Sanity In Durham

At last. After far too much time, it appears that the State of North Carolina will drop the remaining charges against former Duke University lacrosse players Reade Seligmann, Colin Finnerty and David Evans.

I have been expecting this for quite some time, as it has long appeared that the State had no case. What astounds me is that this travesty has been allowed to go on as long as it has. What is even more astounding is that many of Duke's professors and several out-of-state jounalists, such as Selena Roberts, have jumped on the players with presumptions of guilt after it was known that the accuser, one Crystal Gail Mangum, had serious credibility issues and that several players, inlcuding Seligmann, had alibis!

This entire charade has made everyone except the Duke women's lacrosse team and the few brave souls who stood by the players, look extremely bad. I would hope that once the charges are actually dropped, that the players will proceed against Duke adminstrators, Mangum, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, the Durham Police Department, the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper and any others (such as the 88 Duke professors who published an advertisement libelling the players) with the full force of the law, and I hope they wring every last cent out of those who tried to use them to advance their own agendas at the expense of the United States Constitution, which clearly states that any accused is innocent until proven guilty.

For a complete chronology of the case, please see the Durham-in-Wonderland, Friends of Duke University, John in Carolina and Liestoppers blogs. These folks have been on this case from the very start and it is due to their fine reporting (certainly not to the mainstream media) that many of the facts regarding this case have seen the light of day.