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.
Agreed. Race is the 800 pound gorilla in this whole sad situation. The South has had a long history of abuse of the law on the part of whites to oppress blacks. In many cases, a mere accusation from a white woman that she was "touched" by a black man was enough to bring out a lynch mob. If the accused party were fortunate, he would be quickly disposed of by a bullet or a rope. If not, he suffered torture, including castration, other mutilation, and skinning alive, before being lynched.
Many blacks carry resentment about past injustice, not only hearing old stories from family members, but also from black studies programs like Black History Month, where they learn about the most gruesome aspects of the segregation and slavery eras. However, blacks have been enfranchised and have received the benefits of civil rights and affirmative action laws. They have both political power and street power, especially in a place like Durham, where they are about one half the population. To draw an analogy to the illegal immigration situation, they have the voting clout of the Anglos and the ability and desire to engage in anything from demonstrations and riots of the illegal aliens.
Additionally, the lacrosse players are white and thus, at least to many blacks, privileged and prosperous. The fact that these young men are often arrogant and obnoxious, as is, unfortunately, the case with many athletes nowadays, and have had run-ins with the law adds to the stereotype. It does not matter that they are Yankees, whose families probably never lived south of New Jersey since their forbears came to America. These same blacks who prejudge the white lacrosse players would laugh at a stripper who cried rape at black basketball players under like circumstances.
The DA is motivated by both fear of the wrath of black voters at the ballot box and the threat of Rodney King style riots as happened in Los Angeles in 1992. Thus, he is prosecuting these young men despite the absence of DNA evidence and the unreliable character of the accuser. I hope the accused parties and their families have deep financial pockets.
I thought "they" said, "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit."
"This case will not result in a conviction based on the known evidence. This is a weak case."
It will result in a conviction based on "known" politics, weak case be damned!
Now MSNBC says they are standing by in case the defense attorneys want to talk.
I may be confused, but I believe WaggleBee has been arguing against the prosecution. MariaBush has been talking about "implied" racism.
That's not a problem for us. You'd have thought that CBS would have far more information about those National Guard documents too; they didn't.
Kinda like the OJ trial?
Probably more like the Kobe trial that never will be.
I will be amazed if this ever reaches a trial. I think the DA will eventually realize that if all he has to go with is the stripper's story, he has nothing. I have a feeling that the stripper is just hoping for some sort of financial pay-off and Duke (the university owns the house) will probably pay her.
My feeling is that maybe half the team has direct knowledge of what happened that night, and if they are guilty, even fewer than that.
non-sequitor "reply"
Good question.
>>It will result in a conviction based on "known" politics, weak case be damned!
It pretty well already has.
Read over a search warrant affidavit at TSG.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0329061duke3.html
The investigating officer states he has been an officer since 2003. He is now assigned to Criminal Investigations Division and has been involved in numerous investigations. He does not claim any training or experience outside of the Durham City PD.
Just over 2 years on the job, including Academy and rookie training, and is now an investigator. I hope he is working with a senior partner that is just making the new kid do the paperwork.
If this guy is the lead investigator, the lawyers will rip apart every step of his investigation. Think Boulder, OJ and any number of others in the last 10 yrs.
Ahem. I posted upthread that condoms themselves leave behind enough trace evidence that often forensics can identify the brand of condom.
The DNA tests on the stripper showed no evidence of condom use.
FreedomPoster had me confused with MariaBush. He apologized, it happens to all of us -- no big deal.
See my #247.
And I'm not sure what "implied racism" is.
I don't know much about DNA testing, but is it possible that the "Stew" has so many ingredients that it is impossible to indentify any single one?
From the beginning they said there was a violent struggle, so violent that her nails ripped off.
This just to remind you that the arrested suspects are not Southerners.
We do know from photographs which are time/date stamped and verified by forensics experts that the stripper arrived missing some of those fingernails. Were they in her make-up bag to be left behind so she could pretend she was raped?
Hmmmmmmm....that's very interesting...
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