CHAPEL HILL - A UNC-Chapel Hill football player thought he would have a story to tell his teammates the next day. But when a stranger put a knife to his throat, he feared for his life.

That player and one other testified Thursday at a probable cause hearing against Tnikia Washington, Michael Troy Lewis and Monique Taylor, accused of kidnapping, robbing and sexually assaulting them.

With 32 separate charges involving three complainants, defense attorneys made complicated arguments about which charges ought to stick and which ought to fall. District Court Judge Alonzo Coleman asked them to address each charge in writing and continued the hearing until noon today.

One player testified Thursday that he had not been sexually assaulted, though police have charged Taylor with first-degree sex offenses against all three. Coleman forbade the media from identifying either player who testified. The News & Observer generally does not identify people who report they have been sexually assaulted.

Washington's attorney, Susan Seahorn, argued that her client ought to be cleared of all charges considering her alleged victim did not appear Thursday and the other two players offered no evidence that she had committed any of the crimes she's accused of.

"There is no evidence that anything was done against his will," Seahorn said. Coleman said he was inclined to dismiss charges against Washington but will not rule until today.

Lewis' and Taylor's attorneys argued their clients' actions did not meet the legal criteria for kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault or conspiracy -- charges all three suspects face.

The two players testified that they and a third player got drunk at the apartment of two of them the evening of Dec. 15. About 11:45 p.m., they went to the Top of the Hill restaurant and drank for about an hour, then hopped to the East End Martini Bar.

There, they said, they lost contact with the third player, who called them about 3 a.m. to say he was back at the apartment.

Chapel Hill Police Investigator Celisa Lehew said Lewis called her after escaping from police that night and told her the girls had gone to the martini bar looking to make money. She said Lewis told her that the player not present Thursday had propositioned Washington and Taylor outside the bar.

When the other two players arrived at the apartment by cab, one went to bed in his room near the entrance. The other continued down the hall, where he saw Lewis standing naked. He said Lewis told him he and the third player were in the player's bedroom with the two women.

"I was naked because it was going to be a foursome," Lehew said Lewis told her.

The witness said he was curious and went into the room. He said he saw Lewis had a paring knife in hand but trusted him because he called the third player by name. "In all honesty, I wanted to give [the third football player] a hard time about what he was doing and tell all the guys a story the next day," he said.

Washington and the third player allegedly moved to a chair, and the witness said a woman -- who police say is Taylor -- removed his shirt, pushed him down on the bed, removed his belt, sat on him and began to bind his hands with the belt. When he resisted, Lewis held a knife to his throat, he said, and warned him that he didn't want his mother to have to come to his funeral. The player said the knife broke his skin.

"I honestly thought I was going to die," he said.

The player who had gone to bed said a man later bound his hands, took his wallet and, at knifepoint, demanded the PIN for his ATM card.

Lehew testified that Lewis had admitted gathering home electronics to steal them but told her he later changed his mind and left the apartment only to return and find the police there. The players, though, said Lewis charged an officer, bit his leg and escaped from the apartment.

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