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.
JOSEPH CHESHIRE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, has the same question, or perhaps he knows.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/17/pzn.01.html
CHESHIRE: Paula, well, first of all, let me say this for a living -- let me say this about what this woman does for a living.
Anybody that knows what she does for a living and the reality of what she does for a living knows that she could have received those injuries any time before 12:00 that evening. Now, as -- as this trial goes on, we will be able to discover exactly where she is. But the fact that she may have had sex with somebody after 6:00 or before 6:00 would mean, if she went to the hospital, they would show that she had -- quote -- "injuries," which is a word I don't like, but a medical condition, or things in her body, consistent with the fact that she may have had sex with somebody.
...
"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."
this is true, and while the African American population used to be considered small, it is growing. But the families moving in are still upper middle class professionals.
Fox reporting AV ID'd the 2 accused because of scratches on their bodies. Supposedly, there were pics taken of them without their shirts on.
So, there should be DNA under her nails, right??
Fox also reporting that the expect the latest DNA to be released at anytime....I'm guessing that this is the hair samples....
If she had DNA under her nails that would have been taken at the hospital.....I thought the nail DNA showed nothing...correct me if I'm wrong...
That's what I thought. The rape kit thingy includes nail scrapings, I think. Maybe there is DNA on the fake nails that came off?
But, it seems rather nonsensical, since neither guy was there at the time of the alleged rape.
It was a clip that aired this morning showing some pictures from the party.
They took their shirts off before they raped her? /sarc.
They took their shirts off before they raped her? /sarc.
I thought she claimed they were all wearing long sleeve shirts......
This is just pathetic!! She ID's them from scratches?? Not their face?
Stupid TH saying unless ATM had pics, the alibi is weak. What about the cab driver??
I DESPISE the media....ignorant blonde bimbo on Fox has no clue what the defense alibi has said! Her TH guest is babbling and knows nothing!!
Reade was photograhed in a RED SHORT SLEEVE SHIRT. Abrams showed it this morning on The Today Show but now the video clip is unavailable.
LOL :)
LOL...I am getting so confused...
LOL. Imagine how "confused" the "victim" is...
Sounds to me like the dirty dancer went through the pics of the team without their shirts on, and picked out the ones with scratches. And lo and behold! What a coinkydink! They just happen to be 2 of the wealthiest members!
Too bad, so sad. Stinkweed dancer picked 2 who have alibis! Will she get a do over?
And we all know you can't get scratches from playing lacrosse, right? /s
She also had three weeks to do a little research on the team members...
This was an ATM at a bank... Of course they had pics.
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