Friday, June 15, 2007

Did Levicy Just Bust Gottlieb?

Duke University Medical Center Nurse Tara Levicy may have offered a nice bonus for those who endured the marathon fourth day of Defendant Nifong's trial. Under oath, Levicy testified that, following her interview with Investigator Benjamin Himan by telephone on March 16, 2006, she was not interviewed by law enforcement again until January 2007.
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Levicy's testimony appears to belie the assertions made by DPD Sgt. Mark Gottlieb in his homegrown notes and willingly published by the NY Times to lead off Duff Wilson's Save-the-Hoax front page editorial disguised as a news story. Although Levicy claims to have had no LE interviews from her initial March 16, 2006 chat with Inv. Himan until January of 2007, Wilson recounts details of the miracle fill-in-the-blanks interview of Levicy, supposedly conducted by Sgt. Gottlieb, on March 21, 2006.
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When Wilson's article appeared in August, we expressed doubts about his article and Gottlieb's notes:
The article leads in the opening paragraph with a conversation between Gottlieb and the SANE nurse recounted in Gottlieb’s notes.

It is now apparently this conversation that formed the basis for the statement in the affidavits for the search warrants that medical records and interviews revealed signs and symptoms consistent with a vaginal and anal rape. The article states:

On March 21, a week after an African-American woman charged that she had been raped by three white Duke University lacrosse players, the police sergeant supervising the investigation met with the sexual-assault nurse who had examined the woman in the emergency room. The sergeant, Mark D. Gottlieb, reviewed the medical report, which did not say much: some swelling, no visible bruises.
But the sergeant’s case notes also recount what the nurse told him in response to his questions:

...that the woman appeared to be in so much pain that it took “an extended period of time” to examine her, and that the “blunt force trauma” seen in the examination “was consistent with the sexual assault that was alleged by the victim.”
This opening paragraph immediately raises several questions. If Gottlieb reviewed the report on March 21st, why does the report indicate that it was not printed until March 30th and why did Himan have to go pick it up on April 4th? Why is Himan the investigator that called the SANE nurse and the one that that signed the affidavit yet Gottlieb is the one who spoke to the nurse in person (apparently without Himan) and the one who heard all significant injuries, many of which are not documented? Why didn’t Himan talk to the SANE nurse with Gottlieb? If Gottlieb’s report wasn’t written, how did Himan know what the interviews and medical records revealed when he signed the affidavits? If the accuser was in so much pain, why were there not more injuries detailed in the medical report? Was this pain noted by other examining physicians in their reports? Is “blunt force trauma” a medical term that appears elsewhere in any of the medical reports?

Assuming that Levicy's sworn testimony tonight was accurate and truthful, there appears to be additional reason to question the gullibilty of Duff Wilson, the credibility of Sgt. Gottlieb, and the legality of the orders and warrants based on the apparently imagined interview.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmmmmm..........

Good catch.

Anonymous said...

Very good catch!!!

Great arguments.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

So according to Levicy she never talked with Gottlieb & Himan after March 16 until Jan 2007?

You mean that is all they had, that SANE exam?

The mystery gets deeper.Because the 23 March NIO makes statements that are not in the SANE!

Anonymous said...

What a surprise = all those stories from Gottlieb, Himan and Nifong were lies about Nurse Tara. She is a posed, well educated, well spoken, professional in demeanor and approach. To suggest, she lied to the Bar is in line with the other trash written about this woman. No meeting between March 16th and January. 07? Does Arico know this? Glad she is not the hunchback of NOtre Dame,

Anonymous said...

So who is the liar? You'd think the media and DPD would be interested in this rather large conflict between Gottlieb and Levicy. Will anyone in authority or anyone in the media pursue the matter?

LTC8K6

Anonymous said...

Maybe we can surmise now why Levicy had to be supenaed to this liefong hearing. Someone will soon be gophor meat. go for the cops to arrest all these liars.

Anonymous said...

Gottlieb has lied in this case.


The Police affidavits always claimed things the medical report doesn't support (as the affidavits allege). Gottlieb was more than knee deep in the April 4th lineup.

Gottlieb should be in trouble right about now.

Anonymous said...

Kind of makes NYT's Duff-man look like a big loser...or incompetent journalist..or both!

Anonymous said...

9:18 --

Nice try, but just because two people's stories contradict each other, and cannot both be true, does not mean that either of them is true. Tara Levicy may still be judged on aspects of her conduct that have nothing to do with Sgt. Gottlieb, such as her January 10, 2007 declaration "victims can never be sure if condoms are used because if they can't see them how would they know for sure" -- absurd in the face of Mangum's claim that one of the players ejaculated into her mouth, something you cannot do through a condom -- and her observation "I wasn't surprised when I heard no DNA was found because rape is not about passion or ejaculation but about power" -- which reads curiously as if Levicy has forgotten she ever had a duty to evaluate whether Mangum's story was credible, and thinks instead her duty is to construct a story for Mangum which will not seem so implausible. No, even if we took for granted that Gottlieb lied about interviewing Levicy on March 21, 2006, Levicy is still responsible for all the other things that there is no doubt she said and did.

Anonymous said...

Rape is about power and dominance -not about sex. Levicy had no duty to evaluate Crystal's story - just to record the checklist and help the Doctor with the exam. The Police had the duty to collect evidence and investigate the story. There is no documented evidence she said or did anything but her job.

Anonymous said...

levicy didnt remember the facts..after a long time she forgot what she did

given her demands to be refreshed on the report she wrote, once again the dummies are confused by her looks and not her brain...

she wasnt well prepared thus....as she isnt closing all the gaps

Anonymous said...

Carolyn says:

March 16 or March 21? Makes no difference when Tara spoke or to whom. Every time she opened her mouth about this 'gang rape', she lied.

She lied by omission to Himan on March 16 when she refused to tell him she hadn't conducted the exam but instead Dr. Manley had. She further lied by touting herself as an expert when in fact she had no experience and only a useless certificate. She lied again by saying diffuse edema - and absolutely nothing else - was 'proof' of a violent gang rape.

She lied again January 2007 by trying to pass off feminist ideology as medical fact - i.e., blathering about the mindset of a rape was 'proof' one had even taken place. In short, it makes no difference when Tara spoke about this supposed 'gang rape' because every time she DID speak, she lied.

Oh, yeah. And she also walks like a lumberjack.

Anonymous said...

Actually she lied period. She stated in a later interview that she spoke with Hinman twice (his notes also reflect this) and she confirmed that what Gottlieb put in his report she told him (thats another meeting she forgot) she also met with nifong on several occasions over the summer which she also stated in another interview.

She lied. I hope they charge her with perjury.

Kethra

wayne fontes said...

Leviecy told Doug Kingsbury that she had met with the prosecution over the summer and that she did make the blunt force trauma comment to Gotlieb. I'm guessing she just perjured herself in open court.

Anonymous said...

"Rape is about power and dominance -not about sex. Levicy had no duty to evaluate Crystal's story - just to record the checklist and help the Doctor with the exam. There is no documented evidence she said or did anything but her job."

I'm afraid you're incorrect there. The SANE nurse's duty goes far beyond a simple check off list. Obviously you have no SANE experience or you would know this.

While, yes, it is the duty of the PD to investigate. However, the SANE nurses do not just stand there going ...Uh, well gee, of course I believe everything I'm told! lol

There are still too many unanswered questions about Levicy's actions & statements to let her off the hook so easily.

As for the comment about rape & power - once again it's obvious you're not in this field. Rape is about violence & power, but that has absolutely nothing to do with whether any DNA shows up or not.

Levicy making that statement shows just how inexperienced she was. No wonder she had to call Himan back & correct herself (after talking to her boss, I'm sure).

Anonymous said...

"Levicy had no duty to evaluate Crystal's story - just to record the checklist and help the Doctor with the exam. "

BTW, the SANE nurse's duty is not to help the Dr. with the exam. Her duty is to do the whole exam herself!

If she was fully certified, and competent, she wouldn't have needed Manly in there doing her job.

Anonymous said...

No, it is not her "duty" to not help the Doctor. In fact, that is the nursing job - assist the Doctor in patient care. Believe it or not, someetimes we need others to preform a function. Not in your world, of course, but in the real world.

Anonymous said...

Well, someone is not telling the truth. Perjure herself - please - neither she or the DUMC lawyer is allowing that at any time, under any circumstances. As her statement with the bar were made under oath and the others were not - I will go with her telling the truth. Nurse's at all times understand the only thing between them and the street is the license.

Anonymous said...

"No, it is not her "duty" to not help the Doctor. In fact, that is the nursing job - assist the Doctor in patient care. Believe it or not, someetimes we need others to preform a function. Not in your world, of course, but in the real world."

Oh, please, you really need to come out of the '50's!

The SANE nurses work independently. There usually are no doctors in the exam. The nurse does the exam herself - by herself.

Levicy had to ask the doctor to do the exam because she couldn't do her job.

Anonymous said...

The Nursing job is what it is.

Anonymous said...

No rush to judgment.

I'm sure that if it turns out the people who have attacked Levicy were wrong, those who said she was responsible for the Hoax, those who called for her dismissal from nursing, those who participated in the name calling, the comments on her sexual preference and even the way she walks, will provide a public apology.

Anonymous said...

No rush to judgement
I don't expect those you describe to right the wrong done to this nurse. What more do they want than her statements, in a trial, under oath, "she met with LE once in Jan.07 and spoke with them on the phone briefly 3/16." None of the Lawyers, including Witt and Freedman challanged her testimony. Some distractors wrote "Kingsbury said "Levicy quotes".. It is just People said - Does not appear to be true. Perjury - you wish.

Anonymous said...

Ketha - How come you are so much smarter and knowledgable abourt perjury than the lawyers running the trial. Are you a lawyer. Document your cry of perjury.

Anonymous said...

Use any search engine you like and look for rape - read what the real experts write. No - rape is boring and hysterical woman a pain. I did the real stuff in the Emergency Department - help save live, etc.