I thought we were all here for Carp and Wine ;)
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.
I'm hoping one of the defense attorneys really steps up and fills the bill.
The defense attorney has the option at the very end of the trial to file some kind of motion for the judge to summarily rule that the prosecution had no case and that the judge should throw it out. Look for it here.
And sure if she claimed a foreign object was used, it would have been listed in the court docs.
If a foreign object was used then why did the DA get DNA samples from the team......it wouldn't make sense...
It was reported on MSNBC that a reporter said that neither of the accused was at the party that night. I didn't hear it but a few freepers have reported it.
I did hear Abrams say that one of the students accused was not at the party that night.
I have yet to see where they said both strippers were black.
O'Reilly is a Chaminade graduate. We relocated from Long Island to NJ 16 years ago. Chaminade is about 4 times the size of Delbarton and tuition is about a quarter of Delbarton's.
They scrape various portions of her body and then use a technique to cause any DNA that is present (foreign genetic material might be microscopic) to replicate itself many times. From this they can get reliable test results even from a very small amount of material.
In this case, though, they were looking for evidence. If there was any large enough to be seen, it would have been 'collecting' evidence instead.
Thanks for that clarification.
I'm still pretty surprised a judge let them take DNA from the entire lacrosse team (with the exception of the one black player). Heck, whenever there's a rape why don't we just have everyone in a 100 mile radius submit DNA.
I'm not here to do your research; find it yourself.
I had to stop and do some household chores...don't want the hubby thinking I'm spending the whole day on FR...LOL
No problem. I think since the stripper's DNA wasn't found and she was photographed smiling leaving the house she'll change her story and try to put out the new lie that she was drugged to explain away things she can't quite "remember". LOL
You should pay better attention then.
You've been told by a few freepers that when this story first broke that both strippers were black. If you're that interested, go look for it yourself.
Most of us have paid attention since the story first broke and aren't going to go look for a month old story to satisfy your curiousity. Not when you can so easily do it yourself.
I thought we were all here for Carp and Wine ;)
It's all over the internet; why don't you do some research before you mark snarky remarks to others who do know the facts.
ping: It happens all over the country and happens every day. This is an aid to deficient polititicians to try to enhance their poor political standing. It also happens in Alabama . They did it to Roy Moore the former Sumpreme Court Chief justice in Alabama.
I am not trying to dispute what you are saying or be an **shole, but I have yet to see any article state the second stripper was black.
I did not post to you until you posted to me.
If the second stripper was black why did she have to explain that she and her "black" girlfriend were passing by.
Like I said I'm not trying to be rude.
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