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.
This is the timeline as evidenced in photographs the boys took which two news outlets have seen and confirmed with forensic documents experts. Why don't you tell us when you think a rape could have possibly occurred by 3 boys without leaving DNA.
And, btw, when you see the 27 minutes the girls spent in the bathroom -- they were together and Kim (the second dancer) says she didn't know a rape happened so it didn't happen during those 27 minutes.
The pictures as described by Dan Abrams and the Herald Sun
12:00:12 to 12:02:16 - the girls were partially naked, dancing in the living room surrounded on the 3 sides by dozens of men sitting on couches and chairs. the accuser was missing a shoe already. One guy in the last picture of this 2 minute set was giving the thumbs down.
Midnight: The dancer is sprawled on her stomach on the floor, as a second dancer stands over her. 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.
12:01:16: The second dancer is lying on her back on the floor with the alleged rape victim kneeling over her.
12:03ish - the women stop dancing possibly because of the alleged broomstick comment.
12:03:57 - women leaving, and going towards the back of the house. the guys say that's when the girls locked themselves in the bathroom. the accuser was supposedly in there fixing her nails, and the other dancer was getting dressed preparing to leave. the guys were on the outside the door telling them to leave.
12:03:57: The dancers are leaving the room after performing for four minutes. The photo clearly shows that the alleged victim left one of her shoes behind as she departed.
27 minutes go by while both girls are in the bathroom
12:10:39: One of the Duke students apparently is passed out on the floor, his head leaning against a sofa, a crushed beer can at his side.
12:30:12 to 12:30:47 - accuser is standing on the steps wearing a red and black lace top bodysuit and one white high heel shoe. She's smiling and holding a cell phone.
12:30:12: The alleged victim is on the back porch. She has a shoe only on her left foot as she appears to smile and apparently tries to get back inside.
12:31:26: The alleged victim appears to be stumbling down the back steps of the house.
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
12:37:58: A series of photos beginning at this time shows the woman lying on her left side on the back porch, seemingly passed out or asleep. Pink splotches are on a wrought-iron railing beside her.
12:41: The alleged victim is being helped into the car.
12:41:32 - leg of accuser hanging out of door. this man carried her out to Kims car
That's pretty weak, and seems to demonstrate arrogant ignorance of the facts of the case as we know them to date. Bravo.
She must be shocked that people who would hire a stripper would not have her best interests at heart.
The key to it is that she wasn't able to identify anybody for about three weeks, then her memory is suddenly "refreshed" and she makes two "100%" IDs and one "90%" ID. Couple that with the complete lack of any DNA evidence on her person and this becomes a judicial lynching. Since most strippers/lap dancers have one kind of drug habit or another, I suspect any drugs that might have been found in her system were probably knowingly self-administered, as in dope addict.
What facts are you referring to that I may have missed?
The same way it was done for centuries before DNA testing. Get a grip.
Does anyone know how the charge of kidnapping could be made? Allegedly the rape occurred in the bathroom; is that far enough away from the dance scene that it could be considered a kidnapping offense?
The statement, albeit an opinion, of the security guard was reported on Fox News Channel, sourced from the 911 tape obtained by ABC News. That's not gossip, it's fact.
OH they have PLENTY of Evidence.
A woman made the accusation
See?
They are already guilty.
Just about everything that has come out since the first week, as every new revelation undercuts any kind of case the DA might have thought he had.
Why don't you outline why you think the DA has any kind of case here at all? Enough of one for that DA to make 60-70 media appearances and turn the lives of over 3 dozen young men upside down, and arrest two of them?
"I heard there was a towel in the bathroom with "ejaculate" on it.
"Ejaculate?" Is this the PC way of describing semen? Where did you hear this?"
The talking heads on CNN were talking abut a towel but I have no idea what their basis, if any was.
Ejaculate can contain more than semen, although it would normally just be semen.
This is another thing they do in North Carolina that I don't like to see. Arrests at ungodly early morning hours. I know one lady who was taken from her bed at 4 am in front of her children on a minor charge, still in her nightgown. It is ridiculous, and could be avoided. It is a power play, to show the citizen that THE LAW IS IN CHARGE HERE.
The accuser allegedly said that a 3rd guy came into the bathroom and closed the door. That's the only thing I can think of.........I still want to know why Nifong's charge of larceny was scrapped and kidnapping was charged instead though.
Any chance the rape took place before this party at an earlier day and events at the party caused the girl to speak up about it? . We are assuming this party is the only connection the dancer's had with the boys.
Jesse conjures up Southern racist roots stemming from the days of slavery. The setting is right - Durham, N.C. - I'm just waiting to see how he's going to fit into that "born and bred racist" scenario the fact that these two white boys who have been arrested come from "up Nawth".
My guess is that the kidnapping charge may actually be "false imprisonment" which is just forcibly keeping a person from leaving. The media is using the term kidnapping because it seems so much more exciting.
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