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.
You cannot ignore the favorable treatment of the women in the case by the media BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE.
Last night, ABC News led by describing the case as a BLACK woman that claims she was brutally raped by 3 WHITE men.
Okay, there's no shortage of black men raping White women,
when was the last time you heard it reported that a black man raped a white women? They don't tell you the races normally.
Since when is living on a Cul-de-sac a crime?
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Don't you think you are pushing things a bit?
In any event, it is not clear why you trying so hard to turn this into something it's not by assigning false labels. Watching a stripper is not equivalent to an orgy.
This is from the description of the photos...I don't have the original link.
12:37:58 - 12:38:18 - accuser lying on stairs, cuts, and abrasions visible. happened when she fell. fresh nail polish was on the handrail. it wasn't on the other handrail pick before she went out there. all of her clothing is intact
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1616934/posts?q=1&&page=151
sorry about the double post.
I can't look through 1,400 posts.. But, do you guys know .. are you aware that the News Media MIS-reported that one of the players arrested this morning was Matt Zash (sic) ??
Another law-suit for the players. I saw a LIVE report from Durham (where the players turned themselves in) around 5:00 am and they said they didn't know one's identity, but there were sure one was Matt Zash (sic)..
Hope this isn't old news.
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Please, I went to high school in Westchester, New York.
There were two types of people. Those from Mt. Vernon/Bronx/Yonkers, like myself, and the boys from Larchmont, Rye, Mamaroneck, Scarsdale, who usually were the LAX players. These were the country club types, the golfers, the volve drivers, the wealthy.
It was bascially like the "Outsiders".
They all went off to BC, Dartmouth, etc etc.
I know exactly the type these kids are.
In any event, I don't think they raped the girl and I think they were very stupid for putting themselves in a situation like this.
These idiots have ZERO street smarts.
Abrams: Isn't it a problem she could only ID them a week ago?
Guest: I don't see that as a problem. If the prosecution didn't want to proceed until they had a substantial ID. DA was wise not to rush on this.
Abrams: I still don't know what has changed from the days after this incident; how has she been able to assess who did this to her. This is the poster of the lacrosse team which has all the playesr on it and presumably this was used to ID who was who. WHen I look at that poster, a lot of the players look alike.
Guest: Police were able to seize through the search warrants phones and cameras and computers, there were other photographs used for the ID. We now have an indictment from the GJ. He waited to have that seal of approval from the public. The DA proceeded properly to this point. What's so interesting is that they're oging ahead to find the 3rd person. He's going full steam ahead.
Abrams: I can tell you that the defense team did not discuss iwth the DA, they don't want to discuss many of the details the specifics of the timeline as to how they can be so certain that one of the young men couldn't have been at the party. They don't want to tip off the DA. Susan is saying the DA knew about all this evidence and went ahead otherwise. We don't know that the DA has seen the photographs taken by someone at the party. We haven't seen the warrant executed for that camera. That camera and pictures are in the hands of the defense team.
Guest: If the defense has this kind of evidence, they would have taken this to the DA.
If she had a cell phone why didn't she call the cops after the rape happened? And just where was her friend when she was being raped? I can't believe this DA is going forward with this flimsy case.
There you go again with the false labels. The guys at the party did not hire "a bunch of strippers" - they hired two. They probably would have been fine with one but she probably insisted on a wingman.
"and possibly did more than just look at is extremely stupid and has done themselves and the school damage"
That makes no sense. How can something that they "possibly could have done" but they deny be "stupid" on their part if they didn't actually do it?
Look at the number of postings on this subject.
Its almost 1500.
If we were discussing an invasion of Iraq by cocaine-doped Iranian Islamic fanatics, we wouldn't have wasted as much time and energy on this subject.
I said what I thought, other people said what they thought.
I'm sorry if I offended some people, but some of the comments made at me because of what I thought were rather personal and cruel.
I'm not going to discuss this anymore.
When its all over, we'll see what the real story is - hopefully.
Most of those rapes are black on black rape. Most white women are raped by other white men.
So we haven't had cases of black men raping white women?
One happened in my neighborhood.
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Who was this idiot guest? Sounds like something Wendy Murphy or Nancy Grace would say.
Yale Galanter: They did try to go to the DA with that evidence and he wasn't interested. Susan made light of the fact that defense can't present their side at teh GJ. GJ's are referred to as the right arm of prosecutors. There were 81 bills presented by the GJ yesterday. The true hearing will be the preliminary hearing on 5/15.
Other Guest : There won't be a probable cause hearing. On the 15th - it's a schedule process so the DA will provide discovery to the defense.
Abrams: Do you think it's possible if the attorneys for the defense make a case demonstrating he didn't do it and wasn't at the party at the time this alleged incident occurred, do you think the DA would say I blew it.
Guest (Edwards): I don't think so.
Abrams: The photos I've seen, there's a photo of her smiling at 12:30 and then passed out at 12:38. How is this the theory of what happened. Plays clip of Nifong saying she was grabbed behind and explaining how she lost fingernails. Nifong is saying if he was wearing long sleeves, DNA wouldn't be on her nails. (BUT THE GUYS WERE WEARING SHORT SLEEVED SHIRTS).
On the video I saw on FNC, this young man (Finnerty sp.?) was in a sport coat, tie and I think khakis as he walked into the police station. It is SOP for ties, jewelry, anything that might be potentially harmful to be removed by the police prior to the whole booking process.
Are you aware that one of the firemen from the WTC who helped clear rubble that day has a kid on the lacrosse team. I really doubt he's a brat or spoiled. That kind of stereotyping is just plain embarrassing.
Good point about the photos showing them wearing short sleeves.
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