the Duke Lacross Team Case

[madmusic]

I Haven't Been Closely Following the Duke Lacross Team Alleged Rape Case,

partly because it's the sort of matter on which one needs to know a good deal of facts to have a sensible opinion. But this story struck me as quite odd; could any prosecutors among our readers comment on it?

The district attorney prosecuting three Duke lacrosse players accused of raping a woman at a team party said during a court hearing Friday that he still hasn't interviewed the accuser about the facts of the case.

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

Nifong made the statement in response to a defense request for any statements the woman has made about the case.

I would have thought that in a rape case, interviewing the victim would be among the first things the prosecutor would do. Of course, if she's in intensive care for her injuries, he might want to put it off briefly; but even if she's deeply psychologically traumatized, he'd want to talk to her at some point, the sooner the better, even if he has other witnesses he can count on. Am I mistaken?

http://volokh.com/posts/1162066385.shtml

[NaturalHigh]

1. This was strictly a political case.

Nobody I know of actually thinks that the accuser in this case was raped. Hell, I doubt that the DA himself actually believes it. He brought charges to curry favor with the Durham black community during his primary race against a black opponent.