Arrest may put D.C. pact at risk

DURHAM -- Collin Finnerty, one of two Duke University lacrosse players arrested on rape charges this week, is set Tuesday to be in a Washington courtroom, where a deal that allowed him to avoid trial on an earlier assault charge could be revoked.

Finnerty, 19, was arrested and charged with simple assault Nov. 5 after a man was beaten outside a Georgetown bar about 2:30 a.m. On March 23, the day 46 Duke lacrosse players were ordered to provide DNA samples in the rape investigation, Finnerty appeared in Superior Court in Washington on that previous charge.

He received a deal in which the charge would be dismissed if he performed 25 hours of community service and was not arrested for six months.

Finnerty's arrest in Durham this week on felony charges of rape, sex offense and kidnapping could void that agreement, said Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Phillips said Finnerty is expected to appear at Tuesday's hearing.

Ben Curtis, the federal prosecutor handling Finnerty's Washington case, would not comment on whether he will ask D.C. Superior Court Judge John H. Bayly Jr. to revoke the agreement.

"Unlike prosecutors down in North Carolina, we don't comment on pending cases," Curtis said.

Finnerty and two former lacrosse teammates from Chaminade High School in New York were charged in the assault case. Jeffrey O. Bloxsom, 27, told police that the trio attacked him without provocation after calling him gay, court records say. Bloxsom, a Fairfax, Va., real estate agent, suffered a cut lip and bruised chin.

Steven J. McCool, Finnerty's attorney for the Washington assault case, did not return calls Thursday.

Bill Cotter, his attorney in Durham, said Wednesday that the out-of-town case will "stand on its own" and deflected questions about how it could affect Finnerty's defense on the rape charges.

Calls to Bloxsom were returned by his family attorney, Chip Royer of Charlottesville, Va.

"It is our understanding from the prosecutor in Washington that the deal now in place is back to square one," said Royer, adding that the national media had descended on Bloxsom in the wake of Finnerty's latest arrest.

"They have harassed Jeff and his girlfriend," Royer said. "He can't even go out of his apartment without being hounded by reporters."

The unwanted attention has Bloxsom and his family considering a civil lawsuit against Finnerty, he said.