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.
Tucker slapped him last nite, questioned why he hadn't provided scholarships for other stripper students ;he never answered, jumped to another subject totally unrelated unrelated.
Yeah - I looked again at my remark and didn't phrase it right. I really didn't mean to criticize you. But after my father died 10 years ago, I couldn't think straight for a year. That's all I'm saying. Peace?
Dang! You're brilliant!
>>You'll have to show me where I said I knew what all the evidence was. You were talking DNA and I was telling you what the DA's own words were.<<
That was the way I interpretted your comments. If that was not what you meant to say then I apologize for misunderstanding.
No problem. I certainly don't know all the evidence but what we've seen and heard so far, this DA is out of line. Way out.
I am a Duke alum, and I feel my school is being dragged through the mud by a D.A. who is out to get elected and who doesn't have to concern himself with the welfare of Duke students because he knows they don't vote. This case has made clear how vulnerable and unrepresented college students in college towns really are.
I feel that he has recklessly set up a situation where a Durham jury will sends 2 innocent young men to prison on the gut feeling that "something happened" rather than the facts.
Especially if you get one with wheels.
Warrants for arrests are usually executed by the sheriff.
My parents and 1 brother live on Long Island. The price of real estate is ridiculous. My brother paid $500,000+ for a 2 bedroom 1 bath in Nassau County. My parents house is worth upwards of 750,000, if you saw the size of it and the size of the yard you would be SHOCKED. Its not that unusual on Long Island. Oh, and in case ZULU is reading, my parents bought their house 37 years ago for less than 25,000.00.
Do you think it will be this guy for writing the "threatening" email?
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0405061duke1.html
I hope that you are right. But those two mugshots of the two young men were not showing the faces of real sweet men (although that circunstance does not often offer that opportunity).
Real estate has gone through the roof and a million dollar house today doesn't buy what it used to buy, that's for sure. We have a guy in this neighborhood who hasn't sold his house for 2 years so what did he do? He raised the price $200K. Now he'll probably sell it. LOL
"So some of the those 42% may represent students whose parents can well afford the $100,000 plus for the degree - or maybe not. The site I saw didn't go into details."
So what. How does this prove their guilt? Your slew of posts prove only that you presume their guilt due to unknown stats as to who on the team is of what income strata.
Could said income information be used as evidence of guilt in the upcoming trial? Of course not. It could be used by a lawyer that holds the same animus as you, in an attempt to disparage the defendants on a class angle. If that is the case then surely it would stand to reason that it's fair game pertaining to this woman's background/criminal record/occupation/drug use etc. And as the accuser that is a burden she MUST bear as it pertains to credibility.
You don't care about justice, whatever that may be in this case. You just care about presumptions/results based on income levels.
You are a class bigot.
"No problem. I certainly don't know all the evidence but what we've seen and heard so far, this DA is out of line. Way out."
And on that, I think we all agree.
The email guy and Seigmann both went to the same high school and graduated in the same class. I could easily see the DA implying that he is the third guy.
I don't think we can look at the pictures of those men and decide whether they are sweet or not. They've been without sleep for quite some time I'd imagine, for one thing, and were frightened and putting on their game faces for another.
And besides, I'm not claiming they were angels. Guys that age typically aren't angels and I personally think it would be boring if they were.
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