News & Observer | newsobserver.com | '60 Minutes' taps players, Cooper

Published: Apr 16, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Apr 16, 2007 01:42 AM

'60 Minutes' taps players, Cooper

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The CBS News news show, "60 Minutes," aired a 20-minute report Sunday about the dismissal of charges in the Duke University lacrosse case.

Lesley Stahl interviewed North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper and all three former Duke lacrosse players, whom Cooper declared last week "innocent" of sexual assault allegations by an escort service dancer, Crystal Gail Mangum.

Some highlights:

ON MIKE NIFONG: Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has said a lot publicly about the Duke University lacrosse team. Stahl asked Dave Evans, 24; Collin Finnerty, 20; and Reade Seligmann, 21; for their thoughts on the man who tried to put them in prison for 30 years.

"He caused our family so much pain and heartache for so long," Seligmann said. "He tried to take away my name. He tried to take away my life."

Finnerty blasted an apology Nifong released the day after Cooper dismissed the charges.

"This has been a year of decision after decision after decision to keep doing the wrong thing. He's had so much time to say 'sorry' over the last year. It comes the day after we're exonerated. I don't think anyone's going to feel better after that apology," Finnerty said.

Evans said he wanted to give Nifong a fair hearing before the State Bar, which has filed ethics charges that threaten the career prosecutor's law license.

"I can only imagine that it's very difficult for him to go home and have to look his son in the eyes and have to answer the questions that he probably has for him," Evans said.

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS: Cooper told Stahl that Mangum continued to tell conflicting stories. She told Cooper's investigators and prosecutors that she was suspended in midair and assaulted. Cooper said the bathroom was not big enough for her story to be true.

After the attack, she claimed she was taken outside and kicked and beaten by two of the men, who were joined in the attack by 10 other lacrosse players. Cooper said no evidence supports that story and a photograph of Mangum on the porch with a smile on her face contradicts it.

Mangum said that Finnerty and Evans took her to a car after the party. Cooper said Finnerty could prove he had left by then and a photograph shows a different player taking Mangum to her car.

Mangum, who has a history of mental illness, apparently believes her allegations. Cooper said Nifong had enough information to see that her story didn't hold up.

"Good prosecutors, we demand them to look hard at the facts, look hard at the law. We also demand them to change their minds if the facts so dictate," Cooper said. "Here, these contradictions were clearly pointing to the fact that this attack did not occur, and it's disappointing and really outrageous that it was not stopped sooner."

What's next?

Stahl reported that Finnerty and Seligmann were applying to new schools. Evans said that he will move on with his life -- Stahl reported that he has a job on Wall Street -- but that the word rape will always follow him.

"When I die, they'll say, 'One of the three Duke lacrosse rape suspects died today. He led a life and did this, but he was one of the three Duke lacrosse rape suspects," Evans said.

The players could file lawsuits over the year they spent as wrongly accused criminal defendants.

"I'm angry at so many people and there are so many people that I think need to be held accountable," Seligmann said. "But for the time being, I'm just so happy to get back on with my life... I want to smile again. I don't want to have to be vengeful."

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