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.
I think there's some merit to that. In a race-conscious city like Durham, letting two black women into your house late at night spells trouble.
(Dang....that was a short strip show!)
She is a prostitute. She's a call-girl. That's what "escorts" are. They aren't paid dates for the opera.
My suggestion is that the team players say the RED NAIL Polish and nails were theirs. They should say they are regular cross-dressers.
Then the media will swing to their side.
Bump!
When the DNA results came back, most of us understood that one of the defense lawyers said no DNA of any kind - she had no sex that night at all. Keep in mind that none of her DNA was found in the bathroom - bath mat, towels, etc. were tested. This is after a violent 30 minute struggle.
It's way back in one of the threads. Sorry, you'll have to find it yourself.
Sounds like there's a very good chance she might have been "huffing" (sniffing the polish) pretty heavily while she was in the bathroom doing her nails too - it's consistent with the sudden stumbling stupor reported by her fellow dancer, too. This abc analysis is pretty detailed in its observations and seems awfully damning against the accuser's version(s) of events. I'm still not convinced either way (haven't been following it as closely as most folks here) but good lord these guys are lucky they live in a time when cell phone cameras are so ubiquitous. Their families' cellular plans might be what eventually prove this woman is one sick cookie.
I grew up on Long Island, and MOST of the guys I knew, my brother included played lacrosse, most went to college on scholarships. My brother (UMASS) our dad was a carpenter, brother's best friend (Delaware), dad was a barber, my bestfriends brother (Ohio-Weslyan), parents owned a pizzeria, another teammate of my brother (John Hopkins), dad was a postman, I could go on and on. Sure their were some with money but I can attest to the fact that the ones I knew weren't country club kids. Would it be fair to say football players are stupid, basketball players are gangsta thugs or all figure skaters are gay?
It's hard for me to believe that the defense lawyer would hold that information back. A good lawyer would take all steps available to avoid the arrest of his client, because that arrest leaves a permanent stigma, even if he's exonerated. I think Nifong refused to look at it. He was bound and determined to arrest SOMEBODY.
I think this also explains DPD's evening foray into the dorm to try to question the guys about who was at the party and who wasn't.
That's a brand new synopsis of the pictures from one of the local Raleigh station, ABC11; just released at 5 p.m. Their people looked at them with a forensic scientist.
Placemarker - fascinating discussion.
I speak the truth from what really goes down. How things "should be" are much different than how things "really are."
I am from an area where you need to be cognizant of things like all the time, and know better than always assume nothing bad will happen. Bad things, like this, always get worse, never better. The minute two black female strippers showed up, they should have been escorted out of there. Imagine were this a black frat with all black guys and a white blond female "stripper"? Many of the same people on FR would not be signing the same tune.
Some Freepers, because of their location or whatever, are not that street smart from my experience.
Should race be a factor in a case like this no? No. But is it? Of course.
Having two black females in a house full of drunk white guys is just asking for trouble. I will get flamed, but it is what it is.
Wow what a comeback. I'm truly in awe of your ability to cut through the muck and get straight to a non-rebuttal-rebuttal.
Well, I played football and I would agree with the basketball player thing and the figure skater thing but just watch what you say about football players! :-)
Defense attorney makes A LOT MORE MONEY if it goes to trial.
" To my knowledge, the idea of condoms being used came from Nifong. "
Nifong was for the use of condoms before he was against them.
"I would not be surprised if condoms were used," Nifong said in an interview with the Charlotte Observer last month. "Probably an exotic dancer would not be your first choice for unprotected sex."
The Abram's Report, March 31, 2006
ABRAMS: I mean you've spoken to her. She would have said either they used condoms or they didn't.
NIFONG: Well, if you are being forced to have sex against your will, you may not necessarily notice whether or not somebody behind you is using a condom. This was not a consensual sex situation. This was a struggle, wherein she was struggling just to be able to breathe.
So I'm not sure that she would really have much way of knowing whether a condom was being used.
Street smarts = common sense, regardless of geography.
I am from Yonkers, and I went to Manhattan College. Long Island has some blue collar towns, but a lot of money too. Rye, Larchmont, Edgemont, Bronxville, Scarsdale, etc, is what I know as far as the LAX guys go.
There was a huge incident where 4 of the basketball palyers sodomized a girl with a broom handle. It was pretty well advertised at the time.
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