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.
Yes and the other stripper's phone call was to report that she'd been called racist names. Nothing about a rape. But hey, we all have our priorities. LOL
Until you do get a chance to see the video, will you please take the word of those who have seen it and stop asking the same question over and over?
Nevermind. This is why I no longer donate.
ROFLMAO....they have PROOF that the boys were not inside that house when the alleged assault took place! ROFLMAO.
And she only identified ONE of them men? Only one???
Thanks for that link; I'll look at it. There are apparently more problems with the justice system than I'd previously thought.
But not her ability to ID alleged assailants, of course.
"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."
Could you zip it! Most NE state colleges (like mine here in NH), private colleges, not to mention high schools, have lacrosse teams. From a simple google search you find most of the eastern half of the country, including NJ, PA, NY, NH, MA, OH, VT, CT, ME, WV, SC yada yada yada have teams at all levels in communities with all kinds of income levels.
Oh and whether you believe it or not, I come from the wrong side of the "income tracks" but hold no animous against one with more than I. All I ask in general is that whatever income one may be, one is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
You are exhibiting a presumption of guilt based on almost no evidence relating to these particular young men while ignoring the overall evidence that shows this accuser is probably not on the up-and-up. Yes that is based on documents, 911 calls, interviews, timeline, revised rules of guilt via DNA, stolen taxis, attemted assault on an officer AND leaks but it sure is a reasonable amount to base an opinion.
Take your class warfare somewhere else.
Why, because nobody will do the work for you?
You're dead weight anyway.
The reporter quoted the defense attorney as saying these two men were not in the house at the time of this alleged incident.
He said it twice!
Thanks so much for the reassurance I wasn't imagining it.
OH...well that's a different story. Sex (ir just dances) three times a week isn't going to leave anything torn or swollen...
I wonder if he didn't look at them because he knew they couldn't be admitted as evidence. Why not, I don't know. Just a thought.
$400,000 bail for each of these guys. Even @10% cost, that's another $4000 the parents will be paying out in addition to lawyer fees...much more. No telling what the cost is to the court, the police, the taxpayers for multiple lab tests at TWO different labs, etc.
No, it's not; Carolinamom said she was having sex three times a week, which is what a "one on one" is and which is what this girl told the News & Observer HERSELF that she was doing.
She is a pole dancer, has been for years. She lied about when she started.
She did a lap dance one night, stole the guy's keys, stole his taxi cab, led police on a two county high speed chase, tried to run over one of the police officers who tried to stop her, and smashed into their police car; she blew a .21 that time.
She has had DWIs; she has had at least 3 license suspensioins and much more, according to Rita Cosby.
They're all true.
Care to elaborate or are you just a drive by jerk?
Thanks both for verifying that. Astounding information and if true, it answers a dream we all had a week ago. LOL
I'll keep checking in but need to get some stuff done around here.
I heard Abrams on MSNBC mention similar information.
From CTV:
http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.php?s=d4991010e0b2af282998b04deaf90f99&threadid=261708
He did say "in the house"..........just for accuracy.
Those parents are going to spend over $100K to keep their kids out of jail, is my guess. And I hope when it's all over and they're found innocent they can sue the City. Because this is a travesty.
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