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.
The boys' attorneys told the DA this in advance.
Just more grandstanding by this DA, who is a jerk regardless of how this turns out.
Maybe the stripper didn't really id Finnerty as the rapist. . There were nasty things said by some of the players. There's even a pic of one of them standing over the girls as they lay on the floor either pretending to pour a drink on them or actually pouring it. Let's face it, Finnerty sounds like quite the scumbag. Maybe he was one of the loudest and most abusive. Maybe the stripper points to his pic and says I remember him. The DA uses this as an ID to arrest Finnerty- but only to put pressure on him to cough up the real culprits. Finnerty has the most to lose and is the easiest one to turn. Or else he really is a louse of epic proportions. If the stripper has ruffies in her system, that is not good for the defense.
Obviously not, maria, since the guard was at Krogers working that night. My post was merely a reiteration of what I heard on the news this morning, not an accusation or assumption.
I hope his clothes stay on.
I am not ging to waste my fingers on the keyboard.
"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."
Are you saying that DNA is a legal requirement for a rape conviction in North Carolina? That would have to be a new revision to the law since rape has been prosecuted for 300 years in North Carolina without DNA.
And I suspect you could jam a night stick inside someone roughly enough to injure them without leaving your own DNA.
But again this is all speculation - I have no idea what kind of evidence they have - fingerprints, fibers, the object in question.. who knows.
Given the kind of slut she was and is, she could have easily possessed and administered any drugs to herself.
Thanks for the link Perdogg. It appears as though I don't have the necessary plug-in to listen. Could you paraphrase, please?
People are here speculating based on the "evidence" and rumors made available vis the media. That's what people do on these threads.
This is not a case of boys will be boys.
That is your opinion based on how you interpret the evidence. Others here have different interpretations.
Re: JJ's comments: 15 of the 47 Lacrosse players have been arrested for "everything from disorderly conduct to public urination." LOL. What crimes lie between those dastardly deeds?
You'd be surprised - we really DO have experts among us: investigateworld is one of them. FR is teeming with attourneys, if I'm not mistaken Jezebel is one of them. Howlin (and others who post here) are locals, so they can give us a feel for the feel of "the community". I defer to each of them before making a definitive statement. One thing they all agree on is, regardless of the boys' guilt or innocence, the DA has handled this case terribly. If FR "experts" all agree, who am I to contradict them?
More about the suspects, including a Feb. campus article on steroid policy in which Seligmann is quoted as saying "athletes have to be held to higher standards".
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/04/who_are_the_duk.html
Morning Panthermom,
My thoughts, if it were GHB the alleged (vic) would not have been able to walk out and probably unable to move in the least.(depending on the time of ingestion)
I used to frequent a "Gentleman's Club" in the past and found that most of the dancers drugged up, to make that "Money" in their questionable trade.
Prostitution for money was an amenity during conversations. The phrase we do not dance here, translated= "we will have sex for money outside the establishment."
I believe the accuser here is trying a different approach to,"Make That Money" by claiming rape.
Those boy's should have used better judgment in procuring enertainment services for their a party.
Even if found innocent the stigma will be held over them for infinity.
As one Freeper stated this is "Tawana Brawley part two."
I am sure the accuser and her gal pal, are being spoon fed by their "parasitic pecuniary" Mouth-pieces.
The toxiclogy report should have been done in order to determine if the alleged accuser had taken or been given any life threatening drug based on her alleged condition.
It seems this hospital's on duty doctor/staff used selective toxicology screening procedures for this alleged victim of a rape while at that location.
I would like to interview the staff and doctor who handled this admittance. I think we would open a "mega can of worms" in this investigation.
Racial homogenity will often preclude obtaining the necessary evidence to either prove or disprove a case.
*In closing, if those three or two did commit the crime, then they need to do the time.
*If the accuser lied then she along with her acessory should be tried and receive the prison house ride.
As I See It,
NSNR
Then let me put it another way, if the race of the stripper was never given, would you still be talking about racism?
Nifong was not at the party either. But the players and the 2nd dancer were there, and they say no rape occured. Nifong says he believes the accuser, but, again, he was not there; they were.
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