Arrests made in Duke lacrosse case

News & Observer ^ | Apr 18, 2006 | Anne Blythe and Benjamin Niolet

[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.

[notigar]

You can rape a woman with objects and not leave genetic material.

[maggief]

Where's the broom?

[GAgal]

If my son was forced to be hand-cuffed and marched into the jail, I'd hope it would happen in the wee hours, less chance of a hissing crowd shouting insults for the cameras.

[libstripper]

Hopefully it will be a real lesson to other young women trying to make a living.

Make a living as prostitutes??

[Peach]

The acacuser says it took place at THIS party. And, pray tell, why would she go back to a place to dance for the guys who raped her earlier in the day?

[Nonstatist]

This is not a case of boys will be boys.

But hate crime hoaxes will be hate crime hoaxes. The lack of criminal evidence so far seems to exculpate, and the DA has compromised himself with his early pronouncements..

So who's doing the early rush to judgement? You or the "racist" buggers on FR?

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Where's the broom?

Well, I suspect there might've been a lacrosse stick there somewhere.

[Peach]

The second dancer, Kim, says she didn't know a rape occurred.

Now ask yourself, using the timeline provided by time/date stamped photographs which I posted to you above, when a rape could have occurred.

And why was the accuser shown at the door smiling and talking on her cell phone? She clearly wasn't calling 9/11.

[wagglebee]

I believe you have mistaken me with another poster here. I don't think the DA has a shred of evidence. I was merely stating that the threshold to secure a grand jury indictment is VERY LOW.

[Coldwater Creek]

One of these kids was dressed in a suit and tie. Hardly dragged out of a warm bed.

[CaptainK]

I wonder why this kid was allowed to remain on the lacrosse team.

Collin H. Finnerty, a former Chaminade High School player, is among the 46 Duke team members asked to submit DNA samples in a rape investigation.

According to court records obtained by Newsday yesterday, Finnerty, a sophomore player at Duke, was arrested with two other suspects in the Nov. 5 incident in Washington. One suspect is a Georgetown University lacrosse player, who according to that team roster is also from Chaminade, and the other is a former lacrosse player for Providence College in Rhode Island. The disposition of their cases was not determined yesterday.

An attorney representing Finnerty said yesterday that the assault charge would be dropped pending his client's community service and said the incident "had nothing to do with any sort of inappropriate remark."

According to District of Columbia Superior Court records, Finnerty and his companions began confronting the man for no reason outside the Georgetown Inn hotel and attacked him when he tried to walk away. The three punched the man in his face and body "because he told them to stop calling him gay and derogatory names," according to the complaint.

The victim was treated at the scene on Wisconsin Avenue for a cut to his lip and bruises to his chin. All three men were arrested at the scene by a police officer who was flagged down by the victim.

A family member reached at the Finnerty household in Garden City yesterday referred questions to Collin Finnerty's attorney, Steven J. McCool. McCool said yesterday: "The charge that resulted was a minor simple assault charge. ... If this case was anything more then a minor scuffle the U.S. Attorney's office would not have offered Collin a diversionary agreement."

Finnerty did not enter a plea in the case and was ordered to perform 25 hours of community service in Washington, according to Shirley Shepherd, a deputy clerk at the District of Columbia Superior Court. Finnerty has a Sept. 25 court date pending where charges against him will be dropped after he has performed the community service, McCool said.

[Peach]

I got thinking about that false imprisonment and I guess if you just lock someone in a room, that's kidnapping.

[moondoggie]

I thought about her being drugged, too.

[Raycpa]

The acacuser says it took place at THIS party.

Thanks, that works.

And, pray tell, why would she go back to a place to dance for the guys who raped her earlier in the day?

Why do battered women return to batterer?

[Carolinamom]

There is photographic evidence that when she left, she was still wearing that body suit....and it was untorn. Now, tell me how they could have undressed her...or ripped the suit off in their so-called frenzy of sodomy, rape, and oral sex...and then redressed her all in about 7 minutes.

It simply does not compute that all of these actions could have taken place and yet she leaves w/a smile on her face and wearing an untorn lace body suit.

[TommyDale]

Since she had drugs there, how do we know that the accusere or even the other stripper could have administered any drug in her system? If it takes 15 to 20 minutes to kick in, the time line still doesn't fit the players giving her a date rape drug. However, if the strippers concocted a story to "get even" for maybe not being paid enough, they could very well have done this themselves. They had time, opportunity and motive.

[Warren_Piece]

You are correct. I think the key is to ALWAYS filter out statements on FR that say "I heard..." or "I read..." without a corraborating link. This is just good, common sense.

That being said, I am amazed at the collective knowledge here at FR. I once had FR horticultural experts give me good advice on how to create an American flag made of flowers in my yard! FR is a WONDERFUL resource, once you take out pretenders and people playing telephone game.

Just ignore any statement beginning with "I heard" or "I read", and you'll be amazed what you learn at FR!

[Peach]

If the woman had been raped with an object, surely she would have mentioned that to the police or hospital employee who did the rape kit test and that item would have been included in list of items seized at the scene.

Also, ask yourself why the woman claims she was raped at the hospital but it wasn't until 31 hours later until police searched the house. Police say it's because it wasn't until 31 hours later, in subsequent interviews, that the accuser told them where the rape occurred.

[maggief]

"Suit and tie"?



Duke lacrosse player Collin Finnerty is processed at the Durham County Detention Facility in Durham, N.C., Tuesday, April 18, 2006. Finnerty was arrested and charged with first degree forceable rape, first degree sexual assault and kidnapping in the case involving an exotic dancer who allegedly was raped at a party thrown by members of the Duke Lacrosse team. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)



Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann is processed at the Durham County Detention Facility in Durham, N.C., Tuesday, April 18, 2006. Seligmann was arrested and charged with first degree forceable rape, first degree sexual assault and kidnapping in the case involving an exotic dancer who allegedly was raped at a party thrown by members of the Duke Lacrosse team. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

[notigar]

Who said anything about a broom? I was speaking theoretically. Not all rapes leave genetic material. Do you disagree with that?