Lacrosse players' lawyers object

Defenders say DNA tests will clear team members, and they fire back at prosecutors

Defense lawyers representing members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team say prosecutors are trying to convict their clients in public in a rape investigation before any charges have been filed.

As concerned students meet with university officials and the community continues to hold vigils for the woman who reported being raped by three men at a lacrosse team party two weeks ago, defense lawyers said their clients strongly deny that any assault took place.

During a "Take Back the Night" rally and march on campus Wednesday night, anonymous fliers were placed on nearby cars. They contained photos taken from Duke's Web site of all but four of the lacrosse team players, and urged the players to tell what they know about the incident.

"Each and every one of those young men who were present at this party categorically deny that any assault of any description took place," said Durham lawyer Bill Thomas, who said he represents one of the captains. "The entire Duke lacrosse team looks forward to the results of the DNA test in order to clear their names."

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said Wednesday that even if DNA results, which are expected as early as next week, do not match team members, no one is necessarily exonerated. The attackers could have used condoms or might not have been team members, Nifong said.

"How does DNA exonerate you? It's either a match or there's not a match," Nifong said. " ... If the only thing that we ever have in this case is DNA, then we wouldn't have a case."

The lawyers criticized Nifong's frequent interviews in local and national media outlets. Nifong is running to keep his job against three candidates in May.

"The fact that the DA is out in public saying these boys are guilty is just extraordinary," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, a prominent Raleigh lawyer who represents team captain Dave Evans. "I am absolutely convinced, and I think that everyone in that house will testify, that nothing like these allegations happened."

Most of the team members have a lawyer. Durham lawyer Bob Ekstrand said he represents 35 members but wouldn't comment further.

Tension builds

The case, which erupted last week when police took DNA from all but one member of the team, heightened tensions between the city and Duke, a private university sometimes accused of walling itself off from a community with blue-collar roots.

The incident has sparked outrage on and off campus about classism, racism and sexual violence. The woman, an N.C. Central University student and employee of an escort service hired for the party, is black; she told authorities that her attackers were white. The one member of the lacrosse team not DNA tested is black.

Frustration over Duke's response continued Wednesday.

Wednesday's Take Back the Night rally, planned months ago, drew nearly a thousand people. Students and residents walked nearly a mile from East Campus to the landmark chapel on West Campus, chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, all rape has got to go."

Ignacio Adriasola, an art history graduate student, had a sign taped to his shirt: "It isn't what Duke has, but what it lax," using the shorthand word for lacrosse.

Jean Leonard, Duke's sexual assault support services coordinator, welcomed rally participants from Duke, NCCU and Durham Technical Community College. TV trucks from national media outlets rumbled nearby. "Tonight is about more than a great media story that the nation has great interest in," Leonard said. "Tonight is more about healing."

Malbert Smith, a Duke alumnus and a Chapel Hill resident, went to the rally because he is unhappy with the way his alma mater has handled the situation. He said he had hoped Coach Mike Pressler and athletics department officials would have taken action against players for having the party and for racial slurs that allegedly were made there.