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.
Abrams: Timeline --
1:49 she was transported to Durham Access which provides mental health care.
Arrived at 1:55
2:31 taken to Duke ER
2:50 changed from intoxicated person to rape suspect.
Oh, Miss Innocent. You basically say because I know the meaning of the word orgy I must have "personal experience". You're a POS.
Great post. They did the same thing with the Bush twins when they got caught with alcohol. They tried to make it out as a "cry for help" and insisted that they had a drinking problem.
They were just college kids being college kids.
Excellent points. And so true. And then of course we have the Holier Than Thou types who show up on every thread so we have them even on FR, not just the liberal media.
I think the people on her attacking the players (with ALL the inconsistencies) and/or defending the LYING women involved are not in touch with reality.
They have listened to the PC MSM too much.
It's not uncommon at all for strippers to have sex with more than one man in an evening. It's not uncommon for a stripper to be beaten or assualted by a PIMP.
And the Media jumped on the woman's side immediately due to Race and Man-Hating. It's fits, all to well, in their world view.
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No, but look at the stats. Most rapes are between people of similar races. Of course the one you mentioned happened, but that is not the norm.
You're welcome, Quilla and I sure hope you get feeling better. Home is going to feel awfully good to you.
Ok, that is one player, do a survey of the whole team and I bet you almost anything that person is the exception, not the norm.
Abrams: For the sake of argument, isn't it possible the DA saw the rape exam and found her statement credible and that after that, her statements had problems. She couldn't ID the guys and didn't have any DNA found on her. Then maybe he told her he can't go forward until she identified who did this to her.
Abrams: I talked to a lot of defense attorneys in this case, five of them at least. I can tell you that the positions they take is that they have gone to the DA and tried to convince him and he doesn't listen. So the notion that somehow they didn't try to convince the DA isn't true.
Galanter: There has been dialog between defense and DA. He filed a court pleading saying the DNA will show guilt and it didn't.
Burris: It's not persuasive at all the defense went to the DA. Defense lawyers do that all the time.
"sorry about the double post."
Just don't let it happen again; band width is a finite commodity, ya know. (ju-s-s-s-st kiding)
The 2nd Stripper slapped on of them and then repeatedly attacked their masculinity then came a Racial slur ($800.00 later) according to the Defense.
So many people only know what they hear on CNN.
Mostly they either have a bone to pick with college students, children of wealthy parents or anyone who would dare hire a stripper at a party.
The facts are irrelevant.
Abrams: Susan, if you're the prosecutor and you're convinced based on a nurse's exam that a woman was sexually assaulted and she said, here are the people who did it, and yet there are problems with that account, do you still presume she's telling the truth.
Susan: No you have two equal concersn. You don't ruin lives and convict innocent people.
Who said the photos will not be admissable?
You want the DA to pin something on these kids because they said something racist? We don't have enough room in our prisons for that kind of thing. And that goes for both sides of the racial equation.
Okay, but when Black men rape White women, it's NEVER reported as racial and it's not reported like
A black man raped a WHITE women in Newark..
In this case, the Media inserts race into every report.
The racial insult came after one of the classy strippers slapped a player (a customer) and then launched into a tirade questioning their masculinity. So, we know of the last comment or the RESPONSE to the initial insults. They were all drunk (players and women).
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