(This could wind up in GD or the Pit.)
A new civil lawsuit has just been filed relating to what’s commonly known as the Duke Lacrosse case, in which members of the Duke lacrosse team were falsely charged with rape and assualt, and later declared innocent. This suit is on behalf of three Duke lacrosse team members - Ryan McFayden, Matthew Wilson and Breck Archer - who were not criminally charged, but who claim they suffered harm.
The fact of this suit is not surprising - it has long been thought to be in the offing. But the details are sensational. In something like 400 pages it descripes in great detail a conspiracy involving Prosecutor Mike Nifong, the Durham Police Depratment, Duke University, and the Duke Medical Center.
It claims that those involved learned quite early that there was no support for the notion that a sexual assault happened as alleged by the self-proclaimed victim. Instead of dropping the case for a complete lack of evidence, they conspired to fabricate evidence and testimony that would allow the case to go to trial (they were apparently counting on a tainted jury pool to ensure at least a hung jury and perhaps a conviction).
Among the many charges levelled here:
- That this was a deliberate, racially motivated conspiracy based on the suppression of evidence and the advancement of “evidence” conspirators knew to be false.
- That Duke had a pre-existing agreement with the town of Durham that made Duke police responsible for investigating this crime, but this responsibility was rapidly ceded to Durham - and then Duke spokesmen repeatedly claimed their powers were limited and they could not get involved.
- That medical evidence was manufactured to make it look as if an assault had taken plave when the true evidence suggested otherwise.
- That Crystal Mangum (accuser) was coached by the Durham Police prior to attempts by her to identify suspects.
If any substantial portion of what this suit alleges is true, criminal charges would be appropriate against a bunch of the conspirators. The potential damage award is obviously large.
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
I’m interested in how this will resolve.