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.
Howlin, media photos were taken of some of the Lacrosse players arriving with their shirts pulled over their heads and were dated as taken on March 23rd. If this is correct, that would place the photos and lab work a 9-10 days after the alleged incident. Fox news consultant pathologist(Baden? sp) stated evidence for scratches would be limited due to the normal healing that would take place for scratches over 10 days.
Please let me know if you have a different date for the Lacrosse team compliance for the photos other than March 23rd.
Now, you are correct.
I wasn't clear enough, I guess.
If she had identified them by face, as her father said she did, and if they showed up with scratches, I can't imagine that they wouldn't have been arrested on the spot.
But from what I am hearing from the defense team today she only identified them a week ago and it was by the scratches on their arms, not their faces.
Oy vey! I hope that was sarcasm?
I have not seen that report, thanks Howlin
Curious...........
Alcohol related? NO
Drug related? No
Drug Activity? Not applicable
Is that standard? If the cop said she was passed out drunk, would that not be relevant just in case she was(GASP!) lying?
She'll probably just ignore it or ridicule it.
If Nifong manages to separate the trials and Finnerty is tried first, it will be difficult to get the false ID on Seligman in, for one thing. I have stated several times that the bad ID on Seligman taints the ID on Finnerty, but it won't be helpful unless they're tried together. So, that leaves us with looking at Finnerty's alibi as a separate issue. Eye witness alibi testimony can be tough to sustain, which is why I was asking if there was anything solid and irrefutable placing him away from the scene during the critical times.
Pics now on Drudge...
Thanks. They're all dark and I really can't see much of anything.
FORCIBLE ACTS 1
Vaginal Intercourse 2*
First Degree Rape (GS 14-27.2 (2), Class B1 felony (SOR Vaginal intercourse by force and without consent and (a) with use of a weapon, (b) inflicting serious injury, or (c) aided by others.
*2 Vaginal intercourse is defined by case law as the slightest penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ. State v. Summers, 92 NC App. 453, 374, SE2d 631 (1988), cent. den, 324 NC 341, 378 SE2nd 806 (1989)
but the two boys were also charged with First Degree Sexual offense which is described as such
Other Sexual Contact First Degree Sexual Offense (GS 14-27.4 (a) (2), Class B1 Felony (SOR) Sexual acts 3* (Not vaginal intercourse) by force and without consent and (a) with use of a weapon, (b) infliction serious injury, or (c) aided by others.
*3 "Sexual act" is defined by GS 14-27.1 (4) as " cunnilingus, fellatio, analingus, or anal intercourse," AS WELL AS "PENETRATION, HOWEVER SLIGHT, BY ANY OBJECT INTO THE GENITAL OR ANAL OPENING OF ANOTHER PERSON'S BODY."
From Here: North Carolina Statutes
I am not making any statement to the guilt or innocence of either parties involved, but I do have a question? Could it be possible that say, (if the girl was incapacitated) not knowing EXACTLY what happened to her the prosecutor brought both these charges and when/if no DNA pans out he can drop the First Degree Rape, but still charge the First Degree Offense?
connect, I pinged you because you seem to know a lot about law.
That is totally plausible. That would account for her "condition" and the unidentifiable DNA found on her person. The DA should be eating stone soup for this.
Spunk, I see how you got yer name! Good work, and I salute you for it! There's more here than meets the "Y."
;o)
Not in Durham, she won't.
Listen for the mantra: "Rich white boys bought their way out of it."
Of course that was sarcasm. Didn't you see the little winky face at the end?
I'm just having fun with the paradox of such a liberal school as Duke University being labeled as a haven for wealthy, racist children of privilege bent on raping and assaulting poor black working mothers.
I have no doubt that if this were a conservative school or military academy, the cry for heads to roll would be louder than Abu Grab and the panty pictures.
Not to Classy Green Eyed Blonde, I hope...
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