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.
Thank you, Maggie. So both strippers were in the bathroom for those 27 minutes.
And why weren't they charged with that then?
ROFL.
But then the thread nanny wouldn't have anything to complain about today.
Clearly. But while waiting for the press conference we needed a little something else to amuse ourselves.
Peach, if there anything other than the story the defense tells that indicates Kim was in the bathroom with the accuser? I happen to believe their story, but has Kim confirmed it?
This 27min gap is important....we need to find Kim's statement re this...
Can you imagine the uproar if it turns out one of the boys charged wasn't even at the party that night? Popcorn anyone?
Except that Charlotte was a brilliant virginal naive frosh enrolled at the same university as her attacker the similarities are startling.(/sarc)
One of them wasn't there when this supposedly happened.
Sadly.
"I'll wait while you show me evidence that any freeper on this thread thinks they understand the evidence better than the police or DA."
All you need to do is read the thread from the beginning.
Clearly there are those who think the DA is as sharp as a box of rocks...or else he wouldn't be pursuing the case.
This tells me that they think he doesn't know what he is doing...which tells me they think they know better.
"You obviously don't care a whit about facts but rather disrupting threads. Carry on."
Correction.
I don't care a whit about the selected facts presented by people who have already decided.
I do care about the fact that there must be other facts the police are privy to - or else they wouldn't be pursuing the case.
The fact that YOU don't know about all the facts doesn't seem important to YOU.
How do the photo's determine the time she left? Is their one of them outside leaving or is the time she left determined from cell phone call? Is it possible she actually got their an hour earlier than these photo's indicate and the time in the BR is really 1 1/2 hours?
Speculation up thread. I'll try to find it for you.
Your ignorance is showing.
I'm sure freepers can help with this information.
I have to leave for an appointment and set the VCR for that press conference.
Dan Abrams said it.
I saw it while I was at physical therapy. (I didn't dare post before I went because I knew if I did, I wouldn't go........LOL)
Here you go!
To: Peach
Abrahms, MSNBC ...
should hear from one defense attorney that one of the charged wasn't even there.
432 posted on 04/18/2006 9:20:14 AM CDT by maggief
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Now we've been accused of indulging in "senseless gossip".
Anyone who thinks Nifong is sharp is clearly lacking sane judgement. He is the poster child for dumb asses everywhere.
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