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Published Wed, Feb 23, 2011 04:03 PM Modified Wed, Feb 23, 2011 04:05 PM Duke settles suit over costs of lacrosse scandal DURHAM Duke University has settled a lawsuit against its insurance company over costs associated with the Duke lacrosse scandal. The National Union Fire Insurance Co., an affiliate of insurance giant AIG, and Duke had been wrangling over whether the company should reimburse the university for costs tied to the confidential settlements of lawsuits with three former lacrosse players and the former lacrosse coach. Duke agreed to dismiss the suit, and each party will pay its own attorneys fees....

Dear Sheriff Dupnik: My name is Mike Nifong. You may not know of me, but I was once was a liberal democrat prosecutor from Durham County, North Carolina. I am writing, because I have seen you on the television over the last few days making serious allegations against people claiming they were, in part, responsible for a hideous crime without a shred of evidence to support such a charge. I know you would like nothing more than to smear these people in the hopes of advancing a political agenda—and believe me when I tell you a more understanding supporter of...

Superior Court Judge Abe Jones has declared a mistrial on the felony arson charge in the Crystal Mangum trial. The jury was split 9-3. The jury was unanimous regarding the misdemeanor charges. Mangum was found guilty on three counts of child abuse, one for injury to personal property and one for resisting arrest. During today's proceedings, former Durham city councilwoman and school board member Jackie Wagstaff was jailed for ten days for contempt of court in the Crystal Mangum arson trial. She was charged with contempt after saying "This is ridiculous" while the judge was ordering the jury back into...

Attorneys worked Thursday to keep the Duke lacrosse case out of accuser Crystal Mangum's current criminal troubles. Prosecutor Mark McCullough and defense attorney Mani Dexter agreed that if Mangum takes the stand in her own defense, McCullough will not cross-examine her about false allegations of rape she made against three Duke University athletes four years ago. Mangum faces trial on charges of arson, injury to personal property, contributing to the delinquency of her three children and resisting arrest. Police say she set the clothes of live-in boyfriend Milton Walker afire in a bathtub while the children and two officers were...

They've run off one public defender, been chastised by a new defense attorney and faced a threat of jail time by a judge. But the Friends of Crystal Mangum insist they're on her side, trying to protect her from a corrupt judicial system that they say aims to punish her for accusing three Duke lacrosse players of rape four years ago. Attorney General Roy Cooper concluded there was no rape, and former District Attorney Mike Nifong lost his law license over it, but the Friends believe Mangum's story. Now facing multiple felony charges related to a domestic violence call Feb....

Joseph B. Cheshire V, who represented former Gov. Mike Easley, is a good lawyer who negotiated a good deal for his client. As accomplished as he is as an attorney, Cheshire might be even better as a showman. Ladies and gentlemen, he put on a heck of a show Tuesday, after his client agreed to a deal that led to his felony conviction. After the hearing, Cheshire met with reporters and criticized at length The News & Observer's coverage of Easley. Easley, he said, had done almost nothing wrong, but The N&O was out to get the former guv'nah and...

Duke University and the insurance company it sued to recoup some of the settlement costs linked to the Duke lacrosse case hope to settle their differences within the next month. The National Union Fire Insurance Co., an affiliate of insurance giant AIG, and Duke have been wrangling over whether the company should reimburse the university for costs tied to the confidential settlements of lawsuits with three former lacrosse players and the former lacrosse coach. In a court document filed Friday in federal court, Duke and the company acknowledged that settlement talks had been held. "The parties are hopeful that they...

Crystal Mangum's ex boyfriend went to the Durham County district attorney's office Monday, trying to take responsibility for a February incident that left Mangum charged with arson for allegedly setting a pile of clothes on fire. Milton Walker, the ex-boyfriend, says he set his own clothes on fire and damaged his own house and vehicle. "At that time I wasn't on my medication," Walker wrote in a notarized handwritten note. 'The breakup of my relationship aggravated my symptoms and I acted out on the voices I was hearing." Quantcast Mangum is charged with arson, contributing to the delinquency of a...

Reade Seligmann is now a first-year law student. He is into his second week of classes at Emory University School of Law. In an e-mail response to my query, Reade says he is excited to be starting what he hopes will be a long and fulfilling career in law. He reports that he already has a heavy assignment load but that he is happy to be an L1. He concludes, "Thanks again for all of your support and and please send my best to all of my friends in the liestoppers crew." *** I am very pleased that this outstanding...

DURHAM (WTVD) -- A judge has ordered former Duke lacrosse accuser Crystal Mangum arrested again. Officials say Mangum violated the terms of her pre-trial release related to the visitation hours with her children. (snip)

A blistering report this week identifying how North Carolina's state crime laboratory workers misrepresented blood evidence in dozens of cases over 16 years covered only two of Roy Cooper's years as attorney general. But it's all Cooper's task to clean up the problems at the State Bureau of Investigation lab and overcome questions about its work. The Democrat faces a long road back to restoring trust in the lab that helps state and local law enforcement. The lab will need to regain faith from attorneys and the public, as well as the lawmakers who approve funding for the lab and...

Longtime News & Observer columnist Ruth Sheehan, who has an ear for a story, an eye for detail and a strong sense of justice, is swapping her reporter's notebook for a legal pad. Sheehan's last column for the paper will appear in late August. She will begin classes at the University of North Carolina law school this fall. "There is no better job than being a columnist. None," said Sheehan, 45. But she's ready for a new challenge. Sheehan knew she wanted to be in newspapers from the day, back in 3rd grade, when her teacher told the class to...

BRADENTON — Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, and you don’t have to look any further than local high schools for evidence of that. Lakewood Ranch, Saint Stephen’s and Cardinal Mooney have started lacrosse teams over the past few years. This week, local players have another opportunity to improve their skills at the IMG Lacrosse Academy’s Summer Camp. The featured guest is Team USA head coach Mike Pressler, and the timing couldn’t be better. Team USA just upset tournament favorite Canada on Saturday in the final of the 2010 Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship....

Duke University is demolishing the infamous house where a woman alleged she was raped by members of its lacrosse team. Bulldozers began pulling down the home at 610 North Buchanan Street in the Trinity Park neighborhood Monday morning. As recently as May, Duke said it planned to sell the property - just as Duke has done with several other homes in the area. The university has successfully renovated several homes known as "party houses" and then sold them to owner occupants instead of landlords, who typically rent properties near Duke's East Campus. It has been four years since the house...

DURHAM Linwood Wilson, an investigator for Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong in the Duke lacrosse case, was arrested Thursday evening. Durham County sheriff's deputies made the arrest at the request of authorities in Delaware, where Wilson was wanted on cyber stalking and obscenity charges related to a domestic-violence incident, said Major Paul Martin of the Durham County Sheriff's Office. The Delaware warrant was issued June 10, he said. Durham deputies made the arrest at Wilson's home about 6 p.m., Martin said. Wilson was taken to the Durham County jail and released on an unsecured $1,000 bond. Wilson is named in...

Duke wins in overtime, 6-5

Tonya Craft Sues Accusers In $25 Million Federal Lawsuit Defendants Include Parents Of Accusers, Investigators posted May 24, 2010 Tonya Craft, who was absolved of all charges of child molestation in a highly-publicized trial at Ringgold, has filed a lawsuit against her accusers in Federal Court in Rome, Ga. The 52-page complaint asks $25 million in damages from each of the defendants. They include parents of the children who brought charges against her, the lead detective in the case, the Catoosa County sheriff and officials who investigated the complaints. Defendants are Sandra Lamb, Sherri and Dewayne Wilson, her former husband...

RINGGOLD, Ga. — A jury has said she’s not guilty and the trial that devastated her life is over, but Tonya Craft says she’ll never recover what she’s lost. “There is not a winner. There can be restoration, and there can be awareness for others to not go through this, but there are two birthdays for my daughter that I’ll never get back,” Ms. Craft said Tuesday, fighting back the tears. Two years after she was accused of molesting three girls, Ms. Craft said the first thing she cares about is regaining custody of her two children. Defense attorney Scott...

Students from the University of Tennessee College of Law have just completed their first year of working in a clinical program designed to help free Tennessee inmates who have provable claims of factual innocence. The Innocence Clinic, operated as an academic clinical program within the college's Legal Clinic, began in fall 2009 and allows third-year law students to work with a supervising attorney to investigate claims of innocence. "We look at cases where someone's made a claim of innocence, and we determine whether it's viable," said Steve Johnson, a trial attorney and partner with Knoxville firm Ritchie, Dillard, & Davies,...

William Anderson has been blogging about a child abuse prosecution underway in Georgia in which Tonya Craft is accused of abusing her daughter. The daughter, some of her friends (and their parents), and Ms. Craft’s ex-husband are witnesses for the state — so Ms. Craft needed and obtained a good defense lawyer. However, there is only so much a defense lawyer can do when the prosecutor and the judge in the case start breaking rules. Anderson’s account of the prosecutorial and judicial misconduct is shocking. Here’s a sampling: * A Facebook status update written by the prosecutor, with comments left...