Lawyer: Duke Accuser Wasn't Raped

Lacrosse Attorney Says Time-Stamped Pictures Show Stripper 'Very Impaired'

(CBS/AP) 
"I would like to believe her story," Van says. "This is such a horrific event. … To try to make up something like that is just hard for me to imagine."

The woman and the other dancer arrived separately, Thomas said, and performed briefly before leaving. The victim told police she and the other dancer left because they feared for their safety, but were later convinced to come back inside.

Thomas said the photos contradict the alleged victim's assertion she was scared, as they show her standing at the door of the off-campus house with "a major grin on her face" as she tried to get back inside.

"People inside the house have stated she was banging on the door, attempting to regain entry," Thomas said.

The woman told police she was pulled into a bathroom and assaulted after coming back into the house. But Thomas said the woman locked herself in the bathroom, where police later found her purse, cell phone, and several artificial fingernails she claimed to have lost during a struggle with her attackers.

Durham attorney Bob Eckstrand, who represents 33 of the players, told the Charlotte Observer that a few photos taken minutes before one of the dancers made a 911 call to police shows the accuser fumbling through her purse. Her negligee is "not disheveled or unbuttoned and not torn -- not even close," Ekstrand said. Another photo shows one of the lacrosse team captains helping the dancer into the other dancer's car, Ekstrand told the newspaper.

Thomas said one of the attorneys representing team members had interviewed the other dancer extensively, and she said the alleged victim never told her about a rape.

"All of these statements you've heard ... about this brutal assault, rape, kidnapping and robbery which occurred, I believe that the public will soon be able to learn the truth, and that these allegations are totally false and without merit," Thomas said.

Both the team's captains and attorneys for team members have said the DNA tests, which may be completed this week, will prove the allegations are false, Regan reports. The players' attorneys also have raised other questions about the allegations, saying e-mails written in the hours after the alleged attack will help prove the players' claims that nothing happened that night.

"Everyone wants immediate answers, and I just don't think that's how the real world works," Duke law professor James Coleman told CBS News.

Attorneys also have raised suspicions about a 911 call, made shortly after the alleged attack would have occurred, from a black woman who claimed someone at the party shouted racial slurs at her and a friend. The caller alternatively told police the pair were driving and walking past the house. Thomas said Sunday he and other attorneys believe the second dancer at the party made the call.

"These young men have been absolutely vilified in the press," Thomas said. "I think this week we will go a long ways toward clearing these young men's names. I can assure you that this has been a nightmare for each and every one of them."

Nifong has said he could file charges as soon as this week, if charges are filed at all, Regan reports.