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.
So you're calling Yankees ignorant?
Mangum claims that 3 of the players brutally beat, strangled and raped her vaginally, anally, and orally for 30 minutes. To think that that much intimate physical contact could have occurred with NO transfer of DNA material is fantasy.
the fact that a grand jury found reason to believe a crime had been committed suggests that these allegations have at least some credibility.
The grand jury returned 81 indictments plus the 2 sealed ones against the players. They met for 2 hours. Thats less than 90 seconds per indictment. How much time do you think they spent "evaluating" the evidence or lack thereof? They rubber stamped them for the DA.
Populations are increasing in the South and mid Atlantic states ....due in large part to Northern immigrants who say they find the weather and the people more hospitable.
Or any other school for that matter. Just about every university recruits athletes for specific sports and those kids are offered scholarships to attend if they have superior athletic talent.
Don't let the facts get in the way of your bias against everyone more successful than you.
"Stating the obvious. But complaining about freepers gossiping. But not skipping the thread which is odd since it annoys you so much."
Well really...it's gone beyond that now.
Because I've pointed out that the public does not know as much as the investigators I have been labelled a troll, a liar, a racist,illogical, emotional, and a disgrace.
And let's face it -- some of the posters on this thread are trolling and/or posting misinformation.
"So you're calling Yankees ignorant?"
Nope.
You're joking, right?
It doesn't make any difference to me what their color was and that's the first anyone indicated that one was white.
The witness who came forward was described as black and so was the victim.
So how many party girls did these little creeps invite to their orgy anyway????
Clearly trying to do an endrun around the attorneys for the boys is an act of desperation, proving the DA is desperate for something, anything, to hang on these boys.
Regarding whether the stripper is a prostitute, we don't know that but we do know, from her own words in an interview, that she performed one-on-ones about 3 times a week.
As to the lack of DNA, the stripper claims she fought off three men for 30 minutes. Surely there would be their DNA under her fingernails. At the least. There was no DNA associated with the players and the stripper, according to the DA's own admission.
Not when they only heard one side of the case.
14th.
You think wrong. One-third of Duke students get need-based aid. In addition there are merit scholarships.
I am surprised by the number of people on FR who dislike anyone who they think has more money than they do.
I taught several students who went to Duke from non-magnet public high schools. A few were moderately well off. Most were very middle class students who earned nonathletic scholarships. What they had in common was their outstanding academic achievement in high school.
Let's not feed the troll and disruptor.
I think the lacrosse scholarship total is now 13 ships, which can be split between team members. There are likely a couple of players who received full rides but most receive partial athletic scholarships, along with any other financial aid they can muster. Many of these kids will leave school with significant debt.
Duke Rape Indictment documents:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0418061duke1.html
The most you post, the more you show you don't know what you're talking about.
Duke has blind admission.
That is a web definition- what matters is the definition in NC. In NC, rape must include vaginal intercourse. Other forms of sexual assault (Oral, anal, or penetration with an object) fall under the sexual offense statute. The suspects were charged with both first degree rape and sexual offense.
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