INC NEWS - Duke lacrosse team reports to lab in rape inquiry (N&O)

[John Schelp]

DNA tests ordered for Duke athletes: Lacrosse team
reports to lab in rape inquiry
(by Samiha Khanna and Anne Blythe, N&O, 24 March 06)

Durham police had 46 members of the Duke University
lacrosse team DNA-tested Thursday in the suspected
gang-rape of a woman at an off-campus party last week.
Police think at least three of the men could be
responsible for the sexual assault, beating, robbery
and near-strangulation of one of two women who had an
appointment to dance at the party March 13, according
to a search warrant.

Such a broad DNA sampling early in an investigation is
unusual, several local lawyers said.

The assault allegedly happened in a house shared by
three members of the men's lacrosse team, Duke
officials said.

All but one member of the team reported to the Durham
police crime lab downtown at 4 p.m. Thursday to be
photographed and "to provide identifying information,"
said John Burness, Duke University senior vice
president for public affairs. The team member who did
not report was not ordered to the screening, Burness
said without explaining why.

"Duke University is monitoring the situation and
cooperating with officials, as are the students,"
Burness said.

No one had been charged late Thursday in the incident,
which police say happened close to midnight March 13
and into the early hours of the next morning. Alcohol
was involved, Durham police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb said.

Joe Alleva, Duke athletics director, was in Atlanta,
where the Blue Devils men's basketball team played its
third game in the NCAA Tournament.

"It's just an unfortunate situation," Alleva said
about the investigation of the lacrosse team. "We're
just going to have to let the legal process work out."

While investigators look into the matter, Alleva said,
the lacrosse team, a finalist in the NCAA Division I
championship last season, will continue with its
schedule. "You've got to let the facts play out," he
said.

It was unclear how long it would take to process the
DNA tests.

A search warrant returned Thursday details the attack
the victim described to police.

It is The News & Observer's policy not to identify
victims of reported sex crimes.

Heated atmosphere

According to the warrant, the victim told police she
went to the home late March 13 with another woman to
dance for a group of men. She and the other female
dancer started to perform in the master bedroom of the
house, and soon, the men who were watching became
"excited and aggressive," the statement says.

The women stopped dancing and wanted to leave,
concerned for their safety. They went outside and got
into a car and were approached by one of the suspects,
who apologized and asked that the women come back
inside, the warrant says.

The women went back inside the house and were
separated. The victim was pulled into a bathroom, and
three men held her down, sexually assaulting and
sodomizing her, the warrant says. She was kicked, hit,
strangled and beaten, she told police.

The victim went to the Kroger grocery store on
Hillsborough Road and called police at 1:22 a.m. March
14, the warrant says.

Police drove to the house that morning, but no one
answered the door. They returned March 16 with the
search warrant, looking for DNA evidence and the
victim's belongings, including one shoe, a cellular
phone and at least $400, all in $20 bills.

They also looked for artificial fingernails painted
with red polish, apparently lost in the victim's
struggle.

Police seized residents' computers, cell phones and
digital cameras, looking for photos and video footage
of the party, the warrant said. They took rugs,
discarded paper towels, fingernails and photographs,
it said.

Residents at the Buchanan Boulevard house, one of 15
properties Duke bought in February, did not respond to
requests for comment Tuesday.

Search called unusual

Such a large DNA search seemed unusual to several
Durham criminal defense lawyers.

John Fitzpatrick said searches by the police should be
based on a suspicion that is directed toward an
individual, not just a class of people.

"On its face, without learning more, it could be real
problematic when you have some sweeping, unscrutinized
searches," Fitzpatrick said.

Lawyer Alex Charns said it was difficult to decide
whether a search was valid without knowing specifics
or seeing written orders, but generally speaking, it
would be unusual for so many people to have their DNA
taken.

"I can't imagine a scenario where this would be
reasonable to do this so early in the investigation,"
Charns said. "It seems unusual, it seems over-broad,
and it seems frightening that they're invading the
privacy of so many people."

Gottlieb, the supervisor in the investigation, said
Thursday that he was not in a position to speak about
the case. He stood inside the Durham police crime lab
about 4 p.m. as carloads of young men rolled to 213
Broadway St. in downtown Durham.

Bob Ekstrand, a Durham defense lawyer who has
represented Duke students, stood outside the lab
holding a briefcase.

"Don't answer any questions," he told the young men as
they prepared to go in the building. When asked
whether he was representing any of the students, he
replied, "No comment."

A woman who works in Ekstrand's office intercepted
more lacrosse players as they arrived, instructing
them to cover their faces, wear hats and pull their
jackets up to conceal their identities. In the back of
one of the players' cars was a recent issue of "Inside
Lacrosse" magazine.

"Everyone's talking about Duke," the front cover read.