Posted on 04/11/2007 7:46:54 AM PDT by Howlin
RALEIGH, N.C. — Three members of Duke University's lacrosse team could learn Wednesday whether state prosecutors will drop the remaining charges accusing them of sexually assaulting a stripper at a team party more than a year ago.
"I think it's likely that they will do that," said Wade Smith, an attorney for charged player Collin Finnerty. "We certainly hope that would be true. But until we hear it, we're not going to acknowledge that's the truth. We'll wait and see."
The state Attorney General's Office has scheduled a 2:30 p.m. news conference to discuss the case. It is unclear whether Attorney General Roy Cooper will be at the news conference at the RBC Center, which can accommodate the crush of national media interested in the case.
The Associated Press, citing sources close to the investigation, reported Wednesday morning that all charges would be dropped in the case.
The Attorney General's Office took over the case in January after Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong was charged with several ethics violations tied to his handling of the sensational case.
No notice of dismissal had been filed at the Durham County Courthouse by early Wednesday. But a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office told WRAL that the investigation into the case has been completed.
"We are relieved that this day has come,” Smith told WRAL. “There will not be a celebration because this has been a train wreck.”
The families of Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans arrived in Raleigh Tuesday. Officials told WRAL that the three lacrosse players would be present once a decision had been made as to how the prosecution would proceed with the case.
A grand jury indicted the three players on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense last spring after a woman told police she was assaulted at a March 2006 team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper. All three have steadfastly maintained their innocence, with Evans calling the allegations "fantastic lies."
Nifong dropped the rape charges in December after the accuser changed a key detail in her story. He recused himself a few weeks later after the state bar charged him with violating several rules of professional conduct.
Among the ethics charges, Nifong is accused of withholding potentially exculpatory DNA evidence from the defense and lying to both the court and bar investigators. Nifong faces a June trial before the bar and could be disbarred if convicted.
Nifong faces a Friday afternoon hearing in the ethics case, and he spent Wednesday morning with his attorney in Winston-Salem.
Nifong's recusal put the players' fate in the hands of Cooper, who promised "a fresh and thorough review of the facts" when he took over the case in January.
Smith said the players, their families and the defense attorneys were pleased that the special prosecutors took over the case, saying they brought "sanity to this situation."
“The special prosecutors have looked under every rock, and they have searched for evidence in places even the defense did not,” he told WRAL.
While Evans graduated the day before he was indicted in May, Duke temporarily suspended sophomores Finnerty and Seligmann in the wake of their arrest. Finnerty was also convicted in July in an unrelated assault case in Washington, D.C., and sentenced to six months of probation.
Finnerty and Seligmann were both invited to return to campus, but neither has accepted. John Danowski, the former coach at Hofstra who took over the Duke program last summer, has also said that both are welcome to continue their lacrosse careers with the Blue Devils
Proposing ways ROGUE PROSECUTERS can be taken care of more quickly.
I heard an interesting interview with a guy from ‘reputationdefender.com’ and he had suggestions to help the guys by influencing search engine results:
1. Populate the internet with the FULL truth
2. Reach out to people who have written/are writing about this and ask them to remove or correct their stories by adding today’s information
The family?
They’re nuts too! (IMHO)
i seem to recall that the Nifong hearing is Friday at 4pm. nothing is going to actually happen. I think it will actually go forward at a later date.
I cant imagine a worse week for those who profit from pushing the blacks-as-victims agenda, and if you haven't seen the new article by Michelle Malkin, it should be required reading.
Great news for the boys, and for Sharpton and Jackson, the worst possible news.
I was guessing, but she’s too stupid NOT to go onto TV — for $$, of course.
CTV saying what we heard: he didn’t say there wasn’t enough to proceed; there was nothign there.
THE DUKE 3 ARE FREE!!!!!!!!!!
I think the public was exclued to avoid New Black Panthers types disrupting the announcement.
Really! Hmm.
I still have goose bumps!
BTW, Exonerated, WOW.
FoxNews analysts: “Unbelievable that they used the ‘i’ word: innocent.”
What??
Cooper answered the question about his health — he was out running and became dehydrated. He went to the hospital and was checked out. He’s fine.
LOL....it certainly fits!
GREAT gif, TexKat.
Yep.
He is targeting Burr’s seat.
Can’t wait for the movie. Hopefully the falsy accused can make some money on it.
—
I thought I already saw it on Lifetime,, ;-)
No wait, that was Rev Al in the Tawana Brawley Experiment -Rated LifeW/oParole
I’m a happy camper.
Dan Abrams is STUNNED he said what he said.
Of course, we’ll hear that it’s because they are “white boys.”
That should be quite a fight.
The prosecutor said he was blown away. The defense attorney can’t stop smiling. Never thought he would use the word innocent due to the possibliity of future civil suits. It will have a tremendous effect on Fong’s hearing.
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