Walkers stand behind defendants, lacrosse

DURHAM -- In the weeks after accusations of rape and sexual assault against three Duke lacrosse players were made public, Matt Weaver saw his sport's image hijacked.

Now a senior co-captain of the lacrosse team at Riverside High School, Weaver watched last year as his sport's reputation became fodder for critics in the media and throughout the community.

"It felt like they were prosecuting lacrosse," Weaver said Sunday morning, one of about 100 people taking part in a community walk in support of the three accused Duke athletes. "Lacrosse as a sport was portrayed as the rich, white hooligans causing trouble in Durham."

Weaver and several other area high school lacrosse players walked Sunday to support the defendants and their sport.

The walk was organized in part by K.C. Kercher, the mother of a Durham lacrosse player who considered playing at Duke but, as the saga played out last year, chose the University of Maryland. The walk was intended as a simple show of support for the accused players, she said.

Marge and Dennis Enberg of Durham have close ties to the Duke lacrosse program through their son, Jon, who played from 1998 to 2002. Jon is a Navy lieutenant now, serving in Iraq. His parents wore some of his team gear -- number 46 -- as they walked the more than 3-mile route.

Like many walkers Sunday, the Enbergs said they are frustrated by actions and decisions made by District Attorney Mike Nifong, who has been pilloried in the community for his handling of the case. He recently stepped down from the case after the State Bar charged him, in part, with withholding evidence and lying to cover it up.

"I'm more disappointed than angry," said Marge Enberg. "You believe so much in the justice system, and so far it hasn't worked the way it was supposed to."

On March 14, 2006, a woman hired to dance at a Duke University lacrosse team party told authorities she had been raped and beaten.

David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., face kidnapping and sexual offense charges. The men say they are innocent and that the allegations are lies. Special prosecutors have been picked by the state attorney general to take over for Nifong. The case is due back in court in May.

Sharon Slezak of Durham is angry about the case. Wearing a button that said "Fantastic Lies" and holding a sign reading "Truth & Fairness for Colin, David, Reade," Slezak said Sunday that Nifong's handling of the case has given Durham a black eye.

"I'm appalled that one person who obviously has his own agenda can do this to people," she said, referring to Nifong. "It's terrifying."

Sunday's walk was a cordial, leisurely affair with no chanting or shouts of protest -- though a few people toted signs and several wore buttons that said "Innocent until proven innocent." It began outside Durham's courthouse -- Nifong's office is on the sixth floor -- and wove through downtown, across Duke's campus to the lacrosse field. Duke's lacrosse players, whose season ended last year after the charges were made public, were practicing Sunday when the group arrived. The walkers assembled outside the fenced field, faced the team and applauded.