UPDATED CHRONOLOGY OF DUKE LACROSSE CASE: SEPTEMBER, 2006

UPDATED CHRONOLOGY OF DUKE LACROSSE CASE: SEPTEMBER, 2006

By sceptical

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 1: Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III officially takes over sole management of the alleged rape case against former Duke lacrosse players Dave Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty. He was assigned on August 18 after defense attorneys for the 3 indicted players and Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong reach agreement to have the case declared “exceptional,” allowing a single judge to preside.

It is revealed that a toxicology test of accuser Crystal Mangum’s hair turned up no signs of controlled substances. DA Nifong told defense lawyers of the negative results in a meeting Aug. 25. In April, Newsweek reported that Nifong had "hinted" that a date rape drug may have been used in the alleged rape. A urine toxicology test was not performed when Mangum was examined in the emergency room March 14, hours after the party. Bradley Bannon, one of Dave Evans' attorneys, says Nifong did not say what drugs the laboratory tested for.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 3: In his blog “Durham in Wonderland,” Prof. KC Johnson of Brooklyn College discusses why DA Nifong has resisted calls to recuse himself from the lacrosse case in favor of a special prosecutor. Johnson suggests Nifong himself could be called as a witness to explain his comments early in the case, thereby forcing him to step-aside. Johnson also foreshadows future events when he writes:
“Returning to reality, it’s easy to understand why Nifong has so desperately resisted a special prosecutor. “Justice” for the accuser isn’t high on his agenda; it seems unlikely, in fact, that it’s on his agenda at all. Rather, allowing a special prosecutor–or any other representative of law enforcement, such as the Justice Department–access to his case records almost certainly would conclude with the new prosecutor referring Nifong’s actions to the state bar’s ethics committee. The subsequent termination of his law license couldn’t be far behind. And that’s merely a best-case scenario for Nifong. The worst-case outcome would find him crossing the aisle to serve as a defendant himself.”

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 4: The Duke men's lacrosse program holds its first practice in more than five months. The Blue Devils open fall training at 7:15 a.m. with a two-hour practice under new coach John Danowski. "It felt great," senior Tony McDevitt says. "There's not too many times that you can appreciate a great sweat, and, today, I think everybody appreciated that." The team last practiced together on March 27, a day before Duke President Richard Brodhead suspended play. Brodhead then canceled the season and coach Mike Pressler was forced to resign on April 5. Danowski was hired in late July. Duke has five weeks of fall practices scheduled.
The New Yorker publishes a long discussion about the lacrosse crisis by Peter Boyer entitled “Big Men on Campus.” The article reveals that Duke Board of Trustees Chair Robert Steel personally lured President Brodhead to Duke from Yale. It also quotes Steel about why the lacrosse practices and games were abruptly stopped at the onset of the crisis:
On that fitful weekend in late March when the TV satellite trucks hit campus, the lacrosse team could be seen practicing for the Georgetown game, a scene that became an endless video loop suggesting institutional indifference. “We had to stop those pictures,” Bob Steel says. “It doesn’t mean that it’s fair, but we had to stop it. It doesn’t necessarily mean I think it was right—it just had to be done.”

The article also features interviews with Duke President Brodhead and lacrosse team critics Orrin Starn and Peter Wood:

Brodhead reflected on all that had happened as we chatted in his office in July, and said that it brought to mind Shakespeare’s “Othello”—not for its obvious associations with interracial passions and violence but for its lesson on prejudgment. The scene at the beginning of the play, he said, was particularly instructive. Desdemona’s father hears about his daughter’s relationship with the Moor, and he sighs, “Belief of it oppresses me already.”
“He doesn’t say, ‘Oh, now I see what you’re getting at,’ ” Brodhead said. “He’s saying, ‘Now I realize that I always believed it’—‘Belief of it oppresses me already.’ It’s probably, to my mind, the greatest literary image of the action of prejudice—how a story is told to engage something in the mind that brings with it absolute certainty that derives from the nature of the stereotypes.”
He had located a clarifying point of reference in the lacrosse ordeal, and he became animated. It had been a headlong narrative, driven partly by a willingness to affirm favored certitudes about justice.
“ ‘Belief of it oppresses me already,’ you know?” he continued. “And the thing is, we actually can’t blame people for being subject to this, because it is so deeply human. And if, from day to day, we’ve seen people in the throes of this, we recognize that as a dimension of our humanity. At the same time, it really is our obligation to resist it, because, you know—truth and justice, they are cant phrases unless we try to take the trouble to make them have a reality to them. And what do truth and justice mean? Truth and justice mean something opposite from our preconceptions.”

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 5: Robert Steel, chair of the Board of Trustees, is nominated by President George W. Bush for the position of undersecretary of the treasury for domestic finance, the White House announces. "Bob will bring wisdom and an extraordinary range of knowledge to this important position, and the country should be grateful for his willingness to render this significant public service," President Brodhead says in a statement. If confirmed, Steel, a l973 Duke graduate, will be responsible for leading the Department of the Treasury's policy on issues such as fiscal policy, domestic finance and government assets. Steel says he will accept the position under the condition that he is allowed to continue leading the Board of Trustees.

Liestoppers publishes a major blogpost entitled “Occam’s Razor” which investigates problems with DA Nifong’s case-- the contradictions between Crystal Mangum’s written statement and statements by other witnesses, the lack of DNA evidence, the absence of physical trauma to Mangum, the early failures of identification, the shortcomings of the police investigation, and doubts about the credibility of the accuser. The post, documented in great detail, suggests that the simplest explanation is that there was no sexual assault and that the charges are a hoax.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6: KC Johnson analyzes the Joint Omnibus Motion to Compel Discovery filed by defense attorneys on August 31 in a Durham in Wonderland post “The Defense Strikes Back.” Johnson discusses new information from the motion, including the April 4 request by City Manager Patrick Baker for a timeline of the case from Durham Police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, the lack of notes from the first two photo lineups on March 16 and 21, and the disagreement between Gottlieb and DA Nifong about what transpired in their April 11 meeting with Crystal Mangum.


THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 7: The Duke Chronicle features an interview with athletic director Joe Alleva which reveals that Duke will update its student-athlete handbook instead of coming up with a new code of conduct for athletes. When President Richard Brodhead reinstated the men's lacrosse team in June, the program returned under its own code of conduct, which includes specific penalties for a list of potential infractions. At the time, Alleva said his department--in concert with the coaches and student athletes--would draft an over-arching code for all teams to be distributed early in the fall. "We're not doing a code of conduct," Alleva now says. "We've always had a student-athlete handbook that has rules and regulations in it, and we've updated the handbook to put more meat into it and more detail to it." All student athletes are now required to self report all off-campus infractions to their respective head coach within 48 hours.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 8: The Johnsville News blog publishes an exploration of the record of black journalist Cash Michaels’ reporting of the lacrosse controversy. Early on, Michaels, who writes for the Wilmington Journal, wrongly suggested that “hush money” had been offered to Mangum or her family to drop the charges. More recently he has suggested that “something must have happened” at the lacrosse party, but has also criticized DA Nifong’s failure to follow proper procedures. Michaels has also confirmed that CBC News correspondent Ed Bradley has been doing interviews for a “60 Minutes” segment on the case in October.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 9: A News & Observer investigation charges that Durham Police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, lead investigator in the lacrosse case, unfairly targets Duke students. Members of the lacrosse legal defense team are now closely examining the arrests Gottlieb made before the alleged rape. Records show that the sergeant arrested a disproportionate number of Duke students, all on misdemeanor violations such as carrying an open beer in public or violating the city's noise ordinance. Such charges usually earn an offender a ticket such as those issued for speeding. But court records show Gottlieb often arrested Duke students on such charges, taking them to jail in handcuffs. Gottlieb got the lacrosse case weeks after serving 10 months as a patrol shift supervisor in police District 2, which includes about a quarter of the city. From May 2005 to February 2006, when Gottlieb was a patrol supervisor in the district, court records show that Gottlieb arrested 28 people. Twenty were Duke students, including a quarterback of the football team and the sister of a men's lacrosse player. At least 15 of the Duke students were taken to jail. In comparison, the three other squad supervisors working in District 2 during the same 10 months -- Sgts. Dale Gunter, John Shelton and Paul Daye -- tallied a combined 64 arrests. Two were Duke students. Both were taken to jail. Gottlieb often treated Duke students and nonstudents differently. For example, Gottlieb in 2004 wrote a young man a citation for illegally carrying a concealed .45-caliber handgun and possessing less than a half-ounce of marijuana, but records indicate he wasn't taken to jail. He was not a Duke student.

Another News & Observer article looks at Sgt. Mark Gottlieb’s off-duty activities. Gottlieb was placed on administrative duties in July after he and four other officers were questioned about an assault outside Blinco’s, a Raleigh sports bar. After an investigation by Raleigh detectives, two Durham officers, but not Gottlieb, were charged with misdemeanor assault. Gottlieb also ran a red light and struck another vehicle in 2005 but did not receive a ticket. Gottlieb struck Joseph George Stevens on March 30, 2005, on Creedmoor Road in northwest Raleigh. He caused $7,000 in damage, according to an accident report that faulted Gottlieb. No injuries were reported. Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue states the handling of the Gottlieb accident was not unusual. For many years, he said, the unwritten rule among Raleigh police officers was to not issue citations in wrecks unless there was a serious injury or alcohol was involved. Sughrue doesn't see any evidence that Gottlieb was treated differently than most people involved in wrecks.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 13: Chronicle columnist Jon Detzel, in an article titled “Enough Already,” expresses the wishes of some Duke students that the whole controversy over the lacrosse incident would go away:
“Unfortunately after nearly six months of hyper-exaggerated and partisan media and community outrage-and a summer of continuous investigation, fact-checking and, above all, debunking-we are still consumed by the legacy of one of our darkest hours.
As a result, our reputation is in jeopardy like never before. Our name has become synonymous with words like rape, privilege, alcohol abuse and prejudice. The innocent days of "work hard, play hard" are over, since to the outside world that mantra only seems to justify the alleged crimes of the lacrosse team and the Duke mentality they purportedly personify. Sadly, the days of "work hard, play not so much" are at hand.
The issue dominates our collective consciousness. And I am sick and tired of hearing about it.”
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 14: The two Durham police officers charged in July with assaulting a cook outside a Raleigh sports bar are fired, Chief Steve Chalmers announces. Gary P. Lee, 38, and Scott C. Tanner, 33, the two officers who face misdemeanor assault charges after a fight outside Blinco's, have seven days to appeal their dismissals through a city grievance process. "These two were involved in what I would describe as nothing less than a public brawl with a perfect stranger," Chalmers said. "It really failed to rise to the level of what we expect from our officers." Chalmers also says at a news conference that no disciplinary action would be taken against three other officers questioned about their alleged involvement in the Wake County incident. Two of those officers are involved in the Duke lacrosse case; an internal investigation cleared Sgt. Mark Gottlieb and officer Richard D. Clayton.

Durham Police Chief Stephen Chalmers defends Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, the controversial lead investigator in the lacrosse case who has been charged with targeting Duke students. Chalmers says Gottlieb was just doing his job last year when he aggressively cracked down on partying college students in the Trinity Park neighborhood. A Sept. 9 article in The News & Observer recounted that Gottlieb had arrested at least 20 Duke students during his time in District 2, a number disproportionate compared with three other patrol sergeants working in the same area at the time. Court records show Gottlieb arrested many of those students and took them to jail on minor misdemeanor charges. Meanwhile, some nonstudents intercepted by Gottlieb were not arrested, but instead were written citations on more serious charges such as possession of marijuana and a concealed firearm. The police chief now says officers patrolling Trinity Park were specifically instructed to arrest problem students rather than cite them. Gottlieb not only was carrying out those directions, Chalmers says, but was likely to have made more arrests than other officers because he volunteered to work extra shifts patrolling areas near Duke's campus. "Most sergeants don't make many arrests at all, but Mark is a hands-on supervisor," Chalmers said. "He was doing his job. He was just doing it more aggressively than some others. That doesn't mean he was wrong."

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15: Duke Professor Orrin Starn writes an op-ed article “A Grand Show of Arrogance by Duke Athletics” in the Herald-Sun critical of the Duke Athletic Department and its director Joe Alleva. Starn calls for Duke to abandon NCAA Division I athletics in favor of club sports.

The Johnsville News blog discusses why it took Durham police three weeks to obtain a written statement from Crystal Mangum after the alleged attack, and how “statement analysis” would help determine the truth and credibility of her April 6 statement to police.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 16: Durham in Wonderland features a post entitled “Understanding SANE” in which KC Johnson states that 1) Crystal Mangum’s injuries were not consistent with the attack she described; 2) Sgt. Gottlieb’s after-the-fact notes about the SANE results lack credibility; and 3) Duke Hospital did not follow protocol with Mangum’s SANE exam there. Johnson credits the blog “Forensic Talk” by Kathleen Eckelt R.N. for expert opinion about how the case was handled.
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MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18: In a new motion, defense lawyers request the handwritten notes from a security guard who observed Crystal Mangum when she first reported being sexually assaulted. Gerri L. Wilkes was working on March 14 at the Durham Access Center, a mental health and detoxification center, when police brought Mangum in because she met the criteria for involuntary commitment. The accuser interacted with three people at the center, according to defense lawyers, but it was not until recently that they realized one of the workers had kept notes from the 40-minute encounter. Earlier this summer, DA Nifong told a judge that no reports of the encounter were made at the center and that an admissions log was all that existed. Kirk Osborn, the defense lawyer, found out about the notes while interviewing Wilkes. Defense lawyers also are trying to get recordings from any radio exchanges among officers on secondary channels on March 14. Defense lawyers also want Nifong to give a precise account of what allegedly occurred that night—a “bill of particulars”. They demand a more precise timeline of the alleged offenses. They ask the prosecution to specify which of the two bathrooms at 610 N. Buchanan the gang-rape allegedly occurred. Lawyers also ask the prosecutor to specify which "sexual act" each defendant is accused of committing.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 19: The Chronicle reports that the newest edition of Duke’s Bulletin of Information and Regulations specifically forbids the hiring of strippers. In Chapter 5 of the bulletin, "Event Guidelines and Registration," the new rule states "strippers may not be invited or paid to perform at events sponsored by individual students, residential living groups or cohesive units." Stephen Bryan, associate dean of students and director of judicial affairs, says the change was not an addition but rather the inclusion of an accidentally removed policy. A clause regarding exotic dancers originally existed in the bulletin until the 2003-2004 academic year but was inadvertently omitted in 2004 when fire safety guidelines for themed parties were expanded, he explains. This year, the provision was reinstated following the rape accusation against members of the men's lacrosse team. Since then, Duke Student Government leaders have criticized the wording of the clause as unclear, questioning whether the jurisdiction extends to off-campus functions.

The Chronicle publishes an editorial about police tactics used on Duke students:
“In August 2004, an incident at Cafe Parizade provoked charges of racial insensitivity as four seniors filed official complaints alleging misconduct on the part of Duke University Police officers. Students reported that they heard the singing of "We Shall Overcome" from one or more officers as they were clearing the mostly black crowd outside of the party. Upon an internal review, the department absolved the officers of violating any policies.
Last fall, in response to a student gathering at the Belmont apartment complex, Durham police officers tackled several students in an attempt to clear the area and reportedly left one senior with a bloodied face while he was escorted to the squad car in his bathing suit.
These incidents, when viewed in light of more recent reports of harsh treatment of Duke students by local police, paint a troubling portrait of over-the-line police actions. Yet, with the notable exception of the recent firing of the two Durham officers, few if any actions have been taken to redress the growing concern from the Duke community.”
In his Durham in Wonderland blog, KC Johnson lists “Twenty Questions” about the shoddy and incomplete police investigation of Mangum’s charges of sexual assault.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMEBR 20: DA Nifong files a motion to compel defense lawyers to reveal whether they hired a pollster to test the mood of potential jurors. The motion contains an affidavit filed by Nifong's wife, Cy Gurney, that describes a call she received Sept. 11. The surveyor wanted to gauge attitudes in the community, according to the affidavit, and then went on to ask a number of questions about the Duke lacrosse case. In her affidavit, Gurney says the person who questioned her about the case asked how likely she would be to believe a stripper who said she was raped and whether she believed Durham investigators conducted an unfair lineup of suspects in the case. "Many of the questions asked, however, actually constituted a thinly-disguised attempt to influence the opinions of respondents," Nifong writes in the motion. In a joint response, defense attorneys say they had informed Nifong on Aug. 25 that they defense was likely to conduct such polling and that it was necessary because of what they call prejudicial comments by the DA early in the case. The polling, defense attorneys said, was limited to 300 interviews. According to the motion, the New York research firm Central Research Services, Inc., conducted the poll. Nifong also files a second motion asking the state to pay $595 for a drug test administered to the accuser for the drug Ecstasy. The court document says a defense attorney for a player who was not charged had told Nifong that the woman was on the drug. The motion does not reveal what the test results showed

The Johnsville News blog analyzes an essay “Coda: Bodies of Evidence” by Duke Professor Karla FC Holloway giving her take on the lacrosse controversy. She is a supporter of Crystal Mangum and one of the Group of 88 who signed an ad in The Chronicle.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22: At a major hearing today, the first before Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III, DA Nifong says the three indicted lacrosse players took only five to 10 minutes to sexually assault Crystal Mangum, hired to perform as a stripper at a team party, and not the 30 minutes she originally described to investigators. "When something happens to you that is really awful, it can seem like it takes place longer than it actually takes," Nifong states. Observers note that this represents yet another change in the timeline of the alleged assault according to Mangum and Nifong. At the hearing Judge Smith denies a defense request that prosecutors provide a detailed accounting before trial of the alleged assault, including the exact time, place and type of sexual act the accuser said each defendant committed. Kirk Osborn, who represents Reade Seligmann, says the defense needs the "bill of particulars" because the accuser has told several different versions of the alleged assault, and his client has a right to know which version prosecutors will present at trial. Nifong says he is not required to state the exact time of the alleged attack, but offers that authorities believe it took place between 11:30 p.m. on March 13, when the accuser arrived at the party, and 12:55 a.m. on March 14, when police arrived and found no one at the house. "Out of his client's whole life, we have given him an hour and a half that he has to account for," Nifong states. The timing is crucial, according to Osborn, who says Seligmann made eight calls on his cell phone between 12:05 a.m. and 12:14 a.m., when he called a cab company for a ride. The cab took Seligmann to an ATM, a fast-food restaurant, and finally back to his dorm at 12:46 a.m.
At the hearing defense attorney Bradley Bannon asks for the details of the DNA testing, including lab bench notes from DNA Security Inc., but Nifong mocks the request. "I have to note the irony," Nifong says. Nifong tells the judge that the lawyers held news conferences after both rounds of DNA testing were complete to announce that the tests showed no rape occurred. Yet now, the prosecutor states, the lawyers wanted the type of information defense lawyers often use to attack the reliability of DNA tests. "It's interesting now that they are trying to get information that would help dispute those tests," Nifong says, noting that the information the defense wanted copied from the private lab would cost $4,000. Bannon raises his voice at the hearing saying that the district attorney obtained indictments despite the first DNA tests, which were negative. "The state chose to pursue this evidence. We are entitled to this information that we're asking for no matter how much it costs." After the verbal sparring, Judge Smith orders Nifong to provide the DNA information within 30 days and the state court system to pay the costs of the lab employees' time and resources. It later turns out that the DNA testing records reveal that Nifong and lab director Brian Meehan withheld exculpatory evidence that DNA from other men was present on and in Crystal Mangum, leading to Nifong’s eventual downfall.
The prosecution announces at the hearing that the recordings of all Durham Police Department radio calls for March 13th and 14th have been destroyed. Durham Police Department tape use policy calls for tapes to be reused after 60 days. Even though the police tapes were requested in an April 28th motion by the defense, and ordered by Judge Stephens on May18th, the prosecution now maintains that the tapes were destroyed on or after May 13th, just five days or less before Judge Stephens’ order.
At the hearing DA Nifong also asserts that he did not discuss the specifics of the case when he met Crystal Mangum on April 11, a claim met with skepticism by defense attorneys but not challenged by Judge Smith.
Defense attorneys at the hearing ask Judge Smith to compel Nifong to respond more quickly to their requests for evidence. Nifong doesn't return phone calls or respond to written motions, the attorneys claim. "I think we could've made this process much more simple if Mr. Nifong was just willing to sit down and talk with us," defense attorney Joseph Cheshire says. "I apologize if I'm not doing things the way they want things to be done," Nifong replies. "This isn't the only (criminal) case in Durham."
Nifong turns more material over to defense attorneys at the hearing including e-mails sent by Durham police officers investigating the case, reports summarizing information retrieved from lacrosse players' computers, investigator notes and a CD with e-mail activity among seven people at Duke. Judge Smith also loosens a previous “gag order” by Judge Kenneth Titus restricting public statements by the defendants, their families and other potential witness; their lawyers; and prosecutors.
The Johnsville News blog investigates charges that racial slurs were used during and after the lacrosse team party in March. With the exception of the comment reported by neighbor Jason Bissey, the post concludes that claims of racial slurs by the lacrosse players have been exaggerated.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 23: In a prescient analysis of the September 22 hearing, KC Johnson writes in a blogpost “The D.A.’s Tough Day” about the defense attorneys’ request for more details about DNA testing:
“It’s easy to see the Nifong distraction for yesterday’s hearing: his bizarre obsession with defense attorneys’ routine decision to poll 300 Durham County residents about the case. What, then, is the bombshell evidence he expects? I suppose we’ll learn in a few days, but for now, my money is on the DNA. Defense lawyers want complete information about the second round of DNA testing, with a suggestion that there might be additional matches to people other than lacrosse players (no matches with the accuser) and the accuser’s three admitted sexual partners in the week before the party (one match, of three). If additional DNA exists, and that DNA belongs to someone not yet tested, then the accuser concealed information about her number of sexual partners in the days before the party.
Nifong’s objection to the evidence? Its $4035 pricetag. This sudden burst of frugality seems particularly rich given the nearly $23,000 that Nifong already spent to conduct a highly unusual second round of DNA tests—a fact that Brad Bannon pointed out yesterday. The judge, of course, ordered the D.A. to supply the material by October 20, so we'll soon see specifically what Nifong didn't want to turn over.”

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 25: Kim (Roberts) Pittman, the second dancer at the lacrosse team party, is placed on house arrest for parole violations in an unrelated incident. She appears in court on a probation violation in connection with a 2001 conviction for embezzlement. She stole $25,000 from a photo-finishing company in Durham, where she was a payroll specialist, according to court documents. Pittman failed to pay restitution to her former employer, missed appointments with her probation officer and left North Carolina without permission. She is placed on house arrest for between 60 and 120 days and has her probation extended for three years.

Kevin Finnerty, the father of indicted Duke lacrosse player Collin Finnerty, say he was outraged when District Attorney Mike Nifong asserted that defense lawyers should be punished for violating the prohibition on out-of-court comments. "I was outraged he would say that, given his prior statements," Kevin Finnerty states. "When he first got involved in this case, he inflamed the story locally and nationally with his opinions, before doing the investigation." At a court hearing Sept. 22, Superior Court Judge Smith modified an order that had prevented players and their families from speaking in public. Smith reminded lawyers that they must abide by North Carolina's Rules of Professional Conduct, which prohibit lawyers from making out-of-court statements that could prejudice the outcome of a case. Prosecutors have added responsibilities: The rules prohibit them from saying things outside court that could heighten public condemnation of the accused.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27: Duke University has been tracking media coverage since rape allegations involving members of the lacrosse team surfaced in March. John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs, says 75,000 stories were printed or aired about the university and the case during the four months following the allegations. Worries about how people perceive the university led to a nationwide survey. A New York firm conducted a survey in late April, after the first two players were indicted and President Brodhead canceled the lacrosse season. A second survey was done in mid-June, after Brodhead reinstated the lacrosse program and set up several committees to look into campus culture. About 1,600 people, including alumni, Durham residents and the general public were surveyed. "What we found was that it is not having a significant impact on the perception or quality of the university," says Burness. He states that the June survey found 86 percent of the people polled in Durham had a favorable view of the university. "Ultimately, Duke will be judged in this situation, not by the incident itself, but how the university responded to it," states Burness. He reports the majority of the 450 alumni surveyed have a "very favorable" view of the university and how it handled the situation. However, a representative for the group Friends of Duke says, "The closer you are to the situation, the worse Duke's response looks."

KC Johnson explores contradictions in the statements made by DA Nifong over time in a Durham in Wonderland post “M. Nifong, Revisionist.”

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30: Duke Athletic Department officials prevent Duke students from registering other students to vote at the Duke football game today.
Members of Duke Students for an Ethical Durham (DSED) and lacrosse team members are barred from bringing voter registration forms into the football stadium. DSED states it had prior approval for the voter registration drive, which is primarily aimed at Duke students. DSED supports the ouster of DA Nifong.

SPECIFIC REFERENCES BY DATE

9/1/06 Toxicology Test Negative
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/01/82338/test-lacrosse-case-accuser-free.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHU1YMVr

9/4/10 Lacrosse Team Holds First Practice
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/05/63339/duke-returns-to-field.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHn5q3ky

http://dukechronicle.com/article/mens-lax-team-returns-practice

9/4/06 New Yorker on Lacrosse Crisis, Brodhead
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/09/04/060904fa_fact#ixzz0zknivKwF

9/5/06 Robert Steel Nominated for Treasury Post
http://dukechronicle.com/article/bush-names-bot-chair-treasury-post

9/5/06 Liestopper’s “Occam’s Razor”
http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/2006/09/occams-razor.html

9/6/06 KC Johnson on Joint Omnibus Motion to Compel Discovery
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/defense-strikes-back.html

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-joint-omnibus-motion-to.html

9/7/06 Chronicle Article on Student Athlete Rules
http://dukechronicle.com/article/no-formal-athlete-code-instituted

9/8/06 The Johnsville News on Cash Michaels
http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-special-ed-for-doubters-with.html

9/9/06 N&O Article on Police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb Targeting Duke Students
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/09/69130/detective-got-tough-with-duke.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHqDBPdR

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-war-against-duke.html

9/9/06 Gottlieb Off-Duty Activities
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/09/81710/off-duty-activities-looked-at.html#storylink=misearch

9/13/06 Jon Detzel Column in Chronicle
http://dukechronicle.com/article/enough-already

9/14/06 Durham Police Officers Fired Over Blinco’s Incident
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/15/76774/2-durham-cops-fired-over-bar-affray.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHlHYErS

http://dukechronicle.com/article/2-durham-officers-fired-assault

9/14/06 Police Chief Chalmers Defends Sgt. Gottlieb
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/18/78566/police-okd-duke-crackdown.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHsqNTMT

9/15/09 The Johnsville News on “Statement Analysis”
http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-statement-analysis.html

9/16/06 KC Johnson on “Understanding SANE”
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/understanding-sane.html

9/18/06 Defense Motion for Bill of Particulars
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/19/41579/lacrosse-lawyers-seek-notes.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHVxa6bJ

9/19/06 Duke Forbids Strippers
http://dukechronicle.com/article/duke-forbids-exotic-dancers

9/19/06 Chronicle Questions Police Tactics
http://dukechronicle.com/article/questions-plague-police-tactics

9/19/06 KC Johnson’s “Twenty Questions” About Police Investigation
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/twenty-questions.html

9/20/06 Nifong Motion on Defense Polling
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/21/35674/nifong-assails-phone-survey.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHd4kRAX

9/20/10 The Johnsville News on Karla Holloway Essay
http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-holloways-jungleland.html

http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/travails-of-karla-holloway.html

9/22/06 First Hearing Before Judge Smith
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/23/59852/da-gets-to-wait-on-his-theory.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHgvFTXu

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1092104/

http://dukechronicle.com/article/defense-pushes-nifong-specifics-lacrosse-case

http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-hoax-hearing.html

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-more-evidence-turned-over.html

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-oz-moves-to-wonderland.html

9/22/06 The Johnsville News on Racial Slurs
http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-case-slur-analysis.html

9/23/06 KC Johnson on Hearing & DNA Test Information Request
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/das-tough-day.html

9/25/06 Pittman Placed Under House Arrest
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1058451/
9/25/06 Kevin Finnerty Criticizes Nifong Statement
http://www.newsobserver.com/2006/09/26/85077/durham-das-stand-draws-fire.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz0zHassrbR

9/27/06 Duke survey
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1058451/
http://dukechronicle.com/article/research-reveals-impact-lax-scandal-dukes-image
9/27/06 KC Johnson on Changes in Statements by Nifong
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/m-nifong-revisionist_27.html
9/30/06 Voter Registration Drive at Stadium Blocked by Duke Officials
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/black-panthers-welcome-duke-students.html

GENERAL SOURCES

(The Duke lacrosse case article indices in the Raleigh News & Observer and the Duke Chronicle have been taken down following website revisions. Articles can still be found using the search feature of the new websites.)

EVANS et al v. DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, CITY OF et al
http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/north-carolina/ncmdce/1:2007cv00739/46882/

MCFADYEN et al v. DUKE UNIVERSITY et al
http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/north-carolina/ncmdce/1:2007cv00953/47494/

CARRINGTON et al v. DUKE UNIVERSITY et al
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-ncmdce/case_no-1:2008cv00119/case_id-47871/

Duke University & Brodhead Statements
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/announce_archive.html

Duke University Archive of Media Coverage
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/media_archive.html

Johnsville Blog Posts
http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2006/06/duke-case-index.html

WRAL Stories
http://www.wral.com/news/local/asset_gallery/2306295/

KC Johnson’s Case Narrative
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2007/03/overall-case-narrative.html

Chronology by Vance Holmes “Poetic Justice”
http://www.vanceholmes.com/court/trial_duke_timeline.html

CBS News Chronology
http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2006/04/19/in_depth_us/timeline1515358.shtml

AP Chronology
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/18054818/

Wikipedia Timeline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Duke_University_lacrosse_case

Friends of Duke University Media Index
http://friendsofdukeuniversity.blogspot.com/2006/04/links-to-media-1-full.html

New York Times Article Index
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/duke_university/duke_lacrosse_sexual_assault_case/index.html?offset=60&s=newest


Hat Tip (More like a complete I am not worthy): sceptical's exhaustive & detailed research into his continuing chronology is a tour de force.