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.
BTW, a reporter on CNN just said that the defense tried to get the DA to meet with a bunch of players to get all this information to him, but he refused.
They could also get hit by a car crossing the street. If there was such a potential for strippers being raped at these parties, there wouldn't be women willing to perform.
Sorry, I don't buy it. I think men, even young college guys, are able to control themselves better than you give them credit for.
We dealt with that poster this morning; best just to leave it alone.
Even Pauly Zon was incredulous that the investigators hadn't even interviewed all the players and asked them where they were.
This things gonna blow up in Nifong's face big time...
Nancy Grace is U P S E T because they got to surrender in their sport coats!
Big time.
Sharpton on O'Reilly. Couldn't stand to watch...
Well, I worked in the CJ for thrity-two years, and I don't think it's completely corrupt or even inherently corrupt based on its format, but yes, there is a great deal of corruption, mostly concentrated by jurisdiction, rather than a little of it spread around everywhere.
Under NC law, kidnapping is:
"Any person who shall unlawfully confine, restrain, or remove from one place to another, any other person 16 years of age or over without the consent of such person, or any other person under the age of 16 years without the consent of a parent or legal custodian of such person, shall be guilty of kidnapping if such confinement, restraint or removal is for the purpose of:
2) Facilitating the commission of any felony or facilitating flight of any person following the commission of a felony;"
http://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-39.html
In other states it is sometimes called "false imprisonment."
Is it possible Nifong's this stupid? No one's that dumb, are they?
Drats...I can't watch Idol and Grace at the same time...
And to think all this time I just assumed you were a b!tch. :-)
Takes one to know one?
Thank you all. It just didn't make sense to me. Now I see that the prosecutor will likely attempt to use technicalities against these guys. Hopefully, when all the evidence (or lack thereof) is heard, an impartial jury will come to the proper conclusion.
I think a directed verdict is in order here...
Nancy is APPALLED that they had $400,000 cashier's checks for their bail.
She said, "Money!"
And yes, he CAN be this dumb.
LMAO!
That's a good point. But I think we obviously don't have all the facts, but from what I'm reading IMO it's looking bad for the prosecution...
This is what I found from the SmokingGun
MARCH 29--Here is the original search warrant obtained by North Carolina cops investigating the alleged rape of an exotic dancer during a raucous party attended by members of Duke University's top-ranked lacrosse team. The document, filed by Durham police in Superior Court, contains the alleged victims account of the March 14 attack in a bathroom at an off-campus home shared by team members.
I see no mention of $2000 or even $400 in this original statement by the victim.
UH-OH! This is a perfect chance to set these guys up with some planted evidence. I normally don't engage in such theories, but with Nifong, based on his unethical conduct thus far, it's a distinct possibility.
Why weren't hair samples taken immediately with the DNA dragnet if the medical staff taking the rape kit samples found a pubic hair?
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