DURHAM - District Attorney Mike Nifong indicted three Duke University lacrosse players for rape without ever hearing the accuser's account of the incident, he said in a hearing Friday.

Nifong has still not heard the woman's story and is not likely to before the case goes to trial, he said during another in a series of contentious court appearances in which he and defense lawyers battled over evidence in the case.

Nifong turned over nearly 2,000 pages of documents to the lawyers, bringing the case file to more than 4,400 pages. But as usual, it was what the lawyers did not have that dominated the hearing. The defense had again asked for a written report of anything the accuser has said to Nifong about the facts of the case. Nifong has said he has no such report to turn over, but lawyers pointed out that one of Nifong's own filings states that he asked the accuser whether she had taken ecstasy the night of the party.

Nifong has championed the rape case against Dave Evans, 23, Collin Finnerty, 20, and Reade Seligmann, 20. Even as weaknesses in the case have emerged, Nifong has pressed ahead because, he has said, he thinks the woman was sexually assaulted.

Bradley Bannon, a lawyer for Dave Evans, said that beginning March 24, a police official ordered the detectives in the case to report directly to Nifong, making him the lead investigator. It was "stretching the bounds of credulity" that one question is all that Nifong asked her, Bannon said.

But Nifong said he would say under oath that the discussion about ecstasy was the only conversation he had with her about the facts of the case. The News & Observer generally does not identify complainants in sexual assault cases.

"I've had conversations with [the accuser] about how she's doing. I've had conversations with [the accuser] about seeing her kids. I have not had any conversations with [the accuser] about this case," Nifong said. "This is another false issue to make it look like I call her up and say, 'Tell me more about this case.' "

Nifong and detectives met with the woman April 11. No questions were asked of her, and she said nothing about the March lacrosse party where she said she was raped, Nifong said. He also said that during that meeting, the woman appeared still upset about the incident. She was unable to make eye contact and seemed on the verge of tears, he said.

When the trial date approaches, Nifong said, he may have someone in his office interview the woman.

Nifong said if he talked to a witness, he could risk becoming a witness in the case himself. He said that is why he rebuffed defense lawyers when they wanted to set up a meeting to show that the lacrosse players were innocent. He did not refuse to meet with them, he said, but he told the lawyers to have the players talk to investigators. Nifong said that if the players had told him they were innocent, their attorneys could have called Nifong to the witness stand to testify, and he could have been barred from trying the case.

"I can't think of any prosecutor who would fall for that," Nifong said. "Because I'm not stupid, I would not have done what they continue to accuse me of doing."

Joseph B. Cheshire V, another of Evans' attorneys, said that the lawyers tried to meet with Nifong and that they never tried to have their clients speak to the prosecutor.

Lawyer Kirk Osborn, who represents Seligmann, disputed Nifong's memory of the days after the first indictments in April. Osborn said that when he went to see Nifong to show him evidence of Seligmann's alibi, through an assistant, Nifong's response was, "I saw you on TV proclaiming your client's innocence, so what is there to talk about?"

Nifong said the investigation has largely come to an end. Nifong told the judge that Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, who ran several key elements of the inquiry, had been on sick leave and other than being called to testify would likely have no further involvement in the case.

The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15.

Duke Lacrosse