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Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested

By TChris, Section Duke Lacrosse
Posted on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 10:40:54 AM EST
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by TChris

Two Duke lacrosse players, both sophmores, have been arrested on the indictments that were reported here. Their names will now appear in newspapers around the world although, as this post lamented, the accuser's equally newsworthy identity will not be similarly publicized. A third student was also accused, but the DA said today that he hasn't been charged because he can't be "identified with certainty."

The players were charged with first degree forcible rape, first degree sexual offense and kidnapping. William J. Cotter, the lawyer representing one of the young men, said:

"The grand jury, as you know, has indicted him. They hear one side of the story. They almost always indict. The next jury will hear the entire story, which includes our evidence. We're confident that these young men will be found to be innocent."

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    Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested | 10 comments (10 topical)
    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#1)
    by chew2 on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 11:02:26 AM EST
    If I may repeat myself, I think the indictments were premature as follows: Nifong should have taken more time. Assuming that the medical evidence is persuasive as to a rape having occurred (a big but necessary assumption to justify bringing charges at all), the key issue is identification of the assailants. If the alleged victim was impaired due to alcohol or a date rape drug her ID will need some corroboration. Why couldn't he have subpoenaed uninvolved team members to testify before the grand jury to determine who was there and whether she was alone with any of them. Could they all take the fifth, and if so could he have granted limited immunity? He needs to establish who was there, and the team wall of silence is preventing him from doing so. If she identified the wrong assailants it will be impossible to go back and find the true assailants. ********** The Duke lacrosse team members have been criticized for their wall of silence and non-cooperation with the police. Only three are alleged to have been guilty, so why the silence by all the others, especially the ones who weren't even there at the party. Why didn't they tell the police they weren't there? Here's a possible reason from another blog: "Several members of the team didn't go and 5 were out of state on jobs interviews, so if the victim identifies a player that wasn't there (either because her story was fabricated to some extent or because she was too out of it to ID someone) then the defense has a pretty easy case." ********************** Now MSNBC is reporting that the defense is claiming neither of the accused was at the party at the relevant times.

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#2)
    by Richard Aubrey on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 11:53:26 AM EST
    Chew. I don't see a wall of silence. Everybody who was asked said none of us did it. That's pretty straightforward. To be talking about a wall of silence presumes the rape happened more or less as the dancer said it did. Otherwise, denial is a wall of silence?

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#3)
    by chew2 on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 11:58:00 AM EST
    RA, Are you an idiot? 3 members of the team talked once to LE. Since then all of the omembers of the team have refused to talk to LE. All we have are denials by lawyers.

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#4)
    by chew2 on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 12:02:14 PM EST
    p.s. A blanket denial is a wall of silence and obstructs efforts to find out what happened at the party. Just go in and tell what happened to LE if you are not guilty. Can you explain why those who weren't even there at the party haven't told LE?

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#5)
    by Richard Aubrey on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 12:05:34 PM EST
    Chew. If they weren't there, they have nothing to say. I think saying, "I wasn't there." would count as being a wall of silence. Failing to confess, whether guilty or not, seems to be what a wall of silence is.

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#6)
    by John Mann on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 12:55:17 PM EST
    I'm curious. Why aren't Chew2's insulting remarks being deleted?

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#7)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 01:03:45 PM EST
    John Mann, Jeralyn's lunching with Kos and chilling with her son until later on today. Any deletions will likely have to wait until she returns...

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 24, 2006 at 09:01:58 PM EST
    Perhaps my thoughts are influenced by the fact that one daughter was drugged and raped by an acquaintance--a West Coast college lax player. However, has anyone pondered how it was that when Durham police investigated the Buchanan Blvd."lacrosse house" after 1:00 am on the night of the party and alleged rape/choking/sodomizing they found a cleaned, vacated house with all inside and outside trash, beer bottles etc. gone? If true (and those facts seem uncontroverted), then these Dukies' account of the evening sure doesn't add up. The boys would have had no reason to "high-tail it", and what crew of college guys ever did a thorough clean-up of a party house at 1:00 in the morning? Having paid lots of Duke tuition for kids, I feel that the value of the education remains, but the prestige of the degrees has been tarnished for the long term.

    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 24, 2006 at 10:48:29 PM EST
    You are off on this one. The News Observer reported:
    Two officers, who were patrolling in the area, arrived at 12:55 a.m. and spent 11 minutes looking for the woman who called in the complaint, Michael said. The officers knocked on the door of the house, but there was no answer. They looked in the windows and walked through the yard and alley beside the house, Michael said. They saw cups, beer cans and beer kegs.


    Re: Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 24, 2006 at 11:58:55 PM EST
    Talkleft wrote:
    You are off on this one.
    You are off about the "cleanup" but it's not clear you're off about the flight of the partiers. The idea that it was happenstance that the police arrived at an empty house is not supported yet by any testimony. Bissey has people saying "Let's go, let's go," and the cab driver has a light-skinned black woman threatening to call the police. No other witnesses have chimed in yet, have they? I do think there were plenty of reasons for the players to "hightail it" other than those charged in the indictments. The woman who was threatening to call the police presumably was Kim Roberts, the second dancer. We know that she wasn't calling police to report a rape.

    Duke Lacrosse Players Arrested | 10 comments (10 topical)