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.
Colin Flannerity's attorney was saying the collective "WE" of his client and him, as I remember it.
He indicated that they won't give up anymore information on what they can prove and that they are looking forward to presenting it in court.
He may have been sending the DA a signal too as in, You blew your chance to handle this without egg on your face. Now, we are going forward and don't want to discuss it until we present it to the Jury (my words).
The stripper is a liar and certainly does not want this matter to go to trial. But she is in too deep to change her story. Using the Kobe Bryant circus as a precedent, she might have realized that the best way to resolve this matter without a trial is by targeting the richest players on the team who could afford to pay something to make this embarrassing nightmare go away.
The police took her to the psych ward. I am not sure who took her to Duke, but I assume it was the police.
BUT.........I am willing to consider the suggestion that when they left the house sometime around 12:41 they then drove to meet the "middleman" (pimp) who booked the job and trouble started because they had no money.
That sure could account for the second 911 call not being made until 1:22.
I just wonder why she didn't pick out McFayden?
A quick search at NC Central retrieved this: A link to NC Central College community service file - Mangum = 0 hours served.
http://ariel.acc.nccu.edu/commserv/studenthours.pdf
Nothing will surprise me anymore.
Have you seen Rita Cosby? She keeps talking about the credibility of the second stripper--Forgive me, but how many times did she lie?
Somewhere along the line tonight, I got the impression that she had identified a third person, and that this person may have been ruled out somehow by the State. In which case, Magnum Crystal was actually 0 for 3. (Three strikes, and she should be out.)
Perhaps her third pick was McFayden and the State somehow already knew he had a sound alibi since he had been the subject of so much scrutiny.
Now the State is back looking for the 3rd assailant - - kinda reminds of OJ promising to hunt down wife's killer.
I think the accuser was told, "community service," and got confused. She thought it meant "servicing the community." So yes, she has been serving her sentence. :)
More than you and I could count.
Here is another description of the pictures, with more pictures described:
http://www.wral.com/news/8764090/detail.html
So discovery starts right away? Cool!
You've got mail.
the second stripper lied about the first 911 call, picking the "victim" up on the street and who knows what else? i sure wish Rita had asked her the obvious---what the heck were you doing when your friend was being beaten and raped? Did you see her get drugged? Why weren't you drugged or raped?
Thanks for the link. Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but my brother flew in from Indiana this afternoon and I have been visiting with him.
I read it; we better not post that yet..........LOL.
ROFL!
Absolutely.
Tick tock.
Must be--He is also wealthy--I bet she tried..
I was under the impression that the accuser can be compelled to testify in a trial.
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