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.
Thanks for the information. My heart goes out to those parents having to spend all that money and probably mortgage their homes to pay for the defense of their sons.
Yeah, I agree ... LOL. But, I did want to know if any one else heard Abrams this morning.
Guennie, I have said from the beginning that these parents must be getting the "education" of a lifetime.
And I think they should sue everybody that they can.
Their sons have been smeared by this DA and it they break the town of Durham, it too damn bad.
Somebody should have reeled him in.
Go, Girl, Go! There is such a thing as righteous indignation.
Me too. My husband and I are furious at the way this has been handled by the DA and worried if they don't get a change in venue it will end up like the OJ case.
Ok ok, That's the one where there's special circumstances when someone uses a grease gun.
All I wanted was an answer and you give crap. Hell I wasn't even replying to you.
Why would the city of Durham, consisting of the taxpayers of Durham, volunteer to pay millions to the families via a jury verdict. I don't see a successful civil case, even if you could prove the grounds for malicious prosecution.
Isn't the DA an employee of the City of Durham?
And I guess many of us are feeling it. :)
Usually, the DA represents a county and not just a city.
I've seen court cases on tv where the judge would see proof (ATM and cab fare) early in the case that prompted him to immediately dismiss the charges. Hopefully, something like this will happen here. To think, these families have had to shell out $4K for bond, no telling what in attorney fees, and to top it all off, they have tuition and board expenses too. What a sham!
In the movie, he doesn't say that to anyone. Or to himself.
They won't have a choice.
Ditto your post.
All you wanted was to whine.
"Their sons have been smeared by this DA and it they break the town of Durham, it too damn bad.
Somebody should have reeled him in."
Indeed.
The US would be much better off if MANY attorneys, in venues across the country, were "reeled in", either legislatively or via much more liberal (apologies for the profanity) use of attorney malpractice filings.
For starters, it appears this DA sould be pulled out of bed at 4:00 AM and led off in cuffs himself.
Yes, those are.
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