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2nd Duke party dancer now questions doubts about accuser
Daily Comet & AP ^ | April 21, 2006 | ALLEN G. BREED

Posted on 04/21/2006 12:56:01 AM PDT by OakOak

Edited on 04/21/2006 2:52:00 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

At first, a stripper who performed at a Duke University lacrosse team party doubted the story of a colleague who told police she was dragged into a bathroom and raped.

Now, Kim Roberts isn't so sure.

"I was not in the bathroom when it happened, so I can't say a rape occurred - and I never will," Roberts told The Associated Press Thursday in her first on-the-record interview. But after watching defense attorneys release photos of the accuser, and upset by the leaking of both dancers' criminal pasts, she said she has to "wonder about their character."

"In all honesty, I think they're guilty," she said. "And I can't say which ones are guilty ... but somebody did something besides underage drinking. That's my honest-to-God impression."

Attorneys for the 46 players have aggressively proclaimed the players' innocence, citing DNA tests during a public campaign that has included describing and releasing photos from the party.

Those photos, the defense maintains, show the accuser was both injured and impaired when she arrived, and also support the claim that one of the two players who has been indicted would not have had enough time to participate in any assault before he left the party. The district attorney has said he also hopes to charge a third suspect in the case.

The attorneys claim Roberts at first told a member of the defense team that she did not believe the accuser's allegations. They say she has changed her story to gain favorable treatment in a criminal case against her. They note she also e-mailed a New York public relations firm, asking in her letter for advice on "how to spin this to my advantage."

"We believe ... her story has been motivated by her own self-interest," said attorney Bill Thomas, who represents one of the uncharged players. "I think that a jury will ultimately have to decide the question of her credibility."

Roberts, 31, was arrested on March 22 - eight days after the party - on a probation violation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company in Durham where she was a payroll specialist, according to documents obtained by the AP.

On Monday, the same day a grand jury indicted lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, a judge agreed to a change so that Roberts would no longer have to pay a 15 percent fee to a bonding agent. District Attorney Mike Nifong signed a document saying he would not oppose the change.

"It seems she is receiving very favorable financial treatment for what she is now saying," Thomas said.

Mark Simeon, Roberts' attorney, said the bond conditions were changed because Roberts is not considered a flight risk. Nifong, who hasn't spoken with reporters about the case in weeks, didn't return a call seeking comment.

Roberts' testimony could be vital during any trial of the two sophomores, indicted on charges of first-degree rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.

Other than lacrosse players and the accuser, a 27-year-old student at a nearby university, Roberts is believed to be the only other person at the March 13 party.

Roberts said Thursday she does not remember Seligmann's face, but said she recalls seeing Finnerty - whom she described as the "little skinny one."

"I was looking him right in the eyes," she said.

Although she would not talk extensively about the party, she confirmed some of what the other dancer told police - including that the women initially left the party after one of the players threatened to sodomize the women with a broomstick.

The players' attorneys have said their clients were angry and demanded a refund when the women stopped dancing, but Roberts disputed that.

"They ripped themselves off when they started hollering about a broomstick," she said.

The accuser told police that the women were coaxed back into the house with an apology, at which point they were separated. That's when she said she was dragged into a bathroom and raped, beaten and choked for a half hour.

Later, police received a 911 call from a woman complaining that she had been called racial slurs by white men gathered outside the home where the party took place. The defense has said it believes the second dancer at the party made that call.

Roberts then drove the accuser - whom she reportedly had just met that night - to a grocery store and asked a security guard to call 911. The accuser was described later by a police officer as "just passed-out drunk."

The defense timeline is backed up by a cab driver who said Seligmann called for a ride at 12:14 a.m., and was picked up five minutes later. The defense argues that if the dancers were performing around midnight, Seligmann would not have had enough time to participate in the 30-minute assault described by the accuser.

The cabbie, Moez Mostafa, also said he saw a woman leaving the party in anger, and overheard someone say, "She just a stripper. She's going to call the police."

"She looked, like, mad," he said of the woman. "In her face, the way she walked, the way she talked, she looked like mad."

On Thursday, authorities released warrants detailing their search earlier this week of Finnerty's dorm room. Seized during the search were a newspaper article and an envelope addressed to Finnerty.

Also Thursday, 5W Public Relations, a New York firm that specializes in "crisis communication," distributed an e-mail signed "The 2nd Dancer," and Roberts confirmed she sent it after learning the AP knew her identity.

"I've found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country," she wrote. "I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage."

Ronn Torossian, 5W's president, said he replied, but got no response.

"If this person is indeed who they say they are, I would be happy to speak with her," said Torossian, whose firm has represented the likes of Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ice Cube and Lil' Kim.

Roberts, like the accuser a divorced single mother who is black, took umbrage at the notion that she should not try to make something out of her experience. She's worried that once her name and criminal record are public, no one will want to hire her.

"Why shouldn't I profit from it?" she asked. "I didn't ask to be in this position ... I would like to feed my daughter."

Roberts is bracing for an all-out attack, but said she's almost past caring.

"Don't forget that they called me a damn n####," she said. "She (the accuser) was passed out in the car. She doesn't know what she was called. I was called that. I can never forget that."


BLOCKBUSTER !! KIM's a GEM !!

Roberts, 31, was arrested on March 22 - eight days after the party - on a probation violation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company in Durham where she was a payroll specialist, according to documents obtained by the AP.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: da; dancer; duke; dukelax; durham; lacrosse; lax; rape
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To: Jrabbit; Carolinamom

89 is Greek to me!


541 posted on 04/21/2006 10:20:53 AM PDT by Howlin
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To: Howlin

nooooooooooooo....I was relying on you to explain it!!

Woe is me...


542 posted on 04/21/2006 10:22:18 AM PDT by Jrabbit (Kaufman County, Texas)
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To: Howlin; investigateworld

Investigate, have you looked at #89 ? Surely YOU can make heads or tails of a rap sheet. None of the rest of us can.


543 posted on 04/21/2006 10:22:33 AM PDT by Warren_Piece (Smart is easy. Good is hard.)
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To: Howlin; All

There's a site somewhere...link is upthread somewhere....head spinning from so many of them...LOL...BUT it gives each case and the codes for their resolutions. Does anyone remember or know of the URL for the site?


544 posted on 04/21/2006 10:23:07 AM PDT by Carolinamom (Daily legal immigrant to FreeRepublic.com)
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To: Neverforget01

She might have called them too. The guy on dayside was dogging whether or not they talked on the phone. But I am guessing she just sent out emails to multiple firms first. Maybe she already went with another firm and that is why this email was leaked.


545 posted on 04/21/2006 10:23:59 AM PDT by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: Jrabbit
On post #89....somewhere it says 36 months. Is that for the embezzlement?

She was sentenced to community service and received a suspended sentence with 36 months probation in 12/01. The probation should have ended in 12/04, but what I can tell from the computer database, on 8/11/03 she violated (or was sentenced for violating) probation due to a DUI, where she tested positive for a .16 blood alcohol count. At that time probation appears to have beem modified, probably extended but I can't really tell. It also looks like she failed to appear or report in 2004- the data is a little hard to read, especially for someone from out of state.

546 posted on 04/21/2006 10:25:05 AM PDT by LWalk18
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To: Howlin
Why did this firm distribute that email?

Because before they did, nobody knew who they were. Now we all do. They haven't done business with her. Nor will they. Clients pay PR firms to handle them, does this woman look like she has the means to pay anybody? Is she going to cash in on the talk shows? Unlikely now that she is being completely exposed. She should have kept her mouth shut and looked for a literary agent. She could have had someone ghost write a quicky book that would have made her some money.

547 posted on 04/21/2006 10:25:48 AM PDT by GallopingGhost
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To: LK44-40

Oh my! Have you contacted Social Services, or the elder abuse dept of the local LE? Don't know of any online services offhand, but someone here should.

Good luck getting rid of that scumbucket!!


548 posted on 04/21/2006 10:26:10 AM PDT by TheSpottedOwl (I care for my pets better than Vincente Fox cares for his own citizens)
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To: Howlin
I feel like we're in a parallel universe. Is this REALLY what the real world is like? Am I that sequestered?

I feel the same way often.

549 posted on 04/21/2006 10:26:23 AM PDT by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: Warren_Piece

The key part of your phrase is "based on what we know"
None of the players (including the photo taker ) will give a an account of exactly what took place that night.
The defense is releasing tidbits of info designed to create reasonable doubt, instead of just telling us "What the f--- happened" according their clients. This is fishy.
I still want to know why the defense will not directly answer the question of whether or not racial slurs were used


550 posted on 04/21/2006 10:28:16 AM PDT by Jay Gould
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To: pepperhead

Maybe the PR firm recognized she was a PR nightmare and couldn't pay them a dime.


551 posted on 04/21/2006 10:28:33 AM PDT by Neverforget01 (Proud enemy of the drive-by-media)
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To: LWalk18

Well, thank you for trying. It all looks like gibberish to me. Lots of offenses named...domestic violence, enhanced firearm, embezzlement, sex offender...but do they all pertain to her? If so, for the life of me, I don't understand why she's not in jail.


552 posted on 04/21/2006 10:28:40 AM PDT by Jrabbit (Kaufman County, Texas)
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To: Crawdad
"If he has botched this up, he's not going to be on alot of speed-dials of local criminals."

I remember one of my former colleagues who went on to a career in private practice. Some one said, rather uncharitably but in jest, that he put more people in jail as a defense attorney than he ever did as a prosecutor. But you do make a good point, he may screw up his own retirement plan by looking like a loser!
553 posted on 04/21/2006 10:29:04 AM PDT by Law is not justice but process
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To: OakOak

NiFong cut her a deal. Gives me the feeling that there's someone/something in the background that we don't know about. She's related to "somebody" with some pull....or has something on the DA and all his buddies.


554 posted on 04/21/2006 10:29:44 AM PDT by Sacajaweau (God Bless Our Troops!!)
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To: GallopingGhost

The things I am learning...


555 posted on 04/21/2006 10:30:26 AM PDT by Howlin
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To: Warren_Piece
RE: * 89.

I've looked at it and it is a totally different format from my state.
Looks like a check the box thingy; IE :"Sexual offender? "

Best I can make of it she picked up a Felony embezzlement, got 3 years probation, community service, restitution etc.
Looks like at some point she got her probation extended for ?
Maybe drunk driving, or failure to pay restitution?
Domestic violence?
556 posted on 04/21/2006 10:30:33 AM PDT by investigateworld (Abortion stops a beating heart)
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To: Jay Gould

Unlike prosecution witnesses, the defense has never waivered on the one important fact--NO sexual assault took place that night. It's up to the prosecution to prove otherwise.


557 posted on 04/21/2006 10:30:46 AM PDT by Neverforget01 (Proud enemy of the drive-by-media)
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To: GallopingGhost

I think they were ticked because she didn't reply to their return e-mail.

There is still hope for her, though. Gloria Allred was pimping her services on Greta last night. Probably would rather have the AV as a client, but will settle for the 2nd best, I'm sure.


558 posted on 04/21/2006 10:31:47 AM PDT by Jrabbit (Kaufman County, Texas)
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To: GAgal

If the defense goes to a judge and gets an order to compel discovery, he could be held in contempt for not providing it in a timely manner. The prosecutor can only drag his feet as long as the judge tolerates it.

It is April 21 and generally 10 days are required for notice of a hearing. Given April 29 and 30 are on a weekend, he could come close to running out the clock.


559 posted on 04/21/2006 10:32:06 AM PDT by Law is not justice but process
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To: Sacajaweau

"NiFong cut her a deal. Gives me the feeling that there's someone/something in the background that we don't know about. She's related to "somebody" with some pull....or has something on the DA and all his buddies."

I doubt that. Much more likely that she's an informant.


560 posted on 04/21/2006 10:32:27 AM PDT by Publius22
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