Boston Grand Jury to Begin Hearings on B-School Rapes

A Boston grand jury will begin hearing testimony today on the April 19 rapes of a Business School student and her guest inside the woman's Gallatin Hall room.

Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy O'Neill said yesterday that his office hopes the grand jury will hand down an indictment against Daris J. Davis, one of two men suspected in the case, by tomorrow.

Both female victims and a male friend who was allegedly assaulted by the two suspects will testify at today's hearings.

If the grand jury indicts Davis, a trial will be scheduled sometime in late summer.

University and Boston police are still searching for the second suspect, who eluded the police during a foot chase following the rapes.

MIT and University police arrested Davis, a 19-year-old from Dorchester, shortly after 2 a.m. on April 19. He was arraigned in Brighton District Court on charges of rape, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.

Police sources said the two suspects allegedly accosted the B-School student and her male escort outside Gallatin Hall, forcing them at knifepoint inside and to the victim's room, where another woman was staying.

After forcing the male to strip, the two suspects allegedly raped the women and then forced them to carry their valuables to a car, sources said last month.

In response to the rapes, the Business School administration met with student group leaders last Friday to work out methods to improve the security on campus.

Concluding that the police security is "good in general," the group decided to institute a locked entry-way door policy, which students had opposed prior to the rapes, Louise Hersey, director of administrative operations and assistant dean of the B-School, said yesterday.