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.
Some people only understand Hollywood's version of the justice system.
An older movie called "The Verdict" with Paul Newman is probably the best cinematic demonstration of the system, and it involved a civil case, not a criminal case.
Watch it sometime if you get a chance.
The richest people in the world aren't usually accused of stuff like this.
Unless they are related to the Kennedys. But then they have the advantage of knowing that the media will go to any lengths necessary to drag the victim through the mud.
Um..... maybe you should lighten up on the caffeine for a bit - nothing drastic, jusy taper off to a gallon in the morning instead of a 55 gal. kegger of it.
Nope. I just understand what he is saying. My personal experience confirms what he is saying.
I can assure you tht if you are ever wrongly accused of a crime, you'd want someone like chris1 representing you.
You think most defense attorneys care about you? if so, you'd be mistaken. they are much more crocerned with getting along with the prosecutor than defending you. You are just one client, and they have lots of other clients. Getting along with a prosecutor makes their life easier.
I suspect chris1 doesn't give a rat's ass about getting along with a prosecutor. As a result, a prosecutor wouldn't likely pull some of the B.S. they do with other defendants.
The Dems run the courts in the western half of the state, just as they do here in CA. It's all part of the academic indoctrination going on across the country. The kid they are teaching that diversity is THE MOST important element in society is tomorrow's district court judge.
He'll be too strapped from paying her child support by then.
For the most part, it is.
Edith Jones, one of the most distinguished judges on the US Circuit Court of Appeals thinks the American Legal System Is Corrupt Beyond Recognition
Which, to some extent, explains why there's so much black-on-black crime.
I just got in, and haven't read this whole thread yet, but has anyone commented on the *kidnapping* charge yet? Where did that come from?
Gregoire is a thief and a liar, imo. She's not covering for them, It's simply the Dem quid pro quo machine in action.
Why would the possibility that they were disappointed the strippers were black be helpful to the prosecution? I see it the other way around.
Excellent question. Could that be when they forced her against her will into the bathroom, to have their way with her? The DA going after Libby made the mistake of gilding the lily with his indictment (instead of just saying perjury three times and calling it a day), and this DA seems to have been of the same school.
No one has commented on the kidnapping charges. The definition of kidnapping in some states might include the prevention of the lawful movement of another individual. I suppose if you are raping someone, that might be included. I suspect that will be the first charge dropped.
I just don't think that was the reason.
Holding her in the bathroom.
She will eventually be going to prison if it is the last thing I do.
I think we are related. :-)
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