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.
If the MSNBC reporter was correct in the defense saying neither boy was there at the time the alleged rape occurred, I wonder why the attorneys didn't say that to reporters, instead of just saying "We look forward to showing our clients are completely innocent", etc.?
"The indictments, unsealed Tuesday, did not indicate what possible evidence or arguments led the grand jury Monday to indict Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, both 20. District Attorney Mike Nifong would not discuss the evidence.
From Here: Atheletes Arrested
The prosecutor doesn't have to tell all in an indictment.
So do you.
You criticize Kerry and Rockefeller in your tagline - I guess you don't like rich liberals.
I don't either. Or poor liberals or middlin liberals.
But I'm not blind to human nature either. Apparently you are.
Next thing we know some freeper will be insisting there is no such thing as town/gown tensions either.
I think that clip was from last night..........was it Bill Thomas, the guys with glasses?
No, but you asked about court documents and the court documents available don't make any mention of a foreign object being used to rape the stripper. And sure if she claimed a foreign object was used, it would have been listed in the court docs.
Which is good for him since there is nothing for him to include.
He doesn't have anything; it's a false accusation.
There's always the possibility that the DA provided a photo lineup of players with arrest records only in an attempt to negate the alleged victim's own record. This case bolstering activity wouldn't take into consideration who was actually at the party. Of course, I'm wearing my tinfoil collar and cuffs today, but the DA appears to be pandering for votes rather than seeking the truth. If this info turns out to be true (boys indicted not at party), the DA can stick a fork in his campaign.
"And I don't think schools like Duke are populated by lower class individuals there on a needs scholarship."
Wow! You continue to exceed each ignorant, biased class-animus statement with a new one.
Why are you here. I think I can comfortably say that the vast majority of the Freeper community dislike presumptions based on income-level, be it high or low.
We are based on the rights of individuals, rich or poor.
Can one find certain proclivities at every income level (drug use, high school completion rates, incarceration etc)? Sure. But that doesn't change the fact that all should, in the eyes of the law, be held as innocent until proven guilty - including the accuser.
But serious charges deserve serious review. Other than some official facts, evidence being released, this is a war of words where the prosecutors words have initially more strength. And yet, if you review the facts known along with the facts alleged, irregardless of the financial status of the accused, you can, and many have, come to the conclusion that a lack of DNA, the timeline, the 911 call, the second strippers conflicting statements, the appearance of the DA at a pep rally at the accuser's school, the upcoming election etc that something smells in Denmark.
Just as a prostitute (in this case a stripper) can be raped, so it follows that a "rich spoiled brat" can be falsely accused.
You are a classist which always leads to a lack of class.
It wasn't a "defense announcement" but a twice told statement from a black male MSNBC reporter, who says that's what the attorneys contend. The reporter may be mistaken, but I heard him say that twice. The first time it caught my attention so I focused on the rest of his report, and he said it again.
Show me. Give me a link and a post number then.
I don't live there anymore.
Maybe things have changed.
Where did you get your statistics on lacross??
How many of those teams are male and how many are female?
How many are in public schools and how many are in private schools.
For the benefit of people who have never lived in New Jersey, there are about 600 school districts there. There are a plethora of highschools with many districts having more than one high school. In addition, there are parochial high schools and private high schools.
New Jersey is the most densley populated state in the Union and has more people per square mile than Japan.
So what percentage does 142 high schools translate into for the state as a whole, numbers guy, and where did you get your numbers?
Did you play lacross? Is that it?
One of the accused is from Long Island, he went to Chaminade, a catholic school, not a private prep school. In fact Chaminade was always considered the "blue collar" catholic school. I don't know if its reputation has changed much, but you should not assume.
Being from New York, I could go on and on about assumptions about people from Jersey, but I won't go there.
Yes, they were teammates (McFayden and Seligmann) on the 2004 HS NJ State championship team---Both phenominal athletes. Reade was also a stand out football player from Delbarton.
My cynicism about her accusation stems from her past actions and the nature of her "profession". It's very likely that such a woman would....horror of horrors...LIE to protect herself from going to jail. It's not the first time she has committed illegal acts or lied, so the pattern IS there.
No, it was an attorney named Osburn from this morning.
Then I need a link.
Huh????
Try to clean my bathroom & miss all kinds of things, LOL!
Sorry, but I have daughters, and if any of them thought that stripping was an acceptable job, got drunk, went on paid "dates," etc., I would view any claim of "rape" under the circumstances that she's claiming with extreme skepticism. I'd tell her that making such a serious charge was an horrendous crime unless she was sure it was true.
I suspect this 27-year old "student" didn't receive much parenting by either parent, however. Just lots of talk about looking for "racism" around every corner, and blaming it for every personal failure.
Hon, you've been told a few times now I think that both strippers are black. It was reported when the case first broke and if you're truly interested in whether the strippers were black, why don't you do just five minutes research yourself and go find out.
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