Bad News for Duke

[Bluevelvet]

She was passed-out drunk? This is starting to look really bad for the prosecution.

DURHAM, N.C. – A woman who claims she was raped by members of Duke University's lacrosse team was described as "just passed-out drunk" by one of the first police officers to see her, according to a recording of radio traffic obtained today by The Associated Press.

The conversation between the officer and a police dispatcher took place about 1:30 a.m. March 14, about five minutes after a grocery store security guard called 911 to report a woman in the parking lot who would not get out of someone else's car.

The officer gave the dispatcher the police code for an intoxicated person and said the woman was unconscious. When asked whether she needed medical help, the officer said: "She's breathing and appears to be fine. She's not in distress. She's just passed-out drunk."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002928968_webduke13.html

[Sonny]

Apr 14, 10:22 AM (ET)
By TIM WHITMIRE

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Police attempted to search the dorm rooms of Duke University lacrosse players amid an investigation into the alleged rape of an exotic dancer at a team party, the school's president said Friday.

President Richard Brodhead said he was just learning about the Thursday night search attempts and didn't have many details, including whether investigators had search warrants and if they actually entered any rooms.

"I am aware that police attempted to enter those rooms, and I am now about to leave this news conference to learn the whole story," Brodhead said.

There were no warrants for any dorm rooms at Duke among those returned to the Durham County magistrate's office Friday morning, although police have 48 hours after executing a warrant to return it. The court clerk's office was closed for the Good Friday holiday, and police officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060414/D8GVR0NG0.html

[cjwilhelmi]

Lawyers blast attempts to question players:
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5502684

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Police went to the dorm rooms of Duke University lacrosse players to attempt to interview them amid an investigation into the alleged rape of an exotic dancer at a team party, an attorney for one of the players said Friday.

Attorney Kerry Sutton said police did not have any warrants when they approached the players Thursday evening. She said the players immediately contacted their attorneys, who advised them not to speak.

"I have no doubt that the Durham Police Department is fully aware that every one of those young men is represented, and I'm fairly shocked that they would run an end play around defense counsel in an attempt to talk to them," said Sutton, who represents one of the men who lived in the off-campus house where the accuser says she was raped.

Duke President Richard Brodhead said Friday morning he was just learning about the matter and didn't have many details when asked about police searching dorm rooms at Duke.

[cjwilhelmi]

Race a Focal Point in Duke Scandal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060415/ap_ ... rosse_race

DURHAM, N.C. - Mayor Bill Bell is black. So are Police Chief Steven W. Chalmers, City Manager Patrick Baker and a majority of the city council. Durham's population is almost as black as it is white.

So why is it that some blacks like Preston Bizzell, a 61-year-old Air Force veteran who said he's never experienced racism in his 30 years in Durham, believe justice here is swifter and harsher for a black man than a white one?

Bizzell sat on his bicycle recently and stared at the house where a black stripper claims she was raped and beaten by three white Duke University lacrosse players. He's convinced if the alleged attackers had been students at historically black North Carolina Central University, and their accuser white, "that same day, somebody would have been arrested."

[Sonny]

Race a Focal Point in Duke Scandal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060415/ap_ ... rosse_race

Interesting takes near the bottom of that piece:

Bell, a former city council chairman and three-term mayor, said he's seen Durham reduced in news reports to "a city of poor blacks ... and you've got Duke off to its own — a white university, a wealthy university."

In truth, he said, Durham's unemployment rate is just 4.4 percent. It's home to Research Triangle Park and its many high-tech companies. Two black-owned banks and the nation's largest black-owned insurance company are also based in Durham.

"We do have poverty," Bell said of his city of 187,000 residents. "But what city this size doesn't?"

As for the so-called racial tension he's read so much about, Bell hasn't seen it in the racially mixed crowds that have peacefully protested the alleged rape. "I'd say given the demographics of this community, I think you'll find more people are united on issues than are divided," he said.

But in a recent interview with The Associated Press, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said history can't help but loom large over this case. It is particularly horrible because these white men hired black women to strip for them.

"That fantasy's as old as slave masters impregnating young slave girls," he said.

Cheshire found Jackson's comment odd, since the lacrosse players did not specifically ask for black strippers.

"There is no slave-master mentality here, and that's just another perfect example of ... self-absorbed race pandering," Cheshire said.

[semilaxed]

My mom always said if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. So i will not comment of the mayors or jesse jacksons comments.

[Sonny]

Lawyers Claim Pictures Snapped by Partygoer Disprove Rape Allegations

April 16, 2006 — Lawyers for lacrosse players at Duke University swept up amid allegations of rape are citing a timeline of photographs that they claim proves the accuser actually was manicuring her nails at the only time the rape could have occurred.

ABC News viewed more than a dozen photos taken by a student at the house party where the assault is alleged to have occurred, many of which were blown up to identify details.

On Monday, a grand jury meets to determine whether there is probable cause that a crime took place. If 12 out of 18 grand jurors agree that there is and who committed it, an indictment will be handed down.

What's In the Photos

In the photos, ABC News could see three couches in a semi-circle with the dancers in the center. The scene looks like a typical college fraternity house — with a sign on a wall bearing the Duke insignia and saying, "It's hard to beat a team that never gives up."

Sources from the players' camp say the photos corroborate the players' version of events and their claims that no sexual assault took place. Students are shown drinking and horsing around, but do not reach out toward, or make contact with, the dancers during the four- to seven-minute performance captured in photos.

Some players are talking among themselves and not paying close to attention to the dancers, which sources say contradicts the accuser's claim that the boys were growing "excited and aggressive."

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1848351&page=1

[whitcd]

ABCNews

In a tape obtained exclusively by ABC News, a security guard — who may have been the first person to see the alleged victim of a Duke lacrosse gang rape after the alleged attack — says there were no signs or mention of rape or sexual assault.

Link to Full article
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/LegalCenter/s ... 938&page=1

ESPN.com

Report: Alleged victim IDs two; 90 percent on third

Link to Full Article
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2411358

[SLUDoubleDeuce]

DURHAM, N.C. -- A grand jury adjourned Monday without any public indictments against Duke University lacrosse team players, but it was not immediately clear whether the panel even took up the sexual assault allegations against them.

Eighty-one indictments were returned by the panel. It was unclear whether possible indictments in the Duke case may have been under seal or among the 24 cases "carried forward" to be heard at a later date.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2411358

So much for finding something out today. With nothing coming back today I wonder how long the media will continue their current level of coverage before they move on to the next "big" story...

[semilaxed]

i think i heard foxnews say the next grand jury meeting isn't for 2 weeks.

what do you think about the DA's refusal to even look at any of the defense's evidence so that he doesn't have to show it to the grand jury?

also what about him not allowing them to turn themselves in after the indictments are handed out?

I think they just want to see some white kids in hand cuffs on TV. This has truly become a witch hunt.

[WT]

looks like things are about to get a bit more interesting.

A grand jury issued sealed indictments Monday against two members of the Duke University lacrosse team in connection with allegations that a stripper was raped last month at a team party, a source close to the case told The Associated Press.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/m ... index.html

although, given this is from an anonymous source, i'll take it with a grain of salt.

[LAXDawg14]

i am no lawyer by any means but just because a person is indicted does not mean they are guilty.... so lets all just hope they are not guilty and the duke program can get back under way

also since now there are indictments what do yall think the next step for the duke program?

[Gregg Pathiakis]

what do you think about the DA's refusal to even look at any of the defense's evidence so that he doesn't have to show it to the grand jury?

I think it's pretty common place. Don't know if it's the same everywhere, but in Mass., the defense doesn't know when the grand jury is convened, much less get to present evidence. I was involved in a grand jury case a year or so ago and the defense's evidence, which would have probably resulted in no indictment, was not brought up at all. Needless to say, the defendent was indicted.

[BucLax13]

Full article linked http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12335371/site/newsweek/

This is what the defense is stating, the 2nd dancer (not the accuser) apparently has given conflicting statements, timelines are based on the phone digital photos, the defense attorney consulted a forensic scientist to get the time stamps on the photos:

11:02pm Party goers take picture, smiling for the camera, waiting for the dancers to arrive.

11:15pm 2nd dancer arrives

11:45pm Accusing dancer arrives

12:00midnight Photo shows dancers nearly naked, on carpet, before a happy audience

12:03am Photo shows dancers standing, 2nd dancer reaching for the men, they are not smiling, 2nd stripper subsequently slaps party-goer for the "get a broom" comment regarding sex toys.

Party goers state both dancers lock themselves in bathroom, party goers then slipped them money under the door, and asked them to leave.

12:20am: Dancers go to 2nd dancer's car. Accuser left her purse in the house, she returns to the house to get it.

12:30am: Photo shows accuser at back door, smiling, looking down at 2 bags. Party goers state they locked the door, so she could not reenter the house.

12:37am: Photo shows accuser lying on the back door stoop, party goers state she fell, scraped her elbow and was bleeding at the ankle.

12:41am: PHoto shows accuser getting into a car, party goer is shown apparently helping her get inside.

1:30am: Officer radios to HQ that he sees the accuser in a car parked at a grocery store, she is breathing fine, "just passed out drunk".

Anyway, this is the defense attorney's story.

[LandonMLudlow]

Every time I read a new detail about how foolish this case is my bewilderment of how the DA is pushing it so hard continues to grow.

Black Stripper:
1. suspected of drugs
2. definitely knocked-out drunk
3. has a related criminal record
4. has NOTHING going for her version but her own accusations (not counting latent fact of her presence at the house)

Duke team:
1. united in categoric denial of the charges
2. none of their DNA anywhere
3. all telling the same sraightforward story of the nights events

Not to mention Nifong the DA, who is only doing this out of a desire to appease and look strong in front of his majority blue collar black constituents close to a tight election.

This whole thing is a joke, as usual with anything involving racial issues, common legality and rationale go out the door when you get rev. jackson and his colleagues involved. The road leading away from racial equality is paved with the race card.