Recent Outcry
Duke Lacrosse Rape Scandal - Time Line
|
"They don't know what my timeline is."
-- Mike Nifong, May 3
A 27-year-old Durham woman told DA Nifong she was hit, kicked and strangled during an assault at a Duke Lacrosse party. She reported that she was sexually assaulted for an approximate 30 minute time period by the three males. That was before a mountain of digital photos, receipts, and eyewitness accounts appeared in the press which seemed to contradict the time line.
|
||||
|
 |
 |
||
Monday -- March
13, 2006 |
||||
| afternoon |
Dan Flannery, using the name "Adam," phones 2 escort services (Bunny Hole Enter- tainment, Allure Escorts) hiring 2 dancers at $400 each. Party was set for 11:00 PM at 610 North Buchanan Boulevard. |
 Dan Flannery |
||
| 8:30 PM |
Agency phones accuser about
lacrosse party |
press | ||
| 9:00 PM |
Accuser arrives at home of Brian Taylor -- spends the next hour and 45 minutes showering and getting ready. |
Brian Taylor | ||
| 9:30 PM |
Accuser takes her 2 children to her father's house for the night. Father said, "She was fine." |
Accuser's Father | ||
| 10:00 PM |
Accuser and father briefly go to a convenience store, then accuser leaves her father's house. |
Father | ||
| 10:45 PM |
Taylor drives accuser to party.
Has trouble finding address. |
Brian Taylor | ||
| 11:00 PM |
41 players gathered at 610 loudly partying |
Team Captains | ||
|
||||
| 11:?? PM |
Neighbor, Jennie Fant, calls 9-1-1 with a noise complaint about the party, "probably at about 11 p.m. or 12 a.m." |
Jennie Fant | ||
| 11:15? PM |
Kim Roberts arrives in her car -- a very dark Honda |
 Kim Roberts |
||
| 11:25 PM |
Accuser phones father |
phone records | ||
| 11:33 PM
11:36 PM |
players phone accuser twice Brian Taylor: "On our way there, she got two calls on her cell phone saying if you don't come soon, it's going to get canceled" |
phone records | ||
| 11:40? PM |
Accuser dropped off at 610 |
press | ||
Between 11:40? PM 12:50? AM . |
Accuser is attacked, |
|||
| 11:50? PM |
Neighbor, Jason Bissey, sees two women walk to the back of 610, where a man greets them. "They spoke amongst themselves for about five minutes or so and then entered the house." |
 Jason Bissey |
||
| 11:55? PM |
Dancers paid, and each given mixed drinks. Roberts doesn't drink hers, but accuser does. |
Roberts | ||
Tuesday -- March
14, 2006
|
||||
After |
Collin Finnerty leaves and goes to the Cosmic Cantina |
Finnerty's parents |
||
12:01? AM |
Women talking and dancing surrounded by players in the living room drinking beer. |
Defense Photo | ||
12:03 AM |
Players make racial slurs and broomstick threats "We started to cry. We were so scared." |
Accuser | ||
12:03:57 |
Seligmann makes first of several cell phone calls |
Defense Records | ||
12:04 AM |
Women near door leaving the room. Accuser left behind her right shoe on the floor. The men in the room are sitting. |
|
||
12:05? AM |
Women lock themselves in the bathroom for 10 - 20 minutes. |
Defense Lawyers | ||
12:14 AM |
Reade Seligmann calls for a cab from On-Time Taxi service |
 Ahmed Elmostafa |
||
| 12:15? AM |
Bissey sees two women sitting in a car. Alley is full of men yelling about money. After a few moments, everyone goes back into the house. |
Bissey | ||
| 12:18? AM |
Dancers re-enter 610 after a player has apologized. The women become separated. Two men pull the accuser into a bathroom, lock the door. A third man says, "Sweetheart, you can't leave." |
Accuser | ||
| 12:19 AM |
Cabbie picks up Seligmann and Robert Wellington at corner of Watts St and Urban Ave. |
 Wellington |
||
|
||||
| 12:24 AM |
Seligmann uses Wachovia Bank ATM for 2 minutes. Cabbie takes Seligmann to "Cook Out" fast food |
Defense Records | ||
| 12:26 AM |
one-minute call from the accuser's phone to the Centerfold Escort Agency |
phone records | ||
| 12:29 AM |
lax player Tony McDevitt calls for a taxi |
On-Time Taxi | ||
| 12:30:12 |
Accuser on the back porch, carrying what appears to be a purse and makeup bag. |
Defense Photo | ||
|
||||
| 12:37 AM |
Accuser stumbles about falling near the porch, seemingly intoxicated. |
Defense Photo | ||
| 12:41 AM |
Accuser is apparently helped into Kim Roberts' dark Honda by a player, just before the women leave. |
 |
||
| 12:46 AM |
Seligmann's student ID card is used to enter his dorm |
Defense Records | ||
|
Between 12:50 and 1:07? AM |
Cabbie has returned for more players. Hears a woman and several men loudly arguing. He sees the woman get into an old white car. (?) |
On-Time Taxi | ||
| 12:52? AM |
"About 3 minutes after they [the women] drove off, the party totally dispersed and the first unit from Durham police responded." |
Bissey | ||
| 12:53 AM |
Roberts calls 9-1-1 and reports being called racial slurs |
Durham Police | ||
| 12:55 AM |
Police arrive and see evidence of a party, but no players |
Police | ||
| 1:06 AM | Police leave 610 | Police | ||
|
||||
| 1:20 AM |
Roberts drives to Kroger store, tells a security guard about a woman in her car. |
Kroger Security | ||
| 1:22 AM |
Kroger Security phones 9-1-1. "The problem is there's a lady in someone else's car and she will not get out of their car, period" |
Kroger Security | ||
| 1:25 AM |
First officer arrives at Kroger and reports: "She's 10-56 and unconscious. . .She's breathing, appears to be fine, she's not in distress. She's just passed out drunk." |
Police | ||
| 1:50? AM |
Second officer, Sgt. J.C. Shelton arrives. Sends accuser to substance-abuse center, then to Duke Medical Center. |
Sgt. Shelton | ||
| 1:58 AM |
e-mail sent about killing strippers, signed "41" |
Police | ||
|
||||
| 2:31 AM |
Accuser arrives at DUMC emergency room |
Police | ||
| 2:45 AM | Accuser checks into hospital | Police | ||
| 2:50 AM |
Police change report from intoxicated person to rape |
Police | ||
| 11:00? AM |
Accuser leaves hospital |
press | ||
|
||||
"By next week, we'll know precisely who was involved."
-- DA Nifong, March 28
Case Chronology
1996 -- In August of 1996, the complainant tells Creedmoor police she was raped and beaten by three men "for a continual time" in 1993. The matter is dismissed when she fails to follow up.
1998 -- On June 16, 1998, the complainant reports to police that her husband, Kenneth Nathanial McNeill, took her into the woods and threatened to kill her. On June 23, she fails to appear at a hearing and the matter is dismissed.
2002 -- Complainant charged with felonious assault with a deadly weapon [a stolen taxi] on a government officer, felonious larceny and felonious possession of a stolen vehicle, felonious speeding to elude arrest, driving while impaired, driving with a revoked license, and two counts of damaging personal property and resisting a public officer.
2001 -- Kim Roberts arrested for embezzling $25,000 from Qualex, a photo-processing company.
2005 -- November 5, 2005, Collin Finnerty and two friends arrested in Washington DC for calling a man "gay" and attacking him.
March 13, 2006 -- Spring Break Lacrosse party
March 14 -- Listed on the indictments of Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann as the "Date of Offense"
March 16 -- First substantial police interview with accuser (photo line-up)
Police search of 610 Buchanan house
March 17 -- Durham police issue a "non-testimonial" order, giving them the right to threaten legal action if an individual won't cooperate in the process of gathering evidence.
March 21 -- Police I.D. session (photo line-up) with accuser. Evans apparently is not identified.
Accuser and her "driver," Jarriel Johnson, ask police about return of property.
March 22 -- Lacrosse team players cancel meeting with DA
Kim Roberts arrested on a probation violation from the 2001 conviction
March 23 -- Court ordered DNA testing of lacrosse team
March 24 -- Accuser's interview with News-Observer
March 26 -- 150 gather for "pots and pans" protest
March 27 -- SBI receives samples from 46 team members
Search warrant issued for the dorm room of lax player Ryan McFadyen
March 28 -- Duke president suspends season
March 29 -- Lacrosse team "wanted posters" appear at a Take Back the Night rally
scathing letter from Duke's Houston A. Baker calling for dismissals
April 4 -- Police I.D. session (PowerPoint photo line-up) with accuser. Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evans identified.
April 5 -- Lacrosse season canceled
Coach Mike Pressler resigns.
E-mail signed "41" made public and Ryan McFadyen (jersey #41) suspended
April 10 -- Defense attorneys reveal no match found in results of the first DNA testing
April 11 -- NCU forum
Nifong meets with accuser
April 14 -- "Sting" email sent to lacrosse players, possibly by police
April 17 -- Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann indicted
April 18 -- Search warrants issued for dorm rooms of Seligmann and Finnerty
April 19 -- Kim Roberts sends e-mail to PR firm
April 20 -- On-Time Taxi driver, Moezeldin Elmostafa, speaks to AP reporter
May 1 -- The New Black Panthers demonstrate in Durham
May 2 -- Nifong wins 45 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary
May 10 -- On-Time Taxi driver, Elmostafa, held in jail for five hours
May 12 -- Defense attorneys reveal no match found in results of second DNA testing
May 15 -- David Evans indicted
May 16 -- Nifong announces he "doesn't foresee any further indictments" in the Duke case
May 18 -- Seligmann's first court appearance
1,300 pages of "discovery" given to defense
May 24 -- Lax midfielder Matthew Wilson is charged with drug possession and driving while impaired after a traffic stop. He is suspended indefinitely from the team 10 days later.
June 5 -- Duke lacrosse team reinstated
former Duke lacrosse player Kevin Cassese, 25, appointed as interim coach
June 13 -- Graduated basketball star J.J. Redick is arrested on charges of drunken driving after making an illegal U-turn to avoid a police checkpoint.
June 23 -- Athletics Director Joe Alleva injured in a boating accident with his son -- a former Duke baseball player -- who is charged with operating a boat while impaired.
June 29 -- Ryan McFadyen reinstated and cleared to rejoin lacrosse team
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs says the e-mail was sent "in jest," using language from the novel turned movie: "American Psycho."
June 30 -- County Commissioner Lewis Cheek gathers enough signed petitions to put him on the November 2006 ballot against DA Nifong
Republican party chairman Steve Monks fails in his petition drive
July 11 -- Finnerty convicted In D.C. assault case
July 14 -- Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers announces he will retire in December of 2007
July 17 -- Citing extensive local, state, national and international media coverage, Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. Titus issues publicity restraints. Short of an all out "gag order," the judge exempted media comments permitted by the N.C. State Bar's Revised Rules of Professional Conduct.
July 20 -- Several Durham police officers involved in an alleged verbal exchange of racial slurs and beating of Rene Dennis Thomas, a restaurant cook at Blinco's Sports Bar in Raleigh.
July 21 -- Duke rape case investigators, Sgt. Mark Gottlieb and officer Richard Clayton, are re-assigned to administrative duty.
All three defense lawyers formally request Judge Titus modify his quasi-gag order, arguing they were entitled to "pursue lawful strategies" to try to get the indictments dismissed or the charges reduced -- including using "the court of public opinion" to try to show their clients don't deserve to be tried.
Duke names John Danowski as new lacrosse coach
July 27 -- Officers Gary Lee and Scott Tanner charged with simple assault. Gottlieb, Clayton and other investigated officers are restored to full-duty status.
September 1 -- Superior Court Judge William Osmond Smith III assumes sole management of the case and schedule
December 7 -- Congressman Walter B. Jones asks the US Dept. of Justice to investigate DA Nifong
December 15 -- Private DNA laboratory head, Brian Meehan, testifies that he and Nifong agreed not to report all DNA results
December 22 -- State drops the rape charges against all three defendants
December 28 -- NC State Bar accuses Nifong of violating ethics rules
December 29 -- NC Conference of District Attorneys issues public rebuke and calls for Nifong to recuse himself
January 12, 2007 -- Nifong requests the State Attorney General's office handle the case
April 11, 2007 -- AG Roy Cooper dismisses all remaining charges citing a lack of evidence
June 15, 2007 -- Mike Nifong announces his resignation as Durham's District Attorney
Link
to News and Updates
Link
to BACKGROUND PAGE
| Vance Holmes.com / court |
| And Poetic Justice For All |
Thank You for supporting this site. .
.
