Fred Harteis News Articles -  A state grand jury issued sealed indictments against two Duke University lacrosse players Monday in a case involving a woman who has accused three team members of raping her at a party last month, Robert C. Ekstrand, the lawyer for 32 of the lacrosse players said.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens sealed the indictments after the grand jury adjourned, citing a state law that allows indictments to remain secret until a defendant is arrested or appears in court.

The two team members could appear in court as early as Tuesday morning. Glen Bachman, the lawyer for Ryan McFadyen, a lacrosse player who was suspended from the university after sending a vicious email related to the party, confirmed that two players had been indicted but said McFadyen was not one of them.

Michael B. Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, declined to comment on the sealed indictments, which were returned with 81 public indictments involving other cases.

Ekstrand said that he and other defense lawyers had asked Nifong on Thursday and again today to issue public indictments so that anyone who was charged with a crime could voluntarily surrender. Ekstrand said Nifong refused the request, "so we’d be left in the dark." He said the situation meant students could be arrested in classrooms or paraded in front of the media. "I can’t imagine any other reason but humiliation." he said in an interview while the grand jury was in session.

John F. Burness, a spokesman for Duke University, said in a statement that the administration only knew that Nifong had “made a presentation to the grand jury,” but said the university did not know what had been said. “At this point we remain unclear about the precise status of this case and we must simply wait for news of today’s proceedings,” said the statement, which was released before Ekstrand confirmed the indictments involved two players.

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Source: NyTimes.com

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