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.
And you're welcome to play with it.
You didn't get it. I was questioning what it is you are inviting me to play with.
Amen
I haven't read any other articles confirming this fact, but thought it was interesting. Your thoughts concerning the above are good.
Also, I just read this from The Smoking Gun concerning the sealed indictments. On pages 7 and 8 it seems that Nifong asked for the indictments to be sealed because he thought the two were flight risks (????). The motion is dated April 12, the day before the police went to Duke to talk to the lacrosse players.
Im up late....looks like I missed a few things this a.m.
OT: Scott McClellan has resigned. Tony Snow being considered for the job. Also Dan Senor.
indictments to be sealed because he thought the two were flight risks
Yes, I read that yesterday and I wonder why he thought they would flee....cause their parents have money and could afford to send them overseas to a country that wouldn't extradict them?
I agree. Where is the oversight in courts these days? There isn't any. The more I see with my own eyes, and read(and personally hear) from personal accounts, the more worried I get. Here is an observation: as a convicted felon(for whatever lame excuse), you will lose the right to bear arms, or vote. That's just for starters. You get enough white males together, and you can flunk them for associating with other felons. Goodbye constitutional rights! Goodbye everyone's rights to protest, vote, and protect themselves! You see where I'm going? Constitutional loophole people.
DA's, crooked judges, and inept counsel, who don't give jackshit about the law of the land, should be held in general population. This way they can get to know real felons of every color. Hi Mr. Difong, meet your cellmate, Xavier. Oh, those horrible tattooes all over his face? Just means he's a made member of MS-13. Relax, we got your back
I heard about Tony last night....The three Snow, Senor, Clark would be excellent for the job....I do hope Tony takes it..
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=1858806&page=1
ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Key Evidence Supports Alibi in Potential Rape Defense for One Indicted Duke Player
Reade Seligmann Was At Party, But Has An Alibi and Taxi Driver Witness
By CHRIS CUOMO, ERIC AVRAM, and LARA SETRAKIAN
EXCERPT
Around midnight the night of March 13, Seligmann was already at the party when two women hired from a local escort agency arrived to dance for the boys — $400 each for a two-hour performance. A series of time-stamped photographs viewed by ABC News show the girls dancing at midnight and at 12:02 a.m.
By 12:24 a.m., a receipt reviewed by ABC indicates that Seligmann's ATM card was used at a nearby Wachovia bank. In a written statement to the defense also reviewed by ABC, a cabdriver confirms picking up Seligmann and a friend a block and a half from the party, and driving them to the bank.
What did Seligmann do after leaving the bank? The taxi driver remembers taking him to a drive-thru fast-food restaurant and then dropping him off at his dorm. Duke University records show that Seligmann's card was used to gain entry at 12:46 a.m.
In addition to bolstering Seligmann's alibi, the taxi driver's written testimony provided a rare glimpse of color in an otherwise darkened night.
"I remember those two guys starting enjoying their food inside my car, but I'm glad I end up with a nice tip and fare $25," the taxi driver said in his testimony.
ABC News traced the steps of Seligmann's story, timing how long it took to get from place to place. In repeated trials, the drive between the Wachovia branch and the corner where the cab picked him up took approximately five minutes. This suggests that Seligmann must have left the house by around 12:19 a.m.
So, Seligmann's alibi suggests, he and the alleged victim were in the house together for less than 20 minutes. According to defense sources, based on the alleged victim's affidavit, all of the following would have transpired within that time period: She and her dance partner performed for several minutes, left after feeling threatened by the boys' growing "excited and aggressive," returned after being persuaded by team members to dance some more, and then she was forced into a bathroom, beaten and raped.
Within those same minutes, phone bill records reviewed by ABC show that the defendant's cell phone made at least two outgoing calls.
Who is the Clark?
That fleshes out his alibi considerably.
You know what I wonder. An article posted on this thread today says her cell phone was retrieved from the house. But she was talking on her cell phone when she was photographed leaving. So how did her phone end up back in the bathroom?
Victoria (Torie) Clark...she used to work for Rummy...at the Pent.
hehehehe. I was in the grocery store the other day and there's already a satirical, leftist book about Cheney's hunting accident. Sheesh
Oh, she was excellent. Quite good. Although we used to make fun of some of her loud clothing choices. Meow
LOL....she was known around here for her loud suits....but she knows how to handle the press...I'd rather see her than Senor who I think is too laid back, althought he did a great job in Iraq.....plus he just got married to Campbell Brown a few weeks ago...
Was the cell phone retrieved from inside the house? Could she have dropped it when she fell on the stairs?
That makes sense.
I also read this today, Seligmann Not At Party
In court documents, authorities wrote that in the days after the allegations were made, the three team captains who lived at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. had listed the 40 or so team members who had been at the party. Seligmann was not on that list.
It doesn't make sense they would target Seligmann if they had been told he wasn't at the party.
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