[Argurnenoni]

Former Duke Players Cleared of All Charges


From left, David F. Evans, 24, of Annapolis, Md.; Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade W. Seligmann, 21, of Essex Falls, N.J., at a news conference in Raleigh, N.C., today.

By DUFF WILSON
Published: April 11, 2007

RALEIGH, N.C. April 11 — All remaining charges were dropped today against three former Duke University lacrosse players who had been accused of rape more than a year ago, North Carolina’s attorney general announced, concluding a three-month investigation of a racially charged case that polarized and outraged many in the state and nation.


North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper speaks during a news conference in Raleigh, N.C., today.



From left are former Duke lacrosse players Reade Seligmann, David Evans, and Collin Finnerty in file photos from Dec. 2006.


Two strippers were hired for a lacrosse team party in March 2006 at this house on North Buchanan Boulevard in Durham.

An independent investigation “showed clearly that there is insufficient evidence to proceed,” Roy A. Cooper, the state attorney general, said at a televised news conference. “ We believe these individuals are innocent.”

He said the accounts of the events given by the woman who made the accusations were so inconsistent that they were not credible. “She contradicts herself,” Mr. Cooper said.

“In this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house on that night,” he said.

The decision brings to an end a 13-month ordeal for the young men, two of whom were dismissed from Duke because of the charges.

David F. Evans, 24, of Annapolis, Md.; Reade W. Seligmann, 21, of Essex Falls, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., were initially charged with rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.

One of two women hired to strip at the lacrosse team’s spring break party in March 2006 accused them of raping and assaulting her in a bathroom of an off-campus house.

The rape charges were dropped in December, after the woman changed a key detail in the case, saying she could not be sure what had penetrated her when she said she was gang-raped.

The woman changed her story after DNA tests showed no traces of DNA from any of the three defendants or any other Duke lacrosse player on her body or clothes, while traces of other male DNA were present.

Despite the shifting accusations, Mr. Cooper said today that no charges would be brought against the woman. He said investigators and attorneys from his office who talked to her “think that she may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling.”

This afternoon, the young men, their families and their lawyers expressed their relief that the charges were all dropped.

“It’s been 395 days since this nightmare began, and finally today it’s come to a closure,” Mr. Evans said at a news conference, noting that the three men have been declaring their innocence since they were accused.

“We’re just as innocent today as were back then,” he said. “We have never wavered in our stories.”

Joseph B. Cheshire, a lawyer for Mr. Evans, said the young men had suffered a great injustice through what he characterized as the “tremendous lies” told by the Durham County, N.C., district attorney, Michael B. Nifong.

“This is not a great day for celebration,” he said. “This is a great day for justice.”

At his news conference, Mr. Cooper said the case was an example of “a tragic rush to accuse” by Mr. Nifong, before all the evidence was collected and weighed.

“Any state in the country, including the federal government, can have a rogue prosecutor who goes out on his own and does things,” Mr. Cooper said “I think here in North Carolina we’ve solved the problem, we’ve corrected the problem, and I’ve suggested a way today that it can be done quickly”

He called for the passage of a law that would allow the North Carolina Supreme Court to remove a prosecutor “who needs to step away from a case where justice demands.”

The reaction on the Duke campus appeared to be satisfaction that the three young men had been cleared.

“When there was no DNA evidence, I thought the case would be thrown out right away,” said Caleb Seeley, 19, a sophomore economics major from New Jersey. “I’m surprised it wasn’t.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Tucker Page, a junior from Portland, Oregon. “I could see it coming from the news in the last month once the new prosecutor took over the case. I think that is the sentiment on campus.”

Bridgette Howard, 20, a junior public policy major from Baltimore said “Once Nifong was dropped from the case, it was kind of known what would happen.”

The case touched nerves of race, sex and privilege, both nationally and in Durham, because the accuser was a poor, black local woman and the students were relatively affluent, white out-of-staters. It also tapped into a debate about the off-the-field behavior of college athletes and the proper role of big-money sports on America’s university campuses.

Increasingly, the case came to be seen by many — especially among the players’ supporters and on the Internet — as a morality play of justice run off the rails by political correctness and the district attorney’s political ambitions. Mr. Nifong, became the focus of that rising anger and eventually, facing charges of prosecutorial misconduct from the state bar, turned the case over the attorney general.

Mr. Cooper, a Democrat running for re-election next year, promised “a completely new, fresh look at this case” when he assigned two veterans of a special prosecutions unit. They have pored over thousands of pages of material and interviewed many people. Mr. Cooper himself spent 23 minutes in the lacrosse team house on March 15, touring it with the prosecutors, James J. Coman and Mary D. Winstead.

Mr. Nifong and other supporters of the woman as well as the defense lawyers all said they would trust the new prosecutors to do the right thing. Defense lawyers said the state has been performing the first real investigation of the case.

Mr. Nifong said in interviews with the news media that he was certain that a rape had occurred and that lacrosse players were “hooligans” hiding behind a “wall of silence.” Three co-captains of the team, including one of the men eventually charged, had, in fact, cooperated fully with the police, but other team members canceled interviews on the advice of their lawyers.

The defense lawyers immediately and vocally protested the three lacrosse players’ innocence and branded the woman a false accuser.

The case unraveled under the glare of national publicity as the accuser — an unmarried mother and student at the predominately black North Carolina Central University in Durham who worked part time as a stripper — changed key details of her account and defense lawyers laid out alibi information, including time-stamped photographs. Presenting a united front of anger at the prosecution, the defense lawyers — some of the best in the state — also seized on a lack of DNA, semen or any other forensic evidence to contradict the accuser’s initial description of a brutal gang rape.

No one but the accuser — neither the other dancer nor any of the more than 20 men at the party — said they had witnessed an assault. In bringing the charges, Mr. Nifong relied solely on the woman’s photo identification of the three suspects and on a report by a sexual assault nurse who had examined the woman the night of the attack. The district attorney said that the examination showed proof of assault, and that he was compelled to give the woman a chance to testify and identify people in court.

As recently as Jan. 11, the accuser, during her longest meeting with Mr. Nifong, said she still wanted to press charges. Mr. Nifong was criticized furiously for failing to interview her earlier. He said he had relied on police interviews.

The photo lineup procedure appeared to violate local, state and federal guidelines for photo line-ups. The police, instructed by Mr. Nifong, showed her only pictures of lacrosse team members, with no filler photographs of people who could not possibly be suspects. Mr. Nifong later said it was not a lineup in the technical sense of the word.

Mr. Nifong won a primary election on May 3 and general election on Nov. 7 during the frenzy over the case, gaining most of the black vote, as his supporters said he would have done anyway. Mr. Nifong had been appointed acting district attorney in April 2005 by Gov. Mike Easley.

The North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against Mr. Nifong on Dec. 28, an unprecedented action against a prosecutor in the middle of a continuing case that was the subject of the charges. The bar said he made false and inflammatory public statements that prejudiced the rights of the accused. Added charges later accused him of withholding potentially exculpatory DNA evidence from the defense and lying to judges about it.

Mr. Nifong removed himself from the criminal case two weeks later, reluctantly, saying he had no choice because of a conflict of interest while he fought the ethics charges. He asked Mr. Cooper, the attorney general, to take over the case.

The ethics charges against Mr. Nifong, if upheld, could result in penalties from reprimand to disbarment. A preliminary hearing on Friday will decide Mr. Nifong’s motion to dismiss the most serious charges. A full hearing before a three-person panel is scheduled to begin June 7.

Defense lawyers have also accused Mr. Nifong, a 28-year veteran prosecutor with a previously impeccable record, of obstruction of justice and manipulation of evidence. Some of the parents for the accused young men have suggested they may sue Mr. Nifong and Durham County. The parents have also criticized Richard H. Brodhead, president of Duke University, for not supporting them strongly enough.

Mr. Brodhead canceled the lacrosse season and accepted the resignation of the coach on April 4 after the release of an e-mail from one player talking about skinning strippers; it turned out to be a reference to the book “American Psycho.” Mr. Brodhead appointed panels to examine the team’s behavior and university’s handling of the case. He invited Mr. Finnerty and Mr. Seligmann back to school after the rape charges were dropped, but they declined. Mr. Evans had graduated the day before he was charged.

Today, Mr. Evans is working in the Washington area. Mr. Finnerty and Mr. Seligmann are deciding where to continue their educations.

Duke officials say the scandal has not hurt their admissions or fund-raising efforts, which are both at or near record levels. The university got 19,170 applicants this year — including record numbers of African Americans (2,190), Asians or Asian Americans (5,173) and Latinos (1,303) — and accepted about one in five.

John Holusha and Maria Newman contributed reporting from New York, and Mosi Secret from Durham, N.C.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

[Soresbox]

I can't believe that this, one of the biggest news stories of the past year, didn't have a thread on the forum. Apparently not even one article about it was posted, anywhere.

[Bugamerka]

Duke lacrosse players: Case closed

RALEIGH, North Carolina (CNN) -- Free of sexual offense and kidnapping charges, three steely-eyed former lacrosse players at Duke University called Wednesday for reforms in the justice system and restraint in the media.

"This whole experience has opened my eyes to a world of injustice that I never knew existed," said Reade Seligmann, one of the exonerated athletes.

All charges against Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty were dismissed, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced earlier Wednesday. ("Today marks the end of a yearlong nightmare")

The three were charged after an escort-service dancer accused them of raping her at a team party in March 2006.

The case prompted national outrage and discussion about racism and the rowdy behavior of privileged students at a prestigious university.

The accuser, a student at nearby North Carolina Central University, is black; the three accused men are white.

'To hell and back'

"All of the men of the Duke University men's lacrosse team have gone to hell and back, but I hope, and all of us sincerely hope, it was not in vain," Evans said at a news conference where the men and their families were greeted by prolonged applause. ("We are just as innocent today as we were then")

The players and their attorneys acknowledged that innocent people go to prison because they can't afford high-powered legal teams.

"Many people across this country, across this state would not have the opportunity that we did, and this could simply have been brushed underneath the rug just as another case and some innocent person would end up in jail for their entire life," Evans said. "It's just not right."

Evans also criticized how news reports characterized him and his teammates.

"A great disservice has been done to the sport of lacrosse, and the stereotypes aren't true," Evans said. "They sell magazines and newspapers, but they're not anything that represents us as a sport, as a school, as a university and as a team. And they are wrong."

Finnerty thanked his family, friends and fellow students for their support. ("We have a bond that will last forever")

Evans' attorney, Joe Cheshire, admonished the media not to judge suspects before the legal system does:

"Roy Cooper said a word today; the word is I-N-N-O-C-E-N-T. I wanted to make sure everybody got that."

The players and lawyers urged reform in the legal system.

"There seem to be some flaws in the legal system that should be addressed," Finnerty said. "The fact that in North Carolina there are no recordings of the grand jury, and to establish checks and balances on district attorneys."

State pursuing case against local district attorney

In January, Cooper's office took over the case from Michael Nifong, the Durham County district attorney who had been handling it. Nifong faces multiple ethics complaints from the state bar over his handling of the case.

"In this case, with the weight of the state behind him, the Durham district attorney pushed forward unchecked," Cooper said. "There were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado, and in the rush to condemn a community and a state, [Nifong] lost the ability to see clearly. "

The North Carolina state bar filed ethics complaints against Nifong in December and January, accusing him of withholding DNA evidence from the players' defense attorneys and of "making misrepresentations to the presiding judge." (Read the charges against Nifong)

Other ethics complaints said Nifong had made inappropriate comments to the media about evidence, testimony, and the students' character and credibility. (Full story)

Nifong will be tried by the bar in June and could be disbarred if he's found guilty, The Associated Press reported.

On Wednesday, defense sources told CNN the defense plans to pursue lawsuits against Nifong.

The same sources said there were no plans to sue the accuser, who was described as "a troubled soul."

Cooper would not comment on possible lawsuits, but said, "I think a lot of people owe a lot of apologies to other people."

Case began a year ago

The dismissal of the charges ends a yearlong battle fought in the North Carolina courts.

The allegations of rape, which sparked controversy in the Raleigh-Durham area and quickly moved into the national spotlight, were made last year when one of two women hired to dance at a March 13, 2006, party accused the students of raping her.

The woman initially said the three raped her in a bathroom, but the rape charges were dropped in December after her story wavered. In addition, two DNA tests have found no evidence linking any of the three men to their 28-year-old accuser.

Cooper said inconsistencies in the accuser's accounts "were so significant and so contrary to the evidence" that investigators could not conclude that an attack occurred. (Watch Cooper exonerate the players)

The accuser will not face any charges, Cooper added.

When the case began, Seligmann, of Essex Fells, New Jersey, and Finnerty, of Garden City, New York, were sophomores. Evans, the team captain, who is from Bethesda, Maryland, graduated a day before turning himself in to face charges.

In January, Duke invited Seligmann and Finnerty to return for spring semester. They had been placed on administrative leave after the dancer made her accusations. Neither accepted the invitation, according to The Associated Press.

After Wednesday's announcement, Duke President Richard Brodhead said he welcomed the dismissal of the charges, and said Finnerty, Seligmann and Evans had "carried themselves with dignity through an ordeal of deep unfairness."

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

[funnyPasds]

A bunch of spoiled rowdy kids hired a couple of strippers to dance at their party.

My bet is that she got friendly with someone, drank or injested too much of something and had a rather fuzzy night.

She wakes up, finds that she was "involved" the night before, but does not remember anything specific after a certain point in the night where she was with these guys. She puts her timeline together with a significant gap and we get this.

I do not think that she went off and made up the entire story, and I believe that these guys are not upstanding young gentlemen either, but guilty?

It is awfully hard to not leave a trace, but still possible. I still do not think they did it though....

[pharmablogger]

I can't believe that this, one of the biggest news stories of the past year, didn't have a thread on the forum. Apparently not even one article about it was posted, anywhere.

Considering your location, why didn't you start a thread?

[eI7iqNot]

To me this boils down prosecurial misconduct and abuse of power. There never was a case to be made against these kids.. no solid evidence whatsoever, just the word of their accuser who was unable to reconcile a number of gaps in the story. There is just no accounting for the fact that the authorites could not respond to evidence that one of the primary suspects was not even at the scene at the time of the crime. It goes without saying that rapists are among the lowest form of scum on the planet, but before you make the charge you have to have solid evidence. You just cannot be that irreponsible with peoples' lives and reputations.. .it is morally reprehensible. Unless of course you are running for office.

[ViagraFeller]

I do not think that she went off and made up the entire story, and I believe that these guys are not upstanding young gentlemen either, but guilty?

There were silly things I'd been involved in at college that might have classified me as ungentlemanly (or a butthead), that could easily have turned into deep trouble.

We scorn lawyers until we find ourselves in such a predicament. If these guys didn't have the financial resources to get competent legal representation, they might have been headed for prison. It was the defense that dug out the evidence that led to the dismissal; the police were incompetent, the DA maybe criminal.

Most people in prison are guilty, but a significant number are innocent, the result of a lousy lawyer or an over ambitious prosecutor.

I think Michael Nifong needs to sit at the other courtroom table, and see how it feels.

[borasolit]

The situation is criminal indeed. One of two people need to be indicted for lying: the girl or the prosecutor. I don't know why, but it amazes me that elected officials, such as this dork prosecutor, can hold onto their jobs in cases like this.

[nicktender]

The accuser probably felt that her life was going so poorly -- and the rich white man had treated her race so badly -- that she had possibly a lot to gain, and nothing to lose, by lying or distorting the truth. And she apparently guessed right; no charges are being filed against her. If this lands her a book deal, she will be all set.

[gastabegree]

In the broader picture. I don't think the woman's motives are the issue here. Stuff like this happens all the time, but it usually gets derailed before blowing up into national hysteria. I few months ago in NY, a grandfather who worked at a public school and had no criminal record at all, was arrested on suspicion of child abuse. He suffered the humiliation of being led away in handcuffs, but charges were dropped when the story didn't hold up.

Good police investigation would have brought the woman's claims into question. A basic mistake was made at the start, when the lineup that was shown to the woman consisted only of Duke lacrosse players. You have to include people that have no connection to the crime scene.

[occurrini]

Considering your location, why didn't you start a thread?

I usually didn't venture much into the News subforum, until recently. Never really thought about starting a thread, because I guess I assumed one was there already. Still, I found it a little curious that someone, somewhere hadn't posted an article about it.

[bunkalapa]

My bet is that she got friendly with someone, drank or injested too much of something and had a rather fuzzy night.

She wakes up, finds that she was "involved" the night before, but does not remember anything specific after a certain point in the night where she was with these guys. She puts her timeline together with a significant gap and we get this.

Didn't go down that way, or at least so I've heard. First of all, she wasn't there long enough to get friendly with anyone. She showed up under the influence (of alcohol and drugs), passed out on the back porch for a while, and then left, during which BOTH sides exchanged heated racial remarks. I still don't know why exactly she made up her story, but it probably had a lot to do with the panic & confusion she felt when the cop found her passed out in a car in a parking lot.

In response to BR's post, she won't get indicted because the authorities are actually convinced that she believes her story, and is psychologically unstable to be accused of deliberate purgery. As for Nifong, the NC Bar is pushing for him to get disbarred because of ethics charges. He won't ever get indicted, though, because DA's have just too much discretion in conducting an investigation like this. No judge would ever let this go to trial, that's just the way the legal system is set up.

[amberamuletuk]

In the broader picture. I don't think the woman's motives are the issue here...
I few months ago in NY, a grandfather who worked at a public school and had no criminal record at all, was arrested on suspicion of child abuse...

While the accuser's motives are not the central issue here, they should be an issue.

If the woman is so distraught from alcohol/drug abuse that she can't account for her past actions, then she should be mandated into a rehab center and psychiatric treatment; nobody is doing her any favor by allowing her to proceed with "life as usual."

If, on the other hand, she planned this event in advance -- or if she knew she was giving misinformation after the fact -- she should be prosecuted.

I don't believe in dismissing this sort of accuser with the "stuff like this happens all the time" philosophy. She's not a child accusing an educator; she's an adult. She should be investigated, and depending on the findings, either treated for or held accountable for her actions.

[Susanleech]

I agree.

The most in-depth reporting indicated that this is the SECOND time she has done this. The earlier incident was uncovered, but not allowed into the court record. Her "instability" was documented, but laws exist that protect people who make accusations like this. She had accused others of raping her before this, yet she worked as a stripper. The warning bells should have been blaring on this case.

I understand that we want to ensure the safety and anonymity of alleged rape victims, but, in this case, her fantasy world cost these guys their reputations and millions of dollars in legal fees. At the very least, she ought to be remanded to a psychiatric facility for treatment and observation.

I'm not a big fan of the NY Post, but they got it right by plastering her face on the paper's cover. If she does this again,the law will still protect her.

The prosecutor ought to be removed from office and disbarred.

[grofvuri]

While the accuser's motives are not the central issue here, they should be an issue.

I said in the broader picture. What happens to the woman is unique to this case.

Prosecutorial misconduct, or at the least over zealousness, puts innocent people at risk of being charged with crimes on the word of one person. Remember Kobe Bryant?

I understand that we want to ensure the safety and anonymity of alleged rape victims

I think referring to an alleged rape victim as a victim before trial is a violation of the presumption of innocence of the defendant. but it's done in the media all the time.

In a murder case, once you've established the cause of death, you can refer to the deceased as a crime victim. It still must be proven that the defendant committed the crime, so theoretically at least, the presumption of innocence is maintained.

But in many rape cases, the issue is whether there was a rape at all, and conferring a victim status implies that there was, before trial.

[Clolmemaexata]

Duke’s Comeback Season Ends Short of the Title


The Duke head coach, John Danowski, shakes hands with Johns Hopkins' players after the team's loss in
the NCAA Division I Championship lacrosse game.

By PETE THAMEL
Published: May 29, 2007

BALTIMORE, May 28 — His eyes red from crying and the eye black on his cheeks smudged from sweat and tears, the Duke senior Matt Danowski did his best to maintain his composure.

He had just trudged off the field after the Blue Devils’ 12-11 loss to Johns Hopkins in the N.C.A.A. men’s lacrosse title game Monday, and Danowski’s emotions were a mixture of sorrow and pride.

“Right now there’s a sense of emptiness,” he said. “No one wants to walk away with a second-place trophy. But I’m extremely proud of these guys and the way we handled ourselves since last spring.”

Danowski’s mixed emotions underscored the prevailing feeling in the Duke locker room after the team endured 14 tumultuous months.

In front of a record crowd of 48,443 at M&T Bank Stadium, Duke overcame a six-goal halftime deficit but could not convert two shots to tie the score in the final seven seconds.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t give them the ending that people were looking for or hoping for,” said Duke Coach John Danowski, Matt’s father.

Johns Hopkins got a goal from Kevin Huntley with 3 minutes 25 seconds remaining and held on for the program’s ninth N.C.A.A. tournament title.

The Blue Jays also survived Duke’s final flurry and overcame the emotion that was attached to this Blue Devils team. Duke became the focus of the sporting world and the national news media after three players were accused of rape by a stripper hired to dance at a team party last spring.

Duke’s president, Richard H. Brodhead, canceled the team’s season and accepted the resignation of Coach Mike Pressler hours after Durham County authorities disclosed an e-mail message written by a team member saying he planned to invite strippers to his dorm room, kill them and cut off their skin.

Last month, the three players charged — David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty — were cleared of all charges and the North Carolina attorney general called the district attorney, Michael B. Nifong, a “rogue prosecutor” in a “tragic rush to accuse.”

The player who wrote the e-mail message, Ryan McFadyen, is still on the team.

As the case swung from protests against the team, caused in part by Nifong’s public statements, to the eventual proclamation of the players’ innocence, the team coalesced. John Danowski took over the Duke lacrosse team on July 21, 2006, and his first mission was to help the players “reshape a culture a little bit.”

The Duke players performed 570 hours of community service as part of a mandatory community-service program Danowski started.

“It was not an apology for last spring,” he has said. “It’s what I believe in.”

This academic year, the Blue Devils excelled on and off the field, accumulating grade point averages of 3.45 and 3.3 in the fall and spring semesters, and earning the No. 1 seed for the N.C.A.A. tournament.

“They were put in a situation that no group of young men have ever been put in, ever been thrust into,” said John Danowski, who took over after 21 seasons at Hofstra. “They will be the legacy, the standard-bearers that everyone will look up to for everything, in the classroom and on the field.”

He added: “These kids have done everything and more demanded of them. They’ve lived just about a perfect life. They just lost a lacrosse game today.”

The three Duke players who were wrongly accused are no longer on the team, but all were in attendance Monday.

So was Pressler, now the coach at Bryant College in Smithfield, R.I., who has written a book on his experience and gave an extended interview to ESPN on Monday morning. After the game, he stood in the corner of the Duke locker room wearing sunglasses and a black Bryant College hat.

He declined to comment, saying that it was a “private moment.”

“It just brought a whole other set of emotions,” Matt Danowski said of Pressler’s presence. “I wish we could have won for him, too, because he deserves it just as much as anyone in this locker room did.”

On a languid, muggy day, Duke looked sluggish for most of the game and was not competitive early on.

The Blue Devils trailed at halftime, 10-4, in part because they lost the first nine face-offs and struggled to maintain possession.

But in a third quarter as dominating as it was stunning, Duke outscored Johns Hopkins, 5-0.

“It was a great feeling to look around in the fourth quarter and look into everyone’s eyes on the team and knowing that we were going to fight to the bitter end,” the Duke senior Tony McDevitt said.

But for Duke, the end was simply bitter. The Blue Devils hit the post twice in the final five minutes, and Hopkins goalie Jesse Schwartzman made a save on a Brad Ross shot with seven seconds remaining that will be played in lacrosse highlights for years to come.

With Ross alone about 6 yards from the cage, he uncorked a shot that Schwartzman stopped with his right foot and admitted that he did not even see. Duke corralled the rebound, but Max Quinzani’s heave from more than 15 yards out skipped harmlessly past the cage. Schwartzman had 15 saves and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

That capped a week in which Hopkins played the underdog role, an unusual one for a program known as the sport’s version of Notre Dame.

Hopkins’s ninth N.C.A.A. tournament national title ties it with Syracuse for the most in the sport. But with the Duke drama, undefeated Cornell and underdog Delaware, the Blue Jays were largely ignored at the final four.

“When I woke up this morning and ESPN did a story on the national championship game and didn’t mention Johns Hopkins once, I took that personally,” the Hopkins senior Jake Byrne said.

John Danowski had spent much of the season playing down any link between the events of last spring and this season.

“It’s not vindication,” Danowski said, “because you’re not a good or bad person if you win or lose a game.”

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

[Sandra_18X]

Look for the Duke Blue Devil lacrosse team to win it all this year, partly because they have a few 5th year players who were awarded an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.

Duke and Durham are defendants in several civil lawsuits stemming from the rape hoax. The state of North Carolina and the U.S. Department of Justice have passed on charging Duke and Durham for violating the civil rights of the falsely accused players.

Interested New Yorkers will appreciate that Brooklyn College history professor KC Johnson and his partner, Stuart Taylor of the National Journal, wrote the authoritative book on the entire affair, Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case.

Or browse Johnson's award winning blog http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/ Durham-in-Wonderland.

[Zysyewgg]

Former Duke lacrosse accuser
now faces murder charge
Tue, Apr 19 2011

By Ned Barnett

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - The woman whose false accusations of sexual assault against Duke University lacrosse players drew national attention has been indicted on a murder charge after the death of a man she allegedly stabbed.

A grand jury indicted Crystal Gail Mangum, 32, in Durham, North Carolina, on Monday. She will have her first hearing on the charge the week of May 2, the Durham District Attorney's Office said on Tuesday.

Mangum has been held in the Durham County jail since her April 3 arrest following the stabbing of boyfriend, Reginald Daye. She originally faced a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Daye, 46, died April 13 at Duke University Hospital, where he was being treated for multiple stab wounds to the torso.

Woody Vann, an attorney appointed to represent Mangum in the stabbing case, was replaced this week by private attorney Chris Shella. Shella declined to say who retained him.

The delay in Daye's death may complicate the murder prosecution. Vann said there has been speculation about the cause of death, which won't be known until an autopsy report is released.

Shella would not comment on the cause of death.

"All I can tell you is my client asserts her innocence, and I plan on mounting a vigorous defense on her behalf," Shella said.

The murder charge comes five years after Mangum accused three Duke lacrosse players of sexually assaulting her at a team party she attended as a hired stripper on March 13, 2006.

The case drew national attention, mixing explosive elements of race, sex and class. But it fell apart as players effectively rebutted Mangum's claims and were declared innocent after a review led by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

In December, Mangum faced felony arson and lesser charges related to a domestic dispute. She was convicted on the lesser charges and sentenced to the 88 days in jail she had already served awaiting trial.

(Edited by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)


© Thomson Reuters 2011.

[wmhardware]

She's got problems.......

And what the hell was the "boyfriend" thinking?

"Gee I will date a woman, who is a stripper, who falsely accused some kids of rape and set fire to someone's things.... I think I can have a healthy relationship there!"

It is too horible that he had to learn by his own death that this woman is not someone to be with......