Posted on 04/11/2006 4:57:58 AM PDT by Perdogg
DURHAM -- Long-awaited DNA testing failed to link Duke lacrosse players to the alleged gang rape of an exotic dancer at an off-campus party last month, lawyers defending the athletes announced Monday.
None of the men's DNA was on the inside or outside of the woman's body or on her clothing or belongings, the lawyers said.
"This test clears these young men conclusively," Durham lawyer Bill Thomas said. "It is our hope that none of these young men will have to face criminal charges resulting from these allegations."
But District Attorney Mike Nifong, who has said he is "convinced" a rape occurred, immediately downplayed the significance of the test results and held open the possibility of charges being filed.
"There are no new developments and when there are new developments, we'll schedule a press conference," Nifong said in one interview.
Asked again later, he added: "The investigation is proceeding and I expect to have all the information I need within a week."
A Durham police spokeswoman, in response to a series of questions about how the test results could affect the investigation, said only, "The Police Department is still actively investigating this case."
Meanwhile, a lawyer close to the case, who declined to be identified, said the DNA tests returned Monday afternoon from the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab were not all-inclusive. Another lab also is analyzing the DNA samples and those results are not available yet, the lawyer said.
The alleged victim's mother said she doubted the SBI test results' credibility.
"I don't have a reaction because I know it happened," the woman's mother said Monday night at her home. "They must have tampered with [the results] or something."
The Herald-Sun does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual assaults. The mother's name also is being withheld because identifying the mother would identify the alleged victim.
Defense attorneys said Monday the lacrosse players were pleased but not surprised by the negative DNA results.
"When you haven't done anything wrong, you're not surprised if the evidence shows you haven't done anything wrong," lawyer Joe Cheshire said.
But UNC law professor Rich Rosen said the test results don't entirely clarify the situation.
"There's certainly no way this helps the prosecution," Rosen said. "It's clear that if I'm a defense attorney, this is a good result. Whether it's a definitive result or not, we'll have to wait and see."
Monday evening's announcement capped more than two weeks of blazing local and national media attention to a case that has rocked the community, led to the resignation of Duke's lacrosse coach and forced the cancellation of a potentially championship-winning season.
The defense lawyers hailed the DNA results as a strong challenge to the alleged victim's account of what happened the night of March 13-14 at a lacrosse team party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., across from Duke's East Campus.
Thomas said investigators found none of the alleged victim's DNA in a bathroom where she claimed she was raped, sodomized, kicked, beaten and strangled by three lacrosse players during the party.
No lacrosse players' DNA was found beneath her fingernails, the defense lawyers said -- though the application for a court order to obtain the players' DNA samples said the victim "was clawing at one of the suspect's arms in an attempt to breathe while being strangled."
"There is no evidence other than the word of this one complaining person that any sexual assault took place," Cheshire said at a press conference on the steps of the Durham County Judicial Building. "No assault occurred. This [DNA report] says that loud and clear. ... It is a very dramatic [DNA] report. It shows they are innocent."
Thomas said the allegations have been a nightmare for the players and their families.
"They really can't believe this happened to them," he said. "It's been a long, painful and horrible experience."
In all, police took DNA samples from 46 of 47 players. The 47th was black. The woman said her three attackers were white.
No one has been charged in the case. Nifong had said earlier that waiting for DNA results would be prudent, even though he was convinced a rape took place.
On Monday, Cheshire, Thomas and others held a news conference less than two hours after Nifong received the test results from the state crime lab and passed them to the defense team.
"Thank goodness for DNA," defense lawyer Wade Smith said. "DNA makes it a safer world. Let's hope the prosecutor will put much stock in this [DNA] report."
The application for the court-ordered DNA tests, signed by an assistant district attorney, said: "The DNA evidence requested will immediately rule out any innocent persons, and show conclusive evidence as to who the suspect(s) are in the alleged violent attack upon this victim."
But the D.A.'s position has changed since the DNA samples were collected March 23.
On March 30, Nifong said, "In this instance, we wouldn't have as strong a case without DNA, but it wouldn't necessarily be a no-case situation either."
He also announced he probably wouldn't make the test results public, even though the defense team would have almost immediate access to them.
Nifong added then that even if there were no DNA matches, it still would be "absolutely possible" that charges might be filed.
Nifong also has said he might be able to pursue charges if the exotic dancer could identify her alleged assailants. But he has not disclosed whether she actually has done so.
Smith said Monday that, given the negative DNA results, there was no reason for Nifong to continue with the case.
"It's not necessary for him to do that," the Raleigh lawyer said. "He doesn't have to do that. He is a man of discretion. We hope now that Mr. Nifong will announce he is not going to pursue this case further. There was no sexual assault in this case. Perhaps this community can begin to heal."
Cheshire agreed.
"I would hope the community would embrace this [DNA] report and understand why we've been talking about the presumption of innocence and rush to judgment," he said.
According to Cheshire, DNA would have been left even if the alleged attackers used condoms.
Nifong has said previously that a medical examination of the victim by a specially trained nurse at Duke University Hospital found evidence consistent with her account of what she said happened to her.
But defense lawyers said photographs showed the woman had cuts, bruises and other injuries when she arrived at the house party, and long before she claimed to have been raped. Her vaginal and anal trauma might have occurred whenever she received the other injuries, some suggested.
Meanwhile, Thomas and two other lawyers told The Herald-Sun over the weekend that an unidentified student took time-stamped photos on the night of the alleged rape.
According to Thomas, they showed the exotic dancer trying to get back inside the Buchanan Boulevard house after she allegedly was assaulted. She had a broad smile on her face but then fell down at a back door as if she were intoxicated or asleep, Thomas said.
Rosen, the UNC law professor, said the problem anyone from the outside faces in weighing the case is that only part of the evidence available to the two sides is in the public domain, Rosen said.
Even given the DNA results, "There are a number of different findings that can be there," Rosen said. "One is that they found semen that didn't belong to one of the players. Or they could have found that there was no semen there -- in which case, it would depend on what [the alleged victim] said, whether the men were wearing condoms or not."
Rosen -- whose efforts on behalf of Ronald Junior Cotton in 1995 helped produce the state's first DNA-based exoneration of a man wrongfully convicted of rape -- added that DNA testing isn't always the key to solving criminal cases, even rape cases.
Sampling and testing technology has improved tremendously, even to the point where a DNA specimen can be drawn from a fingerprint, Rosen said. But there are still times when authorities can't gather enough of a sample to allow scientists to do their work.
"I don't know we're at the point yet when there will always be something left that can be tested," he said.
Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, agreed.
"The truth is if you speak to crime lab directors, they will tell you that in only a relatively small number of cases is there any DNA evidence," Neufeld said. "In rape cases there is an expectation of DNA, but like many expectations, often it is misplaced."
Dawn Sherwood, the mother of the team's only black player, 18-year-old goalie Devon Sherwood, said she's not worried about what experts think about the evidence.
"You can find an expert to say whatever it is you want to say," she said. "It's a victory for the young men. I know they're not out of the woods, but I see it as a victory."
Robert Archer, whose son, Breck, is a member of the lacrosse team, said the test results only confirmed for parents what they already knew.
"I know the kids on the team and I know they're innocent," said Archer, of East Quogue, N.Y.
Nifong won't let this go away, lest the "whities" take the role of victim. I see an 8X10 of that happening.
i remember the days that DNA testing used to take months .... hmmm
Without DNA evidence I don't see how they can even decide who to charge. The main purpose of the DNA tests, to begin with, was in order to identify the supposed perps. Obviously, this identifies no one.
Maybe the lying whore will just randomly pick out three of them, but that case won't get too far if testimony ends up placing all of them elsewhere when the rape is supposedly happening.
I was instantly skeptical of the charges myself. It didn't fit together for me, and evidently for good reason..
If the glove don't fit, you MUST aquit!.............
Perhaps Ronnie Earle would have an idea for the local DA.
I don't understand why she can't identify the three that attacked her. I'm sure there is a team program handed out at games with players names and pictures. Why are they accusing 46 players?
As I understand it, they tested all but the one black player, to ensure that the direction of the pointy finger couldn't change. Who knows if that was the precise reasoning behind it, but it was a good idea, imo.
My guess is because it's tough to identify someone who did something that was never done..
I just heard an attorney interviewed on the radio who said that if this story is accurate than the case is over.
Hopefully at some point they will think about prosecuting the lying slut. She deserves to do hard time.
Boy, was Michael Savage right on this one! ...just another attack by the leftists on men, especially white men! Their reputations were damaged forever by this bold and outrageous charge! What is going on on our campuses?
"The mother's name also is being withheld because identifying the mother would identify the alleged victim."
Thanks for the translation from reporter to reportee.
Let's see if I have this right:
The 47 players suspended.
The coach fired.
The Lacross program (one of the best in the country) ended.
Does this sound like a rush to judgement (by Duke U.)?
How do they get their reputations back?
I see white debils!
Getting good results from DNA testing of samples from under fingernails is notoriously difficult. It is not surprising that no matches were obtained. At this point, IMHO the DNA tests don't exhonorate the la crosse players.
I was thinking the same thing!
Twana Brawley all over again.........We can expect Sharpton and Jesse to show any day now.......
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.