Mayor in on hoax?

[Bob In Pacifica]

From Liestoppers: http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/2007/10/undisclosed-police-document.html

Durham Herald-Sun Reporter, Ray Gronberg, dropped a bomb on the City Council's meeting scheduled for this Thursday with the report of an undisclosed police document that "investigators talked with the accuser more than they disclosed previously, and that Mayor Bill Bell and other high-ranking city officials convened two days before a stalled case got a jump start with a photo lineup that violated policy."

It also details that Investigator Himan interviewed the false accuser, Crystal Magnum, more than he reported and did not reveal in his notes.

Now thirty million doesn't sound so outrageous. When politicians decide to violate the rights of people for political reasons it sounds like we're a half-step closer to what Senator Dirkson used to call "real money."

[Bob In Pacifica]

Maybe perjury charges for Himan and Gottlieb, too.

And Duke was in on some of these "discussions." Hmmm. Wonder who that was...

Deeper, deeper.

[MarkRougemont]

 Interesting both in terms of content as well as the timing.  What will Bell's reaction be?

[Sydney Carton]

   Bell will undoubtedly claim that the Herald-Sun has been enabling those rich,white,furriners from the start.Perhaps he could prosecute it for alleged illegal possession  of a confidential police file.

[MarkRougemont]

   Bell will undoubtedly claim that the Herald-Sun has been enabling those rich,white,furriners from the start.Perhaps he could prosecute it for alleged illegal possession  of a confidential police file.

It was a conspiracy to discuss the progress of the case SC, nothing more.  I see that as normal in high profile cases.  The mayor wants it resolved quickly.  That is to be expected.  He probably told them to do just that.

As far as the release of a confidential document, I thought that this timeline had actually been requested in discovery by the 3 accused players defense team.  I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure of that.  Was this turned over, if not, why not?

The undisclosed discussion with the accuser and Himan is interesting-wonder if we will ever know the content of that discussion and any relationship it had with the soon to follow photo array ID/ non-lineup or whatever.

As far as the Duke reps being present, that actually seems to help Duke in some ways, I am curious why they have not brought this up-could there be more that was discussed other than the complaints over the co-operation questions?

[Bessy]

Interesting both in terms of content as well as the timing.  What will Bell's reaction be?

Certainly interesting timing. After the first two line ups, and before the April 4th line up.
And where is the description of what was talked about? I thought Himan kept notes.

[Sydney Carton]

   Yes,Mark,you are correct.This was given to the defense and the newspaper  just dug it out.Wonder if the AG saw it? Surely they would have grilled Himan if they had seen it.

[Bob In Pacifica]

By this time Kammie Michael and David Addison had both publicly lied about the case. Not that they withheld information, but publicly lied. Then the mayor meets with the cops. The question arises: What did the mayor know about the case, what did he know about the police spokespeople lying to the public about the case, and how were his worries about inflaming racial tensions assuaged by these activities? Gee, why not have Mikey make some public appearances. That should calm everyone down.

Ka-ching!

[MarkRougemont]

Article on the Durham City Council meeting here:

http://news14.com/content/headlines/588000/tension-flares-at-durham-meeting/Default.aspx

Quote from the article:  "A short time later, council went into closed session to discuss a potential lawsuit facing the city. Lawyers for the three falsely accused players have threatened to sue if the city does not settle. Reports show the players are asking for $10 million each."
__________

I have more interest in the closed session than the comments about this timeline.  After reading the timeline it seems to me to be designed to give the mayor something that gives as little information as possible about the actual investigation while making it appear that the DPD was giving this case it's full attention and was busy working this case to get it resolved as quickly as possible.  I would not be surprised if some of the dates and times listed in this report are not entirely accurate.  Maybe there were some 'typed from memory' timeline notes going into this document.

Stith seems focused on the mayor possibly pushing the DPD to cut corners:  "“He still has not given a firm answer on whether he requested that they move forward in an expeditious manner,” Stith said, “so I guess we have a fourth version of the story."

Bell on the otherhand keeps making stupid excuses:  "Bell admitted Thursday that he asked the Durham Police Department for a timeline on the case; he said he did it to make sure the department had interviewed lacrosse players as part of its investigation.
"With that question answered, I simply no longer needed to see the timeline," Bell recalled."

I think it is obvious that Bell wanted the case resolved as quickly as possible. Again, that is to be expected of a mayor meeting with law enforcement on the status of a high-profile case.  The fact that he denies this does not speak well for his candor, in my opinion.  Others were in on that meeting.  I am curious if the Duke officials that were present at a meeting have any comment about what was discussed. 

I would love to hear what went on behind closed doors yesterday.  My guess is they decided to take their chances in court.

[Sydney Carton]

   Here is Mayor Bell's  full  letter of explanation for the public record.
       http://z9.invisionfree.com/LieStoppers_Board/index.php?showtopic=5153&st=0
            Extended commentaries follow.

[Sydney Carton]

  Mayor Bell  has juust been re-elected for a fourth term by 58 to 42 per cent.
    Down from the 80 some per cent he pulled in his last two re-election bids,but still,despite all the scandel, a (in a grotesque sense) creditable walk away.
    The really  bitter after taste comes when we learn that  with all the screaming,cursing,and back room dealing  temporarally in abeyance for the possible power switch and with the city facing a federal law suit that could justly strip it of its last pennies due to governmental mismanagement,only twenty-one per cent of the Durhamites bothered to vote at all!
   These people just don't care one way or the other.They just got their jollies out of the anguish of the Duke students and simpply don't believe anyone will dare holdthemaccountable.
   We trust the federal jury will see it quite differently.

[MarkRougemont]

  Your right in a way SC, the fact is that most of Durham doesn't care about the Duke Lacrosse case.  They do care about other issues that have an impact on living in Durham. Take a look at this Blog and some of the others linked to on the left side-these are local blogs and you won't find a whole lot about this case that is being discussed on a local basis.

http://www.bullcityrising.com/

[Sydney Carton]

   Thanks for the reference,Mark,but only twenty-one per cent of Durham  still thinks that there is any issue on which it is worth voting at all.May be the rest just realize what a hopelessly corrupt system they've got.

[Sydney Carton]

   Bell hasn't been heard from  for a loong time.Now we find he is still trying to get some leverage out of the Lacrosse case from his longtime  correspondent,Richard  Brodhead.
    http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/

Monday, May 18, 2009
From the Wires

Two . . . intriguing . . . items crossed my desk Friday.

The first came from Durham mayor Bill Bell. WTVD ran a lengthy story noting that Durham officials, including Bell, have complained again about Duke students’ off-campus partying—and some of the student behavior in Tamara Gibbs’ story is disgusting (although, I suspect, not exactly unheard of in any college or university town in the country, not just Durham).

To accompany the story, WTVD posted a letter sent by Bell to Richard Brodhead, dated March 25, 2009. Bell attached to the letter a four-page “report” produced by an entity called “Trinity Heights Action Committee.” (The four-person committee included two Duke faculty members: Music professor Philip Rupprecht; and Cathy Shuman, a “visiting assistant professor” in the English Department.)

Bell’s inclusion of the document would seem to constitute an official endorsement of its contents. Three sentences from the entity’s report particularly jumped out.

The first:

The 2006 Lacrosse incident thrust the disruptive and abusive behaviors caused by Duke party houses into a national media spotlight.

[edited for length, please do not post entire articles.]

[Sydney Carton]

   http://dukechronicle.com/article/williams-campaigns-campus

Williams campaigns on campus
By Julius Jones
October 13, 2009

Mayor Bell’s rival criticizes his handling of lax case

Durham mayoral candidate Steven Williams held an informal town hall meeting with approximately 20 students Monday night.

[edited for length, please do not post entire articles. Link and discuss them.]