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.
Against her will.
It depends on how long they stay in college, LOL!
I remember that moment as well. Priceless! And I remember once when she reporting on an airline crase. She said "Most crashes happen moments before impact." I swear - her exact words!
Did she say orally too? I didn't know that. And yeah - what idiot would put ... well, I'll just leave it there.
And an unfortunate side effect of this case is that it sends a message to all who are not corporations subject to informal racial quotas "it will be a lesson to all, don't hire blacks. Bad things happen, like fake discrimination charges, fake sexual harassement, etc."
I don't think they know what linens are. Unless they think linens are something women wear.
Moments before impact. Oh, she's a piece of work. ROFL
I hadn't heard that one. Maybe that good one alone will get me by with my husband when he comes in from golf and sees I've done absolutely nothing today.
Well, that would make sense. Since "ejaculate" usually comes from males.
The guys who aren't charged? I think their lives are far from over. They aren't even being charged with drinking under age, and some of them could be.
Eeew! :)
I recall a male-held college party many years ago. I used the rest room (eeew!), washed my hands, and then used the towel (eeeeew eeeeeew!). I had to rewash my hands and dry them on my pants.
At the time of the assault.
I wonder if there are documented marks on her neck consistent with strangulation? Or did any of the boys have scratch marks on their arms?
I expect his inbox is not filled with alum *fan* mail at this time.
Well, I have gardening to do and I don't know how to make it look like I did it without doing it!
That's an easy one. Lacrosse programs cost money; Basketball generates millions.
*sigh*
One of her claims is that she struggled so hard to breath that her nails broke off.
JUST NOW, FOX had a brief bit on their news about the ATM receipts, etc.....proving they weren't there.
Is it premature to say....GOTCHA!
I truly hope they hold this woman accountable....
..they sure didn't for Cynthia McKinney!
Their team has been disbanded. They've received death threats. Women are outside the dorms and all over campsus saying things like "This is an assault on our womenhood".
Maybe that sounds like just another day at school to you. It sure sounds like hell to me.
I know a guy who got fired from the City of Seattle for sexual harrassment, and one of the allegations against him was that he jokingly spread his arms out in front of an elevator and told a woman in the elevator he wouldn't let her out unless she gave him a smile. The complaint against him described that act as "restraint," even though it was a joke and he never actually restrained the woman. The guy was a dufus, but not dangerous at all, but he was fired for stuff like putting his hand on women's shoulders.
I don't think there are any marks on her neck and assume the boys were checked out for scratch marks since the judge ordered they submit DNA. But I don't know.
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