nelson
10-16-2006, 09:55 AM
It seems crazy to call these guys suspects after their DNA tests came back negative, and after the other stripper called the accuser's story a crock. But this proscutor Nifong carried on anyway, issuing indictments, he's really out for blood. And in these superficial days your life can be ruined by an indictment.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/11/60minutes/printable2082140.shtml
(CBS) When three members of the Duke University mens’ lacrosse team were indicted for rape last spring, the case put one of the country’s most prominent colleges under intense scrutiny, and it pushed onto a national stage divisive issues of race, gender, politics and privilege.
The three players are white, and come from wealthy families; the accuser is black, a local dancer hired to perform at a team party. Over the past six months, 60 Minutes has examined nearly the entire case file, more than 2,000 documents, including police reports, witness statements and medical records. The evidence 60 Minutes has seen reveals disturbing facts about the conduct of the police and the district attorney, and raises serious concerns about whether or not a rape even occurred.
Ed Bradley spoke to some of the key figures in this case, including Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, who have never been interviewed.
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"This woman has destroyed everything I worked for in my life. She's put it on hold. She's destroyed two other families and she's brought shame on a great university. And, worst of all she's split apart a community and a nation on facts that just didn't happen and a lie that should have never been told," says David Evans.
Evans was a co-captain of the lacrosse team and an honors student. He graduated from Duke in May and was headed for a job on Wall Street. Today, at age 23, he is contemplating a future much darker than he ever imagined.
Asked if he ever thinks about the possibility of a conviction and a long prison sentence, Evans tells Bradley, "Thirty years. I could go to jail for something that never happens."
Collin Finnerty, 20, a sophomore and one of most talented young players on the team, is under suspension from Duke pending the outcome of the trial. He says he still can’t fathom why he has been accused of rape.
"I never expected anything even close to that happening. I never expected anyone to get indicted, let alone myself," Finnerty says.
The accuser had picked Finnerty out of a line-up. "It's unbelievable. Don't know how, why that happened. But, try to figure that out, I really have no idea how that happened," he says.
His teammate, 20-year-old Reade Seligmann could have played lacrosse at any university he wanted. He was recruited by Harvard and Princeton, but chose to go to Duke. Today, facing felony charges, he is not allowed to set on foot on campus unless he obtains permission from the university.
"Your whole life you try to, you know, stay on the right path, and to do the right things. And someone can come along and take it all away. Just by going like that. Just by pointing their finger. That’s all it takes," Seligmann says.
The allegations rocked the city of Durham, and the campus at Duke, setting off angry protests by students, faculty and local residents, who denounced the lacrosse team. David Evans, who lived in the house where the alleged rape occurred, says he actually began to fear for his own safety.
"There were threats of drive-by shootings, acts of violence, assaults, people driving by Duke students and pretending to point guns at them and it was just very scary," Evans explains. "We moved out after the first day because there were mobs in front of the house burning candles, putting terrible things up, asking us to get a conscience, show character. It was terrible."
Police released affidavits stating the accuser’s claim that she was pulled into a bathroom by three men and raped “anally, vaginally, and orally” while they “hit, kicked, and strangled” her over a “30 minute” period.
The district attorney, Mike Nifong, took to the airwaves giving dozens of interviews, expressing with absolute certainty that Duke lacrosse players had committed a horrific crime. His comments fueled explosive news coverage and fed public suspicion of the team, before much of the evidence was gathered.
"There’s no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location," he said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor."
D.A. Nifong referred to the lacrosse players “a bunch of hooligans” whose “daddies could buy them expensive lawyers.” He played up the racial aspects of the case, but insisted that his public comments had nothing to do with the hotly contested election campaign he was waging in a city with a large black population.
In an instant, the image of the players went from athletes to accused criminals, in the form of mug shots. The Duke lacrosse players had been big men on campus – top students and favorites to win a national title. But it all came crashing down after the players held their annual team party.
The party was at a house on March 13th during spring break at Duke University, located just off campus. It was rented by three captains of the Duke lacrosse team who lived there.
The party that afternoon started about 2 p.m. and as the day wore on, the players were in and out of the house. What is not in dispute here is that there was drinking and two exotic dancers were hired to perform that night. By the time the dancers arrived after 11 p.m., 35 players from the lacrosse team were at the party.
"I'd say at least half of them were tipsy or better. Tipsy or better," says Kim Roberts, the other dancer paid to perform that night and a central witness in the case.
Roberts went by the stage name “Nikki”, and has consistently maintained that she never witnessed a sexual assault in the house. But she has wavered in her opinions and recollections about the case. At first she said the allegations by the accuser, known as “Precious,” were “a crock.” And then later she believed “they were guilty.” Now, she says she just wants to stick to the facts.
"I’m not a detective, I’m not the D.A. I'm just a girl who was there. So honestly, what needs to happen is you hear my version, you hear their version, put it together. Sift through the bull. And hopefully come out with as much truth as possible," Roberts tells Bradley.
Roberts gave 60 Minutes a detailed account of what she witnessed at the party that night. She says the dance got underway just around midnight, as seen here in a time-stamped photograph taken by one of the players.
"We were doing, you know, things that strippers are supposed to do," Roberts recalls.
Asked how the players were reacting, she says, "They seemed happy, you know? They seemed eager. They were really ready for us to come. When we came out, they hooted and hollered. I thought they were getting a good little eyeful."
The smiling and the cheering didn’t last long. The dancer known as "Precious" soon began stumbling and falling on the floor of the living room. "Precious" later told the police that she had been drinking that night. She was also taking Flexeril, a powerful prescription muscle relaxant.
"At some point you said that she seemed intoxicated," Bradley tells Roberts.
"Yeah, something was going on, you know, where we were stumbling over each other, falling against each other, maybe almost tripping each other. So it started to get a little uncomfortable," she replies.
What happened next would alter the outcome of the entire evening. The women danced for a few minutes until one of the lacrosse players asked them if they had any sex toys. That player then followed up with a provocative comment about a broomstick.
"He asked about the sex toys. I was not offended about that question. Didn't bother me at all. I told him 'Didn't have any. Good idea though fella. You know, that would've, you know, eaten up some time,'" Roberts recalls, laughing. "But as soon as I said that, he said 'Don't worry, don't worry, we'll just use this on you.' And I started to think, 'What if they did really want to use a broomstick?' What if, you know?"
Asked if she felt threatened or intimidated by the broomstick, Roberts tells Bradley, "Definitely. All of that. Not necessarily completely threatened that he might use that actual broomstick but threatened that if he would say that and I've only been on this dance floor for ten minutes, what's the next step? You know what I mean? What's next? What's the next thing they might say?"
At this point, Roberts says they stopped dancing.
After that, David Evans says that his teammates, who had paid the women $800 for a two-hour performance, felt cheated.
"When they stopped, a lot of, there was a lot of confusion in the room, you know. Guys thought that we might have been hustled when they said they were leaving. We paid $800 and they were there for five minutes. And, naturally guys got upset," he says.
A photograph shows the dancers leaving the living room at 12:04 a.m. Shortly after, they locked themselves in the bathroom. The players began to argue with them through the door, insisting that they come out and continue dancing.
----------------------
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/11/60minutes/printable2082140.shtml
(CBS) When three members of the Duke University mens’ lacrosse team were indicted for rape last spring, the case put one of the country’s most prominent colleges under intense scrutiny, and it pushed onto a national stage divisive issues of race, gender, politics and privilege.
The three players are white, and come from wealthy families; the accuser is black, a local dancer hired to perform at a team party. Over the past six months, 60 Minutes has examined nearly the entire case file, more than 2,000 documents, including police reports, witness statements and medical records. The evidence 60 Minutes has seen reveals disturbing facts about the conduct of the police and the district attorney, and raises serious concerns about whether or not a rape even occurred.
Ed Bradley spoke to some of the key figures in this case, including Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, who have never been interviewed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This woman has destroyed everything I worked for in my life. She's put it on hold. She's destroyed two other families and she's brought shame on a great university. And, worst of all she's split apart a community and a nation on facts that just didn't happen and a lie that should have never been told," says David Evans.
Evans was a co-captain of the lacrosse team and an honors student. He graduated from Duke in May and was headed for a job on Wall Street. Today, at age 23, he is contemplating a future much darker than he ever imagined.
Asked if he ever thinks about the possibility of a conviction and a long prison sentence, Evans tells Bradley, "Thirty years. I could go to jail for something that never happens."
Collin Finnerty, 20, a sophomore and one of most talented young players on the team, is under suspension from Duke pending the outcome of the trial. He says he still can’t fathom why he has been accused of rape.
"I never expected anything even close to that happening. I never expected anyone to get indicted, let alone myself," Finnerty says.
The accuser had picked Finnerty out of a line-up. "It's unbelievable. Don't know how, why that happened. But, try to figure that out, I really have no idea how that happened," he says.
His teammate, 20-year-old Reade Seligmann could have played lacrosse at any university he wanted. He was recruited by Harvard and Princeton, but chose to go to Duke. Today, facing felony charges, he is not allowed to set on foot on campus unless he obtains permission from the university.
"Your whole life you try to, you know, stay on the right path, and to do the right things. And someone can come along and take it all away. Just by going like that. Just by pointing their finger. That’s all it takes," Seligmann says.
The allegations rocked the city of Durham, and the campus at Duke, setting off angry protests by students, faculty and local residents, who denounced the lacrosse team. David Evans, who lived in the house where the alleged rape occurred, says he actually began to fear for his own safety.
"There were threats of drive-by shootings, acts of violence, assaults, people driving by Duke students and pretending to point guns at them and it was just very scary," Evans explains. "We moved out after the first day because there were mobs in front of the house burning candles, putting terrible things up, asking us to get a conscience, show character. It was terrible."
Police released affidavits stating the accuser’s claim that she was pulled into a bathroom by three men and raped “anally, vaginally, and orally” while they “hit, kicked, and strangled” her over a “30 minute” period.
The district attorney, Mike Nifong, took to the airwaves giving dozens of interviews, expressing with absolute certainty that Duke lacrosse players had committed a horrific crime. His comments fueled explosive news coverage and fed public suspicion of the team, before much of the evidence was gathered.
"There’s no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location," he said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor."
D.A. Nifong referred to the lacrosse players “a bunch of hooligans” whose “daddies could buy them expensive lawyers.” He played up the racial aspects of the case, but insisted that his public comments had nothing to do with the hotly contested election campaign he was waging in a city with a large black population.
In an instant, the image of the players went from athletes to accused criminals, in the form of mug shots. The Duke lacrosse players had been big men on campus – top students and favorites to win a national title. But it all came crashing down after the players held their annual team party.
The party was at a house on March 13th during spring break at Duke University, located just off campus. It was rented by three captains of the Duke lacrosse team who lived there.
The party that afternoon started about 2 p.m. and as the day wore on, the players were in and out of the house. What is not in dispute here is that there was drinking and two exotic dancers were hired to perform that night. By the time the dancers arrived after 11 p.m., 35 players from the lacrosse team were at the party.
"I'd say at least half of them were tipsy or better. Tipsy or better," says Kim Roberts, the other dancer paid to perform that night and a central witness in the case.
Roberts went by the stage name “Nikki”, and has consistently maintained that she never witnessed a sexual assault in the house. But she has wavered in her opinions and recollections about the case. At first she said the allegations by the accuser, known as “Precious,” were “a crock.” And then later she believed “they were guilty.” Now, she says she just wants to stick to the facts.
"I’m not a detective, I’m not the D.A. I'm just a girl who was there. So honestly, what needs to happen is you hear my version, you hear their version, put it together. Sift through the bull. And hopefully come out with as much truth as possible," Roberts tells Bradley.
Roberts gave 60 Minutes a detailed account of what she witnessed at the party that night. She says the dance got underway just around midnight, as seen here in a time-stamped photograph taken by one of the players.
"We were doing, you know, things that strippers are supposed to do," Roberts recalls.
Asked how the players were reacting, she says, "They seemed happy, you know? They seemed eager. They were really ready for us to come. When we came out, they hooted and hollered. I thought they were getting a good little eyeful."
The smiling and the cheering didn’t last long. The dancer known as "Precious" soon began stumbling and falling on the floor of the living room. "Precious" later told the police that she had been drinking that night. She was also taking Flexeril, a powerful prescription muscle relaxant.
"At some point you said that she seemed intoxicated," Bradley tells Roberts.
"Yeah, something was going on, you know, where we were stumbling over each other, falling against each other, maybe almost tripping each other. So it started to get a little uncomfortable," she replies.
What happened next would alter the outcome of the entire evening. The women danced for a few minutes until one of the lacrosse players asked them if they had any sex toys. That player then followed up with a provocative comment about a broomstick.
"He asked about the sex toys. I was not offended about that question. Didn't bother me at all. I told him 'Didn't have any. Good idea though fella. You know, that would've, you know, eaten up some time,'" Roberts recalls, laughing. "But as soon as I said that, he said 'Don't worry, don't worry, we'll just use this on you.' And I started to think, 'What if they did really want to use a broomstick?' What if, you know?"
Asked if she felt threatened or intimidated by the broomstick, Roberts tells Bradley, "Definitely. All of that. Not necessarily completely threatened that he might use that actual broomstick but threatened that if he would say that and I've only been on this dance floor for ten minutes, what's the next step? You know what I mean? What's next? What's the next thing they might say?"
At this point, Roberts says they stopped dancing.
After that, David Evans says that his teammates, who had paid the women $800 for a two-hour performance, felt cheated.
"When they stopped, a lot of, there was a lot of confusion in the room, you know. Guys thought that we might have been hustled when they said they were leaving. We paid $800 and they were there for five minutes. And, naturally guys got upset," he says.
A photograph shows the dancers leaving the living room at 12:04 a.m. Shortly after, they locked themselves in the bathroom. The players began to argue with them through the door, insisting that they come out and continue dancing.