Take a deep breath and try to forget the particulars. Now suppose you heard that a prosecutor dispatched detectives to make an end-run around a couple suspects’ lawyers just before the prosecutor has to present his case to a grand jury. Would you conclude that prosecutor has a strong case or one built on stilts?
Well, here we have Durham police detectives dropping by a Duke dormitory Thursday night hunting for Duke lacrosse players who, as everyone in the Western world now knows, have legal representation. The 75 minute attempt to find someone to talk to came up empty, but does present some interesting angles:
The dorm is the same one formerly occupied by lacrosse player Ryan McFadyen, who was suspended from school last week for an e-mail he wrote saying he planned to invite strippers to his room, where he would kill and skin them for sexual gratification.
Durham lawyer Bob Ekstrand, who represents 32 of the 46 players whose DNA was tested in connection with the alleged attack, said detectives waited outside the dorm Thursday night until a woman used her card-key to enter. Then, he said, they stuck a foot in the door and sneaked in behind her, even though they lacked a search warrant.
“The clear gist of what they were looking for was to find out who was at the party and who wasn’t,” Ekstrand said Friday. “That’s really odd, given that the accuser claims to have identified two people. The accuser maybe picked someone out of a photo lineup who wasn’t even in this state at the time. … All they’ve got is an ID. If this woman fingered someone who was flying over the state of New York when this party was in progress, how embarrassing would that be?”
In addition, the time-stamped photos that attorneys for the players have from the night of alleged rape seem to make the prosecution’s job even more difficult.
As described by reporters for the Herald Sun the photos present a time-line in which the rape would almost have to have taken place at between 12:10 and 12:30am at the players party, if the assault did take place there. Yet a 1:22 am police call finds the victim passed out drunk at a nearby Kroger, but — according to the officer who responded — otherwise not in need of medical attention. By 2:31 am, however, the victim presented at the Duke emergency room with injuries consistent with being raped.
This info, taken with the lack of DNA evidence thus far linking any player to the assault, makes for a very weak case.