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.
ROFL!
Excellent point and one I certainly hadn't considered.
Assuming the ATM and cab ride info is true, the defense attorneys may have been sitting on the info intentionally until they found out who was going to be indicted.
If they had divulged the information earlier, it would have given the victim a heads-up so she would be able to pick out two others. This is yet another example why it is best to not be too cooperative with the cops if you, and others, are innocent. Force the DA to lay all his cards on the table first, so he is stuck with his story.
A book of your trade secrets would rocket to the top of the Best Seller list, MM.
It is quite amazing what the NAGS have done to this country.
If I had a son, I'd tell him to get something in writing before he touched any woman now.
Of course, she could always claim that was DURESS.
Oh, good post!
See post 1143.
I agree. Thanks.
Oh my, I just envisioned you perusing the latest Victoria's Secret catalog. ;-)
I agree; I wonder who Lucky Number 3 is.
And I wonder what else the defense has.
She had “signs, symptoms, and injuries consistent with being raped and sexually assaulted vaginally and anally,” according to a district attorney’s affidavit.
How blissful is that?
Trust me: that's not gonna happen.
Torie, did you notice who drove the boys to jail today?
Yes. Any forced movement of a person from one location to another location that puts them in greater peril is a kidnap. The distance involved in a kidnap case can be as little as a couple of feet.
From a practical sense, it's common to charge any included offense initially to offer more options for bargaining later, I'm surprised the DA missed 'littering' for those nails.
My HS Junior sure won't be playing lacrosse in a racially divided college town....
It is believed that at least one of the men's defenses will include an alibi that says he was not even at the house at the time of the alleged assault.It seems that the accuser will have to change her time-line again to get around the alibis of these young men
Any real woman knows how to handle unwanted male advances. My theory about man-hating feminists making claims of sexual harassment is that they want want others to know that they finally got some male attention.
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