Judgment day

With clear words, the state puts an end to the Duke lacrosse charges -- a fair outcome in light of weak evidence

When North Carolina's justice system finally took a thorough look at the Duke lacrosse charges, it didn't like what it found. "We believe," said state Attorney General Roy Cooper, "that these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations....we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges."

With that -- and well-aimed blasts at Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong -- Cooper announced the dismissal of all remaining charges in a year-long case that captured nationwide interest. David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann are free to go on with their lives, as best they can.

The decision to drop the charges, following a 12-week investigation by the Attorney General's Office after it took over the case from Nifong, formally ended a shaky prosecution that had fallen apart months earlier.

Now a measure of justice, although delayed, replaces justice long denied. But in the view of the students, their families and many in the public, this case should have been stopped before charges ever were filed. Why wasn't it? Cooper did not mince words:

"...with the weight of the state behind him, the Durham district attorney pushed forward unchecked. There were many points in the case where caution would have served justice better than bravado. And in the rush to condemn, a community and a state lost the ability to see clearly.

"Regardless of the reasons this case was pushed forward, the result was wrong. Today, we need to learn from this and keep it from happening again to anybody." Cooper proposed that the state Supreme Court be granted authority to take away a case from a prosecutor in limited circumstances "where justice demands."

The attorney general refrained from attributing motives to Nifong's move a year ago to charge the three players despite weak, often contradictory evidence after an exotic dancer said she had been raped while performing at an off-campus lacrosse team party.

No confirming evidence

Nifong, who in December dropped the principal charge, first-degree forcible rape, against Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann, had left kidnapping and sexual offense charges in place. It was those allegations that Cooper abandoned yesterday.

He cited eyewitness identification procedures in the Durham Police Department that were "faulty and unreliable." He said, "No DNA confirms the accuser's story. No other witness confirms her story. Other evidence contradicts her story. She contradicts herself." The AG's office and special prosecutors Jim Coman and Mary Winstead concluded that "no attack occurred."

It was a stunningly clear resolution to an often murky case, one that highlighted racial and class divides, along with anti-Duke feeling in Durham and animus about athletes. The players are white and their families well-off; the accuser, a black student at N.C. Central University, worked for an escort service.

The March 13, 2006 team party was at a rented house in a neighborhood long disrupted by student parties. Lacrosse team members, it turned out, had a disproportionate number of arrests on minor charges. It did seem that a crime might have been committed -- but the countervailing evidence was strong and got stronger.

Prosecutor's missteps

Nifong, however, was too busy blabbing into news media microphones and running for election to pay heed. Or, apparently, to read the numerous news stories pointing to shoddy, one-sided police procedures and highly questionable judgments by the prosecution team.

Now he's up before the N.C. State Bar, accused of making misleading and inflammatory comments about the defendants, and of withholding evidence and lying to the court. Serious matters, which could lead to disbarment. He'll face judgment in June.

As for the accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum, Cooper said she won't face charges. He said that while she may well believe her own story, there are reasons to judge her insufficiently credible.

That leaves Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann. Some apologies to them, Cooper suggested, are in order. And although the three could sue Nifong or others, the state's forthright statement of their innocence could serve as the best gateway to their futures.

What, though, of the countless criminal defendants, too poor to challenge a "rogue prosecutor" -- Cooper's words -- who may have been railroaded to trial on equally flimsy charges without the aid of accomplished defense attorneys? That is the rough underside of the justice system this case exposed. It was no comfort for North Carolinians to see the system in a sizeable county put under the microscope and found so woefully wanting.

That problem remains, and Cooper's suggested role for the Supreme Court may be a partial remedy. In the meantime we're lucky that there was a process and that the process eventually righted a grievous wrong.