Posted on 04/11/2007 5:43:54 AM PDT by AD from SpringBay
April 10, 2007 — The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case.
The three players, Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty, were facing charges of first degree kidnapping and first degree forcible sexual offense. The charges stem from an off-campus party on the night of March 13, 2006.
In the hours after the party, one of two dancers hired to perform for the players claimed she had been violently raped in a bathroom by members of the lacrosse team. The players had also been indicted for first degree rape, but that charge was dismissed on Dec. 22, 2006.
Special prosecutors from the Attorney General's office took over the case after Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong recused himself in January, citing charges of unethical conduct filed against him by the North Carolina Bar. Since then, Jim Coman and Mary Winstead have examined the case from scratch, interviewing key witnesses and working through reams of evidence.
The reasons that will be cited for the dismissal are not yet known, though the case has been riddled with criticism and colored by controversy since its early months. Defense attorneys released documents showing the accuser changed key details of her story in the weeks and months after the alleged assault.
Legal analysts and forensic experts have criticized what they call a critically flawed photo identification lineup — a lineup that led to the identification and indictment of Evans, Finnerty, Seligmann. No DNA evidence was found matching any lacrosse players with samples from the rape kit, while DNA from unidentified men was found on the accuser's body and clothing.
On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General confirmed to ABC News that his office had completed its investigation into the Duke lacrosse case. A press conference on the outcome of their inquiry is widely expected sometime this week, though members of that office have not yet revealed a date and time.
bump
Sheesh what took them so long?!!!!!!!!!
way past time
There is an ongoing thread about this...
Time to put this circus to rest and move on to the next media circus.
The case is dropped. Will all those find Duke professors and administrators who condemned these young make a retraction? Duke has an honor code for students and faculty.
Hopefully, each of the three accused will sue each of the 88 professors who signed the open letter convicting them before a trial. And perhaps Duke University ought to be sued for employing instructors who do not understand the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.” The families have incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal bills, and they should be fully compensated, plus damages to the reputations of their sons. Since the lying accuser doesn’t have that kind of money, they should go after those that do.
Okay, now back to American Idol.............and what about the Anna Nicole Smith baby, eh!.........
or will these three players sue the NC prosecutors office and the state for the way their lives have been interrupted without cause...
Unlikely. But, more to the point,
Don't hold your breath for any of these happening.
These three have every right to reverse the case against the NC legal system .
Not all charges will be dropped. They are still guilty of being privildged white hetrosexual males.
No, no, no! We need to hold the race pimp's feet to the fire. This is as clear cut a case of racism as I've ever seen, except this time it's black on white racism. These kids need to somehow get their reputation back and the Jesse Jackson's and Al Sharpton's out there should be made to pay reparations!
....last I heard, some of the 88 profs were complaining!!!....seems some of them have received e-mails that used “hurtful language”.....a spokesman for the university said they were bracing for legal action.....the Duke endowment is one of the wealthier in the country and dollars to donuts they’ll settle to get this thing behind them.
I hope they sue the hell out of Duke and those professors, if possible. They are damned lucky to get out of this relatively unscathed. Their accusers deserve not to be so lucky.
Chronology as per MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18054818/
A chronology of events surrounding allegations members of Duke’s lacrosse team raped an exotic dancer hired to perform at a team party:
March 13, 2006 _ Duke lacrosse players throw a team party at an off-campus house, hiring two strippers to perform.
March 14 _ One of the dancers tells Durham police three men at the party forced her into a bathroom, where she said she was beaten, raped and sodomized. It is later learned she told authorities several different versions of the alleged attack in the hours after the party.
March 23 _ Forty-six of the team’s 47 members comply with a judge’s order to provide DNA samples and be photographed. The team’s sole black member is not tested, because the victim said her attackers were white.
March 25 _ School announces lacrosse team will not play two scheduled games, citing the team’s decision to hire “private party dancers” and underage drinking at the party.
March 28 _ Duke suspends lacrosse team from play until it has a “clearer resolution of the legal situation” involving team members.
March 29 _ In an interview with the News & Observer of Raleigh, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong calls the members of the lacrosse team “a bunch of hooligans.”
April 3 _ Nifong stops granting interviews about the case.
April 4 _ The accuser identifies her attackers in a photo lineup suggested by Nifong that included pictures only of team members. The defense later called the lineup “an incoherent mass of contradiction and error.”
April 5 _ Lacrosse coach Mike Pressler resigns. Duke President Richard Brodhead cancels the team’s season after authorities unseal a search warrant containing an e-mail from player Ryan McFadyen in which he says he wants to kill and skin strippers. McFadyen is suspended from school. He later says the e-mail was a joke.
April 6 _ The accuser provides investigators with a five-page, handwritten statement detailing the alleged attack.
April 10 _ Defense attorneys announce DNA test results find no match between the players tested and the woman accusing the players of rape.
April 11 _ Nifong says he will continue investigating the rape allegations.
April 17 _ A Durham County grand jury returns sealed indictments against two Duke lacrosse players.
April 18 _ Duke lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty are taken into custody on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Each is released after posting bond. Nifong says authorities are continuing to try to identify a third possible assailant.
April 25 _ Granville County authorities confirm the accuser told police 10 years ago she was raped by three men when she was 14. None of the men were charged.
May 1 _ A Duke University committee recommends the school’s lacrosse team resume play next season, but adds the team needs strict monitoring because of a history of problems tied to alcohol.
May 2 _ Nifong fends off two challengers to win the Democratic primary for district attorney.
May 8 _ A university report concludes Duke administrators were slow to react to the scandal in part because of initial doubts about the accuser’s credibility.
May 12 _ Defense attorneys say a second round of DNA testing finds no conclusive match between the accuser and any lacrosse players.
May 15 _ A grand jury indicts lacrosse team co-captain David Evans. Evans speaks publicly before surrendering to police, saying, “You have all been told some fantastic lies, and I look forward to watching them unravel in the weeks to come.”
June 5 _ Duke’s president reinstates the men’s lacrosse program for play in 2007, but under strict rules and close monitoring.
June 29 _ McFadyen, an unindicted player, is reinstated at Duke following his suspension for sending the vulgar e-mail about killing strippers.
July 21 _ Duke hires John Danowski from Hofstra to coach the lacrosse team. His son, Matt, is a Duke senior and All-American attackman for the Blue Devils.
Sept. 4 _ The lacrosse team returns to practice for the first time since March 27, 2006.
Oct. 31 _ Nifong insists in an interview with The Associated Press that he and police have not mishandled the case and said his only regret was granting so many interviews early on.
Nov. 7 _ Nifong is elected to a four-year term as district attorney, beating out a write-in candidate and an unaffiliated candidate who did not actively campaign.
Dec. 15 _ The director of a private DNA lab testifies that, as part of an agreement with Nifong, he omitted from a May report that no genetic material from any member of the lacrosse team was among that of several males found in the accuser’s underwear and body.
Dec. 21 _ An investigator in Nifong’s office interviews the accuser, during which she changes several key details of her account.
Dec. 22 _ Nifong drops rape charges against the three players, citing the accuser’s statement from the day before in which she said she was no longer certain whether she was penetrated vaginally by a penis, a necessary element of rape charges in North Carolina. The players remain charged with kidnapping and sexual offense.
Dec. 28 _ The North Carolina State Bar files ethics charges against Nifong, accusing him of making misleading and inflammatory comments to the media about the athletes under suspicion.
Jan. 2, 2007 _ Nifong is sworn into office in a private ceremony.
Jan. 3 _ Duke invites Seligmann and Finnerty to return to school as students in good standing, saying the circumstances in the case have changed. The accuser gives birth to a girl at a hospital in Chapel Hill.
Jan. 4 _ Former Duke player Kyle Dowd and his parents sue the university, alleging that one of his professors unfairly gave him a failing grade because he was a member of the team.
Jan. 10 _ The judge overseeing the case orders a paternity test to determine the father of the accuser’s child. Nifong and the defense agree the pregnancy is unrelated to the team party, but both sides agreed the test should be conducted to silence any doubts.
Jan. 11 _ Citing a prosecution report, the defense says in court papers the accuser told investigators during the Dec. 21 interview that Seligmann did not commit any sex act on her during the alleged attack, but was repeatedly urged to join in.
Jan. 12 _ Nifong asks the state attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor in the case, saying he worries the pending ethics charges against him might result in an unfair trial.
Jan. 13 _ State Attorney General Roy Cooper agrees to take over the case. “Agreeing to accept the prosecution of these cases doesn’t guarantee a trial, nor does it guarantee a dismissal,” Cooper said.
Jan. 24 _ The state bar amends its ethics complaint against Nifong, accusing him of withholding evidence from the defense and lying to both to the court and bar investigators.
Feb. 24 _ Duke beats Dartmouth 17-11 in its first men’s lacrosse game in 11 months.
Feb. 28 _ In his response to the state bar’s complaint, Nifong says he did not intentionally break ethics rules.
March 13 _ The anniversary of team party passes uneventfully in Durham and on campus.
March 15 _ With investigators, Cooper tours the house where the lacrosse team threw the party.
March 21 _ The state bar sets a June 12 trial date for ethics charges against Nifong.
March 25 _ Kirk Osborn, an attorney for Reade Seligmann, dies of a heart attack at age 64.
While I am not big on lawyers in general, I hope these three sue the living crap out of the DA, the Duke Administration and everyone else in sight.
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