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.
I looked at smokinggun.....the indictments are dated April 17th. The requests to seal the indictments are stamped April 10 and signed April 12.
Is that just an indication of when the papers were prepared? Legal dummy me would think the request could not be filed until after the indictment.
Ah, if you're holding the stem and the match then it's ok to send your child to school in a town that is a powder keg. :-)
Why would they even seal the indictment in this case?
They probably wouldn't want to. But kids will go anyway. And apply the things they've learned.
Yep, orally ...
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/31/ng.01.html
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE INTERNET REPORTER: Well, Nancy, I just want to tell everyone who`s tuned in at home, these are extremely graphic, so if you want to just turn away for a few seconds? The victim stated she tried to leave the three males. Forcefully, they held her legs, arms and sexually assaulted her anally, vaginally and orally. She was hit, kicked, strangled, and during the assault, attempted to defend herself but was overpowered. She was sexually assaulted for an approximate 30-minute time period.
Yes, but he says he's holding off until he has absolute certainly .. as with the previous two ... with the receipts.
If the accuser identified two of the students that had already left, the stripper will make the DA look a fool.
One of the players' sister comments about the party
April 6, 2006To gain a better perspective on the situation at Duke, I contacted a good friend of mine from high school whose brother is on the Duke lacrosse team. My friend chose to remain anonymous to protect her brother. Needless to say, her description of the situation at Duke does not match the media’s portrayal.
According to her brother, the events at the house didn’t transpire exactly as the media has portrayed them. She agrees that the party was a “lacrosse party,” but says that her brother, along with many of his teammates, left the house before the dancer arrived. By his estimates, less than half the team was at the house when the incident occurred. The media has largely ignored these details.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0418061duke1.html
Lack of ties to Durham-a flight risk.
As of this morning, the DA has lost control of this case; he is no longer in charge; to the judge, both sides are equal under the law and are entitled to the SAME information.
North Carolina is an open discovery state, so the defense will get to see whatever he has.
I said it last night and I'll say it again: I bet they are going to ask for a speedy trial in Durham.
And they are going to pulverize him.
you meant "lacrosse" of course.
I was reading those and noticed the dates, also. And why were the accused not charged with attempted murder? I thought the dirty dancer claimed that she was strangled?
Heh!
Of all the impressions I'm under, and there are many, no, that is not one of them. Although I find your assurance comforting.
In this context, 'hope' and 'certainty' just don't seem to go together.
The request to seal the indictments, if there were any, came from the defense; it was a preemptive strike to keep Nifong from having them do a perp walk.
These guys do NOT play.
Cut him some slack. His father died last week.
To keep Nifong from sending ten cars with screaming sirens (and camera crews) for the longed for perp walk.
I think the DA has already done a pretty good job of that all on his own. He doesn't need her help. :-)
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