Two Duke University lacrosse players were arrested early today in connection with what authorities described as a rape at a team party last month, The News & Observer, a newspaper in Raleigh, N.C., reported this morning. According to the article, the athletes were detained before 5 a.m.; each was charged with first-degree forcible rape, first-degree sexual offense, and kidnapping; and bond was set at $400,000 for each one.
The arrests following a confusing day at the Durham County Courthouse, where a grand jury adjourned on Monday without apparently handing up any indictments in the case. But the jury issued sealed indictments that the judge kept secret until after the athletes had been detained, the newspaper reported.
The news comes after a month of controversy at Duke over the alleged rape, the university’s initially slow reaction to the accusations, the racial tensions in Durham and poor town-gown relations that the incident exacerbated, and what defenders of the athletes have said was a rush to prejudge the players as guilty (The Chronicle, April 14).
