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While questions mount regarding the credibility of an account of an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity, police have yet to open a formal investigation. University officials have said—as recently as Dec. 2—that they have been instructed by police not to discuss the specific incident because it is the subject of a police inquiry. But TIME has learned that so far, that inquiry has not crossed the threshold for the Charlottesville Police Department to treat it as a criminal investigation. Because the alleged incident took place at a fraternity house off campus, it falls under the jurisdiction...

In March, I posted a long report on the Darryl Howard case. There’s a lot to this story, but here’s a quick and dirty summary: Howard was convicted in 1995 for murdering a woman and her 13-year-old daughter in a Durham public housing complex. Despite evidence that both women had been sexually assaulted, there was no physical evidence linking Howard to the crime scene. In post-conviction, Howard’s attorneys discovered a police memo describing a tip indicating that the murders were the work of a gang called the New York Boys. The tip seemed particularly reliable because it referred to the...

In the outpouring of praise for William D. Cohan's new book "The Price of Silence"—a work, remarkably enough, being celebrated as a model of evenhandedness, scrupulous objectivity, etc.—one essential has gone overlooked. Namely, the central point of this tale about the Duke lacrosse case and accusations against three players of rape and assault at a house party. It takes no close reading to see that the book is meant to recast the story so as to nullify the outcome Americans thought they knew—

The Duke lacrosse case was a spectacular scandal – a cause célèbre that had the country abuzz about race, class and gender. Three wealthy Duke students, all of them white, were charged with raping a poor black woman during a spring break party at a scruffy rental house in Durham. Then the whole mess imploded in real time, in the national media, due to prosecutorial misconduct. North Carolina, of all places in America, was perhaps the most fertile soil for a case that ended with the state attorney general declaring the three players innocent and state regulators disbarring the prosecutor,...

On August 25, 2006 the New York Times published a nearly 6,000-word, front-page analysis of the evidence in the case against the three lacrosse-playing students at Duke University who were charged with raping a prostitute who had been hired to dance at a party. The article conceded that holes had emerged in the case brought against them by Mike Nifong, the district attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina. But by presenting material in the light most favorable to Nifong’s claims and by excluding or diminishing the significance of key exculpatory evidence, the Times implied that a rape still might have occurred....

In March 2006, Crystal Gail Mangum, a student at North Carolina Central University, who worked as a stripper and an escort, accused three members of the Duke lacrosse team — Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans — of raping her at an off-campus party. The case captivated the country, with the media breathlessly reporting the statements of prosecutor Mike Nifong, who was later fired, disbarred and imprisoned for 24 hours, and then those of the players' defense attorneys in a seemingly endless loop of contradictions. In April 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said there was "no credible...

Former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has held his tongue since his career imploded in the Duke lacrosse case. But his thoughts are about to land in bookstores, at length and virtually unchallenged. “The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, The Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of Our Great Universities” is scheduled for publication April 8. The book – $35 in hardback, 650 pages long – bills itself as “the definitive, magisterial account” of a case that generated tens of thousands of news stories, countless blog posts, seemingly endless cable gabfests and a handful of books. Three...

When Darryl Howard was convicted of murder in 1995, he cried out ”I didn’t do it!” then sobbed in open court. He has maintained his innocence ever since. (snip) But for all his problems, there has never been much compelling evidence that Howard is a murderer. Howard was convicted of killing a woman named Doris Washington and her 13-year-old daughter Nishonda in November 1991. Despite indications that both women had been sexually assaulted, no DNA or biological evidence connected Howard to the crime scene. He was convicted entirely on eyewitness testimony, much of which was vague, contradictory, or later recanted....

Exclusive: John Rocker compares media coverage of accused QB vs. Duke athletes With each passing year, we regrettably get more stories of college athletes acting up and getting in trouble with the law. From armed robbery to rape, there appears to be no crime that college athletes aren’t capable of committing. Dominating the sports world right now is the story of a likely nominee for the Heisman Trophy standing accused of sexual assault. Jameis Winston is the star quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles, who are currently undefeated and ranked No. 1 out of all college teams in the country....

DURHAM Crystal Mangum was found guilty of second degree murder Friday in the death her boyfriend, Reginald Daye. In a quick-moving trial, jurors deliberated over four options: first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of voluntary manslaughter or not guilty. That Mangum stabbed boyfriend Daye, 46, on April 3, 2011, was never in question. She admitted during the eight-day trial that she “poked” Daye with a knife in the side of the chest with a steak knife at his apartment, but she claimed she did it in self-defense while he was straddling her and trying to choke her. Daye told...

EDMONTON – A so-called “men’s rights” group is defending its recent poster campaign that is sparking national outrage for claiming some women lie about being raped. The posters were a response to the ‘Don’t be that guy” campaign that aims to educate young men on alcohol’s role in sexual assault and define consensual sex. Men’s Rights Edmonton issued a statement on its website taking responsibility for its “Don’t be that girl” campaign that was highly criticized by police, city officials and women’s groups for sending the wrong message. “Just because you regret a one night stand doesn’t mean it wasn’t...

DURHAM — Duke University and 38 members of its 2005-06 men’s lacrosse team notified a federal judge on Wednesday that they’d settled the players’ lawsuit out of court.

Blair Holliday ’15, the promising wide receiver for Duke football who was in a near-fatal water ski accident last July 4th and who has made a miraculous recovery, has hit a brutal, unexpected bump: DukeCheck has learned that Duke University rejected his application to return this semester as a student. Before the accident, Holliday maintained a 3.75 grade point average, majoring in psychology. His doctors had cleared him to return. Beyond that, Holliday had an invitation from Head Coach David Cutcliffe and wide receivers coach Matt Lubick – great supporters during Holliday’s recovery period — to return to the football...

10.30.12 - 08:41 pm By Ray Gronberg gronberg@heraldsun.com; 919-419-6648 DURHAM – A new court filing purporting to be from Crystal Mangum says she can supply evidence in a Duke lacrosse lawsuit that she was paid, up front, to set up Duke University’s 2005-06 men’s lacrosse team. The filing surfaced on Tuesday, a day after federal court clerks in Greensboro received it from the U.S. Postal Service. It was styled as a motion by Mangum, acting as her own lawyer, asking that she be allowed to intervene in the civil-rights lawsuit that exonerated lacrosse players David Evans, Colin Finnerty and Reade...

DURHAM – A historian who’s written about the Duke lacrosse case must answer questions from Duke University lawyers defending the school from lawsuits filed by two groups of former lacrosse players, a federal court in Maine says. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich III said Brooklyn College professor K.C. Johnson has to give Duke’s legal team a deposition and turn over documents about his dealings with the players. Johnson invoked a form of journalist’s confidentiality privilege as he fought Duke’s subpoena. Rich acknowledged that such claims can be valid, depending on how the interests in each case balance out. In this...

This happened last month, but I just learned of the case because the trial court decision was just posted on Westlaw; Cline is appealing the removal. The decision is here; a newspaper article on the subject is here; the statute authorizing the removal, N.C. Gen. Stats. § 7A-66(6), provides that a D.A. may be removed by a court for “[c]onduct prejudicial to the administration of justice which brings the office into disrepute.” ... partly because it comes on the heels of the ouster of D.A. Nifong — Cline was the first D.A. elected following Nifong’s ouster, and had worked for...

Durham, N.C. — The Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape in 2006 filed motions Thursday asking that a murder charge against her be dismissed and that the judge in the case to recuse himself. Crystal Mangum, 32, is charged in the death of Reginald Daye, 46, who was stabbed with a kitchen knife during an April 3, 2011, argument at his Durham apartment, police said. They had been dating for about a month at the time of his death. Mangum filed the motions herself, with the assistance of a supporter who isn't an attorney....

DURHAM - Tracey E. Cline, a prosecutor who crusaded for victims and pledged to always do right, was permanently removed Friday from her office as Durham's elected district attorney after a judge found she made false and reckless attacks on Durham's senior judge, tainting her ability to seek justice. Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood of Franklin County, who presided over the removal inquiry that began three weeks ago, dismissed Cline's claims of free speech protections and found she engaged in conduct "prejudicial" to the administration of justice which brought her office into "disrepute" in court documents filed against Superior...

The American public loves stories. It loves stories better than explicated truth, because stories entertain better. Ask Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Ask the Hofstra lads. And when the media gets something wrong, don't expect apologies or hand-wringing; there's just a rush to get on with the next story; because the truth would require so much explanation it would bore people and lose the audience. Now we have a murder committed in Virginia. Alcohol played a part. But too many people enjoy alcohol to focus on that; and besides, the media wouldn't want to come across as prudes. The defendant was a student...

LSU AD Alleva Deposed in Duke Lacrosse Suit Posted by: Walter Abbott on Saturday, February 4, 2012, 18:20 Louisiana State University (LSU) Athletic Director Joe Alleva was deposed last month in a lawsuit filed nearly five years ago regarding the notorious Duke Lacrosse Case, where a prostitute falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape. Alleva was Duke’s athletic director at the time and was famously quoted as telling lacrosse coach Mike Pressler as he was cancelling the team’s season that “It’s not about the truth anymore,” because of the intense media coverage of the controversy. Mike Nifong, the...