Woman in Duke Case Set to Give Birth, Source Says

RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 14 -- The woman at the center of the Duke lacrosse rape case is pregnant and due to give birth any day, roughly nine months after the team party where she says she was raped by three men.

The pregnancy was confirmed late Thursday by a person familiar with the case, speaking to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Fox News and WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported that she gave birth Thursday night.

There had been no prior indication that the woman, a 28-year-old college student who already has children, was pregnant. She has not spoken in public since granting an interview to the News & Observer of Raleigh shortly after the party.

The person who confirmed the pregnancy to the AP had no information about the father. Defense attorneys have stressed for months that no sex occurred at the party. They have cited DNA testing that found genetic material from several men in the accuser's body and in her underwear -- but none from any member of the lacrosse team.

Calls to attorneys representing the three indicted players were not returned Thursday night, as were calls and messages left with District Attorney Mike Nifong.

Medical records included in a defense motion filed Thursday were not made public. It was not clear whether a pregnancy test was taken immediately after the party.

The development came just hours after defense attorneys filed a motion saying that the woman had misidentified her alleged attackers in a photo lineup. The attorneys asked a judge to bar prosecutors from using the photo lineup at their clients' trial and to prevent the accuser from identifying her alleged attackers from the witness stand.

Duke University law professor James E. Coleman Jr. said the case will be "effectively dismissed" if the court finds the lineup inadmissible "and rules that it is so suggestive that there can't be an in-court identification."

Within Thursday's motion, the defense highlighted what it considers numerous holes in the accuser's story. Among the details cited are examples of how the accuser's story changed in the hours and days after the party; that she has a history of bipolar disorder; that she identified two people as having attended the party who were not there; and that she identified four alleged attackers during the April photo lineup.

An earlier defense motion argued that the lineup was "unnecessarily suggestive" because the accuser was shown only photos of lacrosse players.

A hearing has been scheduled for Friday.