RALEIGH, N.C.
North Carolina’s top prosecutor dropped all charges Wednesday against the three former Duke University men’s lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting a Black exotic dancer at an off-campus party, saying the athletes were innocent victims of a “tragic rush to accuse” by an overreaching district attorney.
“There were many points in the case where caution would have served justice better than bravado,” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a damning assessment of Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong’s handling of the sensational case.
Cooper, who took over the case in January after Nifong was charged with ethics violations that could get him disbarred, said his own investigation “led us to the conclusion that no attack occurred.”
“I think a lot of people owe a lot of apologies,” Cooper said.
Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans were indicted last spring on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after the woman told police she was assaulted in a bathroom during a team party where she had been hired to perform. The rape charges were later dropped, but the other charges remained.
The case stirred furious debate over race, class and the privileged status of college athletes, and heightened longstanding tensions in Durham between its large working-class Black population and the mostly White, mostly affluent students at the private, elite university.
According to Cooper, the charges were dropped in part because the eyewitness identification procedures were unreliable, no DNA supported the woman’s story, no other witness corroborated it and the woman contradicted herself.
“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,” he said.
However, Cooper said no charges will be brought against the accuser, saying she “may actually believe” the many different stories she told. “We believe it is in the best interest of justice not to bring charges,” he said.
