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Duke lax and accusations

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jimotis4heisman

jimotis4heisman

Banned
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12069873/
Duke lacrosse suspended amid rape charges

Team idled for rest of season after black dancer claims she was gang-raped


By Ed Wiley III
Updated: 5:20 p.m. ET March 29, 2006

March 29 — - Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead said Wednesday that he has suspended the rest of the season for the men’s nationally ranked lacrosse team following charges from a Black exotic dancer that several White members of the squad gang-raped her while calling her racial slurs.
The alleged victim, a student at nearby historically Black North Carolina Central University, told police that she had been hired to perform at a private party on March 13. She said that showed up at a wood-frame house on a quiet tree-lined street when she was pulled into a bathroom by three members of the team, who choked her and raped her, The Baltimore Sun reported.
All but one – an African American – of the 47 members of the team were asked to submit to DNA tests. The alleged victim, whose name is being withheld because she is charging that she was sexually assaulted – said that the assailants were all White.

"Sports have their time and place, but when an issue of this gravity is in question, it is not the time to be playing games," Brodhead said at a news conference Wednesday morning.
The team’s three captains, who have refused to comment on the matter, met with Brodhead Tuesday and issued a statement on behalf of the team shortly afterward stating “unequivocally that any allegation that a sexual assault or rape occurred is totally and transparently false."
They also agreed it would be "in the best interest of the university, the community and our families" to forego any more intercollegiate games until DNA results exonerated team members, according to Brodhead.
No charges have been filed.
Protestors converge on campus
In the days since the alleged attack, protestors have converged on the campus, one of America’s elite institutions, known both for its academics and its sports. Some have banged on pots and pans demanding justice for the woman, blasted a university culture they say treats precious athletes as if they are above the law, and called for mandatory coursework that emphasizes sensitivity to issues affecting women and people of color.
"White male privilege is an issue here," Teshonne Powell, a sophomore from Atlanta who attended a recent demonstration, told the Sun. "The fact that the lacrosse players are being protected is a serious problem. It says Duke cares more about its image than the safety of human beings."
Powell said Duke only forfeited the games "out of fear that protesters would disrupt them. If the Duke administration really cared about the investigation the rest of the season would be forfeited so the whole team could sit down and reflect on the actions of their team members.”
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http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/lacrosse/2006-03-28-duke-team-suspension_x.htm?POE=SPOISVA
Duke suspends lacrosse team from play amid rape allegationsBy Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY
The Duke men's lacrosse season is on hold indefinitely as an investigation into sexual-assault allegations involving team members continues.
President Richard Brodhead and athletics director Joe Alleva held a news conference Tuesday night and announced in a release that play is suspended "until there is a clearer resolution of the legal case involving team members."
No charges have been filed, and the players have told school administrators the woman was not assaulted. Tuesday's action was taken at the request of the team's captains, the release from Brodhead and Alleva said.
A dancer hired to perform at a March 13 party at an off-campus house, where three of the four team captains lived and other team members were present, says three players raped her. The News and Observer of Raleigh reported she said she and another dancer arrived at the house expecting a small group and were surrounded by about 40 players, some shouting racial slurs. The women were going to leave until some of the players apologized. The dancers went inside and the assault then occurred in a bathroom, she said.
Durham, N.C., police said team members have refused to cooperate with the investigation. Last week a judge ordered DNA samples from 46 of the 47 players on the roster. The 47th, the only black player, did not have to provide DNA because the dancer, who also is black, said the attackers were white.
"I feel pretty confident that a rape occurred," District Attorney Mike Nifong told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
The incident has sparked campus protests over the university's slowness to respond and against the team members, including outside the house.
The team, which lost in last year's national title game to Johns Hopkins, will continue to practice. It has already canceled two games for improper conduct at the party that included serving alcohol to underage students
The school also released a statement from the captains expressing regret over "the lapse in judgment in having the party."
The players added DNA results would demonstrate the allegations are "absolutely false." The roster has been pulled from the Duke website. An Oct. 25 release announced the team selected seniors David Evans, Dan Flannery, Bret Thompson and Matt Zash as captains
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of note:
-duke was supposed to play the buckeyes this weekend in columbus
-47 members of the team were dna tested. 48 on the team. only the one AA was not tested as accordance by the judge.
-duke was 6-2
-duke is #5 in the computers and #9 in the polls
 
jimotis4heisman said:
of note:
-duke was supposed to play the buckeyes this weekend in columbus
Click to expand...

Police took DNA samples with a cheek swab from 46 of the lacrosse team's 47 players last week. The 47th player, the only black member of the team, did not have to provide DNA because the dancer said her attackers were white. The dancer is black.
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From http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2387151

Obvioulsy if true it is horrible both what happened and how the Duke administrion handled the situation.
 
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buck e said:
I'm curious what you think is so bad with the way the Duke administration handled it?
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There have been rumblings that they have been very slow to get things moving and taking actions. While that is just speculation, if true then they handled it badly. Maybe they didnt do anything wrong. Looking more, they forfited 2 of their games after the party and now suspend games until this comes to a resolution. Not to mention no one has officially been charged yet.
 
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Players could face 16 to 20 years if convicted
ESPN.com news services

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, lead investigator in the alleged rape case involving the Duke men's lacrosse team, said Thursday that he expects to file charges including first-degree forcible rape, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree sexual offense, if the case can be made based on the gathered evidence.

A conviction on those charges could result in a minimum prison sentence of 16 to 20 years. Nifong's office is investigating allegations made by an exotic dancer who was hired to perform at a private team party on March 13.

"Under North Carolina law, the only felony more serious than that is first-degree murder," Nifong told ESPN's George Smith. "These crimes are actually punishable at a higher level than second-degree murder."

Also Thursday, lawyers for the lacrosse players said that police and an outraged community will owe the team an apology after DNA tests are completed -- tests they said will prove no one on the team raped an exotic dancer.

Four attorneys representing nearly all the 46 players forced to give samples protested what they said was a presumption that their clients attacked the dancer or kept quiet about what happened.

No one has been charged.

"We believe that the DNA will show that that this not true. We believe that a full and complete and fair investigation will show that it is not true," lawyer Joe Cheshire said.

Investigators are still collecting evidence, but Nifong has said in recent days he already believes a crime occurred.

"If it's not the way it's been reported, then why are they so unwilling to tell us what, in their words, did take place that night?" Nifong told Smith on Thursday. "And one would wonder why one needs an attorney if one was not charged and had not doing anything wrong."

If the state crime lab's DNA analysis proves inconclusive or doesn't provide a match for any of the athletes, Nifong has said he'll have other evidence.

"If the only thing that we ever have in this case is DNA, then we wouldn't have a case," Nifong said Wednesday.

According to a search warrant served at the lacrosse players' home, investigators were looking for DNA evidence, pieces of blue bathroom carpet, cameras or videotapes that could contain photos or footage from the party, and even broken artificial nails from the accuser.

According to the application required for the court order seeking DNA samples from the team, at least one of those pieces of evidence was found.

"The victim's four red polished fingernails were recovered inside the residence consistent to [the accuser's] version of the attack. She claimed she was clawing at one of the suspect's arms in an attempt to breath [sic] while being strangled. During that time the nails broke off," the police statement said.

Earlier this week, university president Richard Brodhead suspended the highly ranked team from play until the school learns more about the accusations. But Cheshire said Nifong and police have created a mob mentality that has tainted the men "before the evidence has all come out in a way that they will never recover."

Nifong's office did not return calls from The Associated Press on Thursday seeking a response to that criticism.

English professor Melissa Malouf said she is one of those prepared for the DNA tests to prove inconclusive.

"I don't think the DNA is the case," she said after speaking at an outdoor protest near Brodhead's office. "Guys can wear condoms."

According to the court order application, a nurse trained to treat rape victims and a physician who treated the woman said they witnessed symptoms consistent with sexual assault. The document also includes details of a search of the house where the woman said she was raped for about a half-hour.

On Thursday, Nifong told ESPN that on the night in question, the two women were paid $400 each to perform at what they thought would be a bachelor party for about five people. The women met for the first time that night, and when they arrived at the house, there were more than 40 young men inside. The accuser told investigators the men became aggressive and loud.

Officers who searched the house later recovered the woman's makeup bag, cell phone and a stack of $20 bills consistent with the woman's statement that $400 in cash was taken from her purse after the attack, the police statement said.

Police have also searched a second home occupied by lacrosse team members, but documents describing the location or what investigators found have been sealed by court order, prosecutors and police said.

The three lacrosse team members who lived at the house where the party and alleged attack occurred willingly made statements to police after the woman's complaint, Nifong said. They said "that all the attendees were their fellow Duke lacrosse team members," the police statement said.

Prosecutors asked the entire team to contribute DNA samples. When some declined on the advice of attorneys they hired, Nifong said he sought the court order for samples from all but the team's lone black member. The woman, a black student at nearby North Carolina Central, has said her attackers were white.

The case has prompted daily protests since Saturday, including a small student rally Thursday morning, intensifying the undercurrents of privilege and race in a blue-collar city of 200,000 that is 44 percent black while home to one of the nation's elite universities.

"I guess one of the best ways to describe this is we have the potential for a perfect storm," North Carolina Central chancellor James Ammons said. "You have all of these issues that we're going to have to discuss."

Ammons met Thursday with Brodhead, Durham Mayor Bill Bell and several of the city's black leaders to discuss the case.

Brodhead invited about a dozen people to the meeting at Duke because "he wanted to feel the pulse of the community and he wanted our help in sharing information and our thoughts to help Duke deal with this situation," Ammons said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2390981&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
 
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is it just me or does the whole thing strike you guys as odd?
what if it was a team that was 98% african american. would they go about dna testing every black kid? just odd to me. but i dont know all that much about these kind of things. but like all these other legal things i think it is important to reserve judgment until the truth starts comming out.
 
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jimotis4heisman said:
what if it was a team that was 98% african american. would they go about dna testing every black kid? just odd to me.
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If the victim said the assailants were all black, why would you DNA test a white person? I have no problem with the police not testing the sole black member of the team and testing all the whites...

dav713 said:
...they forfited 2 of their games after the party and now suspend games until this comes to a resolution. Not to mention no one has officially been charged yet...
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So, what else do you think Duke should've done? Shoot the players? Expel them all (except the black one, of course :roll1:)?

By the way, the police charge suspects, not the university.
 
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Duke's lacrosse coach has resigned.

espn

Updated: April 5, 2006, 6:07 PM ET
Duke lacrosse coach resigns, rest of season canceled

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University's lacrosse coach resigned Wednesday and the school canceled the rest of the season amid a burgeoning scandal involving allegations that three players on the highly ranked team raped an exotic dancer at an off-campus party.
Mike Pressler spent 16 seasons at Duke and won three Atlantic Coast Conference championships. Last year, his team appeared in the national championship game.

"Coach Pressler offered me his resignation earlier this afternoon, and I accepted it," said Duke athletic director Joe Alleva. "I believe this is in the best interests of the program, the department of athletics and the university."

The rape allegations have roiled the campus and the city, raised racial tensions and heightened the long-standing antagonism between the privileged students at the elite university and the poorer people of Durham.

The dancer is black and said her attackers were white. Investigators and witnesses have said the lacrosse players taunted her with racial slurs and insults.

Students and townspeople have marched on campus and off in recent days, angry over the school's handling of the allegations.
Investigators have said the athletes are sticking together and keeping silent. No one has been charged.

The lacrosse team's co-captains have denied that anyone was sexually assaulted at the party, as have attorneys for the players.

Earlier Wednesday, authorities unsealed documents stating that hours after the alleged rape, a player apparently sent an e-mail saying he wanted to invite more dancers to his dorm room, kill them and skin them. It was not clear whether the message was serious or a joke.
"The court released today a previously sealed warrant, whose contents are sickening and repulsive," Duke president Richard Brodhead said in announcing the cancellation of the rest of the season. Last week, Brodhead suspended the team from play.

The dancer, a student at a nearby university, has told police that she was hired to perform at a party at a house just off campus last month and was raped and choked by three men in a bathroom. Investigators are awaiting the results of DNA tests on 46 of the 47 team members. The team's lone black member did not have to provide a sample.

District Attorney Mike Nifong has said that he is "pretty confident that a rape occurred" but that he does not expect to file charges until next week.

Duke, considered a national title contender before the lacrosse season began, had a 6-2 record with seven regular-season games remaining before the scandal broke.

The e-mail, according to an application for a search warrant of the player's dorm room, was sent from the player's Duke e-mail account just before 2 a.m. on March 14. Police said investigators received a copy from a confidential source, though they later won a court order seeking access to the account.

In the e-mail, addressed "To whom it may concern," the player says he has "decided to have some dancers over" to his dorm room, "however there will be no nudity."

"I plan on killing the bitches as soon as they walk in and proceding to cut their skin off," the author of the e-mail says, adding in vulgar terms that he would find the act sexually satisfying. The e-mail was signed with what police said is the player's jersey number.

Investigators did not immediately return calls or e-mails seeking comment on whether the e-mail was serious. But a lawyer for the player who purportedly wrote it said the content suggests his client is innocent.

"While the language of the e-mail is vile, the e-mail itself is perfectly consistent with the boys' unequivocal assertion that no sexual assault took place that evening," said attorney Robert Ekstrand. The e-mail "demonstrates that its writer is completely unaware that any act or event remotely similar to what has been alleged ever occurred."

The warrant for the player's room was made public on Wednesday. In it, police provide a detailed timeline of the alleged attack and some additional details of their investigation. The warrant also adds conspiracy to commit murder as one of the crimes police are investigating.

According to the warrant, the alleged victim told police she believes the players used false names and falsely claimed to be members of Duke's baseball and track teams.

A team captain and resident of the house where the party took place told police he used an alias when hiring the dancers at the party, the warrant said.

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