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.
Finnerty is from Morristown. I took a deposition in Morristown. Every azalea is under very, very tight zoning. The other guy is from Garden City, which, although no Morristown, has turned into a pretty upscale town in Nassau County over the years, due to its wide streets and large lots, and good schools.
She ran a Dun & Bradstreet on them?
please explain.....I'm from the heartland you know...lol
I have my own business, what do you think?
Holy moly. It is NOT coincidence that it took her 3 weeks to identify players and they just happen to be from the wealthiest families.
She likes to give shadowy interviews but she will not give details. She will only give her opinion as to Mangum's condition when she arrived versus when they left.
It's to find out a person's known wealth!
I guess she needed a little research time....
LOL......yeah......LOL..........very funny!
LOL....that's why I didn't know....I have no wealth...
Mystery heard it too. Shocking.
Maybe that's what brought Jesse Jackson to town.
Yup. Hoping the parents will cough up a couple hundred thou in exchange for dropping the charges.
I can vouch for it...I heard the same thing...
LOL.......mine wouldn't be UNDER the radar!
Rich people are on trial for LIVING.
The very first article I read on these STUDENTS was that they grew up on CUL-DE-SACS (gasp).
The article went on to give the American Idiot more reasons to hate them.
Contrast that with the N&O article title Mother, Student, accuser. Why didn't the articles say these kids were SONS, BROTHERS, and UNCLES?
Because the media hates them for being white, Rich, Males.
.
That's what the woman said on FNC.
Dan Abrams is positing this very theory to his panel right now, and some brash little tart named Susan is just incensed that he would suggest she's making this up and is angling for some kind of monetary settlement (a la Kate Faber).
Oh my, Bless your heart.
Seek help.
The guest showed a web site anyone could have gone to and get info on the kids. I didn't grab the web site because I was typing. They need to make silent keyboards so I can still hear well while typing. LOL
Drats...gotta go feed hubby.....bbl
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