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.
The kind of sh*t this DA is trying to pull here for the self serving purpose of getting himself elected, will never end until we the people draw a line in the sand and say, never again!
It's time we put the prosecutor's ass into the same cell and same sentence as the convicted, when we find that any member of the Court, knowingly and intentionally put an innocent person behind bars.
Hahahahahaa! Damn, I know I shouldn't be laughing, but I'm digging out that VCR tape!
I hate to see what Duke's next homecoming parade looks like...
That's a scary thought and one I hope the defense team has thought of.
Brit Hume will be discussing with the roundtable how the identity of the players and accused should be handled. Coming up after commercial.
That's easy to say once you have it. People who are working their butts off trying to get where you are do not have the luxury not to think about it if they are still trying to do better. The only people I know who are like that are college professors.
Perhaps that's why 2 "dancers" were hired instead of just 1. I wondered why 2 were hired.
LOL
BTW 2 things I've been thinking about:
If Crystal was so dead drunk, wouldn't her muscles be relaxed? If so, how is it that her hand had to be pried from the car's brake handle at Kroger's? Was she faking comatoseness?
I learn a lot at FR...for instance today I learned for the first time what really goes on in the stripper performances. LOL Sooooooo, since Crystal was late getting to the house, and a couple of hours later being inspected by a SANE nurse for evidence of rape.........the findings so dear to Nifong's heart and the heart apparently of his case, the nurse said her condition was in keeping w/rape.
Well...swelling and pain/soreness but no DNA suggests, doesn't it, that Crystal just might have had an "appointment" prior to this one in which she did use sex toys in her performance. Speculation? Sure. Possible? Sure.
They seemed to have made the same mistake as Nifong .. believing the fabricator. She said she was attacked by Matt, Bret, and Adam, and the parents of sons with those names are the only ones listed on that site.
Thank you!! Durham dirtbag, I knew it had a nice ring to it! Durham dirtbag, lol, seems appropriate! Thank you!
I don't trust the recollection prowess of a drunk.
You probably did draw attention to yourself, but you just don't remember.
At any rate, you sound like a self-righteous bluffer. As my teenage brother says, "Man, you have issues."
Then you know nothing about GJs, the purpose, the GJ, or human nature.
Oh, that's right! I forgot about that.
I had a client who was a teacher who was accused of grabbing a student's butt in the hallway before class. No witnesses, only the best friend who was not that reliable. They had a tape that literally showed the man did nothing, yet at a bench trial, the judge still found him guilty and sentenced him to 30 days jail. We won on appeal, unanimously, since there was zero evidence, but sometimes Shiite happens when it comes to sex crimes trials. What should happen is not what always happens.
It cost this man his job, his rep, and legal fees, which were almost free since he did not have that much money and he was a family friend.
The man is always in a lose lose position and that is why is is important for young guys to be taught early on how to act and how not to get caught in circumstances that make these accusations easy.
A couple of years ago, my niece pledge a sorority at Carolina; she called me one night and said that the pledge class had been invited to party at the Pika house.
I didn't say anything for a while, but then I just couldn't contain myself; I screamed into the phone, "Don't go down in that basement! It's a firetrap!"
It was when I was there and still is!
Join the club of flamers. Like you or the rest of people here don't have issues. Give me a break.
I said several days ago that she would identify the suspects when their credit reports came back! LOL!
I'm afraid you're right, TT.
I don't see how this bell can be unrung.
That was my thought,too. They need for Nifong to fire his final shot before they release the photos. Once they're released, they need to post them everywhere they can, including every tabloid in the country, and even the ones including "Kim".
LOL!
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