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.
Both boys have been identified. They have been charged with kidnapping. They have posted bond and been released.
Yes, they could have worn condoms. And as I said, condoms leave enough of their own trace evidence that forensics can often identify exactly which brand of condom was used.
Regarding that e-mail, there was a Time magazine article yesterday that said that defense attorneys say a sting operation was used with that e-mail and that the actual e-mail was sent by the police to all the players. And on MSNBC, someone (Dan Abrams, I think) said the player who presumably sent the e-mail was actually in class the time the e-mail was sent.
How? Couldn't she have brought them and taken them herself?
She probably got dosed with some GHB. Its fairly common, makes the person seem drunk, and is out of the system in 4 hours.
This certainly does not comport with her detailed account of the assault against her person.
I saw that the new 'spin' is going to be that she was drugged at the party.
Interview on NBC-17 in Raleigh.
I said the father interviewed has twin sons who are part of the LaCrosse team.....not the ones indicted!
SHEEEEESH!
And for the record, it appears the complaining woman has a police record as well.
If people were jailed for "Behaving like trash" there would not be enough jails in this country to hold them all.
Yes, but the defense has also admitted that one of the players did give her something to drink at some point.
The woman arrived at the party drunk or drugged. She was also bruised when she arrived at the party. And she was also missing some fake fingernails prior to the party. Photographic evidence show that.
And still, if those boys drugged her, when did they have time to rape her? Have you seen the timeline?
Considering how much we really know abut the case.....I don't think one can come to any conclusion yet.
Of course the defense attorney is saying that. He would blame the whole incident on a talking rabbit if he could.
Prosecutors proved rape cases without DNA for centuries - and, if the assailants wore a condom, they might not leave DNA anyway. Absence of DNA needs to be explained, but it is not conclusive evidence disproving rape.
Certainly, we should keep our eyes on this case and reserve judgment until all the evidence is in. But, the fact that a grand jury found reason to believe a crime had been committed suggests that these allegations have at least some credibility.
Condoms leak and are messy. Some DNA is going to get out.
So change the subject, eh?
Some have said she was drunk on arrival, and that the pics seem to indicate this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.