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.
"For us to say it's basically boorish behavior, I'm offended by that," Smith said. "I'm offended by the fact that the lacrosse team is still practicing."
The community outrage to a case that has yet to produce criminal charges bothered the lawyers.
Durham lawyer Butch Williams represents captain Daniel Flannery. "Once these young men are vindicated, I feel that a big apology from the community is in order," Williams said.
Durham lawyer Kerry Sutton declined to say which player she represents, but she said she expects him not to have DNA trouble.
"If it comes out that all 46 are exonerated, they've still been tagged as rapists," Sutton said.
The incident began March 13 when the team gathered at a home on North Buchanan Boulevard shared by three captains. A woman called 911 just after midnight on March 14 to say that someone outside the house had shouted a racial slur, according to a tape of the call.
Police responded minutes later but took no report. An hour later, authorities received a call reporting a rape.
Medical records
At Duke Hospital, a nurse trained in sexual assault forensics and a doctor examined the woman, court documents say. "Medical records and interviews showed that the woman had signs, symptoms and injuries consistent with being raped and sexually assaulted vaginally and anally," according to the order a judge signed that required the team to submit DNA.
Community groups have criticized the police for a slow response. In a news release Wednesday, authorities explained what investigators were doing in the days after the attack.
They interviewed the woman -- when was unclear -- and developed probable cause for a search warrant, which was served at the house March 16. The residents volunteered to come to a substation for interviews. They then agreed to provide DNA.
Police investigators later spoke with the players' coach and asked him to set up a meeting with the players and investigators March 22, at which the players were to voluntarily answer questions and possibly submit to identification procedures, the release said.
A few hours before the meeting was to take place, a lawyer called investigators and told them that the players would not attend and that legal counsel would be representing them. The District Attorney's Office then obtained an order from a judge that required 46 members of the team to provide DNA samples. The players did so March 23 at a police lab.
Since the incident was reported, details of the case have sometimes emerged faster than Duke officials have been prepared.
President Richard Brodhead was at a news conference Tuesday with Athletics Director Joe Alleva when he learned about the 911 call about the racial slur.
"I have now had the opportunity to listen to the tape," Brodhead said in a statement released Wednesday. "It is disgusting. Racism and its hateful language have no place in this community. I am sorry the woman and her friend were subjected to such abuse."
Early Wednesday, Brodhead met with concerned students, many of whom protested outside his news conference Tuesday.
Other than student media, no reporters were allowed in the meeting, which lasted about an hour.
The students worked on a list of questions for Brodhead and distributed a statement that said: "The university is cultivating and sustaining a culture of privilege and silence that allows inappropriate behavior to plague the campus."
Sonia Dolutskaya, a graduate student, said the meeting was desperately needed after two weeks of silence by the university.
"This is a conversation we need to continue," she said.
Students said some of Brodhead's answers were vague because the officials must wait until the police investigation is done.
"I think people might be looking for answers that aren't available yet," said Wintta Woldemariam, a senior. But the university must condemn the poor behavior and racial epithets, she said.
(Staff writer Samiha Khanna contributed to this report.)
