[PAmedic]

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5450234

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Duke University's highly ranked lacrosse team will not play again this season until school administrators learn more about allegations that several team members raped an exotic dancer at an off-campus party, the school said Tuesday.

President Richard Brodhead decided to suspend the team from play "until there is a clearer resolution of the legal situation involving team members," the university said.
The case has roiled the campus, raised racial tensions and heightened antagonism between the affluent students at Duke, which costs about $43,000 a year, and the city of Durham, which has a large population of poor people and is about evenly divided between white and black.

A woman told police she and another dancer were hired to perform March 13 at a private party in an off-campus home. The dancer, a student at North Carolina Central University, told police she was pulled into a bathroom, beaten, choked and raped by three men.

No one has been charged.

Armed with a judge's order, 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.

"I needed to have the information about who will be charged," said District Attorney Mike Nifong said. "I feel pretty confident that a rape occurred."

Brodhead said team captains notified Athletic Director Joe Alleva on Tuesday that players wanted to stay off the field until the DNA results came back from a crime lab. In a statement, the captains predicted the DNA testing would clear the players of wrongdoing.

Brodhead said it was his decision to expand the suspension.

"In this painful period of uncertainty, it is clear to me, as it was to the players, that it would be inappropriate to resume the normal schedule of play," Brodhead said.

Nifong said the team members are standing together and refusing to talk with investigators, and he warned he may bring aiding-and-abetting charges against some of the players.

The alleged victim is black, which has proved a source of tension on campus.

"The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done," Nifong said. "It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so."

Angry over the team members' silence and the university's handling of the case, Durham residents have demonstrated on and off campus in the past few days. They rallied outside the house where the alleged attack occurred, and gathered outside of Duke Provost Peter Lange's home, where they banged on pots and pans until he emerged to answer questions.

Lange said Monday that he believes "the students would be well-advised to come forward. They have chosen not to."

A lawyer representing several lacrosse team members did not immediately return calls Tuesday.

The university's athletic director forced the team to forfeit two games because of underage drinking and the hiring of dancers at the party. The losses gave Duke, considered a national title contender before the season began, a 6-2 record with five regular-season games to go.

[Hold My Own]

I always find it interesting on how some of these schools handle situations....like if the Mens BB had done this...would we have ever known? would they have been asked to stay off the court until it's all cleared up? Who knows....I'm just curious to see if Dante Culpepper is going to see that it doesnt only have to be done on water on the love boat.....I prob. should have just left him out...

[SuperJon]

I heard about this a week and a half ago. It's only began to blow up.

[jcmanson]

two arrests were made today

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2412318

[PAmedic]

sounds like a general lack of character in the program, even if they don't get convicted. Issues there.

Duke players post bond after arrestsESPN.com news services

DURHAM, N.C. -- Authorities arrested two 20-year-old Duke University lacrosse players early Tuesday on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping, a jail official said.

Durham police arrested Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, said Col. George Naylor of the Durham County jail. The arrests come a little more than a month after an exotic dancer told police she was raped at a party thrown by the team.

Seligmann posted a $400,000 bond shortly after his arrest, and his attorney waived his court appearance.

Finnerty made a brief appearance in Superior Court shortly before 11 a.m. wearing a jacket and tie and was released after also posting $400,000 bond. The next court appearance for both players was set for May 15.

The indictments, unsealed Tuesday, did not indicate what possible evidence or arguments led the grand jury on Monday to charge the two men.

District Attorney Mike Nifong said Tuesday morning that authorities are working to identify a third alleged assailant and he hopes to charge that person soon.

"It had been my hope to charge all three of the assailants at the same time, but the evidence available to me at this moment does not permit that," Nifong said. "Investigation into the identity of the third assailant will continue in the hope that he can also be identified with certainty."

Seligmann, is a 6-foot-1 sophomore from Essex Fells, N.J., while Finnerty is a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Garden City, N.Y. Earlier, they were led out of separate police cruisers in handcuffs, one was wearing a suit jacket, the other was in dress shirt and jeans.

Seligmann is "absolutely innocent," said his attorney, Kirk Osborn. "He's doing great. That's all I have to say."

Asked what led to the indictments, Osborn said: "Apparently it was a photographic identification. And we all know how reliable that is."

Finnerty's attorney, Bill Cotter, said, "We're surprised that anybody got indicted, quite frankly."

"The next jury will hear the entire story, which includes our evidence, and we're confident that these young men will be found to be innocent," he said.

Calls to the Finnerty and Seligmann homes Tuesday morning were not immediately returned. No one answered the door at the Finnerty house.

The alleged victim, a 27-year-old black woman and mother of two children, told police she was attacked March 13 by three white men in a bathroom at a party held by the lacrosse team.

The grand jury adjourned around 2 p.m. Monday, handing up indictments a short time later to Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens. The indictments mean that the grand jury believes there is enough evidence to warrant a trial.

Prosecutors have informed defense attorneys that the alleged victim has identified two players with 100 percent certainty and was 90 percent certain on a third player, ABC News reported.

The racially charged allegations have led to near daily protest rallies.

The school canceled the highly ranked team's season and accepted the resignation of coach Mike Pressler after the release of a vulgar and graphic e-mail that was sent by a team member shortly after the alleged assault.

Defense attorneys have urged Nifong to drop the case, saying DNA tests failed to connect any of the 46 team members tested to the alleged victim.

Nifong has said 75 percent to 80 percent of rape prosecutions lack DNA evidence. According to court records, a medical examination of the woman found injuries consistent with rape.

Defense attorneys have said time-stamped photos taken the night of the party show that the alleged victim was injured and impaired before she arrived.

The charges come two weeks before Nifong is up for election. He was appointed to the job last year after nearly three decades as a lawyer in the district attorney's office, . On Monday, he repeatedly declined to comment on the case.

Brian Loftus, of Syosset, N.Y., the father of two players on the team, told ABC's "Good Morning America" in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he approached one of his sons and asked him about the alleged attack.

"I asked him 10 times. I said, 'Did anything happen?' Both my sons ... all they ever told me was 'Dad, nothing happened. Nobody did anything,' " Loftus said.

Also Monday, school officials said the lacrosse coach was warned last year that his players had too many violations of the campus judicial code and he needed to "get them in line."

Duke athletic director Joe Alleva said the university's executive vice president reviewed the lacrosse team's disciplinary record last year, then discussed his findings with Alleva.

"He said there were too many incidents, but there's not enough incidents to make a drastic change in the program at this point in time," Alleva told The Herald-Sun of Durham.

Alleva then met with Pressler, telling the coach that "his team was under the microscope, and he had to do everything he could to get them in line and to not have any more behavior problems," he said.

The review by Tallman Trask III, Duke's executive vice president, was spurred by reports of "boorish behavior" by the lacrosse team, Alleva said.

Sue Wasiolek, Duke's dean of students and assistant vice president for student affairs, said the review showed the lacrosse team had a "disproportionate" number of violations of the campus judicial code. None was particularly serious, but administrators were concerned about the cumulative record and the fact that some players had several violations, she said.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[bigsmooth]

very distubing indeed. having lived in the triangle, durham always takes a beating. not all of durham is gang land, nor are all duke athletes criminals. There has always been racial tensions there, and the last time things got real heated was after some cross burnings that they could never find out who was the culprit. the duke president is forming a task force to look at all olympic sports to see about behavior amongst its student athletes. i pray that truth and justice will prevail, and that the racial tensions will be eased in durham. we need to pray for all parties involved and for the city of durham.

[Sly Fox]

Amen

[Thelaxman]

I have to head out this evening but I have a lot to say on this subject because it involves Lacrosse. One thing I will say wheather these Guys are guilty or not they have disgraced the sport of Lacrosse. They had no business being at a party like that as Lacrosse Players or Duke students. Both standards are high. This kind of stuff leads to trouble and as young Men they should have known better.

I will comment more later.

Thelaxman

[Hold My Own]

From what ESPN say's this party isnt out of the ordinary for this men's LAX team and in fact the Cues (also a top team in the country) already said they will not accept any transfers from Duke

[bigsmooth]

i agree with the coach lacrosse is getting a black eye, and it is a shame that one team can change a person's perception about this great sport. the duke lacrosse has been known to have wild parties and duke and durham police have cited them for noise ordinances as well. the duke students who live off campus are very rowdy, and the neighborhoods where they live looked like vernon st. at LC used to. run dwon, trash and beer cans all over the place. yes it is college, and students do what they do, but when towns people are involved and live right near them, you have to be respectful.

[ATrain]

Personally I think the team is innocent of what she is accusing them of...and as for the parties, not that this makes it right, but what sports team at most DI colleges doesn't go wild and crazy off (or somethimes on) campus?

[jcmanson]

I agree with you Atrain, most major D1 athletes (just students for that matter) have crazy parties. According to law, there is nothing wrong with that. I also do not think that they did what they are accused of, hopefully the truth will be found out though.

[Sly Fox]

I don't think we have access to anything close to enough information to make judgements on guilt or innocence. But I admit I don't find it hard to believe that the charges may be true.

[TIMSCAR20]

I have to agree with Sly on this one. We don't like to think these types of thing happen but they do and mre often that women are willing to admit because of all they go through after being victimized. It is sad that there are some women that would say something like this and have it not be true but that is a reality as well. We just have to wait and see what evidence is presented before making a fair assessment of what happened or didn't happen...I am with you Smoothie on the actions of a few being cast on everyone. That is sort of what it is like to be black sometimes. I hate watching the news with white people sometimes (not my family though of course), because when a black person does something wrong, it can make you feel like they think all of us are like that and sadly some white people think that way. That was really true when I was a kid in the 70's when I have actually heard family "friends" make comments. But I digress.

[jcmanson]

SCAR, growing up in the south I understand where you are coming from with the actions of a few being cast on everyone. There are people in my family who look solely at the color of the man, and makes their judgement by that. It really hurts me that someone with my own blood and professing Christians would stoop to this level. We all are created in the image of God.

[TIMSCAR20]

Besides being in the image of God, it is just a stupid and inaccurate way to judge anything. It is ignorance and insecurity that cause people to judge that way but I understand race relations better than most I would say due to the diversity in my family. I have Philipino, Korean, black, white, Hatian, Jamaican, and others (you get the point). I appreciate your cander JC.

[bigsmooth]

Atrain, i feel like the DA has some evidence that we do not know about, and it had to be compelling enough to issue an indictment. it may appear now that the players are innocent with the evidence and hearsay that the lawyers have said, but let's reserve judgement till we have all the facts. also do not forget that the DNA is not the only evidence you can have from a suspected rape.

[bigsmooth]

plus Atrain, yes college athletes at most colleges party hard, but that does not give them the right to destroy neighborhoods and taunt the other hard working people who live there. take a drive down to durham and you will see what i mean. being a college student and an athlete, or anybody for that matter does not give you the right to act like a fool!

[ATrain]

Well yes, while its true not all of the evidence is out there, I just think that the DA is trying to keep his job from the more stories I read.

And I didn't say it gave them the right to act like fools either...I said it didn't make it right. I just think that a lot of the public has this mentality that its only this one team thats doing it and don't realize that its the vast majority of teams at a large number of colleges and universities.

I've also been to Durham, I have family who live nearby in Chapel Hill. I haven't seen what you're talking about (mainly b/c my experience in Durham is extremely limited), but don't doubt it.

[TallyW]

Duke spokesman talking about the fact that Duke continues to sell Lacrosse merchandise:
""If we pull the gear, people will think we are presuming that the players are guilty,"



No.... People will think that you presume your players are guilty because you cancelled their season and fired (forced resignation) their coach!


Article:http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2415801

[ATrain]

Duke LAX women are ranked #1 in the country right now...tis a shame the Lady Blue Devils (women's bball and LAX) are being far overshadowed by this.

[PAmedic]

WOW. Unfortunately this will likely get much worse before it is resolved- and it may never be for some of those involved or who live there.

Newsweek's 7 pg article online: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12442765/site/newsweek/

[Lax Dude]

I think the University made the right decision to cancel the season. Duke is a very special School and in my opinion it would be unbecoming for a Duke Student or Duke Lacrosse Player to have such a party with Strippers at. I know that Lax Players party hard but still this was Duke University and some of our best leaders come from Duke and you would expect better behavior from a Duke Student.