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DNA Test Results Due In Duke Case

Defense attorneys expect to learn the results this week of tests on DNA taken from most members of Duke University's men's lacrosse team in the probe of a black exotic dancer's charge that three white team members raped her at an off-campus party almost a month ago.

The samples were obtained from 46 of the team's 47 players. The 47th is black.

Racial tensions have been building on campus and in the surrounding community as the investigation continues.

CBS News Correspondent Trish Regan reports Durham County, N.C. District Attorney Mike Nifong has aid he could file charges as son as this week, if charges are filed at all.

Protesters gathered outside the now-vacant lacrosse players' house Sunday to show their support for the dancer.

"Part of the problem," observes Duke Law Professor James Coleman, "is that everybody wants immediate responses, immediate answers, and I just don't think that's how the real world works."

Coleman told Regan the case has become too public, too soon: "If you look at what's happening from a criminal investigation, for example, you have a prosecutor that's been out there, basically, developing his case in the media."

And it's not just the prosecutor, Regan points out.

Now, the defense attorneys are playing offense, as well.

One, Bill Thomas, says he has time-stamped pictures of the dancer arriving at the house that show she was already bruised on her face and legs, before the alleged rape is said to have occurred.Karry Sutton, a lawyer for co-captain Matt Zash, says she has e-mails written in the hours after the woman says she was attacked that support the players' claims that nothing happened. Sutton has also indicated that the woman may be making the whole story up.

Woody Van, who represented the alleged victim four years ago when she was accused of stealing a taxi and trying to run over a police office, says he "believes her to be a credible person."

In the old case, she was drunk and pleaded guilty to lesser charges, Regan reports.

On this one, he says, "I would like to believe her story. This is such a horrific event. … To try to make up something like that is just hard for me to imagine."

Recently, Van spoke to his former client. He told Regan she seemed "concerned but composed. She wanted to know how to best address this process but, overall, was subdued."

Members of the lacrosse team have a history of bad behavior in Durham, Regan notes. According to police records, 16 have been arrested in the last three years on charges such as drinking underage and simple assault.

Many in the community feel Duke is a school for the privileged, which stokes tensions even more.

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