A Durham Police Department officer described the woman who claimed she was raped by members of the men's lacrosse team as "passed-out drunk" the night of the March 13 party, according to newly released radio traffic recordings.
The evidence was made public Thursday, the same day defense attorneys representing members of the team predicted that District Attorney Mike Nifong will ask a grand jury as soon as Monday to issue charges.
The conversation in the radio traffic recordings occurred between the officer and a police dispatcher about five minutes after a security guard at a Kroger grocery store called the police to report that a woman in the parking lot would not get out of someone else's car.
The officer responding to the call gave the police code for an intoxicated person and said the alleged victim was unconscious.
"She's breathing and appears to be fine," the officer said on the tape. "She's not in distress. She's just passed-out drunk."
The alleged victim, a black 27-year-old student at North Carolina Central University, said she was raped, choked and sodomized by three members of the men's lacrosse team, who hired her and another woman to dance at a party held during spring break.
The taped conversation is the first time any government official involved in the investigation acknowledged that the woman was impaired the night of the incident.
Officers did not mention her state in any of the released testimonies within search warrants, nor was any indication of her impaired state included in a description of the woman's medical exam.
The medical exam described the woman's injuries and behavior as consistent with having been raped, sexually assaulted and having suffered a traumatic experience.
In the previously released 911 recording of the call made by the Kroger security guard, the guard said the alleged victim seemed "intoxicated" or "drunk."
Defense lawyers said Sunday they possessed time-stamped photos of the alleged victim drunk and bruised when she arrived at the party.
A police spokeswoman said in an e-mail that the police department had no comment on the content of the latest tape.
Also Thursday, defense attorney Kerry Sutton said she is expecting Nifong to present the investigation to a grand jury for indictment as soon as Monday.
"I am expecting it," Sutton said. "I believe his analysis of the evidence he has leads him to believe he has a case.... I happen to think he is wrong."
She added, however, that she has not seen all the information the district attorney has.
Several other defense lawyers including Bill Thomas and James Williams have told news media that they also expect Nifong to present the case to a grand jury next week.
A grand jury is scheduled to meet next week. If Nifong presents the case, the jurors will then decide if there is probable cause to move forward with criminal charges.
After next week, the following time the grand jury is scheduled to convene is May 1.
Nifong has not indicated whether or not he will present the case to the jury next week.
At a panel forum at North Carolina Central University Tuesday, Nifong said he expects that a jury will be able to evaluate the evidence.
Nifong could not be reached for comment Thursday. He announced last week that he would stop granting interviews to the media.
A new round of DNA tests are still being processed. Sutton said she expects these tests will not return results contrasting with the first round of samples, which did not match any evidence taken from the alleged victim.
"I don't think it's going to show anything different," she said. "I still firmly believe [the players] did not assault that woman."
The Associate Press contributed to this story.
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