updated:
Kathleen Eckelt at Forensic Talk revisits the infamous Duke lacrosse choke hold:
There are several reasons why I seriously questioned that this choking occurred. The first, as I've stated, is the fact that she, admittedly, was impaired by the combination of the alcohol and Flexeril.It should also be added that the accuser, Ms. Mangum, forgot to mention her strangulation for two days.
Both of these drugs are central nervous system depressants - which means they can depress the respiratory system as well.
If you add a choke hold on top of this, I believe that the accuser would have been rendered unconscious almost immediately....
It defies logic to think that, in this type of frenzied, horrific scenario, with four over-sized adults crammed into a tiny bathroom, that the untrained person - whoever applied the choke hold - would have done so correctly, or carefully, so as to ensure that the victim would not suffer fatal injuries...
And how would the accuser be able to stand, smiling, on the back porch just a few minutes later?
Does that make sense to anyone?
TJN: From what we know, the first time the word "strangled" is seen or used in this case was in the March 16th Probable Cause Affidavit from Det. Benjamin Himan. It was used to obtain the search warrant for the Duke lacrosse party house. The affidavit said:
The victim stated that she tried to leave, but the three males (Adam, Bret, and Matt) forcefully held her legs arms and raped and sexually assaulted her anally, vaginally and orally. The victim stated she was hit, kicked, and strangled during the assault. As she attempted to defend herself, she was overpowered. The victim reported she was sexually assaulted for an approximately 30 minute time period by the three males.List of witnesses that did not hear a word from the alleged victim about being strangled:
March 14th between midnight and 11:00 am:
> Kim Roberts, dance partner
> Angel Altmon, Kroger security guard
> Sergeant John Shelton, first responder and he also talked to her at Duke Hospital
> Officer Joseph Stewart & his partner, drove women to Durham Access
3 persons at Durham Access, mental health facility
(Alycia Wright, Mariecia Smith, and Gerri Lomuriel Wilkes) -
> registered nurse at Durham Access
> supervisor at Durham Access
> security guard at Durham Access
> Officer Willie Barfield, drove women from Durham Access to Duke hospital
> Officer Gwendolyn Sutton, talked to alleged victim at hospital
> Dr. Joshua S. Broder, did initial examination in the Duke emergency room.
> 2nd ER doctor
> four ER nurses
> Tara Levicy, the sexual-assault nurse
> Dr. Julie Manly, sexual-assault specialist
March 15 -
> the woman saw two doctors at UNC Hospitals (Dr. Yvonne E. Lai & Dr. ?). She reported neck pain but no strangulation.
She also saw her father the day after the incident, but said nothing. In one news report he said:
The retired trucker who lives in Durham said he saw his daughter the day after the reported attack, but she didn't say anything was wrong...That is at least twenty-one persons by this count, over two days, who did not hear a word from the alleged victim about her being strangled. Obviously, a true victim of a strangulation would not forget to mention it.
Her father, a quiet man who tinkers on cars as a hobby, said he saw news reports about the attack.
"I didn't know it was my daughter," he said...
Last week, a reporter stopped by the reported victim's house looking for her, the woman's father said, but he said he didn't know what was going on. He called his daughter and she said the district attorney told her not talk to anyone.
"(She) didn't tell us anything about it," he said.
There was no medical evidence of strangulation. Dr. Julie Manly, the sexual-assault specialist, "found the woman's head, back, neck, chest, nose, throat, mouth, abdomen, arms and legs all normal." The only "signs of physical trauma," she reported, were three small, non-bleeding scratches to the knee and ankle.
It looks like Ms. Mangum first made the strangling allegation on March 16th when she was interviewed by Gottlieb and Himan. Note that the Durham investigators used the word strangled instead of choked to describe the crime. Himan then incorporated that allegation in his probable cause affidavit/search warrant for the Duke lacrosse party house.
There is no doubt that the strangling allegation made by Ms. Mangum is just another in a long list of poorly constructed lies about a gang rape. It is a lie that Mike Nifong inflated and used for dramatic effect when he was interviewed by Dan Abrams of MSNBC. It is a lie that will follow Mike Nifong to his grave.
update: Again, it will be extremely interesting to read Ms. Mangum's written statement when it is released in its entirety. She eventually made her written statement on April 6th. How did she describe the strangulation on that date? Could she have forgotten to mention that she was strangled? So far, the pieces of her written statement that have been released do not include any details or descriptions of the strangulation part of the crime.
Sources:
Duke Lacrosse Choke Hold Revisited - Forensic Talk, Nov. 21, 2006
Duke case: The Durham Strangler - TJN, Sept. 4, 2006
Nifong Lies & Deception - TJN, June 17, 2006
'The Abrams Report,' - April 7, 2006 - MSNBC
Duke Lacrosse Case - TJN Archives
