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.
Chill dude. (Dudette?) It's kind of an unwritten rule that we give a little deference to the long timers here. As long as I've been a FReeper, Howlin has been known as the Queen of the Live Thread. Since she's also somewhat local, and seems to have inside information, she IS the deFacto point person on this story.
Behave, and one day we'll tell you funny stories about the BagCam and Achmed Villa! But you have to be nice to the old-timers first!
What a great point. Can we guess that NiFong has someone's DNA from the medical evidence but can't tie it to any LAXers? Why would he even go to the private lab considering he keeps saying DNA doesn't mean anything? Is it possible that NiFond is as big of a tool as he looks?
"PRO-LAX players. "
Don't stay away too long, or the story will be about EX-LAX players...
;)
I hope our next war is in EDT.........LOL.
I have provided links for stuff that's been out there for days.. DAYS .. I'm not going to run and provide a link for you everytime you can't keep up. I did it yesterday or the day before.
You and your girlfriend want to challenge everything I say, well I'm not going to jump and keep give you links.
Look it up yourself or disregard it.
Newbie? Is there a Seniority system here. Unions have Seniortiy systems.. Are you a big UNION supporter. Like the Teacher's Unions.
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
Then why don't they say that? I would think if they did not hear or use this language they would deny it. Wouldn't you ?
You missed the point....Even if that was said...Was it proceeded by something she said that provoked it?? The charge is "rape" not what was said.
Thank God the weekend is here and the MSM will go off to the Hamptons....
My first post in here? I got chewed alive. That was so long ago. And sometimes, it still happens.
Normally, both sides are supposed to wait for the trial to say anything and that's in front of a jury. The only reason there's anything public is that the DA started out trying the case in public by releasing incriminating evidence as it came in. After that the defense had to play. The only people who's story has not changed is the defense. You simply cannot fault them for not telling their whole story.
I'll try one more time. I'm also new--I make tons of mistakes. It's best to apologize and move on; there are so many bright people here, don't shoot yourself in the foot..
Why would the defense laywers admit that their clients used racial slurs? That makes very little sense. I don't think anybody here really doubts that the LAXers were arguing with the hookers and probably did use the N word.
It's true; Howlin does like facts.
>>Newbie? Is there a Seniority system here<<
Pretty much.
I think we all get it, ok?
You have a problem with Howlin and 99% of the posters here don't. So, drop it. You lose.
They are not charged with saying racial slurs. If they were, the defense would address that issue, right before they filed a brief in Federal court to strike down that law as unconstitutional.
Being as they have been charged with RAPE, the defense has been relesing inforamtion that pertains to those charges.
That I do; and when I ask for them, when I get this kind of reaction, i.e., personal attacks, I'm pretty sure my first impressions are right.
Your mileage may vary. :-)
"I have an inside source on that one."
I do not want to compromise your source, but did he (or she) say the same evidence was tested or the same tests were being done? It is possible standard PCR testing might not have developed a profile from a hair or other small piece of evidence, whereas mitochondrial DNA might. Mitochondrial might also explain why it is taking so much longer.
Why? Is it relevent? If they did say it, does that make them guilty of rape?
Can you figure out the fingernails? Quite a bit of controversy on that one.
To me, you're all newbies! :-)
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