The Addison Series #1 – “This horrific crime”

On Feb 12, 2007, Raleigh News & Observer readers learned Durham police:

”are investigating allegations that a Duke University student was raped at an off-campus party on Gattis Street around 3 a.m. Sunday.
An 18-year-old woman said she was raped in a bathroom of the residence, according to a Durham police news release. …

Anyone with information about Sunday's incident is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 683-1200. Callers don't have to identify themselves, and cash rewards can be paid for information leading to arrests."

If on Feb. 12 or since, a citizen with information called CrimeStoppers, there’s a very good chance that information was processed by DPD Cpl. David Addison, DPD’s liaison with Durham CrimeStoppers which DPD maintains is a separate organization independent of DPD.

Addison’s CrimeStoppers work is his regular full-time assignment. However, Addison’s DPD supervisor, Maj. Lee Russ, told me during a recent interview (email exchange) “Cpl. Addison does occasionally fill in as the department spokesperson for media requests.”

March 24, 2006, was one of those occasions when Addison, a sworn police officer, filled in as DPD spokesperson for the regular DPD spokesperson, civilian employee Kammie Michael.

March 24 was a very busy day for Addison: the Duke lacrosse story was breaking. In WRAL – TV’s first report on the case, Addison told the public:

”You are looking at one victim brutally raped. If that was someone else's daughter, child, I don't think 46 [DNA tests] would be a large enough number to figure out exactly who did it.”

That same day Addison spoke to the Raleigh News & Observer which the next day reported in a story the N&O told readers concerned “sexual violence”:

”[A]uthorities vowed to crack the team's wall of solidarity.

‘We're asking someone from the lacrosse team to step forward,’ Durham police Cpl. David Addison said. ‘We will be relentless in finding out who committed this crime.’”

Addison went days telling the public about the “victim” who’d been “brutally raped.”

On March 28, he even distributed to media and the community a CrimeStoppers "Wanted" poster that included this:

”The Duke Lacrosse Team was hosting a party at the residence. The victim was sodomized, raped, assaulted and robbed. This horrific crime sent shock waves throughout our community.”

But Addison’s “horrific crime” never happened, and there was no wall of solidarity or silence to crack.

The three Duke students who lived in the house where the rape was alleged to have occurred had all denied that a rape or any other crimes against the accuser, Gail Crystal Mangum, had taken place. They cooperated with police. They voluntarily went to a police station, answered questions, signed written statements, and offered to take lie detector tests. They voluntarily went to Duke Hospital and submitted to what police call “suspect kit testing.”

On March 20 police interviewed the second dancer, Kim Roberts. She told them she’d been with the accuser for all but a few minutes the night of the alleged attack. Roberts told police Mangum’s story she’d been gang-raped and beaten for 30 minutes was “a crock.”

There’s something else Addison knew about on March 24 which, mercifully, most of the public doesn’t know much about. But it’s very important.

As a veteran police officer, Addison knows about the kinds and severity of physical injuries a woman suffers when she’s brutally beaten and raped by even one strong young man, to say nothing of being brutally beaten and raped by three strong young men. Like all DPD officers he's trained to administer emergency first aid to victims of such horrific crimes while he awaits the arrival of the EMS ambulance.

Addison knew Mangum had suffered no such injuries. He knew she hadn’t even suffered slight injuries.

Sgt. John Shelton, who responded to a call shortly after midnight on March 14, found Mangum in Roberts’ car at a Kroger parking lot, in Shelton’s words, “just passed out drunk.”

Shelton saw no evidence of physical injuries and arranged for another officer, Willie Barfield, to take Mangum to Durham Access, which provides short-term support service for substance abusers. Barfield also saw no signs of any physical injuries.

Barfield only later took Mangum from Durham Access to Duke Hospital because she said at Access she’d been raped.

Addison understood the significance of his brother officers’ actions that night.

Addison knew Mangum’s story was false, just as he had to know his shills about the players’ “stonewall of silence” were false. Yet he went for days telling the public about horrific crimes and a “stonewall of silence”.

Why? Because he was told to.

Some people have claimed Addison was "free-lancing" and had somehow convinced himself that what he was saying was true.

That explanation doesn’t stand scrutiny.

Even if you allow that somehow, against all the evidence to the contrary, Addison was convinced on March 24 that a “horrific crime” had occurred, you’re still left with the problem of why he then went for days as DPD spokesperson shilling the “crime” and “wall of silence” falsehoods.

Why didn’t, for example, on March 25 Addison’s supervisor, Maj. Russ, direct him to say that DPD was doing what the N&O reported on Feb. 12 it was doing with regard to the recent rape allegation: “Police are investigating allegations that a [woman] was raped at an off-campus party?”

Why didn’t Russ on March 25 direct Addison to tell the public that the players had been very cooperative with police?

Just the day before, for example, all 46 lacrosse players had complied with the nontestimonial order that they submit to DNA testing and mug shot and torso photos which required them to strip to their waists and hold their arms away from their sides.

Every one of the 46 players, including some who weren’t even in Durham the night of March 13/14, could have, as individuals, appealed the order. But none did. Suspects can’t be more cooperative than that, as Russ and Addison know.

As for the "free-lancing" argument, police department spokespersons must be very careful about what they say and it must be cleared with both the investigating officers and “higher ups.”

If a police spokesperson goes “off message” on a critical matter, he or she has to quickly correct, or someone else does it for the department.

The Duke lacrosse case was a very critical matter. But Addison didn’t self-correct; nor did anyone from DPD step forward and correct his falsehoods.

That tells us Addison’s falsehoods were “on message.”

So now let’s ask: Who approved Addison’s shilling those falsehoods? And why?

I don’t believe Addison’s work was part of a DPD directed plan. I believe his work, while of course known to Russ and everyone else in DPD, was part of a cut-out operation in which certain Durham police officers participated but the cut-out was not directed by DPD.

It was directed by DA Mike Nifong and he was responsible for Addsion’s falsehoods.

Nifong may not himself have directly told Addison what to say. Others may have done some or even all of that. Tomorrow I’ll discuss who those people might be.

But Nifong had to be signing off on everything Addison said during those critical days starting on March 24 and continuing through at least March 28, when Addison distributed the CrimeStoppers “Wanted” poster.

March 24 is the day Durham police officers were ordered to report directly to Nifong. Had he wanted to, he could have stopped Addison’s falsehoods just as easily as he directed the “no wrong choices” photo ID and the withholding of the exculpatory DNA evidence.

In the next day or two I’ll report on certain DPD actions with regard to the CrimeStoppers “Wanted” poster, as well as possible legal actions which may be brought against Addison, Durham police and Durham City as a result.

I plan to end the series with a third post discussing what Addison might be able to contribute to the public’s and law enforcement agencies’ understanding of how the witch hunt developed and how the players were framed. Addison has a great deal to tell us.

I’ll also discuss in that last post what I see as the extremely exposed position Addison’s in as regards any investigation by public law enforcement agencies as well as civil suits which might be brought against him.