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.
Maybe kids play the sports because it's, uhhh, fun???
She most certainly is black. The very first stories reported that.
Not with you, thank God.
If I was "had" so was the person who wrote the article.
And swelling and pain in a certain area can be consistent with sexual assault - which is the medical opinion expressed here.
Yes she did. She said it at least twice. She ~emphasized~ it.
I have been unplugged this morning. Has it been discussed that if just one suspect ID'd by the AV was elsewhere, then ~any and all~ ID's by her will be extremely tainted (beyond what they already are by the impairment)?
See here my earlier post on Duke's admissions policy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607267/posts?page=405#405
I have since learned that the lax team has 12 scholarships divided among 27 players.
Those were Lee Press On nails. The last time I bought those things was to accentuate one of my kid's Halloween costumes. They pop right off. Acrylic nails, otoh, will hurt you if they break off. Had them for a short period of time, and couldn't pull the laundry out of the washer. I also scratched myself pretty good. If I were being attacked, the attacker would have needed stitches.
Did the emergency room take pics of the woman's fingers?
Just because there was no DNA doesn't mean there is no evidence of rape. Vaginal tearing, for example. A doctor is able to look at a woman and tell if there has been signs of any forced sex.
What do you think that before the days of DNA rape didn't exist and was never tried as a crime for lack of evidence?
I am amazed at how many Freepers are so damn ill-informed on this case AND are willing to pass on misinformation.
The male MSNBC reporter at the courthouse in Durham just said twice that defense attorneys say neither suspect was at the house that night.
The defense will be able to say that aside from her inglorious profession of stripping (at the least), she's a proven liar if one of those kids wasn't even at the party.
Question asked by froufrou "So, if there's no genetic material on or in the woman, on what grounds can they even take these two men into custody?
Question answered by Spunky "Rape does not have to occur with the P-n-s. Have you ever heard of a broom stick or lets say LaCross Stick?
Since when can't we answer when someone asks a question? Besides the charge was RAPE. Rape can be with an object used by a person.
I don't think ANYONE of us knows the facts.
Yes. I guess you DO believe this.
And here I thought class envy was the domain of Democrats.
Ha!
Jealousy is a green-eyed monster; Class Envy is its PC mate.
Uhh Yeah.
I can see Duke going to some middle class or lower class neighborhood to recruit Lacross atheletes to attact the huge sector of the population which watches lacross games.
Its probably even bigger than the number of people who watch curling competitions.
The party WAS on the 13th, but she got there after midnight.
I don't see the problem with these accusations going to court and evidence being heard by a jury. It doesn't need to be an episode of CSI for the woman to get her case heard. It is what you would want for your mother, sister, or daughter regardless if she had the men's DNA inside her or not.
Isn't that called dating?
The DA was so sure that the DNA tests were going to finger the culprits. Instead, the negative results destroyed his case. If there was ANY evidence that condoms had been used he would have said so instead of making the lame claim that it was simply a case of no DNA left behind.
Was he saying that neither arrested suspects were not in the house that night?
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