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.
READ IT AND FREEP
Q. Now that a lot of time has elapsed and indictments have come down, do you think the district attorney compromised anything by stating "I think a crime was committed" so early in the proceedings?
A. Yes. His career. With all the publicity this case has gotten, I doubt that his statement will make much of a difference when it comes to being able to find some fair-minded jurors. But by making that statement, he put a lot of pressure on himself to indict some players.
And given (1) the absence of DNA evidence tying any of the players to a rape of this woman, (2) the fact that defense attorneys are already citing evidence from witnesses, as well as a commercial transaction, to show that one of the two indicted players was one of the six lacrosse players (out of 47) who didn't attend the now infamous party and the other indicted player wasn't there "at the relevant time," and (3) the woman's criminal record, he may end up being deeply embarrassed by a case that falls apart while the nation watches.
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5515998
Woo Hoo
And I'd bet my house they have video.
I bet they do too. We talked about this earlier - I wouldn't be surprised if they are holding it back unless it is really needed.
I think my younger son has them on DVD. I'll watch them this weekend. Will be busy drafting an amended federal rico complaint the next few days.
A picture is worth a thousand words? Well, they've got 21,000 of them.
You figure it out.
For emphasis: DA POTENTIALLY IN TROUBLE
(3) the woman's criminal record, he may end up being deeply embarrassed by a case that falls apart while the nation watches.
SOURCE: http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5515998
And picture phones; heck, as old as we are, we use them all the time.
I did.
Look at the VERY NEXT POST.
I saw VIDEO and was thinking FRAMES
Kerry Sutton made a very ominous statement on Abrams today: she said she expects him to withdraw (?) this indictment -- maybe she said drop the case -- "when he finds out what we have found out."
And Rita Cosby earlier today said that she had been in trouble before.
And that she had drinking problems.
And then somebody said on H&C somebody said she had done this before (but we all know you can't believe the TH)
I am almost positive they have video.
That can't be right.
Geraldo said they would run to the DA and take plea deals this week !
My wife's cousin is currently a Duke student. She is in London this semester but is a pretty social person. She is also a sophomore like the two suspects.
It will be interesting getting the inside scoop on this stuff over the 4th of July when we see her. Of course, she is in the Young Democrats or whatever that lame group is called, so I imagine she may be a bit skewed. However, if she knows some of the players, maybe this will offset her politics.
I'm thinking that she has pulled this before. That would be the only thing that would possibly get through to the DA.
BTW, did you see that woman on Hannity & Colmes that is protesting at military funerals? Even Colmes came down on her hard.
I'm with ya.
We may not see it though. Colin Flannerity's attorney said tonight that he's not going to say another word until the trial. That was right after he said it was the largest miscarriage of justice he's ever seen.
.
You know, when I found that one of the two guys the DA nailed had priors, I thought, "That dumb DA had better have checked this guy's alibis because he's just trying to indict whomever he can demonize." Looks like he didn't check closely enough.
It's like the story "to kill a mockingbird" upside down.
That's Fred "God hates fags" Phelps' daughter.
She came across as so rehearsed I'm beginning to wonder if this whole thing isn't some kind of sick act. Michael Smerconish made such a fool of him last week on Scarborough's show that Phelps was reduced to a stuttering mess.
"I think they think you should save them for the trial. I say BS. You don't want to go to trial. Anything that can short circuit the prosecution case should be done ASAP. Maybe they will get lucky and get a good judge that will end this case before it gets started."
I believe they did wait, until the indictments, to present more substantial alibis. They are still holding back (third accuser to be named(?), discovery) but if the facts are true that the defense can easily prove that the newly accused had already left or were not near her (atm receipts, cell calls, photos) then they can probably get this dismissed before trial.
I would consider waiting three weeks, while concurrently stating in ambiguous terms their innocence(we have photos, video that will prove their innocence via timeline, opportunity, pre-existing conditions of the accuser etc.)as being VERY patient in the context of national coverage, unpoved allegations, Jessee Jackson and others race baiting, attorney/prosecutor pundits galore.
Once discovery is done, those photos hopefully will flow all over the web, released, leaked or what not.
Rainy in Nebraska but everything looks fine on the west coast.
It's out there .. Don't know exactly from whom.. But CNN Headline news said at 11:30 pm that Defense sources say BOTH players were not at the party at that time of the alleged crime.
Attorneys get burned, all too often, by believing their clients. These guys, with their Reputations, aren't going to inform National reporters that they have something if they don't. I think player #2 has something to prove he wasn't there too. I just don't think it's been said what proof it is.
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