Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Arrests made in Duke lacrosse case
News & Observer ^ | Apr 18, 2006 | Anne Blythe and Benjamin Niolet

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.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: alsharptonontheway; arubaredux; dirtbag; duke; dukelax; durham; jesseontheredphone; kangarootime; lacrosse; overblown; rape; saygoodbyenatalie; whocares; witchhunt
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 561-580581-600601-620 ... 2,661-2,674 next last
To: Carolinamom
"What happened to the charge of largency?"

She alleged that someone stole some of her fat?

581 posted on 04/18/2006 8:12:10 AM PDT by Enterprise (The MSM - Propaganda wing and news censorship division of the Democrat Party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster

This is too funny!

Because I have pointed out the obvious....that the police would know more than the public...then I have been labelled as a liar, a troll, and now I am "emotional".

Thanks for the giggles.

Good day to you also.


582 posted on 04/18/2006 8:12:12 AM PDT by Scotswife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 578 | View Replies]

To: PleaseNoMore
Our children are grown adults, who never gave us a minutes trouble.
'
They now have teenagers and college age children of their own. No trouble here either.

Call me whatever you like, but it does not take a rocket scientist to know right from wrong and then teach it to your children.
583 posted on 04/18/2006 8:12:41 AM PDT by Coldwater Creek ("Over there, over there, We won't be back 'til it's over Over there.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 544 | View Replies]

To: cdga5for4

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2387151

Not quite. 15 of them have had brushes with the law before. The kids assault charge can be dropped after 25 hrs community service in DC. Ain't that serious. Not enough to pressure him on.


584 posted on 04/18/2006 8:13:36 AM PDT by notigar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 576 | View Replies]

To: Scotswife
Were the accusers and the accused of the same race, or if the stripper were white and the athletes were black, this case would not have seen the light of day, given the weakness of the evidence. But since the stripper is black and the athletes are white, the race issue rears its head. A lot of blacks bear resentment for past injustices, and want to punish whites for the misdeeds of past centuries. Were the DA to dismiss the case, he could face the wrath of black voters (blacks are about one half of the population) or angry mobs in the streets.

In the pre-civil rights era, white DAs and judges were often extremely harsh towards blacks accused of crimes against whites for fear of voter backlash and the lynch mob. The tables have turned with regard to racial power, but the underlying issue is race, whether with the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s or the Duke lacrosse players in the 2000s.

585 posted on 04/18/2006 8:13:50 AM PDT by Wallace T.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 553 | View Replies]

To: LWalk18; Howlin
Didn't the DA say at NCCU that they beat her? Why were they not charge with aggravated assault?
586 posted on 04/18/2006 8:14:10 AM PDT by Perdogg (The Opinions expressed by Perdogg are correct and should be relied upon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 566 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise; Mad-Margaret

NO! That was ACCUSED after a fight, but I don't think it was proved.

He was NOT found guilty of that.


587 posted on 04/18/2006 8:14:21 AM PDT by Howlin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 573 | View Replies]

To: Howlin

you have freepmail


588 posted on 04/18/2006 8:14:34 AM PDT by OldFriend (I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag.....and My Heart to the Soldier Who Protects It.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 513 | View Replies]

To: Howlin
I guess that I should have sent Quilla a FR mail. I was complimenting her, and was not speaking of any other parent.
589 posted on 04/18/2006 8:14:41 AM PDT by Coldwater Creek ("Over there, over there, We won't be back 'til it's over Over there.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 538 | View Replies]

To: Raycpa

How about using an object???

Remember the heros - also athletes I believe - from New Jersey and young retarded girl???


LaCross is a sport for young upperclass brats who think their money and parents' position empowers them to use other people of a lesser sort - black or white - as their needs require.

I can't believe the responses I'm reading in this post.


But time will bear out the facts.


590 posted on 04/18/2006 8:14:42 AM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts, and guns made America great.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: cdga5for4


There are no charges anymore from that incident and he did community service.


591 posted on 04/18/2006 8:14:56 AM PDT by snarkytart
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 576 | View Replies]

To: cdga5for4


There are no charges anymore from that incident and he did community service.


592 posted on 04/18/2006 8:14:59 AM PDT by snarkytart
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 576 | View Replies]

To: Peach
Now ask yourself, using the timeline provided by time/date stamped photographs which I posted to you above, when a rape could have occurred.

Clearly, she's not interested in the facts.

593 posted on 04/18/2006 8:15:02 AM PDT by schooter (Tawana, meet Crystal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 188 | View Replies]

To: swain_forkbeard
I agree that conviction, especially on a rape charge, lacking the smoking gun as it were, will be difficult. A plea to a lesser charge, some sort of assault charge, might be the resolution. If you send it to the jury, it's a crapshoot for both sides. As has been noted by others, jury selection becomes paramount.

As was seen in the OJ trial, a jury that is sympathetic to the defendant can acquit even in the face of extreme evidence of guilt

The question is, can a jury whose make up has them being hostile to the defendants vote to convict even in the absence of credible evidence?

594 posted on 04/18/2006 8:15:05 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (A planned society is most appealing to those with the hubris to think they will be the planners)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 377 | View Replies]

To: mystery-ak

There is nothing to "turn against."


595 posted on 04/18/2006 8:15:11 AM PDT by Howlin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 563 | View Replies]

To: notigar

I don't think he'll fall for it but I think that's part of their thought process. Also, when they want to bring up the accuser's past the DA will say that his past is also fair game.


596 posted on 04/18/2006 8:15:16 AM PDT by cdga5for4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 584 | View Replies]

To: Wallace T.

"If you're going to hurt someone, you'd better make sure they're the same race as you."


597 posted on 04/18/2006 8:15:38 AM PDT by dfwgator (Florida Gators - 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Champions)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 585 | View Replies]

To: Jrabbit
My thoughts too...

..appears to me there's been some 'trolling' or 'shopping around' for any embarrassing items in the boys past, and bingo!...they found one, so he is identified as the perp..... has to be guilty!

598 posted on 04/18/2006 8:15:41 AM PDT by Guenevere
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 557 | View Replies]

To: Scotswife

You are here for nothing other reason than to cause disruption on this thread.

We've gotten along just fine without you before. And we sure don't need you now.


599 posted on 04/18/2006 8:16:06 AM PDT by Howlin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 562 | View Replies]

To: ZULU

Since when was the son of a fireman considered upperclass?


600 posted on 04/18/2006 8:16:24 AM PDT by Jrabbit (Kaufman County, Texas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 590 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 561-580581-600601-620 ... 2,661-2,674 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson