2006 Duke University lacrosse team scandal
Encyclopedia
The Duke lacrosse case is a common name given to a criminal investigation into a 2006 false accusation of rape
made against three members of the men's lacrosse team at Duke University
in Durham, North Carolina
. The fallout from the case's resolution led to, among other things, the disbarment of lead prosecutor Mike Nifong.
student at North Carolina Central University
who worked as a stripper, dancer and escort, falsely accused
three white
Duke University
students, members of the Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse
team, of raping
her at a party held at the house of two of the team's captains
in Durham, North Carolina
on March 13, 2006. Many people involved in, or commenting on, the case, including prosecutor Mike Nifong, called the alleged assault a hate crime
or suggested it might be one.
In response to the allegations Duke University suspended the lacrosse team for two games on March 28, 2006. On April 5, 2006, Duke lacrosse coach Mike Pressler
was forced to resign under threat by athletics director Joe Alleva and Duke President Richard Brodhead
canceled the remainder of the 2006 season
.
On April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General
Roy Cooper
dropped all charges and declared the three players innocent. Cooper stated that the charged players – Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans – were victims of a "tragic rush to accuse." The initial prosecutor
for the case, Durham County
's District Attorney
Mike Nifong, who was labeled a "rogue prosecutor" by Cooper, withdrew from the case in January 2007 after the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against him. That June, Nifong was disbarred
for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation", making Nifong the first prosecutor in North Carolina history to lose his law license based on actions in a case. Nifong was found guilty
of criminal contempt and served one day in jail. Mangum never faced any charges for her false accusations as Cooper declined to prosecute her.
Cooper pointed to several inconsistencies in Mangum's accounts of the evening as well as unimpeachable alibi
evidence provided by Seligmann and Finnerty in the summary of findings report. The Durham Police Department came under fire for violating their own policies by allowing Nifong to act as the de facto
head of the investigation, giving a suspect-only photo identification procedure to Mangum, pursuing the case despite vast discrepancies in notes taken by Investigator Benjamin Himan and Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, and distributing a poster presuming the guilt of the suspects shortly after the allegations. The ex-players are seeking unspecified damages and new criminal justice reform laws in a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the City of Durham. The case has sparked varied responses from the media, faculty groups, students, the community, and others.
, had been working part-time for about two months as an escort
and stripper
for Allure Escort Service. (Early claims that Mangum had only recently taken up this line of work and that the party was "the first time she had been hired to dance provocatively for a group" were incorrect; Mangum was working at strip clubs at least as far back as her 2002 arrest for stealing the car of a patron to whom she gave a lap dance.) Before arriving at the party that day, she had by her own admission consumed alcohol and Flexeril
(a prescription muscle relaxer). Mangum's coworker that day was Kim Roberts, but they arrived separately.
According to statements provided to police by students attending the party, on March 13, 2006, a party was held at the off campus residence of the captains of the Duke lacrosse team, a house that Duke University owned and had previously purchased with the intent of reselling as a single family dwelling once the lease of the current occupants expired. The players were consuming alcohol at the party. The players contacted Allure and requested two white strippers, but the women who arrived, Mangum and Roberts, were respectively African-American and half-Asian-American, half-African-American. One player asked if the dancers had any sex toys, and Roberts responded by asking if the player's penis was too small, according to the team captains. The player then brandished a broomstick and suggested that she "use this [as a sex toy]." This exchange of words abruptly stopped the performance, and both strippers went inside the home's bathroom. While the women were still in the bathroom, Seligmann and Finnerty left the house. The women came out, and Mangum roamed around the yard half-dressed and shouting.
Shortly before 1 a.m., Mangum and Roberts entered Roberts' vehicle. Kim Roberts called the attendees "Short dick white boys", and "how he couldn't get it on his own and had to pay for it", to which one player yelled "We asked for whites, not niggers." Mangum and Roberts departed in Roberts' car. Kim Roberts then called 911 and said white men who came out of 610 N. Buchanan yelled "nigger" at her from near the East Campus wall. Defense attorneys have questioned inconsistencies in the call – the caller first said she was driving, and later said she was walking when the slur was yelled.
supermarket, went inside, and spoke to a security guard. She told the guard that a woman was refusing to leave her car. The guard walked to the car and asked Mangum to leave, but Mangum stayed in the vehicle. The guard said that she did not smell alcohol on Mangum's breath, but thought she might have been under the influence of other drugs. At 1:22 AM, the guard called 911 to report that Mangum refused to leave the car. Police then arrived, tried to remove Mangum from the car, and questioned her.
The police then took Mangum to the Durham Access Center, a mental-health and substance-abuse facility, for involuntary commitment. During the admission process, she claimed that she had been raped prior to her arrival. Mangum was transferred to Duke University Medical Center and received treatment for genital injuries, but it was unclear whether or not these injuries were consistent with rape. There were no abrasions, tears, or bleeding in the vaginal area, but investigators did find swelling in the vaginal area, along with tenderness in Mangum's breasts and lower-right quadrant. There was no blunt-force trauma, but Mangum had two non-bleeding scratches on her right knee and a non-bleeding scratch on her right heel.
There was diffuse swelling of the vagina, and investigators did not note any other injuries in the rest of the report. Mangum later claimed that she had performed using a vibrator for a couple in a hotel room shortly before the lacrosse-team party. This activity, or a yeast infection, might account for the swelling.
.
Some of the players suggested that the e-mail was conceived as humorous irony
. Administrators asserted the email was an imitation of Patrick Bateman
, the protagonist
in the Bret Easton Ellis
novel, American Psycho
, which was read and lectured on in at least one Duke class. McFadyen was not charged with any crime, but he was temporarily suspended from Duke, due to what the university described as safety concerns. He was invited back to Duke to continue his studies later that summer.
) to conduct additional tests. DNA from multiple males was found inside Mangum and upon the rape kit items that had been tested, but none matched any of the lacrosse players. Mike Nifong falsely represented to the public and to the court that DNA had only been found from a single male source, her boyfriend.
On December 15, 2006, defense attorneys argued in a motion that the DNA report given to Nifong's office (and thus what the defense attorneys received) was incomplete, omitting information that showed DNA samples from several men on the woman and her underwear, but that none of the genetic material matched any of the players. The director of the DNA lab, Brian Meehan, who wrote the misleading report, acknowledged that the decision violated the lab's policies, but stated that his lab did not try to withhold information. Rather, Meehan claimed, he decided to withhold the exculpatory DNA evidence after discussing it with Nifong in an attempt to not drag anyone else through the mud. Meehan was fired by the new owner of DNA Security in October 2007.
DNA taken from all surfaces of three false fingernails belonging to Mangum which were retrieved from the trash in the bathroom (widely but falsely reported as DNA taken from the underside only of a single fingernail) showed some characteristics similar to David Evans' DNA, according to the private laboratory, but the match was not conclusive. Defense attorneys have suggested that any DNA present may have come from the tissue paper, cotton swabs, or other hygiene-related trash that had been in the garbage can along with the fingernail, since David Evans lived in the house. This was confirmed later by Attorney General Cooper's investigation: "... to the extent that Evans's DNA could not be excluded, the SBI experts confirmed that the DNA could easily have been transferred to the fingernails from other materials in the trash can".
Nifong claimed that the lack of DNA is not unusual and that 75–80% of all sexual assault
cases lack DNA evidence. Rape victims often delay reporting by days or weeks, inadvertently destroying DNA evidence. In this case, Mangum had a rape-kit exam administered only hours after the end of the party, and the absence of DNA is considered unlikely by many legal experts.
During Nifong's ethics trial on June 14, 2007, the complete DNA findings were revealed during Brad Bannon's testimony. It revealed, according to conservative estimates, that the lab had discovered at least two unidentified males' DNA in Mangum's pubic region; at least two unidentified males' DNA in her rectum; at least four to five unidentified males' DNA on her panties; and at least one identified male's DNA in her vagina.
On April 18, 2006, two members of the lacrosse team, Collin Finnerty, 19, and Reade Seligmann, 20, were arrested and indicted on charges of first degree forcible rape
, first degree sexual offense and kidnapping
. Collin Finnerty had previously been charged with assaulting a man in Washington, DC and shouting anti-gay epithets at him. That Washington D.C. incident had not been cited as a hate crime. He pled guilty and agreed to community service in November 2005 as part of a diversion program. On January 10, 2007, the matter was cleared on Finnerty's record by a judge after monitoring Finnerty for several months and learning more about his character. Seligmann reportedly told teammates that he was glad at being indicted, alluding to a solid alibi in the form of ATM records, photographs, cell phone records, an affidavit from a taxi driver, and a record of his DukeCard being swiped at his dorm.
On April 18, search warrants were executed on Finnerty and Seligmann's dorm rooms.
On May 15, 2006, a third Duke lacrosse team player, former team captain and 2006 Duke graduate David Evans, was indicted on charges of first-degree forcible rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Just before turning himself in at the Durham County Detention Center, he made a public statement declaring his innocence and his expectation of being cleared of the charges within weeks.
On June 8, 2006, court documents revealed that Roberts, in her initial statement, said she was with Mangum the entire evening except for a period of less than five minutes. Additionally, after hearing Mangum saying she was sexually assaulted, she was incredulous.
On December 22, 2006, District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped the rape charges against all three lacrosse players. The kidnapping and sexual offense charges were still pending against all three players.
On December 28, 2006, the North Carolina bar filed ethics charges against Nifong over his conduct in the case, accusing him of making public statements that were prejudicial to the administration of justice and of engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. The 17-page document accuses Nifong of violating four rules of professional conduct, listing more than 100 examples of statements he made to the media.
On January 12, 2007, Nifong sent a letter to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper asking to be taken off the case, giving the responsibility of the case to the Attorney General's office. On January 13, 2007 Attorney General Roy Cooper announced that his office would take over the case.
On January 24, 2007, the North Carolina State Bar filed a second round of ethics charges against Nifong for a systematic abuse of prosecutorial discretion that was prejudicial to the administration of justice when he withheld DNA evidence to mislead the court.
On March 23, 2007, Justin Paul Caulfield, a legal analyst for Inside Lacrosse Magazine, stated on Fox News that charges would soon be dropped. While the North Carolina Attorney General's Office first disputed the report, on April 11, 2007, it announced that it had dismissed all charges against the three lacrosse players. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper not only dismissed the charges but he took the unusual step of declaring the accused players innocent. Cooper also announced that Mangum would not be prosecuted, stating that investigators and attorneys that had interviewed her thought "she may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling" and "it's in the best interest of justice not to bring charges".
and "one or two large-size beers" before the party. It has since been confirmed by the Attorney General's office that Mangum has taken Ambien, methadone
, Paxil and amitriptyline
, although when she began taking these medications is uncertain. She has a long history of mental problems and has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder
. She also has taken anti-psychotic medications such as Seroquel.
The Duke defense lawyers or media reports have said that:
Some of the questions about her credibility were:
At least two photo lineups have been reported by the media.
In the March identification process, Mangum selected at least five different individuals, one of whom was Reade Seligmann (whom she identified with 70% certainty). During the April identification process, Mangum identified at least 16 lacrosse players. She identified Seligmann and Finnerty with 100% certainty and Dave Evans with 90% certainty during the April identification procedure. In the disclosed report, there were only two individuals that she identified during both the March and April lineups – Brad Ross and Reade Seligmann.
Ross (the only player she identified as attending the party with 100% certainty during both procedures) provided to police investigators indisputable evidence that he was with his girlfriend at North Carolina State University
before, during, and after the party through cell phone records and a sworn affidavit from a witness. Another person she identified in April also provided police with evidence that he did not attend the party at all. In regards to Seligmann's identification, Mangum's confidence increased from 70% in March to 100% in April. Gary Wells, an Iowa State University
professor and expert on police identification procedures replied that memory does not get better with time.
According to the transcript of the photo identification released on The Abrams Report
, Mangum also stated that David Evans had a mustache on the night of the attack. Evans' lawyer stated that his client never has had a mustache and that photos as well as eyewitness testimony would reveal that Evans has never had a mustache.
Duke's student newspaper, The Chronicle, depicted other examples of violence and dishonesty from Sgt. Gottlieb. It published that one student threw a party at his rental home off-East Campus before the Rolling Stones concert in October 2005. The morning after the concert, at 3 A.M., Sgt. Gottlieb led a raid on the home with nine other officers while the students were half asleep. It reported that one student was dragged out of bed and then dragged down the stairs. It reported that all seven housemates were put in handcuffs, arrested, and taken into custody for violating a noise ordinance and open container of alcohol violations. Sgt. Gottlieb reportedly told one student, who was a U.S. citizen of Serbia
n descent, that the student could be deported. Other stories include the throwing of a 130 pound male against his car for an open container of alcohol violation, refusing the ID of a student since he was international, searching through a purse without a warrant, refusing to tell a student her rights, and accusations of perjury
.
On April 12, 2007, the attorney general, in declaring Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann innocent, also called Nifong a "rogue prosecutor". Nifong was ordered disbarred
on June 16, 2007 after the bar's three-member disciplinary panel unanimously found him guilty of fraud
, dishonesty
, deceit
or misrepresentation
; of making false statements of material fact before a judge; of making false statements of material fact before bar investigators, and of lying about withholding exculpatory DNA evidence.
On August 31, 2007, Nifong was convicted of criminal contempt for knowingly making false statements during the criminal proceedings. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong to a single day in jail.
, the coach of the lacrosse team, received threatening e-mails and hate calls, had castigating signs placed on his property, and was the frequent victim of vandalism in the aftermath of the accusations.
On April 5, 2006, he resigned (later revealed to have been forced) shortly after the McFadyen e-mail became public. Through his lawyer, he stated that his resignation was not an admission of wrongdoing on his part. On the same day, Richard H. Brodhead
, president of Duke University, suspended the remainder of the lacrosse season. Other Duke faculty members (sometimes referred to as the Group of 88, sometimes referred to as the "Gang of 88") have also been targeted for their "Social Disaster" letter as well as individual comments and reactions which continue to create a perception of prejudgment.
Lacrosse team members had their photographs posted prominently around Durham and on the Duke University campus with accompanying captions requesting that they come forward with information about the incident.
news outlet to reveal Mangum's photo following the dismissal of the case, although some other organizations such as MSNBC
and 60 Minutes
revealed her name. The case placed a larger spotlight on the mainstream media's convention of keeping secret the identity of accusers in sexual assault cases, while at the same time exposing the identity of the defendants. Several major broadcasters did not publish Mangum's name at any point, including ABC
, PBS
, CNN
, and NBC
.
on cable news channel MSNBC
and by local television affiliate NBC
17 WNCN
in North Carolina.
On April 21, 2006, outspoken talk-radio host Tom Leykis
disclosed Mangum's name during his nationally syndicated talk-radio program. Leykis has disclosed identities of accusers of sexual assault
in the past. On May 15, 2006, MSNBC host Tucker Carlson
disclosed Mangum's first name only on his show, Tucker
. Court records presented by the defense reveal Mangum's name.
On April 11, 2007, several other mainstream media sources revealed or used Mangum's name and/or picture after the attorney general dropped all the charges and declared the players innocent. These sources include: CBS
, The News & Observer
, WRAL
, all The McClatchy Company
's newspapers (which includes 24 newspapers across the country), Fox News, Charlotte Observer, The New York Post, Comedy Central
's The Daily Show
(airdate April 12, 2007) and MSNBC
.
held a protest outside Duke University.
The case drew national attention and highlighted racial tensions within the Durham area.
In January 2007, lacrosse team member Kyle Dowd filed a lawsuit against Duke University and visiting associate professor and member of the Group of 88 (sometimes referred to as the "Gang of 88"), Kim Curtis, claiming that he and another teammate were given failing grades on their final paper as a form of retaliation after the scandal broke. The case has been settled with the terms undisclosed except that Dowd's grade was altered to a P.
Dowd's mother emailed another member of the 88, Houston Baker, who continued to accuse her son and the others of being, "hooligans, rapists", and called her "the mother of a farm animal".
The lacrosse team, reinstated for the 2007 season, reached the NCAA Finals
as the #1 seed. The Blue Devils lost to the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays in the championship, 12–11.
In May 2007, Duke requested that the NCAA restore a year's eligibility to the players on the 2006 men's team, part of whose season was canceled. The NCAA granted the team's request for another year of eligibility, which applies to the 33 members of the 2006 team who were underclassmen in 2006 and who remained at Duke in 2007. Four of the seniors from 2006 attended graduate school at Duke in 2007 and played for the team. In 2010, the final year in which the team included fifth-year seniors (freshmen in 2006), Duke won the NCAA Lacrosse Championship
beating Notre Dame
, 6–5 in overtime
, to give the school its first lacrosse championship.
Seligmann enrolled as a student at Brown University
in the fall of 2007, while Finnerty enrolled at Loyola College in Maryland
.
On June 7, 2007, it was announced that lacrosse coach Mike Pressler and Duke had reached an amicable and fair financial settlement. Pressler was later hired as coach by Division II (now Division I) Bryant University
in Rhode Island. In October 2007, Pressler filed suit seeking to undo the settlement and hold a trial on his wrongful termination claim on the grounds that Duke spokesman John Burness had made disparaging comments about him. After Duke failed in an attempt to have the case dismissed, the matter was settled in 2010 with Duke apologizing in a press release and refusing to comment further on any other compensation. On June 18, 2007, the families of the three players announced that they reached an agreement with Duke. No details of the settlement were disclosed.
On August 25, 2007, multiple sources reported that the players would file a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the city of Durham. On August 31, 2007, Nifong was convicted of criminal contempt for knowingly making false statements during the criminal proceedings. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong to a single day in jail, which he subsequently served.
On September 29, 2007, Duke President Brodhead, speaking at a two-day conference at Duke Law School on the practice and ethics of trying cases in the media, apologized for "causing the families to feel abandoned when they most needed support."
Crystal Mangum graduated from North Carolina Central University in May 2008, with a degree in police psychology. On August 22, 2008, a press release announced the planned publication in October 2008 of a memoir by Mangum, The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story. The press release says the book "can't and doesn't deal with the complex legal aspects of the case" but nevertheless asserts that "the muddling of facts about Crystal's life, along with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper's desire to settle the dispute over open file discovery, swallowed the case whole." Attorney Cheshire responded to the news by saying that if the book was truthful, "I think it would be fabulous, and I don't think anybody would think badly about her in any way, shape or form," but that if the memoir did not acknowledge the falsity of her allegations against the players, that he would advise them to initiate civil action against her.
On July 12, 2010, Duke demolished the house at which the party took place, 610 North Buchanan Boulevard, after it had sat unoccupied for the four years following the Duke lacrosse case.
Durham declined the settlement offer and on October 5, 2007, Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann filed a federal lawsuit alleging a broad conspiracy to frame the players. Named in the suit were Nifong, the lab that handled the DNA work, the city of Durham, the city's former police chief, the deputy police chief, the two police detectives who handled the case and five other police department employees. The players are seeking unspecified damages, and also want to place the Durham Police Department under court supervision for 10 years, claiming the actions of the police department pose "a substantial risk of irreparable injury to other persons in the City of Durham". According to the suit, Nifong engineered the conspiracy to help him win support for his election bid. Nifong reportedly told his campaign manager that the case would provide "'millions of dollars' in free advertising."
On January 15, 2008, the city of Durham filed a motion to remove itself as a defendant, arguing that it has no responsibility for Nifong's actions. On the same day, Nifong filed for bankruptcy—a decision thought by many experts to be a tacit admission that he lacked the resources to defend himself. On May 27, 2008, Judge William L. Stocks lifted the stay from Nifong's bankruptcy filing and ruled that the plaintiffs lawsuit could go forward.
On March 31, 2011, judge James Beaty issued a ruling on the Evans et. al. case, upholding claims against Nifong and his hired investigator Wilson for conspiracy to commit malicious prosecution in the course of their investigation; the city of Durham for negligence; Nifong, Wilson, and police investigators Gottlieb and Himan for malicious prosecution, concealment of evidence, and fabrication of false evidence.
, provost Stephan Lange, former BOT chairman Robert K. Steel
, and former SANE nurse-in-training Tara Levicy.
A Duke University spokesperson responded that "[w]e have now seen the lawsuit and as we said before, if these plaintiffs have a complaint, it is with Mr. Nifong. Their legal strategy—attacking Duke—is misdirected and without merit. To help these families move on, Duke offered to cover the cost of any attorneys' fees or other out-of-pocket expenses, but they rejected this offer. We will vigorously defend the university against these claims." The city has not released an official response to the suit.
Mangum was ordered to remain in jail on $1 million bond. Her bond was lowered to $100,000 in May, and she was released from jail to live in a friend's house. She was required to wear an electronic monitoring device. On July 12, 2010, she was released from house arrest and required to move in with her mother. She was then allowed to visit her three children but only under supervision of social services. On August 25, 2010, Mangum was rearrested and held on $150,000 bond for failure to comply with restrictions on her child visitation order.
On December 17, 2010, Mangum was convicted of five misdemeanor charges involving child abuse. She was also convicted of injury to personal property and resisting a public officer. The jury deadlocked 9-3 for conviction on the felony arson charge but was unable to reach a decision on it. After the verdict, Judge Abe Jones sentenced Mangum to the 88 days in jail which she had already served and restored the custody of her children. Durham Assistant District Attorney Mark McCullough announced on January 21, 2011, that he will not retry Mangum on arson charges.
On April 2, 2011, Mangum was arrested for allegedly stabbing and seriously injuring her boyfriend. She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious bodily injury, a class C felony in North Carolina. Her boyfriend later died in the hospital and police expect to upgrade the charge to murder. Mangum is currently being held in prison under a $300,000 secured bond, which was set prior to her boyfriend's death.
False accusation of rape
A false accusation of rape is an accusation, formal or informally made against another individual or individuals concerning a forcible sexual assault. Detailed investigations using differing samples and methodologies have found widely differing results ranging from as high as 41% to as low as 1.5%...
made against three members of the men's lacrosse team at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
in Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
. The fallout from the case's resolution led to, among other things, the disbarment of lead prosecutor Mike Nifong.
The case
In March 2006 Crystal Gail Mangum, an African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
student at North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University is a public historically black university in the University of North Carolina system, located in Durham, North Carolina, offering programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, professional and doctoral levels....
who worked as a stripper, dancer and escort, falsely accused
False accusation of rape
A false accusation of rape is an accusation, formal or informally made against another individual or individuals concerning a forcible sexual assault. Detailed investigations using differing samples and methodologies have found widely differing results ranging from as high as 41% to as low as 1.5%...
three white
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
students, members of the Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse
Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse
The Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse team represents Duke University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse...
team, of raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
her at a party held at the house of two of the team's captains
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
in Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
on March 13, 2006. Many people involved in, or commenting on, the case, including prosecutor Mike Nifong, called the alleged assault a hate crime
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
or suggested it might be one.
In response to the allegations Duke University suspended the lacrosse team for two games on March 28, 2006. On April 5, 2006, Duke lacrosse coach Mike Pressler
Mike Pressler
Mike Pressler is an American lacrosse coach. He is currently the head coach of the Bryant University Bulldogs as well as the 2010 United States national lacrosse team. He served as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils for 16 seasons until he was fired during the 2006 Duke University lacrosse...
was forced to resign under threat by athletics director Joe Alleva and Duke President Richard Brodhead
Richard H. Brodhead
Richard Halleck Brodhead Marquis Who's Who on the Web currently serves as the ninth president of Duke University and is a scholar of 19th-century American literature.-Early life and education:...
canceled the remainder of the 2006 season
Season (sports)
In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an...
.
On April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General
North Carolina attorney general
The Attorney General of North Carolina is the head of the state's Department of Justice and provides legal representation and advice to all state agencies. He or she does not have the authority to prosecute specific crimes unless requested to do so by a local district attorney...
Roy Cooper
Roy A. Cooper
Roy Asberry Cooper, III is the current North Carolina Attorney General. He is a member of the North Carolina Democratic Party.-Personal life and education:...
dropped all charges and declared the three players innocent. Cooper stated that the charged players – Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans – were victims of a "tragic rush to accuse." The initial prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
for the case, Durham County
Durham County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 223,314 people, 89,015 households, and 54,032 families residing in the county. The population density was 769 people per square mile . There were 95,452 housing units at an average density of 329 per square mile...
's District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
Mike Nifong, who was labeled a "rogue prosecutor" by Cooper, withdrew from the case in January 2007 after the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against him. That June, Nifong was disbarred
Disbarment
Disbarment is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking his or her law license or admission to practice law...
for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation", making Nifong the first prosecutor in North Carolina history to lose his law license based on actions in a case. Nifong was found guilty
Guilt (law)
In criminal law, guilt is entirely externally defined by the state, or more generally a “court of law.” Being “guilty” of a criminal offense means that one has committed a violation of criminal law, or performed all the elements of the offense set out by a criminal statute...
of criminal contempt and served one day in jail. Mangum never faced any charges for her false accusations as Cooper declined to prosecute her.
Cooper pointed to several inconsistencies in Mangum's accounts of the evening as well as unimpeachable alibi
Alibi
Alibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...
evidence provided by Seligmann and Finnerty in the summary of findings report. The Durham Police Department came under fire for violating their own policies by allowing Nifong to act as the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
head of the investigation, giving a suspect-only photo identification procedure to Mangum, pursuing the case despite vast discrepancies in notes taken by Investigator Benjamin Himan and Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, and distributing a poster presuming the guilt of the suspects shortly after the allegations. The ex-players are seeking unspecified damages and new criminal justice reform laws in a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the City of Durham. The case has sparked varied responses from the media, faculty groups, students, the community, and others.
Events at the house
27-year-old Crystal Gail Mangum, a student at North Carolina Central UniversityNorth Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University is a public historically black university in the University of North Carolina system, located in Durham, North Carolina, offering programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, professional and doctoral levels....
, had been working part-time for about two months as an escort
Escort agency
Escort agencies are companies that provide escorts for the agency's clients. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room , or at the escort's residence . Some agencies also provide escorts for longer durations, who may stay...
and stripper
Stripper
A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...
for Allure Escort Service. (Early claims that Mangum had only recently taken up this line of work and that the party was "the first time she had been hired to dance provocatively for a group" were incorrect; Mangum was working at strip clubs at least as far back as her 2002 arrest for stealing the car of a patron to whom she gave a lap dance.) Before arriving at the party that day, she had by her own admission consumed alcohol and Flexeril
Cyclobenzaprine
Cyclobenzaprine is a muscle relaxant medication used to relieve skeletal muscle spasms and associated pain in acute musculoskeletal conditions. It is the most well-studied drug for this application, and it also has been used off-label for fibromyalgia treatment.- Mechanism of action :The mechanism...
(a prescription muscle relaxer). Mangum's coworker that day was Kim Roberts, but they arrived separately.
According to statements provided to police by students attending the party, on March 13, 2006, a party was held at the off campus residence of the captains of the Duke lacrosse team, a house that Duke University owned and had previously purchased with the intent of reselling as a single family dwelling once the lease of the current occupants expired. The players were consuming alcohol at the party. The players contacted Allure and requested two white strippers, but the women who arrived, Mangum and Roberts, were respectively African-American and half-Asian-American, half-African-American. One player asked if the dancers had any sex toys, and Roberts responded by asking if the player's penis was too small, according to the team captains. The player then brandished a broomstick and suggested that she "use this [as a sex toy]." This exchange of words abruptly stopped the performance, and both strippers went inside the home's bathroom. While the women were still in the bathroom, Seligmann and Finnerty left the house. The women came out, and Mangum roamed around the yard half-dressed and shouting.
Shortly before 1 a.m., Mangum and Roberts entered Roberts' vehicle. Kim Roberts called the attendees "Short dick white boys", and "how he couldn't get it on his own and had to pay for it", to which one player yelled "We asked for whites, not niggers." Mangum and Roberts departed in Roberts' car. Kim Roberts then called 911 and said white men who came out of 610 N. Buchanan yelled "nigger" at her from near the East Campus wall. Defense attorneys have questioned inconsistencies in the call – the caller first said she was driving, and later said she was walking when the slur was yelled.
After departure
As Roberts drove away with Mangum, the two women began to argue. Roberts pulled over and attempted to push Mangum out. When that measure failed, Roberts drove Mangum to a nearby KrogerKroger
The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...
supermarket, went inside, and spoke to a security guard. She told the guard that a woman was refusing to leave her car. The guard walked to the car and asked Mangum to leave, but Mangum stayed in the vehicle. The guard said that she did not smell alcohol on Mangum's breath, but thought she might have been under the influence of other drugs. At 1:22 AM, the guard called 911 to report that Mangum refused to leave the car. Police then arrived, tried to remove Mangum from the car, and questioned her.
The police then took Mangum to the Durham Access Center, a mental-health and substance-abuse facility, for involuntary commitment. During the admission process, she claimed that she had been raped prior to her arrival. Mangum was transferred to Duke University Medical Center and received treatment for genital injuries, but it was unclear whether or not these injuries were consistent with rape. There were no abrasions, tears, or bleeding in the vaginal area, but investigators did find swelling in the vaginal area, along with tenderness in Mangum's breasts and lower-right quadrant. There was no blunt-force trauma, but Mangum had two non-bleeding scratches on her right knee and a non-bleeding scratch on her right heel.
There was diffuse swelling of the vagina, and investigators did not note any other injuries in the rest of the report. Mangum later claimed that she had performed using a vibrator for a couple in a hotel room shortly before the lacrosse-team party. This activity, or a yeast infection, might account for the swelling.
McFadyen e-mail
A couple of hours after the party ended, Ryan McFadyen, a member of the lacrosse team, sent an email to other players saying that he planned to have some strippers over and made references to killing them and then cutting off their skin while wearing his Duke-issue spandex and ejaculatingEjaculation
Ejaculation is the ejecting of semen from the male reproductory tract, and is usually accompanied by orgasm. It is usually the final stage and natural objective of male sexual stimulation, and an essential component of natural conception. In rare cases ejaculation occurs because of prostatic disease...
.
Some of the players suggested that the e-mail was conceived as humorous irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
. Administrators asserted the email was an imitation of Patrick Bateman
Patrick Bateman
Patrick Bateman is a fictional character, the antihero and narrator of the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, and its film adaptation. He has also briefly appeared in other Ellis novels.-Biography and profile:...
, the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
in the Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 different languages. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney...
novel, American Psycho
American Psycho
American Psycho is a psychological thriller and satirical novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by the protagonist, serial killer and Manhattan businessman Patrick Bateman. The book's graphic violence and sexual content generated a great deal of...
, which was read and lectured on in at least one Duke class. McFadyen was not charged with any crime, but he was temporarily suspended from Duke, due to what the university described as safety concerns. He was invited back to Duke to continue his studies later that summer.
DNA tests
Shortly after the party, the prosecution ordered 46 of the 47 team members to provide DNA samples (the only black member of the team was exempt since Mangum had stated that her attackers were white), though some members had been absent from the party. The players gave cheek swabs and statements to the police the day after the party. They also offered to take polygraph tests, but the police turned them down. On Monday, April 10, 2006, it was revealed that DNA testing had failed to connect any of the 46 tested members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team. After the initial rounds of testing done by the state crime lab were completed, the district attorney sought the services of a private laboratory (DNA Security of BurlingtonBurlington, North Carolina
Burlington is a city in Alamance and Guilford counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Alamance County, in which most of the city is located. The population was 49,963 at the 2010...
) to conduct additional tests. DNA from multiple males was found inside Mangum and upon the rape kit items that had been tested, but none matched any of the lacrosse players. Mike Nifong falsely represented to the public and to the court that DNA had only been found from a single male source, her boyfriend.
On December 15, 2006, defense attorneys argued in a motion that the DNA report given to Nifong's office (and thus what the defense attorneys received) was incomplete, omitting information that showed DNA samples from several men on the woman and her underwear, but that none of the genetic material matched any of the players. The director of the DNA lab, Brian Meehan, who wrote the misleading report, acknowledged that the decision violated the lab's policies, but stated that his lab did not try to withhold information. Rather, Meehan claimed, he decided to withhold the exculpatory DNA evidence after discussing it with Nifong in an attempt to not drag anyone else through the mud. Meehan was fired by the new owner of DNA Security in October 2007.
DNA taken from all surfaces of three false fingernails belonging to Mangum which were retrieved from the trash in the bathroom (widely but falsely reported as DNA taken from the underside only of a single fingernail) showed some characteristics similar to David Evans' DNA, according to the private laboratory, but the match was not conclusive. Defense attorneys have suggested that any DNA present may have come from the tissue paper, cotton swabs, or other hygiene-related trash that had been in the garbage can along with the fingernail, since David Evans lived in the house. This was confirmed later by Attorney General Cooper's investigation: "... to the extent that Evans's DNA could not be excluded, the SBI experts confirmed that the DNA could easily have been transferred to the fingernails from other materials in the trash can".
Nifong claimed that the lack of DNA is not unusual and that 75–80% of all sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
cases lack DNA evidence. Rape victims often delay reporting by days or weeks, inadvertently destroying DNA evidence. In this case, Mangum had a rape-kit exam administered only hours after the end of the party, and the absence of DNA is considered unlikely by many legal experts.
During Nifong's ethics trial on June 14, 2007, the complete DNA findings were revealed during Brad Bannon's testimony. It revealed, according to conservative estimates, that the lab had discovered at least two unidentified males' DNA in Mangum's pubic region; at least two unidentified males' DNA in her rectum; at least four to five unidentified males' DNA on her panties; and at least one identified male's DNA in her vagina.
Arrests and investigation timeline
On April 10, 2006, defense attorneys stated that time-stamped photographs exist that show the dancer was injured upon arrival and very impaired.On April 18, 2006, two members of the lacrosse team, Collin Finnerty, 19, and Reade Seligmann, 20, were arrested and indicted on charges of first degree forcible rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, first degree sexual offense and kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
. Collin Finnerty had previously been charged with assaulting a man in Washington, DC and shouting anti-gay epithets at him. That Washington D.C. incident had not been cited as a hate crime. He pled guilty and agreed to community service in November 2005 as part of a diversion program. On January 10, 2007, the matter was cleared on Finnerty's record by a judge after monitoring Finnerty for several months and learning more about his character. Seligmann reportedly told teammates that he was glad at being indicted, alluding to a solid alibi in the form of ATM records, photographs, cell phone records, an affidavit from a taxi driver, and a record of his DukeCard being swiped at his dorm.
On April 18, search warrants were executed on Finnerty and Seligmann's dorm rooms.
On May 15, 2006, a third Duke lacrosse team player, former team captain and 2006 Duke graduate David Evans, was indicted on charges of first-degree forcible rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Just before turning himself in at the Durham County Detention Center, he made a public statement declaring his innocence and his expectation of being cleared of the charges within weeks.
On June 8, 2006, court documents revealed that Roberts, in her initial statement, said she was with Mangum the entire evening except for a period of less than five minutes. Additionally, after hearing Mangum saying she was sexually assaulted, she was incredulous.
On December 22, 2006, District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped the rape charges against all three lacrosse players. The kidnapping and sexual offense charges were still pending against all three players.
On December 28, 2006, the North Carolina bar filed ethics charges against Nifong over his conduct in the case, accusing him of making public statements that were prejudicial to the administration of justice and of engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. The 17-page document accuses Nifong of violating four rules of professional conduct, listing more than 100 examples of statements he made to the media.
On January 12, 2007, Nifong sent a letter to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper asking to be taken off the case, giving the responsibility of the case to the Attorney General's office. On January 13, 2007 Attorney General Roy Cooper announced that his office would take over the case.
On January 24, 2007, the North Carolina State Bar filed a second round of ethics charges against Nifong for a systematic abuse of prosecutorial discretion that was prejudicial to the administration of justice when he withheld DNA evidence to mislead the court.
On March 23, 2007, Justin Paul Caulfield, a legal analyst for Inside Lacrosse Magazine, stated on Fox News that charges would soon be dropped. While the North Carolina Attorney General's Office first disputed the report, on April 11, 2007, it announced that it had dismissed all charges against the three lacrosse players. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper not only dismissed the charges but he took the unusual step of declaring the accused players innocent. Cooper also announced that Mangum would not be prosecuted, stating that investigators and attorneys that had interviewed her thought "she may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling" and "it's in the best interest of justice not to bring charges".
Credibility of the accuser
Lawyers for the Duke lacrosse players have said that Mangum was intoxicated with alcohol and possibly other drugs. By the accuser's own admission to police, she had taken both prescription FlexerilCyclobenzaprine
Cyclobenzaprine is a muscle relaxant medication used to relieve skeletal muscle spasms and associated pain in acute musculoskeletal conditions. It is the most well-studied drug for this application, and it also has been used off-label for fibromyalgia treatment.- Mechanism of action :The mechanism...
and "one or two large-size beers" before the party. It has since been confirmed by the Attorney General's office that Mangum has taken Ambien, methadone
Methadone
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...
, Paxil and amitriptyline
Amitriptyline
Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant . It is the most widely used TCA and has at least equal efficacy against depression as the newer class of SSRIs...
, although when she began taking these medications is uncertain. She has a long history of mental problems and has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
. She also has taken anti-psychotic medications such as Seroquel.
The Duke defense lawyers or media reports have said that:
- DNA results revealed that the woman had sex with a man who was not a Duke lacrosse player. Attorney Joseph Cheshire said the tests indicated DNA from a single male source came from a vaginal swab taken from Mangum. Media outlets reported that this DNA was from her boyfriend. However, it was later revealed that DNA from multiple males who were neither the lacrosse players nor Mangum's boyfriend had been found, but that these findings had been deliberately withheld from the Court and the defense.
- She was convicted of stealing a car and sentenced to 3 weekends in detention.
- She had made a similar claim in the past which she did not pursue. On Aug. 18, 1996, the dancer – then 18 years old – told a police officer in Creedmoor she had been raped by three men in June 1993, according to a police document. The officer who took the woman's report at that time asked her to write a detailed timeline of the night's events and bring the account back to the police, but she never returned.
- The strip club's security officer said that Mangum told co-workers four days after the party that she was going to get money from some boys at a Duke party who had not paid her, mentioning that the boys were white. The security guard did not make a big deal of it because he felt that no one took her seriously.
- Mangum was arrested in 2002 for stealing a cab from a strip club where she had been working. She led police officers on a high-speed chase before she was apprehended, at which point her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.
Inconsistencies in Mangum's story
Over the course of the scandal, police reports, media investigations, and defense attorneys' motions and press conferences brought to light several key inconsistencies in Mangum's story.Some of the questions about her credibility were:
- Durham police said that Mangum kept changing her story and was not credible, reporting that she initially told them she was raped by 20 white men, later reducing the number to only three.
- Another police report states that Mangum initially claimed she was only groped, rather than raped, but changed her story before going to the hospital.
- The second stripper who performed at the house, Kim Roberts, said that Mangum was not raped. She stated that Mangum was not obviously hurt. Likewise, she refuted other aspects of Mangum’s story including denying that she helped dress Mangum after the party and saying that they were not forcefully separated by players like Mangum had reported.
- Mangum did not consistently choose the same three defendants in the photo lineups. Media reports have disclosed at least two photo lineups that occurred in March and April in which she was asked to recall who she saw at the party and in what capacity. In the March lineup, she did not choose Dave Evans at all. There was only one individual she identified as being at the party with 100% certainty during both procedures – Brad Ross. After being identified, Ross provided to police investigators indisputable evidence that he was with his girlfriend at North Carolina State UniversityNorth Carolina State UniversityNorth Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
before, during, and after the party through cell phone records and a sworn affidavit from a witness. - On December 22, 2006, Nifong dropped the rape charges after Mangum stated that she was penetrated from behind but that she did not know with what. In North Carolina, penetration with an object is considered sexual assault, not rape.
- On January 11, 2007, several more inconsistencies came to light after the defense filed a motion detailing her interview on December 21, 2006. For example, she changed details about when she was attacked, who attacked her, and how they attacked her:
- In the new version from the December 21 interview, Mangum claims she was attacked from 11:35 p.m. to midnight, much earlier than her previous accusations. This new timing is before the well-documented alibi evidence for Reade Seligmann that places him away from the house. However, the defense revealed that this new timing would suggest Seligmann was on the phone with his girlfriend during the height of the attack. Additionally, she received an incoming call at 11:36 p.m. and somebody stayed on the line for 3 minutes, which would be during the party according to the new timetable.
- The new statement contradicts time stamped photos that show her dancing between 12:00 and 12:04 a.m. It would also mean that they stayed at the party for nearly an hour after the supposed attack since Kim Roberts drove her away at 12:53 a.m. In her April statement, Mangum said they left immediately after the attack.
- Mangum changed the names of her attackers, saying they used multiple pseudonyms.
- The accuser also changed her description of Evans. She previously claimed that she was attacked by man that looked like Evans except with a mustache, but later stated that the assailant just had a five o'clock shadow.
- Mangum claimed that Evans stood in front of her, making her perform oral sex on him. Previously, she stated that Seligmann did this. In the latest statement, she stated that Seligmann did not commit any sex act on her and that he had said that he could not participate because he was getting married. Although he has a girlfriend, there has never been anything to suggest he was engaged or getting married.
- North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said Mangum told many different accounts of the attack. In one account, Mangum claimed she was suspended in mid-air and was being assaulted by all three of them in the bathroom. Cooper then said this event seemed very implausible due to the small size of the bathroom. According to a 60 Minutes60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
investigation, the accuser gave at least a dozen different stories. - Mangum, at one point, claimed both Evans and Finnerty helped her into her car upon departure. However, a photo shows her being helped by another player, while electronic records and witnesses reported that Evans and Finnerty had already left. Upon seeing the photo, Mangum claimed that it must have been doctored or that Duke University paid someone off.
- In its own investigation, The News & ObserverThe News & ObserverThe News & Observer is the regional daily newspaper of the Research Triangle area of the U.S. State of North Carolina. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh and also covers Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of...
, North Carolina's second largest newspaper, determined that Mangum gave at least five different versions of the incident to police and medical interviewers by August 2006.
Chief Investigator
Nifong hired Linwood E. Wilson as his chief investigator. During Wilson's private detective career, at least seven formal inquiries into his conduct were performed, and, in 1997, he was reprimanded by the state commission. After his appeal of the decision was rejected, he allowed his detective license to expire. In response to criticism, Wilson stated that he never had anybody question his integrity. Shortly after Nifong's disbarment, it was reported on June 25, 2007, that interim district attorney Jim Hardin Jr. fired Wilson from his post.Durham Police Department's actions
Lawyers and media have questioned the methods of the photo identification process, and have argued that the police supervisor in the case, Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, has unfairly targeted Duke students in the past.Photo identification
Lawyers and media reports alike suggest that the photo identification process was severely flawed. During the photo identifications, Mangum was told that she would be viewing Duke University lacrosse players who attended the party, and was asked if she remembered seeing them at the party and in what capacity. Defense attorneys claimed this was essentially a "multiple-choice test in which there were no wrong answers", while Duke law professor James Coleman posits that "[t]he officer was telling the witness that all are suspects, and say, in effect, 'Pick three.' It's so wrong." U.S. Department of Justice guidelines suggest to include at least five non-suspect filler photos for each suspect included, as did the Durham Police Department's own General Order 4077, adopted in February 2006.At least two photo lineups have been reported by the media.
In the March identification process, Mangum selected at least five different individuals, one of whom was Reade Seligmann (whom she identified with 70% certainty). During the April identification process, Mangum identified at least 16 lacrosse players. She identified Seligmann and Finnerty with 100% certainty and Dave Evans with 90% certainty during the April identification procedure. In the disclosed report, there were only two individuals that she identified during both the March and April lineups – Brad Ross and Reade Seligmann.
Ross (the only player she identified as attending the party with 100% certainty during both procedures) provided to police investigators indisputable evidence that he was with his girlfriend at North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
before, during, and after the party through cell phone records and a sworn affidavit from a witness. Another person she identified in April also provided police with evidence that he did not attend the party at all. In regards to Seligmann's identification, Mangum's confidence increased from 70% in March to 100% in April. Gary Wells, an Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
professor and expert on police identification procedures replied that memory does not get better with time.
According to the transcript of the photo identification released on The Abrams Report
The Abrams Report
The Abrams Report was an American television program on MSNBC, focusing on legal and tabloid issues....
, Mangum also stated that David Evans had a mustache on the night of the attack. Evans' lawyer stated that his client never has had a mustache and that photos as well as eyewitness testimony would reveal that Evans has never had a mustache.
Accusations of intimidation tactics
Defense lawyers also suggest that police have used intimidation tactics on witnesses. On May 11, Moezeldin Elmostafa, a black taxi driver who signed a sworn statement about Seligmann's whereabouts that defense lawyers say provides a solid alibi, was arrested on a 2½-year-old shoplifting charge. He was not the accused shoplifter, but had driven them in his cab. Mr. Elmostafa was subsequently tried on the shoplifting charge and was found not guilty.Supervisor
The News & Observer has suggested that the supervisor of the lacrosse investigation, Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, has unfairly targeted Duke students in the past, putting some of his investigational tactics into question. Gottlieb has made a disproportionate number of arrests of Duke students for misdemeanor violations, such as carrying an open container of alcohol. Normally, these violations earn offenders a pink ticket similar to a traffic ticket. From May 2005 to February 2006, when Sgt. Gottlieb was a patrol officer in District 2, he made 28 total arrests. Twenty of those arrests were Duke students, and at least 15 were handcuffed and taken to jail. This is in stark contrast to the other two officers on duty in the same district during that same 10-month period. They made 64 total arrests, only two of which were Duke students. Similarly, The News & Observer charges that Gottlieb treated nonstudents very differently. For example, he wrote up a young man for illegally carrying a concealed .45-caliber handgun and possession of marijuana (crimes far more severe than the Duke students who were taken to jail committed), but did not take him to jail. Residents complimented Gottlieb for dealing fairly with loud parties and disorderly conduct by students.Duke's student newspaper, The Chronicle, depicted other examples of violence and dishonesty from Sgt. Gottlieb. It published that one student threw a party at his rental home off-East Campus before the Rolling Stones concert in October 2005. The morning after the concert, at 3 A.M., Sgt. Gottlieb led a raid on the home with nine other officers while the students were half asleep. It reported that one student was dragged out of bed and then dragged down the stairs. It reported that all seven housemates were put in handcuffs, arrested, and taken into custody for violating a noise ordinance and open container of alcohol violations. Sgt. Gottlieb reportedly told one student, who was a U.S. citizen of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n descent, that the student could be deported. Other stories include the throwing of a 130 pound male against his car for an open container of alcohol violation, refusing the ID of a student since he was international, searching through a purse without a warrant, refusing to tell a student her rights, and accusations of perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
.
Nifong after transferring the case
On January 12, 2007, Nifong asked to be taken off the case and on January 13, 2007, Attorney General Roy Cooper's office took over.On April 12, 2007, the attorney general, in declaring Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann innocent, also called Nifong a "rogue prosecutor". Nifong was ordered disbarred
Disbarment
Disbarment is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking his or her law license or admission to practice law...
on June 16, 2007 after the bar's three-member disciplinary panel unanimously found him guilty of fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, dishonesty
Dishonesty
Dishonesty is a word which, in common usage, may be defined as the act or to act without honesty. It is used to describe a lack of probity, cheating, lying or being deliberately deceptive or a lack in integrity, knavishness, perfidiosity, corruption or treacherousness...
, deceit
Lie
For other uses, see Lie A lie is a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement, especially with the intention to deceive others....
or misrepresentation
Misrepresentation
Misrepresentation is a contract law concept. It means a false statement of fact made by one party to another party, which has the effect of inducing that party into the contract. For example, under certain circumstances, false statements or promises made by a seller of goods regarding the quality...
; of making false statements of material fact before a judge; of making false statements of material fact before bar investigators, and of lying about withholding exculpatory DNA evidence.
On August 31, 2007, Nifong was convicted of criminal contempt for knowingly making false statements during the criminal proceedings. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong to a single day in jail.
Reactions to the scandal
The case continues to elicit media coverage across the nation as the case and its aftermaths continue to unfold.Effects on Duke faculty
Mike PresslerMike Pressler
Mike Pressler is an American lacrosse coach. He is currently the head coach of the Bryant University Bulldogs as well as the 2010 United States national lacrosse team. He served as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils for 16 seasons until he was fired during the 2006 Duke University lacrosse...
, the coach of the lacrosse team, received threatening e-mails and hate calls, had castigating signs placed on his property, and was the frequent victim of vandalism in the aftermath of the accusations.
On April 5, 2006, he resigned (later revealed to have been forced) shortly after the McFadyen e-mail became public. Through his lawyer, he stated that his resignation was not an admission of wrongdoing on his part. On the same day, Richard H. Brodhead
Richard H. Brodhead
Richard Halleck Brodhead Marquis Who's Who on the Web currently serves as the ninth president of Duke University and is a scholar of 19th-century American literature.-Early life and education:...
, president of Duke University, suspended the remainder of the lacrosse season. Other Duke faculty members (sometimes referred to as the Group of 88, sometimes referred to as the "Gang of 88") have also been targeted for their "Social Disaster" letter as well as individual comments and reactions which continue to create a perception of prejudgment.
Effect on Duke students
Shortly after the party, the President of the University warned in a school-wide e-mail of threats of gang violence against Duke students. Other Duke students claimed they were threatened. Mobs protested outside the house that had been the site of the party, banging pots and pans at early hours of the morning.Lacrosse team members had their photographs posted prominently around Durham and on the Duke University campus with accompanying captions requesting that they come forward with information about the incident.
Questioning media policies regarding identity revelation of accusers & accused
Fox News was the lone national televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
news outlet to reveal Mangum's photo following the dismissal of the case, although some other organizations such as MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
and 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
revealed her name. The case placed a larger spotlight on the mainstream media's convention of keeping secret the identity of accusers in sexual assault cases, while at the same time exposing the identity of the defendants. Several major broadcasters did not publish Mangum's name at any point, including ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
Publication of Mangum's identity
Partly obscured photos of Mangum at the party were broadcast by The Abrams ReportThe Abrams Report
The Abrams Report was an American television program on MSNBC, focusing on legal and tabloid issues....
on cable news channel MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
and by local television affiliate NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
17 WNCN
WNCN
WNCN is the NBC affiliate television station in the Triangle region of North Carolina , broadcasting on digital channel 17. It is licensed to Goldsboro, but its studios are just outside of downtown Raleigh...
in North Carolina.
On April 21, 2006, outspoken talk-radio host Tom Leykis
Tom Leykis
Thomas Joseph Leykis is an American radio personality. He currently hosts The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis, a weekly lifestyle program dealing with fine food and drink, airing weekends mainly in West Coast markets...
disclosed Mangum's name during his nationally syndicated talk-radio program. Leykis has disclosed identities of accusers of sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
in the past. On May 15, 2006, MSNBC host Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson
Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson is an American political news correspondent and conservative commentator for the Fox News Channel...
disclosed Mangum's first name only on his show, Tucker
Tucker (television program)
Tucker is an American television program on MSNBC that focused on politics, hosted by Tucker Carlson. The show aired from June 6, 2005–March 14, 2008....
. Court records presented by the defense reveal Mangum's name.
On April 11, 2007, several other mainstream media sources revealed or used Mangum's name and/or picture after the attorney general dropped all the charges and declared the players innocent. These sources include: CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, The News & Observer
The News & Observer
The News & Observer is the regional daily newspaper of the Research Triangle area of the U.S. State of North Carolina. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh and also covers Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of...
, WRAL
WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle...
, all The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...
's newspapers (which includes 24 newspapers across the country), Fox News, Charlotte Observer, The New York Post, Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
(airdate April 12, 2007) and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
.
Effect on community relations
The allegations have inflamed already strained relations between Duke University and its host city of Durham, with members of the Duke lacrosse team being vilified in the press and defamed on and off campus. On May 1, 2006, the New Black PanthersNew Black Panthers
The New Black Panther Party , whose formal name is the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, is a U.S.-based black political organization founded in Dallas, Texas in 1989. Despite its name, NBPP is not an official successor to the Black Panther Party...
held a protest outside Duke University.
The case drew national attention and highlighted racial tensions within the Durham area.
Effect on Duke University merchandise
Sales of Duke University apparel, especially lacrosse t-shirts, by the Campus Store tripled from March to April 2006.Aftermath
On December 15, 2006, it was reported that Mangum was pregnant and the judge in the case ordered a paternity test.In January 2007, lacrosse team member Kyle Dowd filed a lawsuit against Duke University and visiting associate professor and member of the Group of 88 (sometimes referred to as the "Gang of 88"), Kim Curtis, claiming that he and another teammate were given failing grades on their final paper as a form of retaliation after the scandal broke. The case has been settled with the terms undisclosed except that Dowd's grade was altered to a P.
Dowd's mother emailed another member of the 88, Houston Baker, who continued to accuse her son and the others of being, "hooligans, rapists", and called her "the mother of a farm animal".
The lacrosse team, reinstated for the 2007 season, reached the NCAA Finals
2007 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship
The 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament was held from May 12 through May 28, 2007. This was the 37th annual Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament...
as the #1 seed. The Blue Devils lost to the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays in the championship, 12–11.
In May 2007, Duke requested that the NCAA restore a year's eligibility to the players on the 2006 men's team, part of whose season was canceled. The NCAA granted the team's request for another year of eligibility, which applies to the 33 members of the 2006 team who were underclassmen in 2006 and who remained at Duke in 2007. Four of the seniors from 2006 attended graduate school at Duke in 2007 and played for the team. In 2010, the final year in which the team included fifth-year seniors (freshmen in 2006), Duke won the NCAA Lacrosse Championship
2010 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship
-First round:The biggest surprise of the first round was Army's double-overtime upset of No. 2 seed Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. Some analysts ranked it among the greatest upsets in the history of the tournament...
beating Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's lacrosse
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's lacrosse team represents the University of Notre Dame in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's college lacrosse...
, 6–5 in overtime
Overtime (sports)
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination...
, to give the school its first lacrosse championship.
Seligmann enrolled as a student at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in the fall of 2007, while Finnerty enrolled at Loyola College in Maryland
Loyola College in Maryland
Loyola University Maryland is a Roman Catholic, Jesuit private university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges...
.
On June 7, 2007, it was announced that lacrosse coach Mike Pressler and Duke had reached an amicable and fair financial settlement. Pressler was later hired as coach by Division II (now Division I) Bryant University
Bryant University
Bryant University is a private university located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, U.S., that grants the degrees of bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and master's degrees in business, taxation and accounting. Until August 2004, it was known as Bryant College...
in Rhode Island. In October 2007, Pressler filed suit seeking to undo the settlement and hold a trial on his wrongful termination claim on the grounds that Duke spokesman John Burness had made disparaging comments about him. After Duke failed in an attempt to have the case dismissed, the matter was settled in 2010 with Duke apologizing in a press release and refusing to comment further on any other compensation. On June 18, 2007, the families of the three players announced that they reached an agreement with Duke. No details of the settlement were disclosed.
On August 25, 2007, multiple sources reported that the players would file a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the city of Durham. On August 31, 2007, Nifong was convicted of criminal contempt for knowingly making false statements during the criminal proceedings. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong to a single day in jail, which he subsequently served.
On September 29, 2007, Duke President Brodhead, speaking at a two-day conference at Duke Law School on the practice and ethics of trying cases in the media, apologized for "causing the families to feel abandoned when they most needed support."
Crystal Mangum graduated from North Carolina Central University in May 2008, with a degree in police psychology. On August 22, 2008, a press release announced the planned publication in October 2008 of a memoir by Mangum, The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story. The press release says the book "can't and doesn't deal with the complex legal aspects of the case" but nevertheless asserts that "the muddling of facts about Crystal's life, along with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper's desire to settle the dispute over open file discovery, swallowed the case whole." Attorney Cheshire responded to the news by saying that if the book was truthful, "I think it would be fabulous, and I don't think anybody would think badly about her in any way, shape or form," but that if the memoir did not acknowledge the falsity of her allegations against the players, that he would advise them to initiate civil action against her.
On July 12, 2010, Duke demolished the house at which the party took place, 610 North Buchanan Boulevard, after it had sat unoccupied for the four years following the Duke lacrosse case.
Lawsuits filed by falsely accused players
On September 7, 2007, it was reported that the ex-players planned to file a lawsuit for violations of their civil rights against the city of Durham, and several city employees, unless the city agreed to a settlement including payment of $30 million over five years and the passage of new criminal justice reform laws. The city's liability insurance covers up to $5 million. Lawyers have cited three main areas of vulnerability for the city:- The suspect-only photo identification procedure given to Mangum.
- Vast discrepancies in notes taken by Investigator Benjamin Himan during his March interview with Mangum and Sgt. Mark Gottlieb's notes in July
- The release of a CrimeStoppers poster by the police shortly after the allegations that a woman "was sodomized, raped, assaulted and robbed. This horrific crime sent shock waves throughout our community."
Durham declined the settlement offer and on October 5, 2007, Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann filed a federal lawsuit alleging a broad conspiracy to frame the players. Named in the suit were Nifong, the lab that handled the DNA work, the city of Durham, the city's former police chief, the deputy police chief, the two police detectives who handled the case and five other police department employees. The players are seeking unspecified damages, and also want to place the Durham Police Department under court supervision for 10 years, claiming the actions of the police department pose "a substantial risk of irreparable injury to other persons in the City of Durham". According to the suit, Nifong engineered the conspiracy to help him win support for his election bid. Nifong reportedly told his campaign manager that the case would provide "'millions of dollars' in free advertising."
On January 15, 2008, the city of Durham filed a motion to remove itself as a defendant, arguing that it has no responsibility for Nifong's actions. On the same day, Nifong filed for bankruptcy—a decision thought by many experts to be a tacit admission that he lacked the resources to defend himself. On May 27, 2008, Judge William L. Stocks lifted the stay from Nifong's bankruptcy filing and ruled that the plaintiffs lawsuit could go forward.
On March 31, 2011, judge James Beaty issued a ruling on the Evans et. al. case, upholding claims against Nifong and his hired investigator Wilson for conspiracy to commit malicious prosecution in the course of their investigation; the city of Durham for negligence; Nifong, Wilson, and police investigators Gottlieb and Himan for malicious prosecution, concealment of evidence, and fabrication of false evidence.
Lawsuit filed by non-accused players and their families
On February 21, 2008, the families of 38 of the lacrosse team's 47 members who were not accused filed a 225-page lawsuit against Duke University, the Duke University Hospital, the city of Durham, and various officials of each organization for multiple claims of harassment, deprivation of civil rights, breach of contract and other claims. The complaint sets out a detailed view of the events leading up to the case, the university's response, and the subsequent unraveling of the case; it alleges corruption and collusion between Duke, the hospital, and Nifong. It accuses the university of refusing to enforce its own anti-discrimination policies as to faculty and student harassment of the lacrosse players, and of violating federal law when it issued team key-card access data to the Police without a warrant, and subsequently attempted to cover up the disclosure. The allegations also include the university's instructions to the team members to not seek legal advice or contact their parents, to speak to a university-approved lawyer (who represented the university, not the team), and to waive their civil rights. Allegations against the hospital are directed at the examining nurse who allegedly fabricated statements concerning the initial medical examination, her supervisor who adopted those statements even though they were contrary to the examination, and the failure of the Hospital to supervise these employees. Allegations against the city and its police department are directed at the investigating officers and their attempts to fabricate a case and their attempt to hide DNA test results, along with failure to supervise these officers. The plaintiffs allege emotional suffering, loss of job opportunities and damages based on the various statutes. They seek undisclosed damages as well as attorneys fees. Specific parties named in the lawsuit include, but are not limited to: former university spokesman John Burness, vice-president for student affairs Larry Moneta, dean Susan Wasiolek, Richard H. BrodheadRichard H. Brodhead
Richard Halleck Brodhead Marquis Who's Who on the Web currently serves as the ninth president of Duke University and is a scholar of 19th-century American literature.-Early life and education:...
, provost Stephan Lange, former BOT chairman Robert K. Steel
Robert K. Steel
Robert King "Bob" Steel is an American business leader and an expert on financial institutions and markets. In June 2010, he was named Deputy Mayor for Economic Development by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg...
, and former SANE nurse-in-training Tara Levicy.
A Duke University spokesperson responded that "[w]e have now seen the lawsuit and as we said before, if these plaintiffs have a complaint, it is with Mr. Nifong. Their legal strategy—attacking Duke—is misdirected and without merit. To help these families move on, Duke offered to cover the cost of any attorneys' fees or other out-of-pocket expenses, but they rejected this offer. We will vigorously defend the university against these claims." The city has not released an official response to the suit.
Subsequent arrests and convictions of accuser
Just before midnight on February 17, 2010, Durham police were called to Mangum's residence by her nine-year old daughter. When they arrived, they claimed that a fight was in progress between Crystal and her live-in boyfriend. They alleged that she set fire to some of his clothing in a bathtub in their presence. The building suffered heavy smoke damage. She was arrested on charges of attempted murder, first-degree arson, assault and battery, identity theft, communicating threats, damage to property, resisting an officer and misdemeanor child abuse.Mangum was ordered to remain in jail on $1 million bond. Her bond was lowered to $100,000 in May, and she was released from jail to live in a friend's house. She was required to wear an electronic monitoring device. On July 12, 2010, she was released from house arrest and required to move in with her mother. She was then allowed to visit her three children but only under supervision of social services. On August 25, 2010, Mangum was rearrested and held on $150,000 bond for failure to comply with restrictions on her child visitation order.
On December 17, 2010, Mangum was convicted of five misdemeanor charges involving child abuse. She was also convicted of injury to personal property and resisting a public officer. The jury deadlocked 9-3 for conviction on the felony arson charge but was unable to reach a decision on it. After the verdict, Judge Abe Jones sentenced Mangum to the 88 days in jail which she had already served and restored the custody of her children. Durham Assistant District Attorney Mark McCullough announced on January 21, 2011, that he will not retry Mangum on arson charges.
On April 2, 2011, Mangum was arrested for allegedly stabbing and seriously injuring her boyfriend. She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious bodily injury, a class C felony in North Carolina. Her boyfriend later died in the hospital and police expect to upgrade the charge to murder. Mangum is currently being held in prison under a $300,000 secured bond, which was set prior to her boyfriend's death.
Further reading
- Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case by Stuart Taylor Jr.Stuart Taylor Jr.Stuart Taylor Jr. is a regular columnist for National Journal, a Contributing Editor at Newsweek and a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution...
and KC JohnsonKC JohnsonDr. Robert David Johnson , also known as KC Johnson, is a history professor at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center...
(2007) ISBN 0312369123 - It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the Lives It Shattered by Don Yaeger & Mike Pressler (2007) ISBN 1416551468
- A Rush to Injustice: How Power, Prejudice, Racism, and Political Correctness Overshadowed Truth and Justice in the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case by Nader Baydoun and R. Stephanie Good (2007) ISBN 978-1595551184
- The Duke Lacrosse Case: A Documentary History and Analysis of the Modern Scottsboro by R. B. Parrish (2009) ISBN 978-1439235904
- Party Like a Lacrosse Star by Paul Montgomery (2007) ISBN 9780615171500
- The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Gale Mangum Story by Crystal Gale Mangum & Edward Clark (2008) ISBN 978-0981783703
External links
- Collected stories from The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer
- Comments and analysis, "The Durham Witch Trials," By Benjamin Dunphy, The Pacifican
- "Duke Rape Scandal" Photo Gallery via Court TVCourt TVtruTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
- Video: Duke Jurors Speak (Grand Jury)
- Exclusive: Duke Lacrosse Grand Jurors Speak Out - ABC News