Posted on 04/18/2006 3:26:57 AM PDT by Mad-Margaret
DURHAM -- A day after a grand jury indicted two Duke University lacrosse players in connection with a reported rape, two men emerged from a sheriff's deputy vehicle and were led, handcuffed, into the magistrates office at the Durham County Jail at 4:54 a.m. today.
The arrests stem from a party that began March 13. The accuser, who is a mother of two, an N.C. Central University student and an escort service dancer, told police March 14 that she was sexually assaulted by three men in a bathroom at an off-campus house shared by three lacrosse team captains. The accuser is black; she said her rapists were white.
Defense lawyers said players maintained that there was no sex at all. They said the accuser concocted the story, that she was drunk and injured late March 13 when she arrived at the three-bedroom house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.
"... Two young men have been charged with crimes they did not commit. This is a tragedy," Bob Ekstrand, who represents team players, said Monday in a prepared statement. "For the two young men, an ordeal lies ahead. They do not face it alone; they face it with the love of family and friends and strengthened by the truth. They are both innocent."
Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens sealed a manila envelope containing the indictments shortly after the grand jury finished its business Monday. The judge cited a state law that requires everyone involved in a case, including witnesses, to keep the indictment secret until a suspect is arrested.
Last month, a judge ordered DNA tests on the team's 46 white players; he excluded the only black team member. The players' attorneys say the tests showed none of the players' genetic material on or in the woman.
Nifong, bolstered by a medical exam that found injuries on the woman consistent with sexual assault, says he is confident that she was assaulted in the university-owned house. Nifong said last week at a forum at NCCU that the accuser identified at least one of her attackers.
Until Sunday night, the only other witness, the second woman hired to dance at the party, had remained silent. In television interviews, she told her story.
The woman's attorney, Mark Simeon of Durham, declined Monday to make her available for an interview. She spoke on the MSNBC cable news network, which did not identify her and showed her in silhouette. Simeon confirmed that it was his client on MSNBC.
The woman told MSNBC that she did not witness a rape and does not know whether one occurred.
The woman said she arrived thinking that she would be dancing at a bachelor party of 15 people. She was not expecting a party of lacrosse players, many of whom she said were in a drunken stupor. The woman said she was infuriated to learn that some players photographed her dancing.
The accuser did not appear to be on drugs or to have been drinking when she arrived, the second dancer said. She was "absolutely fine and in control of herself."
When the accuser left, less than an hour after she arrived, she was incoherent and stumbling, the second dancer said.
"She couldn't really walk on her own," the woman said. "She really couldn't get her thoughts together enough to answer any questions. ... She was a different person than I met at the beginning."
The second woman said she was the person who called 911 as the party was breaking up, to complain that some lacrosse players had used racial slurs. "The boys hollered the 'N' word," she said. "I was upset and called 911."
She said she pretended to be a passer-by because she didn't want people in her life to know about her job as an escort service dancer.
It is unclear how that woman's story would affect the case. Players' attorneys have said she would only help them. By day's end Monday, Nifong left without talking to reporters; it remains unclear what evidence he has.
Throughout Monday, there were many more reporters on the sixth floor of the courthouse than the 18 members of the grand jury panel. Reporters tracked the district attorney's movements in minute detail. Just after noon, Nifong emerged from his office and walked across the hallway to the bathroom.
Reporters surrounded the bathroom door in a crowd that included five television cameras, three still photographers, sound men with boom microphones and at least a dozen print reporters. At the sound of flushing, the group tensed, raised cameras and prepared. Nifong did not emerge with news.
"I no longer get to go anywhere in my community without people knowing who I am," said Nifong, who faces two challengers in a primary election May 2. Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.
DNA comes from more places than just a penis.
Great job, Peach.
BTW, ugly 70's wallpaper coat on the defense attorney. /meow
Good point. I don't know the answer to that.
Come on...Durham is a college town, which means it's chock full of far-left students and far-left professors, and I'm sure some of these far-lefties are also in the surrounding suburbs and rural areas. This DA just pandered to the far left with this modern-day lynching. REAL Americans believe in "innocent until proven guilty".
Cynical? Ya think?
meow here too :-)
Susan says she loves hearing about an alibi by the accused because once it's found not viable, you've won the case. Yikes.
SO you don't care if they (the dancers) said Racist things?
You don't care if they baited drunk guys to respond with insults?
If so, that says a lot.
.
Abrams: Alibis are often on eyewitness testimony. But they say they have receipts and videotape testimony which is pretty strong.
Oh. Well, call the caps whenever she became incapacitated, inside or outside. Is it clear she was not incapacitated inside? The only other thing I can think of, is to hire a reputable stripper, froma reputable company, and check out references. The background of this one was a bit checkered.
My point was that had these guys had any street smarts, they would not let this happen or put themselves into this situation.
I know that but not having DNA doesn't mean there wasn't a rape.
Ah! The old head-in-the-sand solution. Works every time.
The guy is running for election and bringing charges against some college kids with virtually no evidence, and he doesn't want to see what the defense is going to do?
Me too. Freaks me out, actually.
Guest: If the defense has a videotape with a timeline on it, that's pretty strong evidence. Timestamped photographs don't lie.
Sutton: The defense has tried to get to the DA's office with that info but haven't been able to do it yet.
I know. I do believe she was raped but not by any of those boys.
MSNBC onto the Aruba story.
Again, let me inject an awful thought here: Maybe to the accuser, all of them looked alike?
"It would seem pretty hard not to touch someone even if you're trying to do the things you've suggested."
I'm way out of my scientific field here but I would suprised if this could happen without leaving some kind of physical evidence. But I don't know how much contact it take to leave measurable DNA.
Good to see you in the thread. Could you clear something up for us? In the mugshots the players look terrible as they're not smiling.
Is a person allowed to smile in their mugshot if they want to or is it up to the police?
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