NEWSWEEK COVER: Sex, Lies & Duke

24 April 2006

Results from a second round of DNA tests in the Duke rape case are expected this week, and defense lawyer Bill Thomas tells Newsweek that in the first round, which did not implicate any of the 46 members of the lacrosse team, some DNA showed up under the woman's fingernails, though tests were inconclusive about identity, Newsweek reports in the current issue.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060423/NYSU007 )

When the case first broke in the press, Prosecutor Mike Nifong, a white man who is running for election in a racially mixed county, hinted to Newsweek that blood and urine tests of the woman would reveal the presence of a date- rape drug. It appears from medical records that the woman was sexually abused, though the precise timing is unclear. The woman apparently told Nifong that she is "100 percent" sure of the identity of her assailants. But the aggressive lawyers defending the team were quick to point out that she was identifying them only from photos of the team, not from the usual police lineup including suspects as well as people unconnected to the case. (A source familiar with the prosecution's case told Newsweek that the woman broke down and cried when she identified one of the two players indicted last week.)

In the May 1 Newsweek cover story "Sex, Lies & Duke," (on newsstands Monday, April 24), Senior Writer Susannah Meadows and Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas examine the case and the potentially complicated motives of the key participants, from the athletes to the exotic dancers to the local prosecutor and his political allies and foes.

According to a timeline put out by defense lawyers, one exotic dancer, Kim Roberts, 31, appeared on time, but another dancer, who was dropped off by a car, arrived a half hour late. (Newsweek, like most news organizations, does not identify alleged rape victims). According to Roberts, who was interviewed last week by Newsweek, the boys gave each of them mixed drinks. Roberts says she did not drink hers, but the other dancer did, knocking her cup over after finishing half her drink, then imbibing Roberts's.

Roberts said that she thought the other woman arrived sober. But when the two began their strip show around midnight, the other woman began having trouble. "She started stumbling," recalled Roberts. "When I think back on it, she had a glassy look in her eyes." Roberts says she "gave her a look that said, 'C'mon, girl, what's going on?'-but got no response. The dance lasted about 10 minutes, according to Roberts; the defense lawyers say it lasted only about three minutes. (The women, who did not know each other, were supposed to put on a roughly two-hour show for the $800.)

The evening ended in recriminations. Roberts called 911 and complained to police that some students at 610 North Buchanan Boulevard were taunting her and her friend with racial epithets. She told Newsweek that she yelled out at the boys, "I called the cops, you dumbasses." The transcript of the 911 call makes it sound as though she and the other dancer were just passersby being racially insulted by students. "I was angry and I had to tell somebody," says Roberts. "I didn't want everyone to know I'm a dancer." During her interview with Newsweek, she disputed the defense timeline, but she would not go on the record to be specific about the discrepancies.

Police also questioned Roberts. It is not clear what she told them, or whether her statement to police matches her later statements to Newsweek and other media outlets. Roberts did say that, within several days of the incident, she went to James D. (Butch) Williams, a prominent local attorney, to ask his advice. She says that from the outset Williams told her that he already represented one of the Duke players. Williams asked if she believed there had been a rape, and Roberts answered no. But when Williams tried to get her to sign an affidavit, she balked. She said she later became livid when she heard that Williams had shared her story with other attorneys. Seeing Williams's face appear on a TV during her interview with Newsweek, she stood up and began punching the air in anger at him. "I feel like he preyed on my naivete," she told Newsweek. "I don't want someone to play me like I'm stupid."

Court records obtained by the AP and Newsweek show that Kim Roberts was on probation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company where she worked, helping to keep payroll records. On March 22, eight days after the alleged rape, Kim spent two hours in jail for breaking the terms of her probation (she had left the state, her attorney says, to visit her sick father.) She posted $25,000 bond and on March 30 found a lawyer, Mark Simeon. Simeon is politically active-in 2002 he ran for District Attorney and lost. He sees Roberts's case as an opportunity for him, too. "I will be there for her if and when she decides to pursue legal remedies on her own behalf," he tells Newsweek.

Simeon has a relationship with prosecutor Nifong that may shed light on the D.A.'s handling of the case. Nifong was the protégé of Simeon's rival in the 2002 race for D.A. The two men did not get along, according to Simeon. But last year, Nifong's boss, Jim Hardin, was appointed to a judgeship, and Nifong was appointed to fill his place. Nifong's term is almost up, and in Durham, district attorney is an elected post. The voters go to the polls on May 2. One of Nifong's opponents is a lawyer named Freda Black, who was passed over for the D.A. job. Black is-or was, until the Duke case-better known around town than Nifong, largely because she won a conviction in a celebrated murder case. Nifong's other opponent is a lawyer with no prosecutorial experience named Keith Bishop. Nifong and Black are white; Bishop is African-American. Durham voters are about 40 percent black, so Nifong almost surely needs to win black votes to keep his job, Newsweek reports. (Read cover story at http://www.Newsweek.com. Click "Pressroom" for news releases.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12442765/site/newsweek/

Source: prnewswire

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