Grand Jury Indicts Duke Captain
15.05.2006 14:17 - category: Category two: Sub category 1 - Source: CBS
(CBS/AP) A grand jury indicted a third member of Duke University's lacrosse team Monday on charges stemming from a woman's allegations she was raped and beaten at a team party earlier this year.
David Evans, a 23-year-old senior and team captain from Bethesda, Md., was indicted on charges of first-degree forcible rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Two other players were indicted on similar charges last month.
Evans' attorney, Joseph Cheshire, told reporters to gather outside the Durham County magistrate's office at 2 p.m. That's where Duke sophomores Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., turned themselves in last month following their indictments.
The charges followed a March 13 party at an off-campus house, where a 27-year-old black student at nearby North Carolina Central University told police she was raped and beaten by three white men after she and another woman were hired as strippers.
Evans, who in the past had been cited for a noise ordinance violation and alcohol possession, lived at the house where the party was held.
The district attorney has said from the beginning that he believes three Duke lacrosse players raped a black dancer hired to work at an off campus party, CBS News correspondent Trish Regan said.
The first round of DNA evidence came back negative from a state crime lab, but Nifong said that in 75 percent to 80 percent of all sexual assault cases there is no DNA evidence.
And according to defense attorneys, second, more detailed DNA tests came back Friday and prove no player had sex with the dancer, but the accuser had sex with another man.
Attorney Joseph Cheshire said the tests showed genetic material from a “single male source” was found on a vaginal swab taken from the accuser, but that material did not match any of the players.
"In other words, it appears this woman had sex with a male," said Cheshire, who spoke at a news conference with other defense attorneys in the case. "It also appears with certainty it wasn't a Duke lacrosse player."
Still, inconclusive genetic material that resembles two players' DNA was found under one of the accuser's plastic fingernails and that's the evidence Nifong is expected to use, reported Regan. According to a search warrant executed March 16, police recovered five fingernails from the house, but it was unclear where those fingernails were found or whether they included the one containing DNA.
Nifong was also planning to use the accuser's identification report, Regan says.
CBS News obtained an exclusive copy of the entire identification report. In it, the accuser identifies one of her alleged attackers, the one expected to be indicted today, saying he looks "just like him without the mustache." The accuser said the person had a mustache.
But defense sources tell CBS News there are pictures of this player both the day before and the day after the party without a mustache. The defense will also likely question the alleged victim's credibility. For example when she was presented with the picture of the other player, whose inconclusive DNA was found under her fingernail, she said she didn't recognize him. In all, she identified four people she believed looked like her attackers.
The attorney representing the third player who may be indicted tells CBS News his client will speak publicly if he is indicted. CBS News has also learned that his client may be joined by some of his teammates.
Meanwhile, the alleged victim's parents tell CBS' 48 Hours correspondent Troy Roberts that their daughter has been portrayed unfairly. She has been in seclusion since the alleged incident, has lost weight, developed ulcers and suffers from frequent nightmares, they say.
Her father, Travis, tells Roberts that his daughter's face was "all bruised up under her eyes" when he saw her the day after the alleged attack.
She also told her parents that during the alleged rape, she was assaulted with a broomstick, Roberts reports, though there is no record of this allegation in police documents.
Community activist and writer Cash Michaels tells 48 Hours that the alleged victim says she was told that the party was going to be a bachelor party for five men. When she got to the off campus house, however, she found out that there are 40 members of an athletic team from Duke University.
Defense Attorney Bill Thomas tells Roberts "the accuser in this case is not telling the truth."
Defense attorneys have been attacking the woman's credibility, pointing to another allegation of gang rape she made three years after the fact. The police never followed up on that case.
Her mother says she didn't follow through with the prosecution of the case "because she said they threatened her life" if she pressed charges, referring to the alleged attackers.
David Evans, a 23-year-old senior and team captain from Bethesda, Md., was indicted on charges of first-degree forcible rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Two other players were indicted on similar charges last month.
Evans' attorney, Joseph Cheshire, told reporters to gather outside the Durham County magistrate's office at 2 p.m. That's where Duke sophomores Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., turned themselves in last month following their indictments.
The charges followed a March 13 party at an off-campus house, where a 27-year-old black student at nearby North Carolina Central University told police she was raped and beaten by three white men after she and another woman were hired as strippers.
Evans, who in the past had been cited for a noise ordinance violation and alcohol possession, lived at the house where the party was held.
The district attorney has said from the beginning that he believes three Duke lacrosse players raped a black dancer hired to work at an off campus party, CBS News correspondent Trish Regan said.
The first round of DNA evidence came back negative from a state crime lab, but Nifong said that in 75 percent to 80 percent of all sexual assault cases there is no DNA evidence.
And according to defense attorneys, second, more detailed DNA tests came back Friday and prove no player had sex with the dancer, but the accuser had sex with another man.
Attorney Joseph Cheshire said the tests showed genetic material from a “single male source” was found on a vaginal swab taken from the accuser, but that material did not match any of the players.
"In other words, it appears this woman had sex with a male," said Cheshire, who spoke at a news conference with other defense attorneys in the case. "It also appears with certainty it wasn't a Duke lacrosse player."
Still, inconclusive genetic material that resembles two players' DNA was found under one of the accuser's plastic fingernails and that's the evidence Nifong is expected to use, reported Regan. According to a search warrant executed March 16, police recovered five fingernails from the house, but it was unclear where those fingernails were found or whether they included the one containing DNA.
Nifong was also planning to use the accuser's identification report, Regan says.
CBS News obtained an exclusive copy of the entire identification report. In it, the accuser identifies one of her alleged attackers, the one expected to be indicted today, saying he looks "just like him without the mustache." The accuser said the person had a mustache.
But defense sources tell CBS News there are pictures of this player both the day before and the day after the party without a mustache. The defense will also likely question the alleged victim's credibility. For example when she was presented with the picture of the other player, whose inconclusive DNA was found under her fingernail, she said she didn't recognize him. In all, she identified four people she believed looked like her attackers.
The attorney representing the third player who may be indicted tells CBS News his client will speak publicly if he is indicted. CBS News has also learned that his client may be joined by some of his teammates.
Meanwhile, the alleged victim's parents tell CBS' 48 Hours correspondent Troy Roberts that their daughter has been portrayed unfairly. She has been in seclusion since the alleged incident, has lost weight, developed ulcers and suffers from frequent nightmares, they say.
Her father, Travis, tells Roberts that his daughter's face was "all bruised up under her eyes" when he saw her the day after the alleged attack.
She also told her parents that during the alleged rape, she was assaulted with a broomstick, Roberts reports, though there is no record of this allegation in police documents.
Community activist and writer Cash Michaels tells 48 Hours that the alleged victim says she was told that the party was going to be a bachelor party for five men. When she got to the off campus house, however, she found out that there are 40 members of an athletic team from Duke University.
Defense Attorney Bill Thomas tells Roberts "the accuser in this case is not telling the truth."
Defense attorneys have been attacking the woman's credibility, pointing to another allegation of gang rape she made three years after the fact. The police never followed up on that case.
Her mother says she didn't follow through with the prosecution of the case "because she said they threatened her life" if she pressed charges, referring to the alleged attackers.
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