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.
Are you serious? OMG, that would be great!
Nothing about Nancy Grace surprises me. She was one of the most unethical prosecutors ever in Atlanta. No wonder she just loves Nifong's actions. She makes me sick.
Nifong also doesn't have them in jail so a phoney jailhouse snitch can claim they confessed in oder to get a better deal from the proscutor.
whew....finally found this thread!
Lis, on Hannity and Homely, has figured out the alibi trick. DARN!
The rapist gave his ATM card to someone and said, "go use this. I'm busy raping this dancer and need an alibi"
I just saw the craziest person in the world....woman that protests at funerals. She makes Cindy Sheehan look sane! wow
Because she was on the porch after that time period smiling, clothes intact.
For real?????
We have to convince Tony. He has GOT to take it.
And have I read the posts (skimming quickly) that they (prosecution?) are saying the stripper was raped as she was leaving?
Serious holes in that theory.
"Mara Liaason: If these guys are falsely accused...names shouldn't be published all around."
If this woman (who in this day and age of the internet is making the shield less protective) is proved to be lieing then unquestionably she should be named. This would seem to follow since SHE would become a defendant for providing false accusations.
Otherwise she is having her cake and eating it too.
I didn't know she had performed unethically. Mind you, I don't like her a bit, but can you give me an example of her lack of ethics?
Yes, that's right! Good point.
Raped by three men while talking on the cell phone
Multitasking, I guess
Try: http://www.zillow.com/
It will give you the home price of almost any address plus other details...
YEAH!!!!!
So, they're going for the seven-minute window?
lotsa luck.
If I have this right, they are now claiming that the rape took place between the 12:30 picture and the 12:37 picture.
7mins to be raped by three guys.....
Ya, I forgot that. Maybe it took awhile for the idea of rape to set in, and she was confused.
Leaving no DNA anywhere.
I thought Lise had better sense. I guess not.
The way some of these female attorneys are trying to hang onto the prosecution's case is embarrassing to me as a woman.
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