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.
"Anyone know how soon after the alleged rape she made the IDs?"
I got the impression it was days not hours.
It is a RUMOR that there was ruffies in her system. From what I remember hearing on Fox was that there wasn't any tox screen done. Is it not possible that the girl took something herself, perhaps to make herself less inhibited in order to dance?
Don't worry, that loudmouth will not be long in coming...I was thinking the same thing about this case....
About three weeks, as near as I can figure out.
"Of course, but the fact still remains, no DNA found, so where do you go for you're rape case? This prosecutor is really playing with fire, because he can't go after anything else when the woman claimed she was raped, he has to prove that charge, and without the DNA, he's hasn't got a convincing way to prove it, and he knows it!"
This is speculation... in some states rape can be with an object. It is also possible for a rapist to use a condom. But who knows... The DA was an idiot to make those early public pronouncements.
If that's the case and assuming that she was not raped, then time enough to find out who on the team has the worst reputations and finger them for the crime.
This prosecutor is scum of the first degree! He's throwing in other charges which assures a better probability of getting somekind of conviction.
>>From what I remember hearing on Fox was that there wasn't any tox screen done.<<
Wow.
>> Is it not possible that the girl took something herself, perhaps to make herself less inhibited in order to dance?<<
Of course.
>>Is it not possible that the girl took something herself, perhaps to make herself less inhibited in order to dance?
I do believe she was DUI at twice the legal limit in the incident where she stole her customer's car and then tried to run down the arresting officer.
What are you talking about?
I didn't see that among the charges.
Maybe she picked Finnerty out because it'll make a better civil rights suit against Duke for Jackasson's people to shake Duke down with. Now we know why Jackasson is stating he will give her money. He wants to be on the receiving end of the suit.
>>If that's the case and assuming that she was not raped, then time enough to find out who on the team has the worst reputations and finger them for the crime.<<
Yeah I think we've got a serious crime here one way or another - either a sexual assualt or a serious frame-up.
This is nothing more then a political ploy.
Ditto.
No, it was weeks. The lack of identification was the basis for Nifong;s DNA dragnet.
the DA has an election to win.
Isn't the election pretty soon? he just needs to throw a bunch of slop on the wall and see what sticks
When I read the eyewitness reports of the woman's condition days ago, this is the first thing I thought of.
They;re really not part of the rape kit. The medical tean are urged to do them anyway.
I think by hate crime, he was referring to the gay-bashing incident. I had called it a homosexual incident and that kind of made Finnerty look ... well.
I haven't followed the case closely either but, IIRC, the PD did respond to the call but there wasn't anything to be seen....the party was over.
Aside from that, I doubt that a call to 911 complaining that 'They called me the N-word' rates a High Priority response...compared to tavern brawls, house fires, auto accidents, etc.
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