2006-03-31

Rape Allegations Unravelling?

Now come facts that cast doubt on the charges. If this proves to be a Twanna Brawly situation, will the shrieking champions of justice at Duke stage some new rallies, hoisting the lacross team on their shoulders, demanding arrests and sure-handed prosecution of the the stripper accusers? The same "fact" that pulled me towards the accusations now seems to implicate the accusers.

The righteous crusaders against the overwhelming tsunami of American anti-black racism might take note at how long it took presumably white cops to respond to the 911 call from a black woman asserting that some white boys called her a nigger: 2 minutes. They might also note how many cop cars appeared: two. And how long they investigated: 11 minutes. (How many cop cars would come out to my home if I called 911 and said the guy accross the street called me a motherfucker? Or even a cracker?)

It seems that black women in the vicinity of Duke have excellent police support against getting called ugly names (which isn't even against the law, as far as I know). Now we move to what the cops found at the lacross house: nothing. No party. No activity.

Fifteen minutes later the rape report gets called in. These ain't the only inconsistencies and super-convienient coincidences...

13 comments:

Paul Hue said...

Checkout the video clip. One of the honkey players hired a big shot black defense attorney, who asks, "Where's the girl who called in the 911 racial slur charge 30 minutes before the 911 rape call? Why hasn't she come forward?" Another question he might ask: Why'd she use a pay phone rather than a cell phone?

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12080776/

Paul Hue said...

"The second caller later told police that she had found the victim walking on North Buchanan and then drove her to the store to get help. Michael, the police spokeswoman, was quoted in a published report saying the woman who drove to the Kroger store was the second exotic dancer hired by the lacrosse players."

The second dancer found the accusing dancer walking? And drove her *away* from a nearby police department, to call the police department? On a pay phone? Two people now who lack cell phones, perhaps the only two left in America. And the second caller, who was a material witness, fails to include this in her call?

Both 911 calls now contain many oddities, including an inability to identify the caller, the use of pay phones, and contradictions. Remaining questions:

- What about claims that a neighbor heard the white guys shouting racial slurs at the strippers?

- Why was the house seemingly empty when police responded to the first call?

- How did the accuser present a medical exam consistent with physical and sexual assault?

I'm still uncertain, but I'm backing off of my support for the strippers and resume my skepticism of both sides.

Paul Hue said...

According to the New York Times, the second call came from a Kroger security guard, reporting a lone woman in a car in the parking lot, who appeared intoxicated and refused to leave. When police arrived, she revealed accusations against the team. So, was she walking or driving? What happened to the second stripper and the second caller, reported in other reports as a girl who picked up the walking accuser?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/30/sports/30timeline.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

At 1:22 a.m., a security guard at a Kroger grocery called 911 to report that a woman outside the store had refused to get out of her car and that she appeared intoxicated. After the police arrived, she accused three lacrosse players, whom she identified by first names, of forcing her into a bathroom at the house and sexually assaulting her for 30 minutes.

Paul Hue said...

The search continues for the "first caller"; how does her recorded voice match with that of the second stripper?

Who made that second call? This is perhaps even more interesting than the Kobe charge. Kobe and Mike Tyson got lots of support, including from me, from people -- especially blacks -- who sensed that the accuser was a groupie (let's use that polite word) who changed her mind. Why only absolute, immediate condemnation for these guys?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14227262.htm

Paul Hue said...

A blogger now declares "I don't think a rape occured".

http://www.juiceenewsdaily.com/index.php/2006/03/31/i-dont-believe-the-duke-raping-occurred/

I agree with him that if the stripper/hookers invented the rape story, it was probably revenge for some disagreement with their customers; this blogger assumes that the customers disrespected them. And this blogger leaves open the possibility that he's wrong, and offers only a tentative conclusion based on the facts now known in a fluid situation.

What's worse? Getting raped, or getting falsely accused of rape? Or getting falsely convicted of rape? I'd rather get raped than get falsely convicted of rape.

Paul Hue said...

Here's how the NYT describes the DA in this case: "Nifong, who is in a heated race for re-election in May, said Wednesday that the case was based on more than DNA evidence." In a city that's half black, once that race card comes out, it's hard to do anything but bow before it.

The medical examiners concluded that the accuser's body was consistent with rape and a fight. Was it also consistent with what a stripper could do to herself if she was trying to stage a rape? Especially if she had an accomplice? And perhaps a dildo in her stripper kit?

Did she purposefully leave behind fake nails, her purse, and cash? Did she get into a fight with one of the guys, and that's the extent of the altercation?

I'm still not ready to attend any rallies supporting the accused guys. I'm curious about the $400 that she left behind, for one thing.

Speaking of those rallies. What are they complaining about? A 911 call from a black woman alleging racial slurs by white boys resulted in two cop cars in 60 seconds who investigated for 11 minutes, but found nobody to question. A subseuquent 911 call that (somehow) involved a black woman alleging rape by white boys resulted in quick action and relentless pursuit of the accused.

So the protesters complaining about, what? White cops don't take seriously claims by black girls of rape by white boys? Or that there is an epidemic of white boys raping black girls? I don't think that the protesters will dare publicize the racial breakdown of rapist-victim statistics.

Some have insisted that "if the accused were black and the accuser white, there'd be an arrest by now." How long did it take for Kobe to get arrested? And that didn't happen until he admitted to sex, which would have been substantiated by DNA evidence. How long did it take for OJ to get arrested?

Paul Hue said...

I am most curious to learn about the black player. A next door neighbor maintains that he heard the girls called a racial slur. Might that black player have shouted out one of the phrases so popular on all the rap songs and videos at them?

Paul Hue said...

Another skeptical article:

http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-718588.html

This one introduces another fact: the police waited two days to search the house. The shrieking demonstrators say that shows racism or favoritism; but they (and the article) don't ask: is that two-day later search the one that turned up the stripper/escort's purse and fingernails? If so, if a rape took place in the house, why in these two days didn't anybody in the house get rid of these materials?

Paul Hue said...

Another article relaying facts, including some new ones. Not certain that the strippers are lying, but there is doubt:

http://www.wral.com/news/8392580/detail.html

In this article, the neighbor states that the two strippers left together and sped off just a couple of minutes before that first 911 call, and that the house vacated within minutes. If the house vacated because they guys had raped a girl, why didn't their evasive action include discarding the girl's left-behind stuff? But why did the house vacate so quickly and thorougly?

Rape is a horrible crime, but people do commit it; same is true of laying false allegations.

Paul Hue said...

Looks like the purse with the money and the fake finger nails were there for two days:

========
While Johnson Hostler is concerned about the time lapse in collecting evidence from 610 N. Buchanan. "The good thing is that the evidence was still there," she said.
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-719410.html
========

This doesn't make sense to me either way. If there was a rape, I find it hard to believe that for two days the guys wouldn't discard these item. But if this was a spur-of-the-moment revenge act by the girls, that seems too clever to hide finger nails and the purse (with $400!). However, if the girls got into an argument (and perhaps an altercation wherein the nails came off) and were drunk and/or high, they might have emotionly bolted the scene without realize they had left money behind.

Why didn't the guys do anything with the purse? The girls might have hid their purse as part of their stripper procedure while they're performing. Or the guys might have figured that the girls would be back for it, and that nothing too bad had happened.

Paul Hue said...

According to this article, one of the team captians and residents claims that they cleared out the house and locked it up because the "party had gotten too rocous."

http://www.nbc17.com/education/8393654/detail.html

That doesn't make too much sense to me. One hour after the strippers arrive, here's what happens in the span of about three or four minutes:

1. The strippers speed off.
2. The first 911 call transpires.
3. The house completely vacates.
4. Police arrive.

It sounds to me like at the very least there was an altercation in the house between the strippers and the guys, the strippers left threatening to call the police, and the guys issued an order to vacate the house.

Questions: Where did police find the purse and nails? Why did the girls leave behind the purse? Why didn't the guys dispose of it? When did the guys know that the police had visitted the house, or had been alerted?

Paul Hue said...

Surely it's inappropriate for a prosecuter to declare that a crime has taken place prior to completion of the investigation. Now that he's on the record, if it turns out that the girls are lying, it will be hard for him to back down. The police desearve credit for responding so quickly to both calls and taking them so seriously. But they deserve criticism for taking so long to search the house, and the DA is erring by issuing a public conclusion prior to completion of his investigation.

Paul Hue said...

Since the names and arrest records of every Lacrosse member has been blasted all over by the "activists", why not reveal the arrest records of the stripper escorts? What would that reveal? The guys have very tame arrest records: public urination and disturbing the peace, though many analysts have depicted these records as outrageous and troubling.