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.
Do I sound like I am joking?
Anyone watching Brit....they have DNA evidence but no match...also players were asked to provide hair and pubic hair samples......
FNC: Prosecutors tell the guest that it's bad for the prosecution that no DNA was found on the guest who didn't go home and shower and change clothes. (Well, no kidding).
I was just making sure. Thanks.
I'm watching, mystery.
Well, I belong to a country club and have a 3600 square foot house and have an SUV, a station wagon, a convertible and a sedan -- and a husband who works and keeps me in RAM for the computer I bought. I do go to the spa and the beach whenever I want; I take my kids and my grandkids and I pay for it all.
But I worked for over 20 years as a court reporter until I stopped, so why don't you stop the pity party. Sure I got some money from my mother for this house, but that's all we ever got.
We worked to get where we are.
And we don't begrude those of us who have more than we do anything. It's sick to do that.
WOWOWOWOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guest on FNC says the two guys picked by the accused are thought to be the most wealthy on the team!
lol...can't match your typing skills you beat me...
Let me guess, Rich people don't pay their fair share of taxes either?
It's one of the only groups you can still Hate as a group.
MEN
RELIGIOUS PEOPLE
RICH PEOPLE
TRADITIONAL FAMILIES
Anything beyond that and a DA will be finding a law to charge you. But, feel free to bash the above all day long.
.
I don't think they did it. I really don't. However, if they only went to a stip club, and saved a few bucks in the process, this would never have happened.
Are you serious?
Have the defense lawyers been allowed access to the house?
That makes sense.
hubby just heard that too and said *deep pockets*.....hmmmmmmmm
She ran a Dun & Bradstreet on them?
This thread isn't a therapy session. Somehow, it has been sidetracked into what out there on the mortal coil angers you. It reminds me of the movie, "12 Angry Men." You remember that one don't you?
She ran a Dun & Bradstreet on them?
Was that one of her phone calls? /sarcsm
FNC: Prosecutors tell the guest that it's bad for the prosecution that no DNA was found on the guest who didn't go home and shower and change clothes. (Well, no kidding).
Duh!...that's what we've been saying....lol
That's fine, however, where maybe you have strived, maybe you have persevered, maybe you have the drive determination, etc etc, you must make sure that those traits and skills and values are not lost on the young ones who come to enjoy those things yet don't know how to get it for themselves.
The worst thing I have found is when people get accustomed to these things on someone else's dime, yet don't know or have a clue about what went in to getting it.
Kids and young ones who don't see the connection between your sacrifices and the fruits that they enjoy are not being done a service, but a grave disservice.
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