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.
This is such a travesty.
The only thing I can figure is using an object to rape her. Still, there seems to be far more grounds for doubting the charges than for supporting them. The perp walk was to get re-elected. I really dislike that kind of grandstanding. Perp walk the illegals.
"I didn't have to go to your profile page...all you have to do is run the mouse over your name and you get your sign-up date.."
You're right.
2 years here and I never knew that!
I'm so tired of this story, I wish they'd get back to covering things that really matter, like the Natalee Holloway case.
Which would explain why, as late as last Thursday, the Durham PD was still trying to interview player to discover who was and who wasn't at the party.
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?
That's a good question....I know on my cameras I have to set the clock after DST begins.....
Hence the moniker - DA.
I didn't know that either.
This case is about ginning up racial hatred for democrat political empowerment by manipulating black people. THIS is the truth about democrat political behavior, that they will try any game no matter how it harms the country, if it holds potential to possibly inflame their voter base. A political party that has defended and promoted such an heinous thing as partial birth abortion will do anything to get votes regardless of who may die or the destruction to the nation.
"Since you've has so much senseless gossip in your own situation, it only seems fitting you wouldn't want to be on a thread where there is more of the same."
I'm getting the clear impression people don't want me here!
You sure got that right!
>>jury selection becomes paramount.
>Sadly.
It seems to me that Nifong's 70 or so media appearances in and around Durham would give the defence plenty of ammunition for a venue change.
I always wonder why people come on threads like these and carp and whine.
I would definately want a change of venue myself.
It could be more than that. It could be that law enforcement wants victims to know they will be taken seriously.
"Is that an admission of an agitator?"
An admission of someone who likes to point out that knowing SOME of the facts does not constitute knowing ALL of the facts.
You are a very WISE parent!!!!!!
Per Fox just now, a May 15 hearing has been set for Finnerty. Is that normal, or is his attorney wanting to provide evidence that he wasn't there, which would be shown in a special hearing?
"Anyone who thinks Nifong is sharp is clearly lacking sane judgement. He is the poster child for dumb asses everywhere."
I have no idea who the man is...whether he is a dumb ass or not.
Most people - smart and stupid, are self protective though and don't tend to place their jobs in jeapordy needlessly.
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