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.
Hulbert has actually been on some shows as a commentator on this case!
It was stunningly ridiculous........LOL.
Kerry Sutton said today that they all offered to sit down with Nifong and all the players and tell him their side, but he refused.
This adds to the 'suspect shopping' rumors. Did Crystal Mangum overshoot by a class or two if she was looking for a payday?
She is in the big leagues now.
"Or as Lisa Bloom put it tonight, "So she stole a car! So what?""
Somehow I doubt we would ever hear Lisa Bloom say, "So HE stole a car! So what?"
LOL! That's a fact, but it is DD Form's 214 in my case, I have several.
Past my bed time now, but I promise to hunt up this thread early tomorrow. It seems destined to to set a few records around here.
Freegards,
F.J.M.
LOL! That's a fact, but it is DD Form's 214 in my case, I have several.
Past my bed time now, but I promise to hunt up this thread early tomorrow. It seems destined to to set a few records around here.
Freegards,
F.J.M.
this just isn't on the alphabets networks, ESPN, sports talk shows talk it up to the keister; wish I could hear a bit more of it, everyone and their dog is talking about it. To me, it is close to a no-story, they are just kind of keeping the peace with the motions of the DA; but that does not mean I am standing in judgement on the values of the case so far; I haven't been able to keep up with it.
Gotta give Univision credit for the fact that they still allow beautiful women to be beautiful women as much as they like. No holding back even if the woman is hosting a kid's show let alone the weather.
That's the first time I've read that.
But if you think about that, that could explain a lot of things.
If black girls showed up and were giving a bad performance anyway, maybe the players called it off and the girls got mad because they weren't getting paid.
That would also explain the statements about the boys shoving money under the bathroom door to get them to leave; and it would explain why they locked her out.
And it would explain why those girls would be so mad; they could have been so mad that Kim decided to make that first 911 call, which in and of itself, makes absolutely NO sense.
Unless you consider the fact that they were pi$$ed because the players didn't want black girls.
And it sure makes it easier for a woman who is going to be charged with public drunkenness to cry rape.
Ditto. In fact I would say it is possible the DA announced the search for "the third man" just so the defense would delay said release.
All Nifong is doing is convicting these kids not based on what they've done but who they are.
BTW, how likely is he to win this election anyway?
Chris1, I am beginning to feel that I completely misjudged you, please accept my sincere apologies.
It's past this old man's bedtime, so I will be turning in now, but I expect this thread to continue for a long time and it will definately be my first stop in the morning. be my first stop in the morning.
That's the most sensible analysis I've seen anywhere in the major media, except perhaps for Judge Napolitano.
IMO, he won it today.
Nancy Grace is a liar who knows her (tiny) audience and wants to keep it.
There's your answer.
Good post. And interesting that the white dancer request info came from the defense. Very interesting.
Even if he lost the election, it would be difficult for the new guy to call off the dogs. I don't know criminal law, but if the DA has nothing more than the story of the victim, with contradictory evidence out there, I just can't see quite how this could get to trial. Speculation is fun, but we will just have to wait. Clearly Duke jocks and frat boys should have their parties in some adjacent county more suburban. It is sort of like Pubbie politicians being tried in DC, vis a vis Dems. It just isn't a very level playing field.
So we up North live in harmony? Puleeze.
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.
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Well...I have heard rumors from someone, but I cannot say how accurate the rumors are.
Anyway, they are about Miss Crystal Mangum.
I am not sure what I can post here without having facts to back it up...it's only rumors.
Howlin, I am sure you have heard the same things I have.
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