Duke lacrosse players 'innocent'

State Attorney General Roy Cooper criticizes Nifong's 'rush to accuse'

RALEIGH -- Three former Duke lacrosse players are innocent of the charges they've battled for a year, the state attorney general said Wednesday, but Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong is guilty of "a rush to accuse."

As Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed sexual assault and kidnapping charges against Dave Evans, 24, Reade Seligmann, 21, and Collin Finnerty, 20, on Wednesday, he sharply criticized Nifong's handling of a case that put the accused men, Durham and Duke University under a harsh spotlight.

"We believe that these cases were the tragic result of a rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations," Cooper said. "Based on the significant inconsistencies between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges."

Cooper's declaration that the three were innocent -- a word prosecutors rarely use -- brought a long-awaited freedom for men who lived the past year under the threat of decades in prison.

The exonerated players spoke at a news conference at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Raleigh, where supporters' applause punctuated their statements.

"Innocent people can be charged with a crime," Evans said. "Today, the legal system has prevailed."

The hourlong news conference, televised nationally, had unusual and dramatic moments where college athletes called for grand jury reforms and defense lawyers lectured assembled reporters for what they said was a rush to judgment a year ago.

"This case is a study of what is and can be wrong with our justice system," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, the Raleigh lawyer representing Evans. "The Duke lacrosse case was prosecuted by a man who had not a care in the world about justice, but only himself and his personal agenda."

It was hours after a March 13, 2006, spring break party that Crystal Gail Mangum, an escort service dancer, reported being gang-raped at the home that three lacrosse team captains shared at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., across the street from Duke's East Campus.

Her story changed with every telling, even during interviews in recent weeks with Jim Coman and Mary Winstead, the special prosecutors whom Cooper assigned to the case in mid-January.

"We approached this case with the understanding that rape and sexual assault victims often have some inconsistencies in their accounts of a traumatic event," Cooper said. "However, in this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house that night."

Cooper said his office did not plan to pursue charges against Mangum.

Medical records under seal provided prosecutors insight into the accuser. The prosecutors who talked with Mangum during the past three months think that she might believe her many different versions of that night, Cooper said.

Mangum could not be reached for comment, but Mark Simeon, a Durham lawyer, spoke on behalf of her parents.

"They were disappointed for their daughter," Simeon said. "She did want to go forward with it."

The case unleashed cascades of anger -- initially at the lacrosse team, then at the accuser and later at Nifong, who sparked protests and marches with his insistence that a racially motivated gang-rape occurred.

The allegations emerged at a time when residents of neighborhoods near the Duke campus were fed up with rowdy students and late-night parties. In its early weeks, the case was often held up as a symbol of out-of-control, privileged college athletes.

As details emerged about problems with the accuser's story and flaws in the investigation, the case evolved into a symbol of prosecutors run amok and a justice system gone awry.