Tour of Things That Didn't Happen In Durham
I am a three time Duke grad (B.S., M.S. and Ph.D.) receiving my last degree in 1984. I tell people that after I left Duke, Duke left me.
I lived nearby when all this happened. I was in the courtroom when DNA "expert" Brian Meehan testified that Nifong had instructed him to obscure the test result showing that the false accuser had the DNA of up to five men in or about her person and clothing. She had previously claimed that she had not been with any man prior to the non-rape. That was the turning point. Upon that admission, the entire courtroom let out an audible gasp.
A man identifying to me as being from the AP had apparently been parachuted in to report. He didn't have any idea what was going on and approached me to identify all the people in court.
I read his story the next day. He completely missed the lede. The false accuser had gone and gotten herself pregnant thinking that it would somehow bolster her rape accusation. Nifong agreed that her pregnancy had nothing to do with the case yet would not formally stipulate to that fact. The defense asked for and the judge ordered a DNA paternity test. The headline from the AP was "Paternity test ordered in Duke lacrosse rape case".
At a subsequent Duke alumni event, I confronted Brodhead and asked whether he had and regrets on his handling of the situation. Without uttering a word, he turned on his heel and walked away.
You missed the point. The truth was never important to the case. It was a spun-up narrative for the media to run with. They needed a black woman raped by privileged white men. Whether they actually did it was not relevant.