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.
They said the cab driver told them that Lacrosse players parents have been there to question him, Defense lawyers and their investigators have questioned him, and many reporters have interviewed him. But, as of this morning, he still hasn't got a phone call or anything from the authorities in the case.
Is anyone surprised?
Here's an earlier account from Bissey:
JASON BISSEY, LIVES NEXT DOOR TO ALLEGED CRIME SCENE: I noticed a car drive up and two young women get out, met with the gentleman and then walked back to the back of the house. Two young women, one of them dressed in a short skirt and high heels, and the other woman was dressed a little more conservatively spoke with the gentleman outside of this door here briefly, and then at this point, all of the young men were inside. They spoke amongst themselves for about five minutes or so and then entered the house.
And at that point, I went inside to take a shower. And when I came out, this entire alley was full of men kind of yelling, and I overheard a lot of talk about getting money back and the money they'd spent or whatever. And the young women were back in the car in front, and one of the young men was leaning into the driver's side door, speaking with her. But at that point, the situation seemed to calm down a little bit, and they were able, I guess, to convince one of the girls to go back inside.
And that's at the point where I overheard her talking about going back and getting her shoe. So the young ladies went back into the house, and at that point, nobody was out in the alley. The situation seemed pretty calm. And I was back in the house, just kind of hanging out, checking my e-mail and stuff, and I overheard the situation starting to boil up again outside.
And at that point, the young women were coming back out of the house, getting into the car and driving away. And there were a lot of young men running this way, towards Duke's east campus. And that's the point, when the girls were driving off, that I overheard the racial slur. One of the young men yelled, Hey, "expletive," thank your grandpa for my nice cotton shirt.
And within two minutes, everything was totally dispersed, everybody was gone, and the police showed up shortly thereafter.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12096835/
Jason Bissey
And this is from Kim Robert's "my friends" site.
Christopher
Christopher"s in California. At Bissey's site, Bissey states he's "into world domination via Durham".
I had to go back and look at the photos, at first I thought they looked alike, then not, then yes, then not...
Oh well, a small world, and perhaps it is true that all "whites" look alike. Not.
Favorite show is West Wing. Tells you a lot.
That's because as soon as the DA investigates/discovers exculpatory evidence he is obligated to report it to the defense and Nifong knows that that could lead to charges being dismissed.
My guess is that by next week Nifong will be throwing the strippers under the bus and saying that he was duped.
Yup, say he drops Read off at 12:40, he could be back in front of the house at around 12:47.
At 12:42, the guys toss the AV into the blue Honda (photo is snapped) with Kim in the driver's seat.
Now maybe at this point Kim gets out of the car and walks back up the alley; maybe KIM WAS the one who picked up AV's purse off the ground (overlooking the makeup purse and cellphone) with the AV's $400 in it. She's yelling and screaming at the guys and emerges out front again at 12:47, just as Mostafa is pulling up.
Then the scene unfolds as Mostafa describes.
I agree that these were a bunch of immature brats who've probably never been told "no" in their lives, but it doesn't mean they're guilty of rape. I do think that the team captains (who apparently lived in the house) and one of whom organized the party and called the escort service using an assumed name, bear a lot of responsiblity for what happened (not criminal, but certainly moral). The two indicted players are sophomores and the captains, who are seniors, should never have put them or the rest of the team in this position. Just a total lack of leadership and one that shamed their team and their university.
You said,
"Bissey doesn't like the lax guys. He's going to color his testimony in favor of the prosecution."
Exactly. The way I understand it is the open container violations and underage drinking violations were mostly when Bissey and his wife kept calling the cops on the team - repeatedly. I've always wondered how that would look in court. He's not impartial; he's engaged in an ongoing feud.
In fact, Bissey said he came out onto his front porch. Is that why the players ran? They are arguing with the strippers and being loud at 1:00 am and they see Bissey - they figure he's calling the cops, let's get out of here.
.
All accounts to date that I have read say that Kim arrived first and Crystal arrived approximately 30 minutes later. If Kim waited outside in her car until Crystal arrived and they both went into the house together, then that part could be what Bissey saw and he just assumed that they had arrived together.
Bissey
Heroes: Barak Obama
/figures
He won't entertain dropping anything til after the election, that much, we know.
But, I'm starting to think he's certifiable. I read where a member of the bar blasted him this morning - saying he was a disgrace (or something close).
Don't forget Nifong has already announced that he is going to PERSONALLY try this case - a case of this magnitude, I believe he said.
I'm not so sure he's doesn't have visions of being a National Media darling after a Durham jury hands him the convictions.
The Defense attorneys are saying that he's staked out his position and he's going forward regardless.
Any info available on what kind of work Bissey does?
Yesss... he probably picks up his talking points meme from West Wing.
I honestly tried watching the show: Felt like I was back in Marin or SF inside another clueless lefty party amid self-aborbed "dialoguing" going on constantly. No plot, no direction: non-stop "dialoguing".... in such inventive and creative and artistic flair de self manners....
Bissey ...
Jason Bissey, who was on his porch next door during the party, saw the victim that night. He said Friday that he wishes he had called police at the first sign something was wrong.
He saw at least 30 men go into the white three-bedroom house, which Duke officials say is rented by three lacrosse team captains.
Bissey saw two women arrive and, after they were in the house 20 minutes, come out. As they got into a car, men shouted, Bissey said.
"Some of them were saying things like, 'I want my money back,' " Bissey said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/421799.html
Do you think it is possible that Bissey supplied the name of the Escort Service? I know this is way out in left field... but, um.. leave no stone unturned.
From his MySpace page: "devoted to pork and its delicious derivatives. and, additionally, alliteration."
Alliteraton. As in limp wristed loser laments lack of lacrosse in his own lame life?
The Convict-Stripper twins have lied so much, the girls could've arrived together.
Kim calls her, her "black girlfriend" twice on 911 calls, and then either her or her lawyer referred to Crystal as her friend. I heard that on a TV interview.
We only have the Convict-Stripper twins WORD that they didn't know each other before that night. It seems they became friendly awlful fast.
I had noticed early on that the Neighbor (on Rita Cosby's show) said that they arrived in the SAME car and he even described what each was wearing. He had the time right.
The Convict cell-mates wouldn't lie, would they?
Nancy says women don't do things like that.
One of the staff of West Wing and a native of Concord, NC, ran against incumbent Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) w/donations from the West Wing cast. She lost the election.
Pop's grill guy?
Jason's Details
Status: Single
Here for: Networking, Dating, Serious Relationships, Friends
Orientation: Straight
Hometown: Urbana, IL; Columbia, MO; Montpelier, VT; Boston
Body type: 6' 4" / Average
Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Religion: Taoist
Zodiac Sign: Pisces
Smoke / Drink: Yes / Yes
Children: Someday
Education: College graduate
Occupation: fooder
Income: Less than $30,000
Jason's Schools
New England Culinary Institute
Montpelier,Vermont
Graduated: N/A
Student status: Alumni
Degree: None
Major: fooding.
2003 to 2003
University Of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia,Missouri
Graduated: 2002
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Art History
1999 to 2002
Urbana High School
Urbana,Illinois
Graduated: 1998
Student status: Alumni
1995 to 1998
Jason's Companies
Rue Cler
Durham, NC US
the guy behind the guy
soon-whenever
Trattoria Strada Nova
Columbia, MO US
garde-manger guy
2002-2003
Flora
Arlington, MA US
saute guy
10/2003-9/2004
Pop's
Durham, NC US
grill guy
10/2004-present
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.