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.
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.
The only thing I can think of is they(DA) failed in their interviews or just didn't believe them......
Pictures show he was there at the beginning of the party.
ATM and cell phone records show he left by 12:24--he couldn't have done it.
Were they interviewed at all?
That's a good question....here's another one...is the DA just relying on Crystal's ID?
You use your imagination as to how a man can rape a without a penis. This is another day and was done with this thread yesterday.
I think the DA is relying on her ID and the hospital exam.
It appears many of the statements made by Nancy Grace last night weren't accurate. With news of evidence supporting Seligman's alibi, it will be interesting to hear how she tries to spin her way out of it today.
Oh, I forgot about that!
That could be and would explain it, maggie.
No. If vaginal penetration isn't done with a penis, and isn't done with an "object" -- it usually falls under the SODOMY laws. Not the rape laws.
I sure hope there's a video at the ATM. Nancy Grace will have some other person using his card...just watch
(I do not consider either of them to be anti-white, but they are part of an establishment subgroup. Black racism is far more tolerated bu this establishment than is white racism. Louis Farrakhan can hold large, open air meetings safely in many black communities. David Duke is lucky if he can rent a meeting room in a hotel far from a minority neighborhood or a college campus.)
As for the underclass, this group has numerous social pathologies that are well known: over two thirds of birth out of wedlock, fatherless homes, high levels of drug and alcohol addiction, excessive crime rates, etc. In addition to these problems that have been in existence for decades, they now find themselves in increased competition for service industry and blue collar jobs from illegal aliens. Outside of the areas of the most dense black population from Maryland to East Texas, even "legal" Hispanics now outnumber blacks. Beside the past abuses, which are periodically roiled by Black History Month and "rap" music, many blacks in the underclass believe that the illegals are here in such large numbers because of the greed of white businessmen. (They are not entirely wrong, BTW.)
You may live in a community where there is a strong black middle class and a good degree of social and community integration. The African American community may be relatively small compared to other groups. However, your particular situation is different from conditions not only in the South, but in Northern cities from Boston to Milwaukee.
No.
Kerry Sutton said yesterday that they all offered to meet with Nifong and tell him their side of the story, but he refused.
Duke alumni ought to form a PAC when this is over and actively work to unseat Nifong. A lesson needs to be sent to overzealous prosecutors everywhere.
After all, the woman who had Don Adams prosecuted in Philly for assaulting the fists of Teamsters with his face is still DA. Apparently, even a clearly malicious prosecution doesn't hurt prosecutors any longer. That needs to change.
It's lucky your niece called you. Why don't they fix the problem? That is scary. You should tell someone about the problem, if you can find someone who gives a care.
No.
Kerry Sutton said yesterday that they all offered to meet with Nifong and tell him their side of the story, but he refused.
So, the DA's office is relying strictly on Crystal's ID....not a very good move on their part...IMHO
Thanks Howlin.
Did you view the Abrams Today Show video I linked up thread? I tried to screen capture the photos they aired, but to no avail.
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