In the latest twist to the rape allegation that has rocked Duke University, DNA swabs taken from 46 lacrosse players failed to match evidence collected from a woman who claims she was raped at a team party, defense attorneys say.

      “No DNA from any young man tested was found anywhere on or about this woman,” defense attorney Wade Smith said Monday.

      The alleged victim, a 27-year-old student at a nearby college, told police she and another woman were hired to dance at the party. The woman told police that three men at the party dragged her into a bathroom, choked her, raped her and sodomized her. The allegations led to days of protests on and off the Duke campus.

      Authorities ordered 46 of the 47 players on Duke’s lacrosse team to submit DNA samples to investigators. Because the woman said her attackers were White, the team’s lone Black player was not tested.

      No charges have been filed in the case, but Nifong has said he believes a crime occurred at the March 13 party, and that he doesn’t necessarily need DNA evidence to prosecute.

      Attorneys for members of the lacrosse team hoped the DNA results would convince Nifong that their clients did not sexually assault the exotic dancer. According to court documents, only lacrosse team members were at the party.

      “He is a man with discretion,” Smith says of the decision facing Nifong on whether to bring charges. “He doesn’t have to do it, and we hope that he won’t.”

      Robert Archer, whose son, Breck, is a junior on the team, says that while it’s Nifong’s prerogative to pursue the case if he so chooses, it would be a waste of time.