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."
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.
He said...you said..I said...When words are out of context, they can be twisted anyway you want
"Hey n_____ thank your granddad for my cotton shirt ?"
Explain how that can be twisted.
There were enough players there to know whether or not that was said. I just want to know if this account is true. The defense will not say.
He won't win in 2006. A white guy running against black people; he's currently an appointee and an underdog.. What a dumb@ss
What is a ringer? Someone you don't agree with?
Your silliness is too much. Some people have jobs and goals.
What worries me is what this is going to do to race relations if what we suspect is true.
Sounds like I struck a nerve.
People can go and read the moderator changes that you pointed out as NOT being factual..
They can read and see you had no reason to make petty comments - AGAIN
I agree, but once indicted, I can understand a defendant with exculpatory evidence ( a solid alibi) wanting to get it out as soon as possible. These are kids and the parents must be beside themselves. Maybe the attorneys couldn't reign them in?
Thank you!
I'm soooo jealous! A grandson.....I NEED to be a grandma! But since none of my 3 sons are yet married....I guess that's a good thing I'm not! Selfish dang kids...lol
Grand jury met/true-billed on April 17
Kim deal signed off on by Nifong on April 17
Did Kim testify before the grand jury, and did Nifong hold off on the sweetheart deal until she had done so?
Perhaps, the attorneys for Finnerty and Seligmann do not know specifically whether racial slurs were used or, if so, what racial slurs were used because their clients were not present when any slurs were made.
In my younger (teen) days I fancied myself a feminist; now, no way! It's exactly this kind of twist-onself-into-knots hypocrisy that has lost me.
Good questions.
"And that's an attack on 250 million American citizens."
and their Constitution.
What yesterday or the day before I was here to use FreeRepublic to get a story out PRO-LAX players.
Today,, I'm here to make this all about me.
I'm going to do some work - produce. Don't take my absence as not responding to you for any reason.
I have work to do.
Excuse me---
You are so new around here. You have absolutely NO ground to stand on!!
You're actually on very thin ice. You've been asked repeatedly to provide links for your supposed inside information.
You need to make sure the info you provide is true. We are not a gossip site.....
Howlin does not want to be in charge of everything, she just wants facts-not gossip-not innuendo. Get over it!
If the DA/MSM hadn't leaked out that ALLEGED comment, you'd not be following this case, I suspect.
Maybe the neighbors roomie said it? Maybe a passerby said it? Maybe it wasn't said at all? The witness is a proven liar.....why believe her about anything?
Hey Howlin....We love you. Don't know if we would have made it to Baghdad without you keeping us awake. And then, there's "ceegar man"!! :-)
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