Duke To Reinstate Seligmann, Finnerty (DukeLax)

WTVD ^ | January 3, 2007 | Staff

[abb]

(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.

A press conference from defense attorneys is expected this afternoon.

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

[newgeezer]

They were kicked out of college. Their families were forced to spend untold hundreds of thousands of dollars for attorneys. Their lacrosse team was disbanded. The senior lacrosse players at Duke had their pre-graduation job offers revoked. You know what...if you honestly think all of that is okay

Uh, no, from the beginning of this, my commentary has ONLY been about "restoring their reputations."

I'm sorry if that has been anything less than abundantly clear.

[don'tbedenied]

"when do they get their reputations reinstated?
As the saying goes, "When you lie down with dogs, you might wake up with fleas."

Tsk, tsk, tsk."

They've been accused of rape, the most heinous crime possible. The damage to their reputation by such a charge is infinitely worse than being accused of watching strippers and drinking beer. This is classic moral equivalence thinking, the kind I'd expect from DU. Do you not understand this or do you get your jollies showing your moral superiority?

[1L]

>>But, if not for the fact that these nice young gentlemen hired a stripper (dog) to bump and grind for their lovely little party, NONE of the damage (fleas) would have occurred.<<

This is truly a stupid comment. If they hadn't gotten out of bed that day, this wouldn't have happened either.

They engaged the services of someone offering those services. Was it tasteful? No. Was it responsible? No, but I'll leave the judgement of that to their coach and parents. Where in the world do you get that engaging in immature, silly, and even stupid, behavior puts someone on the hook for malicious prosecution, defamation, false arrest, etc?

Getting arrested for rape isn't even a remotely foreseeable consequence of hiring a stripper. Getting yelled at or suspended by the coach is, and if that were the case, you might have a point. But here, your idea is ludicrous.

[Peach]

You seem to be unaware of your own posts. This is what you said:

So, in the end, what damage has been done to the young men's reputations? They're not rapists. Maybe their reputation will be that of "whoremonger" for a few years. Big whoop.

It's a pretty big whoop when someone gets kicked out of college, death threats received, the team and sport for which you've trained for years is disbanded and your parents are forced to spend gobs of money.

But hey, big whoop.

[SuziQ]

Too bad. If he's disbarred, can he be removed from office?

[Verloona Ti]

I do agree with you-it would be the best of all possible scenarios if the Duke 3 were found innocent in a court of law of all charges. But (to paraphrase Thomas Sowell) all Nifong needs is one juror with a racial score to settle. Or a feminist woman who firmly believes "No woman ever lies about being raped!" and holds that belief with such fervor no evidence will change her thinking. Or just a juror who thinks finding the boys guilty , perhaps of one lesser charge, would head off any post-trial riots ....

[seoul62]

You took the words right out of my mouth. Compensation plus full scholarships, but why go back to all the ugliness and aggravation? Obtain the best lawyer and sue, sue sue!!!! Go after the university and the it who calls himself a what??????prosecutor?????/seoul62..........

[pepperhead]

If Nifong is disbarred or has his license suspended he can not be the DA of Durham.

[Nonstatist]

You're right. Generally speaking, strippers-for-hire have exactly the same morals as any other woman you might invite to a party.

Aint you the sanctimonious one!! The next time your'e caught speeding on the highway maybe they can arrest you for a hit and run 20 miles back and if you werent there you can tell it to the judge in 15 months. Oh, and if you dont want to get arrested for causing an accident then stay off the road a-hole!

[Carolinamom]

Why don't you just whoop it over to DU? They' love ya there....maybe swap stories about how they too lay down w/dogs and look where they are now...at DU.

[teawithmisswilliams]

The players that hired the stripper should have been punished by the University, assuming that hiring a stripper is something that is still frowned upon by Universities.

To imply that because some students hired a stripper, 3 of them should expect to be publicly charged with rape by a corrupt prosecutor, have their names dragged through the mud and face a peecee lynching that could have literally destroyed their lives is extraordinarly callous.

[Locomotive Breath]

I've been wondering about how that would work. I assume that if he loses his law license he can no longer go before the bar in court. Does that mean he could keep his job and send his licensed ADAs into court? Or is there some firm rule that a DA is automatically fired? I don't know how that would work.

[WideGlide]

The only reason they should return to Duke is to serve their summonses on the President of the University, Blohard or whatever his name is.

[newgeezer]

Get a life.

Am I to understand that you believe it's unjust for a young man to suffer some damage to his reputation for hiring a stripper?

Because—this is important—that's ALL my comments have been about; if you follow my posts in this thread, you'll see that. Someone asked, "When do they get their reputations reinstated?"

Every time I see someone shedding any tears about these boys' "reputations," I respond consistently. Actions carry consequences. If they come away as reputed whoremongers, where's the injustice?

[SmoothTalker]

"Didn't it have the idea that if Finnerty transfers he'll have the new campus immediately peg him as that "Duke Rape Kid" and have to set about clearing his name again on that campus. "

He will have that problem everywhere for years and possibly for the rest of his life. Rape charges, whether false or true, haunt the exhonerated for the rest of their lives. This kid will always be known as the "Duke rape kid" and will always be subject to comments and glances and doubt. Its a damn shame what this DA has done to these three boys. Things can never go back to the way they were before the charges.

[Locomotive Breath]

Er... "suffer some damage"

You're kidding right?

[ryan125]

didn't one leave before the stripper even took off her clothes? im not positive but if so he shouldn't even have a reputation of whoremonger.

[don'tbedenied]

Man I'm going back to the Talk Left board, the trolls are smarter there. LOL

[San Jacinto]

...spare me the crying about the boys' reputations....

I see. Anyone who has attended a strip show deserves the same reputation as a brutal rapist. So no harm done here.

By the way, how are things up there on planet Head Up Your Ass nowadays?

[Locomotive Breath]

You are absolutely correct but he will not have to explain himself on the Duke campus like he would on some other campus. Everyone at Duke will know the whole story of how he got screwed over and except for the idiot leftists I think most of the students will be sympathetic to him. That would not be the case elsewhere.