DA yet to get details from alleged victim

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said at a Friday hearing that neither he nor any of his assistant district attorneys have interviewed the alleged victim in the lacrosse rape case about the events of the night in question.

In the hour-long pre-trial discovery hearing, defense attorneys requested that Nifong provide statements the woman has made about the case.

Nifong said he met with the alleged victim April 11, but she was "too traumatized" to discuss the incident, adding that he has spoken to her on the phone about other matters.

He said he has left the investigation to police.

"I've had conversations with [the alleged victim] about how she's doing. I've had conversations with [the alleged victim] about her seeing her kids," Nifong said. "I haven't talked with her about the facts of that night.... We're not at that stage yet."

At the hearing he also handed over more than 2,000 pages of documents to the defense teams.

David Evans, Trinity '06, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team, are charged with raping the alleged victim at a party March 13.

"One of the most interesting things to me of course is Mr. Nifong did admit that he in fact has basically never talked to this woman and has absolutely no idea what her story is, and yet he has chosen to continue to go forward with this case," Joe Cheshire, an attorney representing Evans, said outside the courtroom. "I believe there's other stuff coming out about [the alleged victim] at the time that will be interesting."

Although the three indicted players were not at the hearing, numerous friends and family members-including members of this year's men's lacrosse team-were in attendance, some sporting badges that read "Innocent until proven innocent."

"I just had to be here and see what was going on," said Mary Ellen Finnerty, Collin's mother, about her first experience at a court appearance in the case. "I think it's good to be here and see the very formidable defense bench."

Both of Finnerty's parents said he would return to the University and re-join the lacrosse team if the charges are dropped.

"Collin would love nothing more than to be back on the field with his friends and teammates under [men's lacrosse head] coach [John] Danowski's leadership," his father Kevin Finnerty said. "Hopefully he'll get the chance.... It's hard to predict how this is going to turn out."

"If all the pieces fall into place, he would be proud to be on the field with all his teammates," Mary Ellen Finnerty added.

Seligmann said in a "60 Minutes" interview that he is uncertain whether he will return to Duke once the legal proceedings are resolved.

"I chose Duke to be my home for four years. And to see your professors. go out and slander you and say these horrible, untrue things about you and to have your. administration just. cut us loose for, for, based on nothing," Seligmann told CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley. "I can't imagine representing a school that didn't want to represent me."

Kevin Finnerty said he and his family have been let down by the school, but they are hoping things will change.

"We're disappointed to date, but we'd like to think that the University will come in and save the day," he said. "That they'll find their way to support these boys and really announce the presumption of innocence, and we're patiently waiting."

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 15.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Discussion

Share and discuss “DA yet to get details from alleged victim” on social media.