The same Durham area taxi driver cited as an alibi witness for accused Duke university lacrosse player Reade Seligmann may end up hurting some aspects of the defense’s argument that no rape at all occurred at the off-campus party that night. Called in by investigators in the Duke rape case for the first time Tuesday, taxi driver Moez Mostafa told TIME in an exclusive interview, he stated he saw exotic dancer Kim Roberts exchange angry words with lacrosse players, enter “an old white car” and speed away from the scene. While Mostafa told Durham police detective and lead case investigator Benjamin Himan he could not swear a second dancer, who is accusing players of rape, was already in the car, its clear from a subsequent 911 call and police dispatch transcript call that the two women were together.
Using Mostafas statement, prosecutors are certain to attack what has become a very public set of alibis for the defense — the series of allegedly time-stamped photos taken by players the night of the party, some of which have been leaked to the media. Seligmann, 20, and teammate Collin Finnerty, 19, have been charged with rape in the case. Finnerty will stand trial in July in Washington, D.C., on an unrelated assault charge, a judge there ruled this week.
The crucial photo was taken, defense sources say, at approximately 12:41 a.m., and shows the accuser calmly being helped into a car to leave the party. Taken together with other time-stamped photos from earlier in the evening, it is crucial to the defense argument that there was not enough time that night for a rape to occur. In fact, prosecutors will argue, that photo actually shows the accuser being dropped off at the party, not leaving it, and that it was taken well before midnight. In that photo, the accuser is shown in a black or dark-colored car, which matches a description of the car defense and prosecution sources say dropped her off at the party. The person in the driver seat of that car allegedly is not Kim Roberts, whom prosecutors will argue drove the accuser away from the party after the alleged rape.
Prints taken from digital cell phone cameras have time stamps, but can be altered, according to digital photography experts. Only the cameras themselves have true embedded time data to correspond with photos taken. “If the prosecutor can discredit that photo, or one photo, their meanings are all suspect,” another lawyer in Durham says.
But one defense attorney scoffed at the notion the photo’s time stamp was altered or that prosecutors could argue confusion over the two cars. “If it doesn’t come out before the trial, if there is a trial,irrefutable evidence will show the photo is correct and the navy blue car is what matters.”
“Thank God they call me,” Mostafa told TIME of his meeting at the Durham Police Department. “I dont want to look like Im on the side of the defense only. I want to look like Im an honest person.” Mostafa said he told investigators that he does believe it was Reade Seligmann, and another unknown player, that he picked up at the party house at 12:19 a.m. on the morning of March 14. He told investigators he dropped the pair off at 12:40 a.m. at a dorm on campus, after making several stops. Mostafa said he returned to the house at 12:50 a.m. to pick up four more players, whose identities are unknown, around the same time he claims to have seen Kim Roberts get into the white car.
Mostafa told TIME he was not shown photos of anyone connected to the case during his 1-hour-and-44-minute statement. He says investigators asked him if hed been paid for supplying Seligmann an alibi, because Seligmanns father, and then a defense attorneys, spoke to him more than a month ago. “I told him nobody paid me anything,” Mostafa said.
The revelation of a possible contradiction of the time-stamped photos has caused dissension within the ranks of the defense attorneys for the players. Leaking the photos was “a grevious strategic error that was not approved by any other member of the defense,” an attorney for one of the players not yet charged in the case tells TIME. “The person who released them did not have the authority. The [attorneys] who are in the cross hairs would make that call. The person who released them is going to be looking at the bad end of a bar complaint after this is over,” said the attorney.
Durham district attorney Michael Nifong, who was originally appointed to his post and is running for election on Tuesday, said at a campaign forum this week that he will not bring the Duke rape case before a grand jury when it meets next Monday, the day before the election. Nifong has said he is trying to build a case against a third player. In an attempt to get others present that night to cooperate, Nifong has also begun reinstating misdemeanor charges against lacrosse players previously given deferred community service for such offenses as alcohol and noise violations. One player, a team captain who lives at the party house, has already had his charges reinstated; Nifong says the deferment agreement was broken when he hosted the party. Five other players are expected to also have deferred charges reinstated, meaning those players will have court appearances. In all, 16 players had been charged with such violations over the past three years.
Next week should be a busy one in Durham, and not just because of the District Attorney election. A report to Duke University President Richard Brodhead that is expected to be damning about the lacrosse team’s general behavior is due Monday. And that same day is the deadline for accepted applicants to commit to Duke.
With all the publicity surrounding the rape case, the university is apparently concerned that it will lose some prospective freshmen. TIME has obtained a letter to Duke alumni dated Wednesday, April 26, from Dean of Admissions Christoph Guttentag beseeching alumni to encourage accepted incoming freshmen to choose Duke. The letter, say alumni, is unprecedented, and states, “I believe that a final contact from one of our alumni to an admitted student… who have not yet responded to our offer of admission… might make the difference in having a student choose Duke.”
With reporting by Paul Cuadros/Durham
