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Duke lacrosse no longer the accused

BY JOSEPH MALLIA AND BART JONES | joseph.mallia@newsday.com
bart.jones@newsday.com

12:01 AM EDT, April 12, 2007

Former Duke lacrosse players (left to right) Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann listen to attorney Joe Cheshire address the dismissal of charges stemming from last year's team party in Durham during a press conference in Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday, April 11, 2007, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (MCT Photo / April 11, 2007)

After a harrowing year burdened by accusations that they raped an exotic dancer at an off-campus party, three former Duke University lacrosse players now hope to return to some semblance of a normal life after they were exonerated Wednesday on all charges.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper's unqualified proclamation that the players are innocent, and his criticism of the decision to prosecute them, produced a joyous response by the players and their families.

Speaking shortly after the attorney general's announcement, Collin Finnerty, 20, and the other two players, Reade Seligmann, 21, of Essex Fells, N.J., and David Evans, 24, of Bethesda, Md., thanked their families and legal teams.

"Today was the day we've all been waiting for," Finnerty said at a news conference in Raleigh. "I'm excited to return to being a college student. I hope to return to the field again to play lacrosse and I can't wait to return to normal life back on Long Island."

"It's been 395 days since this nightmare began, and finally today it's coming to a closure," Evans said at the news conference, his voice breaking.

"We're just as innocent today as we were back then," he said. "Nothing has changed, the facts don't change."

Evans' attorney, Joe Cheshire, said work would soon begin to expunge the trio's arrest record in the case. Defense sources also told CNN that the defense plans to pursue lawsuits against District Attorney Mike Nifong, the original prosecutor.

Cooper said his staff, after an exhaustive three-month review of the case, found virtually nothing to support the dancer's claims that Finnerty and two other players assaulted the dancer at a party last year.

"We have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house on that night," Cooper said. "There is insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges."

However, Cooper did not address any details of what happened in the house that night.

He characterized Nifong's decision to prosecute as "a tragic rush to accuse." He also suggested that he viewed Nifong as a "rogue prosecutor" whose excesses contrasted with the norm among North Carolina prosecutors who, Cooper said, strive to be tough but fair.

Finnerty, Evans and Seligmann were indicted last spring on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after the accuser told police she was assaulted at a March 13, 2006, party. The rape charges were later dropped, but the other charges remained until Wednesday.

Cooper said that the accuser will not face prosecution in the case, 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."

The accuser could not be reached for comment last night. But Mark Simeon, a local attorney who spoke on behalf of her parents, said "They were disappointed for their daughter. She did want to go forward with" the case.

Newsday has not named the accuser because she claims to be the victim of sexual assault.

The accusations polarized the Duke campus, the city of Durham, and the nation into groups who believed the players had done nothing wrong and those who believed the charges against them were true. Feelings cooled though, after the case against the players crumbled and rape charges were dropped last December.

After a series of revelations that undermined confidence in the case -- including repeated changes in the dancer's story and DNA results that did not match the accused players -- Nifong stepped aside in January and Cooper's office took over the case.

Nifong, who was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment, faces charges of ethics violation and misconduct in his handling of the case that have jeopardized his law license. Nifong's lawyer, David Freedman, said before Cooper's announcement that Nifong has "complete confidence in the attorney general's office to make the appropriate decision."

As the case unfolded last year, Nifong called the athletes "a bunch of hooligans" and declared DNA evidence would incriminate them. He also was accused of withholding the results of lab tests that found DNA from several men -- none of them lacrosse team members -- on the accuser's underwear and body.

The attorney general Wednesday called for the passage of a law that would allow the North Carolina Supreme Court to remove a district attorney where justice demands it. "This case shows the enormous consequences of overreaching by a prosecutor," Cooper said.