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.
Most women don't report rape right away. The DNA evidence is washed away. That's why it's a high percentage. But if you look at the percentage of cases where the rape is reported right away and the rape kit is used right away, it goes down to a small percentage. I don't know what that percentage is, but I'll bet it's somewhere in the 10% range.
She did not wash right away, therefore it would make sense that some DNA would be on her. Thinking about it, the bathroom would be a place that would have alot hair in it, especially on the floor.
But you're right about CH. I remember the case where some guy went off his meds and shot up Franklin street killing one and wounding four (can't remember exactly). The jury found him innocent due to insanity and then he was able to win a civil suit against his health care provider because they were held responsible to make sure he was taking his meds.
I wonder if the lawyers refused to let their clients to give hair samples until they had the results on the hair sent to the lab for DNA testing first. But I don't understand why they couldn't just get the pattern from the exemplar and compare it to the DNA patterns they already have on the guys. I don't understand why they needed a hair sample. I would be very suspicious of this if I was representing one of these guys.
Did they grab her at the ATM?
The restaurant alibi isn't real powerful.
Do we know yet if the ATM surveillance exists?
The photos are believed to be authentic and taken by one of the students at the March 13 party. The time stamps on the photos appear to be accurate. Pictures of a wristwatch magnified for clarity correspond with the time on the photos. The players are sitting on three couches in a semicircle with the dancers in the middle.
11:02 p.m.: The first picture shows at least 10 students hanging out in a living room, apparently waiting for the dancers to arrive. Most of the students appear to be drinking. By the number of people in this photo, it appears only a fraction of the 47 lacrosse team members are there.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=4091
All but one player is under suspicion yet, only a fraction of the team appears to be present. My gosh, we live in a scary time. After it as all said and done, this DA should be disbarred, do jail time, be run out of town, and forced to pay restitution to everyone of the 46 players.
Yes he did. Doug Shafer was suspended for either three or six months in one of the worst bar discipline actions one could ever imagine.
I hear Abrams is showing some of the photos on the Today show this morning. TIVO or screen captures anyone?
I was talking about the alibis - the surveillance camera at the ATM. I think I mentioned alibi and ATM in my post.
But thanks for the information.
What tine?
I realize that. All I was saying is it didn't amtter what time zone the clock was set to. Unless the person who was taking the pics re-set the clock in the middle of taking the pics, then the length of time shown on the camera would show that they were there and being photographed for that particular length of time including when they left.
It's easy to look impressive when you have all the facts on your side.
Good morning! Just trying to catch up and have noticed the questions about Brit Hume's guest's report. I don't know if they've been answered elsewhere, but I happened to catch the interview. The guest was Megan Kendall (sp) who reported that the two students arrested were from the most affluent families with respect to the other players. She speculated that they were singled out from information provided on the website http://www.justiceforher.com. They showed a quick screen shot of the site and it appeared to be a message board. However, visiting the site, I was unable to find the info provided by Kendall.
I don't know how to do that; darn. I hope a document dump starts on her today.
Breaking overnight from Chris Cummo at ABC GMA:
Case against at least one Duke defemdant unraveling fast.
Defendant Seiligman went to bank ATM while rape supposedly happening.
12:02 Time stamped photos show girl arriving. Girl leaves, comes back, call friends on cell phone does other things. 12:19 Seiligman calls cab dispatcher 12:24 Seiligman takes cab to bank miles away, uses ATM card (photos show it is him.) 12:42 after walking back to dorm, Seiligman uses security card to enter dorm. Does not leave.
Also, Seiligman was never interviewed by cops. DA seeking reelection simply took "Dancers" word that he raped her.
So we can see Seligman's alibi.
At a morning news conference, state NAACP President William Barber said his group would monitor the work of investigators and prosecutors as the case against lacrosse players Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann moves forward.
Barber said the allegations against the pair "suggest a downward spiral from privilege and advantage to decadence and deviance."
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617542/posts
Let me try again. If there is no certain picture of them leaving (even a picture of them outside isn't conclusive they actually left), then there is no way to know if the photo's cover the entire time unless they can be connected to outside time and we could back track from the documented time the police met them. For example, if the time stamps were off by one hour, the final picture may be one hour before they left and that last hour would not be captured by photo's.
Apparently my question is moot. There is both a picture of a watch and pictures of them leaving.
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