The Duke lacrosse case is just getting harder and harder for Durham prosecutor Matt Nifong. Released today is a filing from the defense which points to serious confusion about the facts of the case.
Specifically, the second exotic dancer at the team party, Kim Roberts, initially told investigators that the rape claim was “a crock.” The N&O continues:
Investigator Benjamin Himan first contacted Roberts on March 20, one week after the lacrosse party that ended in the early hours of March 14.
“She heard that (the accuser) was sexually assaulted, which she stated is a ‘crock’ and she stated that she was with her the whole time until she left,” according to Himan’s notes. “The only time she was alone was when she would not leave and that time period was less than five minutes.”
This account, together with time-stamped photos of the party, continue to build an almost impossibly tight window for any assault to have taken place at the team house. Plus medical records finally obtained by the defense reveal that what personnel at Duke Medical Center found the night of the incident and what Nifong has publicly claimed to be the case do not mesh:
Prosecutors and police have said that the accuser was hit, kicked and strangled while she was sexually assaulted anally, vaginally and orally.
The accuser told the nurse “that she was not choked; that no condoms, fingers or foreign objects were used during the sexual assault,” the lawyers wrote in a sworn statement. The nurse noted that the accuser’s arms, legs, head, neck, nose, throat, mouth, chest, breasts and abdomen were all normal, the court filing said. The lawyers filed the accuser’s medical records under seal with the court.
Nifong, you’re up.
