Duke Rape Scandal Stokes Racial Woes

Alleged Rape Of Black Dancer By White Lacrosse Players Grabs Focus

(CBS)  Friday night, administrators sent an e-mail to students, warning of threats of a drive-by shooting targeting the lacrosse players' house.

Some students say they've already felt a backlash.

"There's even a bit of hysteria because of all the things that are happening. We have to be careful," says Basil Camu, who is white.

He and fellow white senior Morgan Gieske went to a hamburger stand early Friday, and say they say they were accosted by a group of African American men.

"(They were) just yelling things like, 'This is Central territory. Duke students aren't welcome. We don't want you raping our women,' " Camu said.

"Before I knew it," Gieske added, "someone had actually hit him in the back of the head. And then it just sort of escalated, and people were around the car and hitting the bumpers, and the windows."

On The Early Show Monday, CBS News legal consultant Wendy Murphy told co-anchor Hannah Storm there's a possibility the sexual assault could be prosecuted as a hate crime.

"You don't see often hate crimes prosecutions anywhere across the country," Murphy said, "but if, in fact, this was a rape perpetrated against this woman because of her race, North Carolina does have a provision in its laws that this could be prosecuted both as a rape and as a hate crime, which means the punishment could be much, much more harsh.

"It's the D.A.'s call. And you have to be able to prove that she was raped based on her race. It's a hard standard to meet. But if they were calling her racial epithets during the crime or before the crime, then I think it's an appropriate case to bring as a hate crime."

Members of the lacrosse team are categorically denying a rape occurred, meaning this could turn into a case of "she said, they said," Storm noted.

"If she's got the kind of injuries we've been hearing alluded to," Murphy remarked, "if there is physical evidence, if there is DNA of some of the guys on her body, or under her finger nails that were retrieved at the crime scene, ripped off, it's going to be pretty difficult for the guys to suggest that she consented, which is probably the only possible defense if there is DNA present."