NandO
Players' Parents Rip into Nifong
by Michael Biesecker
The parents of the three Duke lacrosse players charged with sexually assaulting an escort service dancer appeared together on national television Sunday night, lashing out at District Attorney Mike Nifong and proclaiming their sons' innocence.
In an interview with Lesley Stahl of "60 minutes" -- taped last week before Nifong withdrew from the case Friday -- the mother of Reade Seligmann described what it was like to hear that her son was to be charged with rape.
"You feel like someone hit you with a baseball bat," Kathy Seligmann said. "My son said, 'Mom, when is this going to stop? When is this insanity going to stop?' knowing he was still being charged with crimes he didn't do. It's crazy. It didn't happen. ... Our families have been held hostage of this DA, of this woman, of this police department. We don't know what our futures hold. Our children don't know what our futures hold."
Rae Evans, the mother of David Evans, said Nifong charged her son and the others to help win support in the May 2 Democratic Party primary.
"You have to remember that this has never been about the evidence. Never," Rae Evans said. "If it were about the evidence, nine months ago this case would have been totally dropped. This is about a man who chose to use a troubled young woman's story of fantastic lies to advance his own political career, which was crumbling. He needed something big. He needed that magic bullet. And he shot it at our sons."
Asked by Stahl what she would say to Nifong if he walked into the room, Evans responded that she would face him with a smile on her face. "Mr. Nifong, you've picked on the wrong families," she said. "And you will pay every day for the rest of your life."
Herald-Sun
Bell:City showed 'true grit' in 2006
by William F. West
Durham Mayor Bill Bell spoke out Sunday on the Duke lacrosse case, expressing compassion for the parents of the three players accused of sexual assault and kidnapping, and saying he believed university President Richard Brodhead and the city have handled the situation well.
"This was an incident that produced a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks," Bell said in remarks at Duke University's 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration service.
Speaking to a mass audience at Duke Chapel, the mayor said he believed the ceremony honoring the late civil-rights leader was an appropriate time to comment on the lacrosse situation.
Bell was quick to show his support for Brodhead, saying, "In my opinion, he has made the right decisions at the right time, given the information that he had."
David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann remain charged with kidnapping and sexual assaulting an exotic dancer at a March 2006 lacrosse team party. The three men have strongly maintained their innocence.
Brodhead became a target of much criticism after canceling the nationally ranked lacrosse team's 2006 season, while others praised him for showing restraint about the criminal cases.
Brodhead started speaking up after the rape charges against Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann were dropped last month.
He called for Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong to step aside as the prosecutor and added that Nifong needed to explain his conduct.
On Friday, Nifong recused himself after weeks of increasing criticism for his alleged mishandling of the probe, including allegedly inflammatory public remarks after the incident, as well as the accuser's constantly changing stories. State Attorney General Roy Cooper on Saturday announced he would turn the probe over to a pair of his veteran prosecutors.
Although Bell didn't speak Sunday about Nifong's handling of the case or the specifics of the accusations and the denials, he emphasized the need for a fair process.
He said that "in our system of justice, a person is presumed innocent until proven otherwise" and "empathized" for the parents involved on both sides.
Bell went on to use the theme of Sunday's event at Duke Chapel, "Come to the Table," to support his belief that Durham is a city that prides itself on racial diversity. At the same, he did rebut critics who believe the city's demographics are a sign of racism.
"Don't get me wrong," he said. "We have our differences. But in Durham, we struggle openly, in a healthy microcosm of citizenship and democracy."
Bell said he reflected on the trials and tribulations of last year in Durham and believed the city faced the challenges and controversies and showed "true grit" in doing so.
Bell, emphasizing King's message of unity, said that regardless of one's attitude, economic class, education, lifestyle, sexual preference or spiritual practices, "You have a home in Durham."
Durham, he said, is a community that "works openly, pinpoints its problems and finds workable solutions" and is a community that "comes to the table."
"I think he's absolutely right that we have to come together in what we do and how we solve our problems," said Dennis Woods of Raleigh, a computer technician.
Gerard A. Morrison of Raleigh, who works in job development, also said he believed Bell's remarks were timely.
But Morrison added, "I think that was a barometer of the temperature of what's going on in America right now, too -- the same with the O.J. [Simpson] case, the same with this."