Duke To Reinstate Seligmann, Finnerty (DukeLax)

(01/03/07 -- DURHAM) - Duke lacrosse defendants Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann are both expected to be reinstated today as Duke students in good standing, two sources close to the case told ABC News. Also on abc11tv.com: Send us news tips | Desktop Alert | ABC11 AccuWeather | Pinpoint Traffic Defendant David Evans was allowed to graduate last spring, but underclassmen Seligmann and Finnerty were suspended from the University pending a resolution of the assault charges.

December 22, 2006, prosecutors dropped rape charges against the three Duke lacrosse players accused of attacking a stripper at a team party, but the three still face kidnapping and sexual offense charges.

According to court papers filed by District Attorney Mike Nifong, the accuser says she now does not know if she was penetrated during the alleged attack.

The accuser, a 28-year-old student at North Carolina Central University, has said three men raped her in a bathroom at a March 13 Duke lacrosse team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.

The indicted players - Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann - all say they are innocent, and their attorneys have consistently said no sex occurred at the party.

Evans graduated from Duke in May, the day before he was indicted. Sophomores Finnerty and Seligmann were suspended following their April 2006 indictments.

The Duke lacrosse team was also suspended from play, but was reinstated in June on a provisionary basis.

Stay with abc11tv.com and ABC11 Eyewitness News for the latest on this developing story.

Lacrosse players invited back

By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun
January 4, 2007 12:09 am

DURHAM -- Duke opened the door Wednesday to the return "in good standing" of student-athletes Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, who were removed from school after being charged in the controversial lacrosse sexual-assault case last spring.

It wasn't clear Wednesday when or if they would return to Duke, their attorneys said.

The invitation came Tuesday in letters to Finnerty and Seligmann from Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president for student affairs.

The spring semester begins next week.

Lawyers Wade Smith and Bill Cotter, representing Finnerty, described the development as "a defining moment in Duke's institutional history. It speaks to the integrity of [the school's] mission and its belief in the innocence of Collin Finnerty."

Cotter said that while Finnerty has been invited to return, he hasn't decided anything.

According to Cotter, Finnerty has been taking classes at Long Island's Hofstra University near his Garden City, N.Y., home. He works with an agency called "Tuesday's Children," which helps children who lost family members on Sept. 11.

Smith said Finnerty appreciates Duke's invitation and considers it a vindication. It sends a message that, "He is a person who ought to be welcomed on a university campus and welcomed by his classmates and teammates," Smith said.

Seligmann attorney James P. Cooney III said that his client, who lives in New Jersey, also is unsure when or if he will return to Duke.

"He's going to have to consider his options," said Cooney, adding that Seligmann now attends a hometown community college while doing volunteer work.

The invitations were "the right and fair thing to do," Duke President Richard Brodhead said Wednesday. "Although the students still face serious charges and larger issues require Duke's collective attention, the circumstances in this case have changed substantially, and it is appropriate that the students have an opportunity to continue their education."

The invitations came roughly two weeks after Brodhead publicly questioned District Attorney Mike Nifong's handling of the sex-assault case.

The Seligmann family thanked Brodhead in a prepared statement Wednesday.

"We also are glad that Duke University has now made it clear that Reade is welcome to return to the university and look forward to the day that he can return to living a normal life and continuing his education as a full-time student," the statement said.

They added, "By now it should be plain to any person who has any objectivity that the charges against Reade are transparently false. Reade is absolutely innocent and we will continue to fight this injustice. We are not going to rest until Reade's good name has been cleared and those who have been responsible for this injustice have been held fully accountable."

Finnerty and Seligmann were removed from school after being charged with kidnapping, raping and sodomizing an exotic dancer during an off-campus lacrosse party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.

The third charged player, David Evans, graduated in May.

Last week, prosecutor Nifong dismissed rape charges against the three, but let stand charges of kidnapping and first-degree sexual offense. The defendants are free on bond.

Nifong could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The case led to the resignation of longtime coach Mike Pressler and the cancellation of remaining games in the 2006 lacrosse season.

In his letter to Seligmann on Tuesday, Duke's Moneta wrote: "As circumstances have evolved in this extraordinary case, we have attempted to balance recognition of the gravity of legal charges with the presumption of your innocence. Now with the approach of a new term, we believe that circumstances warrant that we strike this balance differently.

"Reade, it is my sincere hope that you will choose to return for the spring semester," Moneta added. "Please let me know how I may support you during this time."

Lawyers Smith and Cotter said that Finnerty, likewise, was informed in writing this week that his status had been switched from administrative leave to "student in good standing."

Cotter predicted Finnerty would have no trouble readjusting to Duke and would be well received by others, despite enormous furor surrounding the sex-assault case.

Readjusting to the Bull City as a whole might be a tougher nut for Finnerty to crack, Cotter said.

"Collin is innocent of these charges," he said. "It's stunning to him that he's even been accused. He's going to have mixed feelings about Durham. How could he not? He was charged here with a crime he didn't commit. It's put him and his family, and the other kids and their families, through hell for months now.

"But he's not the kind of guy to dwell on negative feelings," Cotter said. "He has a positive outlook. He's going to move forward and do well."

Information about the invitations to Finnerty and Seligmann were included in a memorandum from Moneta to Brodhead, which Duke released Wednesday.

"Our two students were placed on interim suspension when they were indicted last spring. In late summer, Duke modified the suspension to an administrative leave, which allowed the students to continue to make academic progress while not present at the university. Both have completed their coursework from last spring and are currently in good academic standing," Moneta wrote.

He said that, under current circumstances, further leaves of absence for Finnerty and Seligmann "would do unwarranted harm to their educational progress."

But if the two are found guilty of kidnapping and sex-offense charges, "Needless to say, [they] would remain subject to further disciplinary action," Moneta wrote.

Several Duke students camping out in "Krzyzewskiville" outside Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday to get good seats to February's Duke-UNC basketball game agreed that Finnerty and Seligmann would be welcomed back -- something many said wouldn't happen at other schools.

"Elsewhere, they'd be known only as the Duke lacrosse players, but Duke's going to make more of an effort [to make them comfortable] than any other school," said student Sarah Rabiner.

"These are two young men that we would welcome back with open arms," new Duke lacrosse coach John Danowski said Wednesday.

Danowski said he'd spoken to Finnerty and left a phone message for Seligmann.

"I spoke to Collin briefly and just let him know that I'm there if he needs any kind of support or whatever he needs," Danowski said. "It would be the same thing for Reade."

Duke begins practice for the 2007 lacrosse season Jan. 27 and has its opening game Feb. 24.

Staff writers BriAnne Dopart and Bryan Strickland contributed to this report.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-805417.cfm

City murders down but ...

BY BRIANNE DOPART, The Herald-Sun
January 4, 2007 12:09 am

DURHAM -- The Bull City's murder rate decreased by almost half in 2006 -- but don't expect the mayor to brag about it.

Mayor Bill Bell said Wednesday the city's recent rise in violent crime -- third-quarter statistics show it's at a four-year high -- minimizes the seemingly impressive fact that 18 fewer lives were claimed by violence in 2006 (19) than in 2005 (37).

"We're not beating our chests because we had 14 instead of zero," Bell said. His use of the number 14 is derived by omitting four of the 2006 cases because they were ruled justifiable homicides and a fifth -- which occurred Dec. 29 -- tentatively has been labeled self-defense but remains "under investigation," according to police spokesman Cpl. David Addison.

City Manager Patrick Baker echoed the mayor's sentiments. He said he would only be satisfied when the murder rate hit "zero."

Bell said he and the City Council made note of a spike in violent crime after the Police Department's second-quarter report showed a 35 percent increase in violent crimes -- from 678 in the first six months of 2005 to 917 in 2006.

At the time, Bell demanded that police look into the sharp rise, he said. Third-quarter statistics showed no appreciable improvement. The number of violent crimes showed a 32 percent increase over the first nine months of 2005.

The Police Department has yet to compile its 12-month violent crime report for 2006.

Baker and City Councilman Thomas Stith are concerned about the dramatic rise in violent crime during the year. They said it would lead to more violence in the year to come.

"A continuing increase in violent crime provides an environment for a continuing increase in homicides," Stith said.

Asked to put the drop in homicides in context with the increase in violence, Stith said he would be interested to learn how many gunshot wounds were reported this year to see if "in fact we've just been blessed with good medical facilities in Durham" that have saved the lives of wounded individuals who might otherwise have died and become homicide statistics.

Baker, however, argued that Durham has long benefited from quality medical services. He said it's unfair to attribute a rise in homicides to the incompetence of law enforcement while linking a dip in killings to good medical care.

While opinions may differ on who or what caused the 2006 decrease in homicides, Bell said he is extremely pleased with the job law enforcement has done solving the bulk of the year's murders.

Arrests have been made in 11 of the city's homicides (the four justifiable shootings are considered to be "exceptionally cleared", according to the Police Department's published reports) and arrests have been made in two of Durham County's three homicides. Those slayings all took place outside city limits.

Investigators with the Durham County Sheriff's Office have said they are zeroing in on suspects in the most recent -- and third -- county homicide, the slaying of Jose Luis Sifuente Castillo.

Despite differing perceptions of how violence should be handled in the city, Bell and Stith agreed the Police Department should do a better job releasing its crime statistics.

Currently, reports presented to City Council include charges illustrating "violent crimes" and "aggravated assaults" but make no mention of assaults involving guns.

Bell said he has asked for better statistics, and hoped a new crime analyst hired recently by the department would be able to present a more detailed, accurate picture.

Jim Soukup of Durham's 911 Center did not respond to a call regarding the number of gunshot wounds reported during 2006. But in an earlier interview, he said more than 2,700 reports of shots fired had been received in 2006. Duke Hospital and Durham Regional Hospital do not release gunshot information because of privacy laws.

While Bell said a possible solution to the continued increase in violence might come in the form of security cameras he hopes to have installed in the city within the next two months, Stith said the answer to the city's growing problem with violence would come in the form of new Police Department leadership.

Police Chief Steve Chalmers has announced his retirement and City Manager Patrick Baker has said he hopes to have a replacement in place by mid-August.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-805415.cfm

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Lucky officers must now face the judge

The Herald-Sun
January 3, 2007 6:16 pm
In late October, Gary Lee and Scott Tanner, two Durham police officers charged with assaulting a man during a brawl outside of a Raleigh bar, got a lucky break when District Judge Debra Sasser dismissed the charges against them on a technicality.

The prosecutor working the case, Wake County Assistant District Attorney Matt Goodwin, made the unfortunate mistake of not establishing that the alleged crime took place in Sasser's jurisdiction -- Wake County. For Lee and Tanner, both of whom were fired by Chief Steve Chalmers after the Durham Police Department conducted its own investigation into the alleged assault, it must have felt like Sasser was giving them an early Christmas present.

But on Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens spoiled the gift when he sent the case back to Sasser for reconsideration. Now, Sasser will have to decide whether to rule on the case or call for a new trial.

We think Judge Stephens made the right call. Any case involving law enforcement officers allegedly assaulting a citizen screams for a full hearing. To do anything less erodes the public's confidence in law enforcement and the judicial system. As we have said many times before, law enforcement officials must be held to a higher standard than ordinary citizens. There are no doubt many citizens who probably believed that Tanner and Lee got a special break in Judge Sasser's courtroom.

For the record, we don't think that was the case. But Sasser's decision looked especially bad because two other Durham police officers -- James Griffin and Richard Clayton -- had corroborated the story of the alleged victim, Rene Dennis Thomas, a former cook at Blinco's Sports Restaurant and Bar where the incident allegedly took place. Both said they saw Lee take a swing at Thomas and Tanner kicking or trying to kick Thomas in the face after the men exchanged racial slurs.

We hope Judge Sasser will carefully consider the evidence before her and do whatever is neccessary to bring this matter to a fair close. Regardless of the outcome, the public's interest is better served by revisiting the case and declaring Lee and Tanner either guilty or not guilty of the crimes of which they have been accused.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsedits/56-805262.cfm

http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/528541.html

Published: Jan 04, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Jan 04, 2007 03:34 AM

Lacrosse pair back in Duke's good graces
The university says two former players charged in a tumultuous assault case may return to school this semester, a development that cheers their defenders

Jane Stancill, Staff Writer
In a huge show of support, Duke University offered Wednesday to welcome back former lacrosse players accused of sexual assault.

Reade Seligmann, 20, and Collin Finnerty, 20, will be allowed to return this semester as students in good standing -- an action Duke President Richard Brodhead called "the right and fair thing to do." A third accused former player, David Evans, graduated last year.

The gesture reflects the university's growing willingness to back the defendants in the divisive case. It came nearly two weeks after Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped rape charges against the men accused of assaulting an escort service dancer at a team party in March.

The players are still charged with first-degree sexual offense and first-degree kidnapping. Over the past nine months, weaknesses in the case have emerged, including questions about the accuser's reliability and State Bar charges over Nifong's handling of the case.

"Although the students still face serious charges and larger issues require Duke's collective attention, the circumstances in this case have changed substantially, and it is appropriate that the students have an opportunity to continue their education," Brodhead said in a statement.

The Duke president has been the target of criticism by the players' supporters who say Duke failed to defend them. Last month, Brodhead began to speak out, calling for a new prosecutor. Wednesday's announcement was another emphatic statement by Duke, which is waging an expensive campaign to restore its image after months of embarrassing media coverage.

The players' attorneys and families reacted favorably to the university's offer Wednesday, but it's unclear whether they will return.

Finnerty's attorney, Wade Smith, said: "This announcement speaks to Duke's integrity as an institution, to its mission and to its belief in Collin Finnerty's innocence, and that makes us very glad.

"It's an announcement to the world that this important institution has confidence in these boys."

Finnerty is taking classes at Hofstra University on Long Island and working for Tuesday's Children, a nonprofit family service organization for families that lost loved ones during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Smith said.

Finnerty's father, Kevin Finnerty of Garden City, N.Y., said the family was caught off guard and "pleased that Duke finally got to the right spot."

He said there was nowhere Collin would rather play lacrosse and study than Duke but added that his son must focus on the remaining charges. "He said, 'Look, Dad, I don't think I should be down there going to school until this is resolved.' "

Kevin Finnerty added: "If it's resolved in five days, he could be back in school. If it's resolved in five weeks, it would be too late."

The Seligmann family, of Essex Fells, N.J., issued a statement thanking Brodhead for recent comments about the case. It said Seligmann looked forward "to the day that he can return to living a normal life and continuing his education as a full-time student."

The statement did not say Seligmann would study at Duke.

After Seligmann and Finnerty were indicted, Duke put them on interim suspension. In late summer, they were given administrative leaves of absence so they could continue their studies. Both are in good academic standing, the university said.

Paul Haagen, a law professor and chairman of the Academic Council, said he thought reinstating the students was right. But he expects responses among faculty to be mixed. Throughout the ordeal, Duke officials emphasized the importance of letting the legal system play out.

"There will be people who think this is a prejudging of the legal process," Haagen said. The next hearing in the case is Feb. 5.

Duke's policy is to remove students whenever they are charged with violent behavior, not as a disciplinary measure or judgment of guilt but "in recognition of the risks to the community and to the students themselves if they were allowed to remain," Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, wrote in a memo to Brodhead.

On Tuesday, Moneta wrote to Seligmann: "As circumstances have evolved in this extraordinary case, we have attempted to balance recognition of the gravity of legal charges with the presumption of your innocence. Now with the approach of a new term, we believe that circumstances warrant that we strike this balance differently."

Duke officials offered the players academic advice and help finding housing, on or off campus. "Reade, it is my sincere hope that you will choose to return for the spring semester," Moneta wrote. "Please let me know how I may support you during this time."

Jason Trumpbour, a graduate who leads a group called Friends of Duke, said Wednesday's action will heal wounds. Trumpbour's group has operated a blog critical of the university's handling of the case. He aimed barbs Wednesday not at Brodhead but at Nifong.

Seligmann's family vowed to battle on.

"Reade is absolutely innocent and we will continue to fight this injustice," the family's statement said. "We are not going to rest until Reade's good name has been cleared and those who have been responsible for this injustice have been held fully accountable."

(Staff writers Joseph Neff and Andrea Weigl contributed to this report.)
Staff writer Jane Stancill can be reached at 956-2464 or janes@newsobserver.com.
Staff writers Joseph Neff and Andrea Weigl contributed to this report.

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...ORIAL/701040333
Article published Jan 4, 2007
Durham should be ashamed!

After hiding from the public while he took the oath of office, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong explained something: "The problem" isn't him. "The problem" is Durham.
Apparently it was Durham that, without examining all the evidence, announced to the world that three Duke lacrosse players were "hooligans" who probably raped a stripper.
Apparently it was Durham that, in violation of the law and Nifong's past practice, conspired with an expert witness to hide evidence that would have weakened the already flimsy case against the players.
Apparently it is Durham that, according to the State Bar, committed ethical violations and Durham that, according to Nifong's fellow district attorneys, should let someone else handle the lacrosse case.
"I don't feel that I'm part of the problem," Nifong said. "Durham has some healing to do. And I need to be part of that healing process, and I need to have something to do with how we move forward."
One of his former assistants and former campaign managers said the best way Nifong could help Durham heal is to step away from the lacrosse case. "How can anybody who comes through those doors up there, from a traffic ticket to a murder trial, trust that they're going to get a fair trial?" she asked.
It's a fair question, and not only in Durham.
When Gov. Mike Easley appointed him to fill the DA's vacancy in 2005, Nifong said he that hadn't sought the job in the past because he'd lacked perspective. But with age and experience, he said, he'd realized that, "It's not really about winning. This is really supposed to be about justice."
Unless, of course, there's an election coming up.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisla...inews-headlines
hey can rejoin team
Two Duke lacrosse players once accused of rape can return to university, but Garden City student wants all charges resolved first
BY JOSEPH MALLIA
STAFF WRITER; Staff writer Olivia Winslow and wire service reports contributed to this story.

January 4, 2007

Duke University and its lacrosse team have offered to reinstate two players accused in an alleged sexual assault of a stripper at an off-campus team party - but at least one of them, Collin Finnerty of Garden City, wants to first legally establish his innocence before re-enrolling, his father said.

Soon after Duke President Richard Brodhead invited the accused players back Tuesday, lacrosse coach John Danowski talked with Finnerty and told him he was welcome to rejoin the nationally ranked team, his father, Kevin Finnerty, said.

"Collin's reaction was very mature," Kevin Finnerty said. "He said, 'Dad, I'd love to be there, playing with my friends for Coach Danowski. But I don't think I should be going back until this is successfully resolved. '

"He's not going to go back until we get a successful resolution of these charges, and that means an innocent verdict or dropping of the other charges," Kevin Finnerty said.

The reinstatement offer came after Durham County, N.C. District Attorney Michael Nifong last month dropped rape charges against the Duke players, saying the accuser had changed her story.

Nifong left standing kidnapping and sex offense charges that could bring more than 30 years in prison for Finnerty, Reade Seligmann, of Essex Fells, N.J., and a third Duke player, David Evans, of Bethesda, Md., who graduated in May.

- snip -

http://www.examiner.com/a-489483~Betsy_New..._rape_case.html
Commentary
Betsy Newmark: Racist stereotypes shaped Duke rape case

Betsy Newmark, The Examiner
Jan 4, 2007 3:00 AM (1 hr 59 mins ago)
Current rank: # 17 of 16,476 articles
WASHINGTON - With the filing of ethics charges against Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong last week, the assault charges against Duke lacrosse players may finally be spiraling to an end.

Even without those charges creating a conflict of interest that made it likely that Nifong would have to recuse himself, there were other indications of how this sorry saga may end. Nifong told The New York Times that he would drop the case if the accuser couldn’t identify the three defendants and be 100 percent certain the defendants were the men she says assaulted her.

Given that he dropped the rape charges when she suddenly decided that, contrary to her earlier claims to the police, she couldn’t say with that same certainty that she had indeed been raped, the way now seems clear for her to testify in February that she doubts that the three defendants are the same three men she believes assaulted her a year earlier. His interview with the Times may even have instructed the accuser about what she could say for the case to be dismissed.

If the case is dismissed shortly, what can we expect from all those who were so ready to brand the Duke lacrosse team as a group of racist rapists? Will the 88 professors who published an ad praising the protestors who weren’t waiting for due process and already labeling the lacrosse players rapists apologize for their rush to judgment? Probably not.

I expect we’ll hear instead calls for healing. The players will be urged to get on with their lives and not to focus on suing Durham or the D.A. They’ll be reminded that Durham is not a wealthy county and can’t afford an expensive civil suit.

Those who were quick to say that this story was emblematic of racism at elite colleges will say that the lesson is still true, even though this one specific story was a hoax. Wahneema Lubiano, the Duke professor of African and American Studies who led the group of 88 who published that ad, wrote back in May that, no matter the outcome, the whole story exposed deeper truths about racism on Duke’s campus. Expect that storyline to be repeated if the charges are all dropped. The song of “fake but accurate” will be sung again.

Sadly, we didn’t learn from the Tawana Brawley hoax that we should pause when a story seems to fit a stereotypical version of racism. The storyline of rich, privileged white boys raping a poor black girl seemed so apt that some people embraced it without waiting to evaluate the evidence.

Lynne Duke, a Washington Post staff writer, wrote in May that “the Duke case is in some ways reminiscent of a black woman’s vulnerability to a white man during the days of slavery, reconstruction and Jim Crow, when sex was used as a tool of racial domination.”

Well, no. Perhaps it’s just a sordid story of a woman making up a story about being raped and a white prosecutor using that story to win an election.

For some, the facts don’t even matter. Newsweek reported in April that one student at North Carolina Central University where the accuser attended school wanted the players to be prosecuted “whether it happened or not. It would be justice for things that happened in the past.”

Our justice system deserves better than a “fake, but accurate” approach to prosecution. We don’t prosecute people just because they fit a stereotype. It was attitudes like that which resulted in the injustices that the NCCU student wanted addressed in the first place. In this case, turnabout is not fair play.

Instead, when a story seems to fit our stereotypes, law officers, school officials, the media and the public needed to be more skeptical. And those who were so quick to use this story to talk about racism because they believed a black woman accusing white athletes must be telling the truth might first want to remove the beam in their own eyes.

Everyone, including those activists, should be concerned about the precedents that Nifong has set and the civil liberties of future defendants. If Nifong can twist procedure and lie to the court about evidence in a case with so much publicity, what might be happening in the cases that are not so high profile with defendants who can’t afford expensive lawyers?

That a prosecutor could carry on a baseless case for what seems like political reasons exposes a need for more checks on local prosecutors. Will the next woman in this community who comes forward to say that she was brutally attacked have a harder time persuading authorities and getting public sympathy because of the lies of one striptease dancer and one district attorney who wanted to get reelected? These are results of this case that should worry all of us.

Betsy Newmark is a member of The Examiner Blog Board of Contributors and blogs at betsyspage.blogspot.com.

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Cary Clack: Prosecutor looks guilty in 'case' at Duke

Web Posted: 01/03/2007 06:59 PM CST

Express-News

Early Tuesday morning, Mike Nifong was sworn in for a four-year term as district attorney of Durham, N.C. If he's going to salvage any of his fading credibility, Nifong should, this week, drop the remaining charges against three Duke University lacrosse players.

These are the three players at the center of what, for most of 2006, was known as the "Duke University lacrosse rape case" except, we now know, no rape occurred. The case became a national story when it was learned that last March, a young woman who'd been hired as a stripper for a team party alleged that she was gang-raped by three of the players.

Because the woman is black and the players are white, the story was propelled across the nation by the always-explosive accelerant of race. That she was a single mother who was a student at predominantly black North Carolina Central University and they were white and attended prestigious and predominantly white Duke University made the differences stark and awakened slumbering ghosts.

While only the young woman and the young men knew what did or didn't happen and no one possessed any facts, the vacuum was quickly filled with assumptions and issues that, as it turned out, had nothing to do with this case.

History tells us that Durham's African American community had reasons to believe that the sexual assault of a young black woman by well-to-do young white men in the South would go unpunished. But the details of this case tell us that doesn't apply here.

No DNA evidence linked the athletes with the woman. One of them has the alibis of a cab driver, cell phone records, a restaurant receipt, an ATM receipt and a picture of him at the ATM machine taken at the time the crime was supposedly happening.

After initially not selecting two of the players as her attackers, the woman picked all three only when Nifong presented her with photographs of just the 46 white lacrosse players, making it impossible for her not to pick out a lacrosse player.

This is only one of the unseemly things the district attorney has done. Last spring he failed to turn over to defense lawyers DNA tests that revealed DNA material from other men on the woman but none from the lacrosse players, evidence that Nifong conceded is potentially exculpatory.

A few days before Christmas, after the woman said she was no longer certain about details she'd previously been certain about, Nifong dropped the rape charges but held the players to counts of kidnapping and sexual offense, counts that don't represent truth as much as they do Nifong's unwillingness to let go of a case he can't win.

The lacrosse players brought no honor on themselves by hiring strippers for a party, but the penalty for piggish behavior isn't to be falsely charged and prosecuted for crimes.

As wrong as the woman is for bringing false charges, the greatest wrong is that of a prosecutor abusing his powers to perpetuate those false charges.

No one should look at this case as symbolic or representative of anything beyond this case itself. Some say that the unraveling of the woman's story or any case in which a false allegation of rape is made will make it more difficult for the next legitimate rape victim.

But it shouldn't. Each allegation, like this one, must be judged on its own merits and facts. Each plaintiff should be treated as if he or she is telling the truth until the evidence proves otherwise.

Last month, North Carolina's state bar filed ethics charges against Nifong, saying he made inflammatory and misleading statements to the media about the accused athletes. The Associated Press reports that in one of his statements he told ESPN, "One would wonder why one needs an attorney if one was not charged and had done nothing wrong."

One wouldn't wonder if you had to deal with Mike Nifong.
Cary Clack's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. To leave him a message, call (210) 250-3546 or e-mail cclack@express-news.net. Online at: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories...ack.d7497b.html

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