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.
What happened John Doe #3?
Guess she could only identify 2 of the attackers......you know, all those 'white boys' look the same. /s
Imagine had the stripper been white and the guys, black?? By now the charges would have been dropped.
I realize what you're saying, but with no DNA you can not make your case because there has to be physical contact with rape whether or not you use an object. This prosecutor is fishing, especially on the charge of kidnapping if this woman was not raped! If those boys are found innocent they ought to go after this prosecutor with a vengence of biblical proportions.
That doesn't happen very often. It generally costs a lot of money with a very low probability of success.
One would presume that, when the DNA samples were collected, there was no evidence to support that claim...
Yeah, you're right, I don't see many instances of this happening.
I seriously don't see what evidence can be presented to prove rape charges when the DNA clearly is not present on the alledge victim. Can DNA test results be wrong? How many cases with using DNA's result are proven opposite from what the DNA test results show?
'roofies'.
I can't remember the last time Jesse was on the right side of anything. And I'm glad at least one columnist is sick of Jesse; it's a start.
Only if you're OJ.
""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. "
Exactly what he wants. This is all an election year show.
I heard there was a towel in the bathroom with "ejaculate" on it. I am not sure what it proves or who it belongs to, but apparently it was tested.
When I heard this Judge Napolitano on Fox said it was really unusal that the tox screen wasn't done. You would think that it would be done immediately. Maybe it was and that is what the DA has up his sleeve. At the same time, she could have taken something herself. Ecstacy (sp) will do that to you, it takes away your inhibitions and is easy to get.
mark
mark
Did'nt Nifong submit his "evidence" for the charges of rape and larceny to the GJ? Now we learn that the 2 students are booked on charges of rape, kidnapping, and assault.
Sooooooo, what happened to the charge of larceny? Did the GJ reject that one?
There was, in their own bathroom. I don't mean to be crude but go into the bathrooms of college and high school boys and I'd bet you find the same thing in quite a few. If the attack was so violent,why not hair from any of the players on her clothing, and she supposedly scratched them until her fingernails fell off. That lawyer Wendy whatever said that because they had shirts on it would not leave a mark. Bull, if you scratch someone that hard you would at least leave a welt.
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