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.
Gee, I guess maybe he shouldn't be running for public office then, huh?
Anybody else here thing that the whole "perp walk" thing was for political reasons? Especially after the defense lawyers offered to have whoever was indicted turn themselves in?
The more I see of this, the more I'm thinking that this woman WAS sexually assualted, but not necessarily by the LAX players at the "party," and someone's got to pay, so it may as well be someone from the LAX team.
Mark
Where did they pick the guys up? Their lawyers' offices? The early morning surrender was obviously an accommodation for the players forced on Nifong by the judge.
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.
----- But I DID just save lots of money on my car insurance!
>>The circumstancial case for being drugged seems possible. Still, the 4am perp walk is quite melodramatic.<<
I don't know about this case.
But sometimes an early morning arrest is to catch them while they are sleeping. Sometimes in high profile cases its to avoid the press.
And in other news. This just in. Cynthia McKinney has not yet been charged with assault of a police officer.
For felonies? Are you perhaps thinking of misdemeanors and infractions?
Probably 21 year olds, charged with supplying alcohol to 20 year olds, or something a little more heinous, conspiracy to lie, and lying.
Two arrested, handcuffed, and marched into jail in pre-dawn darkness.
It wasn't much of a perp walk.
What I don't understand is how DNA can be "selectively" used to either indict or set free?
I asked a criminal defence attorney on a murder case here in Vermont, why a woman who alledgedly murdered her husband, after accused of the crime NEVER proclaimed her innocence or never once said she wasn't guilty of the crime. The attorney told me if she wasn't guilty of the crime why would she acknowledge it? I said that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, she was being accused, if she wasn't guilty why doesn't she just say so to answer her accuser? All the defence attorney's did the whole trial was accuse the police and investigators of mismanaging the crime seen and evidence.
The woman never once said she wasn't guilty of the crime she was being accused of committing (except at arraignment, which her lawyer answered) and a jury found her guilty on ALL counts.
Good point !!
It sure seems to me the DA is enjoying his time in the spot light. If these guys are guilty, nail them like anyone else, but I hope this is not to get himself re-elected. The damage this can do to race relations, if not true, is huge.
You know as much as I do. I'm in Michigan. Howlin will know more when she signs on.
One of the boys is from NY and the other is from NJ.
What happened John Doe #3?
A D.C. GJ isn't going to indict her.
You can probably figure out why.
With all the various attorney's involved, it may have been the only time they were all available.
The attorney's blood ceremony's are done by 2:00 am and court doesn't start until 9.
abc news just reported the names of the 2 arrested players...
1st degree rape, kidnapping and 1st degree assault charges
I've got a problem here. I'm not the biggest expert on this case, but I clearly remember that when the story first broke nationally the 911 call by the "passerby" was presented as powerful corroberating evidence for the stripper's claims. It was weird that the "passerby" had never been found, but that wasn't discussed much. Now this article is the first I've seen that states what I've assumed all along, that the 911 caller was the other stripper. But there is no mention of the previous treatment of the 911 call. Ignored is the fact that what once seemed evidence of lacrosse player racism now looks much more like stripper subterfuge. And one must wonder how long the police have known that it was this woman who made the call. Why didn't we all hear this weeeks and weeks ago?
Have others seen this point addressed directly?
No, felonies, where one gets indicted by a Grand Jury. If there is pre-cooperation, the subject is lawyered up, it is primarily a courtesy to the defense attorney to not slam dunk the client one more time. Sure they can also ask the attorney t have client report for booking, finger printing, mug shot, etc. But this is a lowering of standards.
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