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.
I was just looking at them; did you have a hard time seeing them? :-)
I see the alibi for the darkheaded boy, but how about Finnerty?
It's been like that forever; I remember seeing Doug Clark and the Hotnuts in that hell hole. One cigarette and that place will go up in smoke.
If one ID was obviously wrong can the other one pass any credibility test?
What do you think Bob Bennett is there for?
I thought Finnerty's alibi was being identified by a waiter and 6 patrons as being at a restaurant at the time that the alleged attack occurred.
I heard that Finnerty wasn't at the party when the strippers were dancing, ... maybe at a restaurant with friends ... not sure. Abrams says he's not in any of the photos.
That title can't be true.
The stripper says that she was raped for half an hour, and she has identified the rapists with 100% certainty.
Oh, no, a receipt from an ATM! The ATM must be wrong. The taxicab driver is wrong. The restaurant camera is wrong too.
We're stuck back in Chad?
--
Oh, Chat, never mind. I will do my best to catch up now... let me move my mop bucket with PineSol, creating the illusion of work.
I guess we'll see who the next lucky "winner" is soon, huh?
Heh. I just shoved some stuff into the cabinets in the kitchen!
Maybe we should figure out a schedule and ring a bell so we can all leave at the same time and "do something" and hurry back!
whew....finally found this thread!
Lis, on Hannity and Homely, has figured out the alibi trick. DARN!
The rapist gave his ATM card to someone and said, "go use this. I'm busy raping this dancer and need an alibi"
I just saw the craziest person in the world....woman that protests at funerals. She makes Cindy Sheehan look sane! wow
I see you've been lurking over at the Court TV message boards? :-)
Whatever.
Mr. Seligmann and Mr. Finnerty were apparently suspended from Duke on Tuesday, two weeks before final exams. Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, issued a statement saying that the university issues interim suspensions when students are charged with felonies but that he could not discuss the case further because of a student privacy law.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/ZNYT02/604190772
I wish we could divide up the cable shows so all of us don't have to sit through Nancy Grace or updates on Natalie Holloway.
I agree 100000000000000000%. If your average citizen were to visit a jail, or just sit in on criminal court for some proceedings to see how things REALLY happen, they would be shocked.
BUMP!
Those students were suspended? That's ridiculous.
How heart-breaking
Thanks to Howlin, here is the link to the March 27th police report that says she claimed $2,000 was stolen:
http://www.bluelineradio.com/610Buchanan.jpg
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.
