From NBC 17, a local affliate:
NBC has obtained exclusive photos that defense lawyers for the Duke University lacrosse players feel will exonerate their clients of rape charges.
One of these photos is on Drudge. I will not link to it or post it here. The photo is of Mary Doe. Her face is pixelated, so as to hide her identity. However, it is said that if her face was not pixelated, apparently she is smiling. The photo was taken at 12:30 a.m. on the night in question.
Dan Abrams, a Duke graduate and former lawyer who now hosts "The Abrams Report" on MSNBC, said he has copies of a series of photos lacrosse team players said they took at the party.
Finnerty appears in none of the photos, Abrams said, which bolsters defense attorneys' claims that the teen wasn't at the party when the alleged rape occurred.
Although Seligmann was in some photos, defense attorneys said the have records from a cab company, ATM receipts and other information with which they can prove he left the party before the alleged rape took place.
The photos help establish a timeline for the events at the party, Abrams said.
Some photos taken before midnight show the players partying before the accuser and another dancer arrived. No photos were taken between 12:10 a.m. and 12:30 a.m., but the dancer is pictured in several shots taken between 12:31 a.m. and 12:41 a.m. in which she was smiling and getting into a car, Abrams said.
"You could argue that something might have happened in that period between 12:10 and 12:30. The defense would say, though, that because she's smiling in the photo taken at 12:31, it would be hard to believe that she had been brutally raped," he said.
Abrams said it was "certainly possible" that the woman had been given a date-rape drug by someone at the party. But he said there has been no evidence to support that claim.
The photos also bolster the defense claims by what they don't show, Abrams said.
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong previously said no DNA was found under the accuser's fingernails linking lacrosse players to an attack where she fought back because the attackers were likely wearing long-sleeve shirts or jackets. But Seligmann and most of the players pictured at the party were wearing short sleeves, Abrams said.
Leaving Finnerty aside for a moment, it would appear that Seligmann is completely innocent. Again, Ms. Doe arrived at the house a little before midnight. She is dancing at 12:03 a.m. According to cell phone records, Seligmann is making phone calls to his girlfriend at 12:07 and 12:14 a.m. Seligmann then calls a cab, which arrives at the house at 12:19 a.m.. The cab takes him to an ATM, and the reciepts show a time of 12:30 a.m.
Mind you, 12:30 a.m. is the exact time that Ms. Doe is shown in photographs leaving the party. Mr. Seligmann then travels by cab to a restaurant, where he picks up food, and returns to his dorm at approximately 12:45 a.m. That time is confirmed by a dorminatory security access card.
The Prosecutor has royally fucked up this case. The Prosecutor attends a forum in the community wherein he promised the crowd, which was clearly supportive of Ms. Doe, that he would prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law. Yet, he refuses to meet with defense attorneys to discuss the newly released evidence, which of course may have significantly altered this investigation and the indictments brought.
The prosecutor's credibility is beyond repair. If he proceeds to trial with the indictments against Finnerty and Seligmann, he will lose and they will be acquitted. If he drops the charges, the case is over since, absent new evidence, he cannot credibily bring new ones against new players.
Further, I fear Ms. Doe's story just doesn't add up. If the pictures are to be believed, then why is she smiling after being brutually raped? Why did she hang out after the rape outside with the men who allegedly raped her for about 10-15 minutes?
I hate it when this happens, because cases like this make it all the more harder for real victims to not only come forward, but to be believed. Was Ms. Doe raped? I can't say for sure now. And that sucks.
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