faced a school hearing, he was interviewed repeatedly without an attorney, while being assured by police he shouldn’t worry, according to transcripts. The school, however, regularly shared information with UNC police, which allowed the police to get around due process, since those rules don’t apply to college campuses. Responding to Robinson’s lawyer, UNC’s vice chancellor and general counsel, Mark W. Merritt, sent a letter demanding that Branch cease publicly accusing the university of mishandling the case. “I also want to be clear that the false public accusations that you have made are contrary to the interests of survivors of sexual assault,” Merritt wrote. “For survivors of sexual assault to be willing to come forward, there must be belief that the process works.” The day after the charges were filed, Artis retained counsel himself, hiring Kerry Sutton, a well-known Durham attorney who had successfully represented a student involved in the 2006 Duke lacrosse team rape hoax, and her law partner Steve Lindsay. Sutton sent her own cease-and-desist letter to Branch, and accused her of altering the photo of Robinson’s neck. Shortly after Robinson and her attorney persuaded the magistrate to file charges against Artis, Barbee was made aware of two other women who were accusing Artis of sexual assault. He shared this information with the district attorney. One woman was from another university and came forward after Robinson’s press conference. The other accuser knew Artis in high school, when both she and Artis were minors. The Courts Take Over Artis turned himself in after the warrant was issued and was released on an unsecured bond. For the next year, suspended from the football team, he remained in legal limbo after the district attorney’s office, which had taken the case after the citizen’s warrant was issued, found reasons to delay his trial. When the toxicology report arrived in October, it only muddied matters further. It showed Robinson’s blood alcohol content was 0.15 – almost twice the legal limit at which a motorist is considered impaired. This figure conforms to Robinson’s account of how much alcohol she had consumed. A woman of average size, like Robinson, would typically consume four or five drinks to register 0.15. And though behavioral reactions to alcohol vary greatly from person to person, the toxicology report seemed to undercut witness accounts that Robinson was merely tipsy. Yet it also raised a key question: If her friends couldn’t tell she was drunk, how could Artis? While Robinson’s attorney claimed the blood test proved Robinson could not consent to sexual activity, the school found she did not meet the definition of incapacitated because of how she acted toward others at the Chi Psi party (helping the intoxicated woman, for one) and her ability to walk, text and dress herself. One drug was also found in Robinson’s system, Doxylamine, a sedative found in over-the-counter sleep medications. The report made no indication about how the substance got into Robinson’s system. The presence of this drug raised no concerns for investigators, likely due to its common usage and limited presence in Robinson’s system. Meanwhile, the prosecution was running into problems with the accusations from the other women. Text messages provided to District Attorney James Woodall by the second accuser’s roommate made it clear that this accuser wanted to have sex with Artis. Woodall determined he couldn’t use her as a witness on May 25, 2017, according to Barbee’s notes on the investigation. Yet at a hearing on June 8, Woodall declared that he had “identified” two other accusers, but would not “commit to a number” about how many would actually testify, leaving open the implication that more than two might do so. While the case in criminal court was proceeding, UNC-Chapel Hill issued a statement saying that “a preponderance of the evidence does not support a finding that the Responding Party forcibly sexually assaulted the Reporting Party on February 14, 2016.” Robinson appealed that ruling, and withdrew from the university in early February, according to a late revision of the UNC investigative report. On April 28, 2017, UNC’s decision to find Artis not responsible was upheld. A week later, Sutton filed a complaint with the North Carolina state bar against Denise Branch, alleging ethical violations related to the photograph and extensive and unjustified pre-trial publicity on the part of Robinson’s attorney. At the June 8 hearing, Orange County District Court Judge Charles Anderson made the unusual move of encouraging the two sides to enter mediation instead of going to trial. The prosecution, at the behest of Robinson and her attorney, would not relent. At a hearing on June 23, Artis’s attorneys argued behind closed doors that Woodall shouldn’t be able to refer to the other two accusers if they weren’t going to testify, so as not to further poison their client’s reputation in the media with unsupported or false accusations. As the crowded courtroom waited, attorneys for both sides met in chambers with the judge for three hours. Twice Woodall came out to retrieve Branch. The second time she returned from the judge’s chambers, her facial expression darkened. She had been asked by the judge about the photo from the press conference, according to Artis’s attorney. Artis’s attorneys agreed to a proposal from Woodall: If Artis would attend a mediation meeting, the charges would be dismissed. On June 29, Kerry Sutton, her partner Steve Lindsay and Artis attended mediation in one room, while Robinson, her father and her attorney were in another room. Artis and Robinson did not see or speak to each other during the process, and what transpired is unclear. At her own press conference later, Sutton presented another photo of Robinson provided to her by the district attorney and taken at the same time as the allegedly altered photo presented by Branch. This photo appeared to show the marks on Robinson’s neck were hickeys -- and not from choking. Artis was free and clear to return to the football team and his life. Allen Artis with attorney Kerry Sutton. Kaitlin McKeown/The Herald-Sun via AP Aftermath Allen Artis returned to UNC’s football team after the charges were dismissed and started as a safety in the team’s opening game this fall against the University of California. He is considering a civil suit against the school and others for damage to his reputation and prospects that he sustained during his 17-month ordeal, including a year of lost eligibility after being suspended from the team. Accused students such as Artis who have gone through the campus-rape investigation process have been suing at an increasing pace over the past half-decade since the Obama-era sexual assault guidance was issued. More than 200 lawsuits have been filed, with varying but increasing success. The police found insufficient evidence to support Robinson’s accusation of rape, but because North Carolina law allows private citizens to bring charges against each other, Artis found himself facing a trial. Throughout the 2017 North Carolina legislative session, attorney Kerry Sutton and others worked to raise requirements for using that law going forward. On July 21, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law a measure authorizing a magistrate to issue a criminal summons, not a more serious arrest warrant, only if a complaining witness puts the allegations in writing in the form of an affidavit. Education secretary Betsy DeVos. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File At a meeting in Washington, D.C., on July 13, Artis and other men accused of campus sexual assault got a sympathetic hearing from DeVos. And now her Education Department is proceeding with replacing the Obama campus-rape policies, aiming to restore normal due process for the accused while ensuring protections for victims of sexual assault. Having left UNC, Delaney Robinson could still sue the university, alleging her case was mishandled. She and her attorney declined interview requests from RealClearInvestigations. But the costs for all concerned already have been high. People familiar with the case say Artis’s legal bills could stretch into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, after attorney and expert fees, court costs, polygraphs and other expenses -- especially if he files a civil suit. After the charges were dismissed against Artis, Denise Branch released a statement to the press. “The parties worked diligently at mediation to resolve this matter to their mutual satisfaction resulting in a dismissal of the charges,” she said. “The resolution is confidential. Delaney has suffered immeasurably and hoped that today’s resolution could begin her healing.” Yet this is a case where no one emerged unscathed. |
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| Quasimodo | Sep 29 2017, 07:12 AM Post #6 |
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Can we ask Leon Brown about that? Or three Duke students? |
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| Quasimodo | Sep 29 2017, 07:38 AM Post #7 |
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And Crystal Mangum could have had ten witnesses to testify to her character in her taxi hijack case. (I always wondered if they might have included a judge or two, or Cy Gurney, or even Nifong...) |
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| chatham | Dec 26 2017, 02:00 PM Post #8 |
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From today’s news and observer. Ex-Durham County DA Tracey Cline loses bid to regain law license BY MARK SCHULTZ AND ANNE BLYTHE | MSCHULTZ@HERALDSUN.COM AND ABLYTHE@NEWSOBSERVER.COM 3 hrs. ago DURHAM Former Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline lost a bid to regain her law license last week after she failed to show up for a hearing. Cline’s license was suspended for five years in 2015, but she was allowed to apply to have it lifted after two years and after meeting certain conditions. In August, she filed a motion requesting that her license be reinstated, but a hearing panel ruled her petition lacked “clear, cogent and convincing evidence” that she had satisfied those conditions. [The ousted Durham DA had her law license suspended. Will she get it reinstated this year?] The court sent Cline a notice of the hearing scheduled for Dec 20, which came back as undeliverable. She was later contacted by email, according to a court order but then failed to attend the hearing, after the panel delayed its start by 35 minutes. The seeds of trouble that led to the suspension of Cline’s law license in June 2015 were planted in 2011 when she thought several Durham defense lawyers and Durham’s chief resident Superior Court judge, Orlando Hudson, were conspiring with a reporter at The News & Observer to discredit her. In September 2011, The N&O published an investigative series titled “Twisted truth: A prosecutor under fire” that focused on complaints against Cline in three cases. Cline said she was frustrated after trying to find out what was behind those complaints and she thought she was being rebuffed by people she had hoped would help her. Cline told a Bar disciplinary panel in 2015 that Hudson, a man she considered a mentor, wouldn’t help her figure out what to do and had ruled against her in several high-profile cases. In court documents, she criticized him of corruption and bias. She claimed that Hudson was working in league with the newspaper to “demean the district attorney at all costs.” Cline has said she regretted the language she used against Hudson, but has maintained that she was trying to stick up for crime victims and their families who she thought were being harmed by his rulings. In its ruling issued Dec. 20, the disciplinary hearing panel officially denied Cline’s request and ordered her to pay within 60 days the costs and administrative hearing of the hearing she missed. |
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9:18 AM Jul 11