Arrests made in Duke lacrosse case

News & Observer ^ | Apr 18, 2006 | Anne Blythe and Benjamin Niolet

[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.

[Howlin]

Matt is clear.

[TommyDale]

I agree, she should but she can't because it didn't happen.

She claimed rape vaginally, anally, and orally while being held down by two, while the third did the damage I would assume.

All this in a tiny bathroom where it would be next to impossible to do it, and yet she smiled while on the phone as she was leaving. It just didn't happen.

This is about race and money -- and I think we all know that.

[maggief]

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/13965.html

Exculpatory Evidence
April 18, 2006 03:27 PM EST



By Sher Zieve – Defense attorneys for the two Duke University students and lacrosse team members who were arrested for the purported rape of a 27-year old stripper said Tuesday that they may have evidence that proves one or neither of their clients was at the location at the time the alleged assault occurred. Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong has said that he still plans to arrest a third student.

Fox News reports that a source close to the case has said that time and date stamped credit card, ATM and/or taxi-cab receipts may place the students at a different location. A video-tape of the accuser is also said to exist, which ostensibly shows that the exotic dancer arrived at the “party” with bruises on her person.

Also, the initial tests of DNA taken from the male students and the accuser are said to have shown none of the team players’ DNA was on the alleged victim or any of her belongings.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192162,00.html






North Carolina v. Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann
Duke Lacrosse Players' Rape & Kidnapping Indictments
April 17, 2006


The rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping indictments issued by a North Carolina grand jury against Duke lacrosse players Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligmannn, charging them with felony crimes against an exotic dancer hired by players on the school’s lacrosse team.

Note: Partial redactions by FindLaw

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/duke/ncduke41706ind.html

[Jezebelle]

Very true, and I'm sick of it. I've had enough.

[Peach]

You are so good about providing links for these threads, Maggie. Thank you.

[TommyDale]

"I can see the DA saying that the red nail polish could be blood."

Now that would be stupid, considering how easy it will be to prove by scraping it and testing it... I can see this DA making a fool of himself on a daily basis.

[monkapotamus]

Hopefully these guys won't get reamed by a compromise verdict on charges such as kidnapping if the intelligent jurors can't convince a few freaks to fully acquit.

[maggief]

I gotta do something ... I can't out type you. LOL

[OakOak]

Okay. but another Goof in the media. Mis-reporting the identity of a Rapist.

Thanks

[F.J. Mitchell]

If the three accused rapists per chance were cyborgs, their...er...ah..ahem...their..could very well have been an istrument.

[Peach]

LOL

I'll check in later to see what else is new.

[cyborg]

There ya go! LOL

[chris1]

First off, hiring a stripper to come to a frat or sports house is bad news, especially, if she is coming without a bouncer or escort. Why do you think Strip Clubs are run the way they are? Underage drinking, drunk strippers, and being in an area you are not from is a recipe for disaster.

Second, you have underage drinking going on which is not something you want to bring attention to if you are a sports team. In this case, an arrest or charge for underage drinking, off campus, could lead to violations for scholarship money etc etc. Just stupid!

Third, any time you have different races and different mixes of people, and getting a "towney" you are just setting yourself up for trouble. These kids are targets, not only for the locals, but also for the cops. A girl like this could easily smell blood in the water and these kids should have recognized that. Acting in a way that invites attention to yourself, especially under these circumstances, is, again, just plain stupid.

That is to start. I don't think these guys did it, but they definately did not make it easier for them to show that they did not.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Instrument.

[jiggyboy]

He's gone.

[GAgal]

Watching Abrams, I kept wishing they would all hush and let Galanter talk. Kerry Sutton seemed mealy-mouthed, as if afraid to offend Nifong. And as Abrams brought up the different ways the accuser's story has been challenged by emerging facts, Susan Filan piped up with, "That's why we have juries." If I were one of the parents, I would be very afraid.

[Locomotive Breath]

Come on...Durham is a college town, which means it's chock full of far-left students and far-left professors, and I'm sure some of these far-lefties are also in the surrounding suburbs and rural areas. This DA just pandered to the far left with this modern-day lynching. REAL Americans believe in "innocent until proven guilty".

Actually, Duke is a relatively small private university and Durham is not a college town in the traditional sense. There are plenty of good old fashioned bubbas in Durham. Your description does fit UNC and Chapel Hill.

[Howlin]

Paper trail: receipts, CELL PHONE RECORDS, ATM picture and receipt, plus more.

[OakOak]

Kerry Sutton has clients with their futures hanging in the balance with Nifong's decisions. IMO, that's why she was mealy mouthed. His decisions affect her daily.

I noticed that too.

[Howlin]

(04/18/06 -- DURHAM) - Eyewitness News and the ABC News law-and-justice unit are getting a chance to examine time-stamped photos taken inside the home on the night of the controversial Duke lacrosse party.

---

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The photos are believed to be authentic and taken by one of the students at the March 13 party. The time stamps on the photos appear to be accurate. Pictures of a wristwatch magnified for clarity correspond with the time on the photos. The players are sitting on three couches in a semicircle with the dancers in the middle.

11:02 p.m.: The first picture shows at least 10 students hanging out in a living room, apparently waiting for the dancers to arrive. Most of the students appear to be drinking. By the number of people in this photo, it appears only a fraction of the 47 lacrosse team members are there.

12 a.m.: This is the first picture of the strippers. Students are watching the show, but not grabbing or attempting to touch the women. Bruises are clearly visible on the legs and thighs of the alleged victim.

12:00:40 a.m.: Another picture taken 40 seconds later shows bruises on the accuser's knees. Her right knee appears to have an open cut.

12:03:57 p.m.: About four minutes after arriving, a picture shows the strippers leaving the room. The photo clearly shows that the alleged victim left behind one of her shoes.

Between 12:10 a.m. and 12:30 a.m.: No photos were taken between this time.

12:30:12 a.m.: The next photo shows the alleged victim on the back porch, carrying what appears to be her purse and a makeup bag. Her clothes are intact.

12:30:47 a.m.: A photo taken 30 seconds later shows the alleged victim on the porch and she appears to smile.

12:31:26 a.m.: But 30 seconds after that, a photo shows the alleged victim stumbling down the back steps of the house.

12:37:58 a.m.: A series of photos are taken, all showing the woman lying on her left side on the back porch, seemingly passed out or asleep. She had visible cuts on her legs and buttocks that did not appear in the previous photos.

The cuts may be from falling. The cuts on her buttocks line up with the edge of a screen door she may have hit on the way down.

12:41 a.m.: The final photo shows the accuser and the second dancer in a black car. The accuser is in the passengers seat.

Many of the photos taken on the back porch show pink splotches, which the defense says is undried nail polish. They claim the accuser was polishing her nails in the bathroom between 12:10 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. - - not being raped.