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.
Looks like the defense has another couple of rabbits coming out of the hat : )
I take a very hard line on how men are railroaded these days, and hell, black men back in the day, especially. It's wrong, and imo, a perversion of our original justice system.
I don't care if Chad and Buffy have more money than me and every damn person I know. If they didn't do it, then quit wasting taxpayer money on a phoney prosecution to get reelected.
I don't want to judge you due to your business or your money (or your lack of it)..
But, how is the fact these kids have money (allegedly) have anything to do with this case.
JUSTICE FOR ALL
All you need to do is call the local Town Assessor to find out everything you need to know.
A little ingenuity goes a long way as far as detective work goes.
Chris, I don't mean to be mean, and I really don't know how to say this but, just from looking at your posts here on FR for years, you're really not the kind of person I'd take any kind of advice from about how to live my life or raise my kids.
And I want my kids to grow up healthy, with no major issues like you have.
I just heard on Brit's show that NOW Nifong is requiring that the boys (2suspects? team?) give samples of their hair and pubic hair for further testing for DNA.
Also if she was raped with an object, then why doesn't she say so, then they can look for it and test for her DNA.
How easy is it to plant evidence after the fact?
This is going to be the single most EXPENSIVE CASE to prosecute in the HISTORY of NORTH CAROLINA!
Nifong has tested 46 of them. Then sent all that evidence out to a private labe when the SBI couldn't find anything (IMO).
Now, he wants further testing on these kids.
This will be EASILY the most expensive case in the state's history. Some people will go to any length to get (re)elected.
.
ROFL!!
If it turns out that the one with the ATM alibi is eliminated by the ATM video and receipt, then it will also casr great doubt on Mangum's identification of the other defendant.
I missed the web site too...I was yelling at hubby to come watch this.....
From what I've seen on this thread from some freepers, capitalism is nearly dead. And then of course what we see from politicians...
Do you want the reality of how things go down?
When I go in to Bronx Criminal Court and I have a white male client, you know what? He's screwed. He is considered either a mob member or pedophile. Its stereotyping, its not fair, but its what goes on every day, day after day.
The typical run of the mill minority defendant gets easy plea deals, while the white defendant gets the book thrown at him. The white defendant usually gets higher bail too. Its not fair, but its what happens all the time.
hehehe. Good for Abrams.
I know a lot of people want to believe that but I have a lot of faith in the citizens that serve on the Grand Juries of our country.
Golly, you are awfully bitter, you should really think about therapy. Or maybe you missed taking your meds.
I don't know, but I will ask hubby if he wants to help me do a little research tonight.
I thought the guest said that all the lacrosse players had already given those hair samples and results are expected tomorrow. But I was busy gasping at the guest stating the obvious about something else (that it wasn't good for the prosecution that there was no DNA match). LOL
I doubt it is just alcohol.
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