Duke Rape Suspects Speak Out

60 Minutes' Ed Bradley Talks To The Accused Lacrosse Players, Who Have Never Before Been Interviewed

(CBS)  When three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were indicted for rape last spring, the case put one of the country’s most prominent colleges under intense scrutiny, and it pushed onto a national stage divisive issues of race, gender, politics and privilege.

The three players are white, and come from wealthy families; the accuser is black, a local dancer hired to perform at a team party. Over the past six months, 60 Minutes has examined nearly the entire case file, more than 2,000 documents, including police reports, witness statements and medical records. The evidence 60 Minutes has seen reveals disturbing facts about the conduct of the police and the district attorney, and raises serious concerns about whether or not a rape even occurred.

Ed Bradley spoke to some of the key figures in this case, including Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, who have never been interviewed.

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"This woman has destroyed everything I worked for in my life. She's put it on hold. She's destroyed two other families and she's brought shame on a great university. And, worst of all she's split apart a community and a nation on facts that just didn't happen and a lie that should have never been told," says David Evans.

Evans was a co-captain of the lacrosse team and an honors student. He graduated from Duke in May and was headed for a job on Wall Street. Today, at age 23, he is contemplating a future much darker than he ever imagined.

Asked if he ever thinks about the possibility of a conviction and a long prison sentence, Evans tells Bradley, "Thirty years. I could go to jail for something that never happens."

Collin Finnerty, 20, a sophomore and one of most talented young players on the team, is under suspension from Duke pending the outcome of the trial. He says he still can’t fathom why he has been accused of rape.

"I never expected anything even close to that happening. I never expected anyone to get indicted, let alone myself," Finnerty says.

The accuser had picked Finnerty out of a line-up. "It's unbelievable. Don't know how, why that happened. But, try to figure that out, I really have no idea how that happened," he says.

His teammate, 20-year-old Reade Seligmann could have played lacrosse at any university he wanted. He was recruited by Harvard and Princeton, but chose to go to Duke. Today, facing felony charges, he is not allowed to set on foot on campus unless he obtains permission from the university.

"Your whole life you try to, you know, stay on the right path, and to do the right things. And someone can come along and take it all away. Just by going like that. Just by pointing their finger. That’s all it takes," Seligmann says.

The allegations rocked the city of Durham, and the campus at Duke, setting off angry protests by students, faculty and local residents, who denounced the lacrosse team. David Evans, who lived in the house where the alleged rape occurred, says he actually began to fear for his own safety.

"There were threats of drive-by shootings, acts of violence, assaults, people driving by Duke students and pretending to point guns at them and it was just very scary," Evans explains. "We moved out after the first day because there were mobs in front of the house burning candles, putting terrible things up, asking us to get a conscience, show character. It was terrible."

Police released affidavits stating the accuser’s claim that she was pulled into a bathroom by three men and raped “anally, vaginally, and orally” while they “hit, kicked, and strangled” her over a “30 minute” period.

The district attorney, Mike Nifong, took to the airwaves giving dozens of interviews, expressing with absolute certainty that Duke lacrosse players had committed a horrific crime. His comments fueled explosive news coverage and fed public suspicion of the team, before much of the evidence was gathered.

"There’s no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location," he said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor."

D.A. Nifong referred to the lacrosse players “a bunch of hooligans” whose “daddies could buy them expensive lawyers.” He played up the racial aspects of the case, but insisted that his public comments had nothing to do with the hotly contested election campaign he was waging in a city with a large black population.

[dkaffinated]

This prosecuter should be imprisoned for as long as each man would have been. say 25 years. how many lives has he ruined? i say make every cop prosecutor attorney congressman everyone that can affect our lives be subject to regular drug/ hair sample testing and polygraphs tand be made public info. lets weed out the scum. maybe nobody left to work but then most dont work anyway.

[cbsmoron1]

hello

[cbsmoron1]

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[cbsmoron1]

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[cbsmoron1]

hello

[acccbb]

Justice 58
Since you are the person who started the blog "Justice for 2 sisters", it is certainly not a surprise that no matter how much evidence that supports that this was a false accusation, you refuse to accept it. I have read your posts since the beginning of this case, and it is obvious you have no interest in justice. You want to punish innocent white men because you are a racist plain and simple. By the way, is the site going to be renamed to be called "justice for 1 sister"? As I understand it, you no longer believe the "other" sister Kim is telling the truth.

[leilni_in_tx]

Either Mike Nifong is the most professionally incompetent DA ever elected in the history of american jurisprudence or this has got to be one of the worst cases of prosecutorial misconduct anyone's seen anywhere in the US in the last decade.

It's quite obvious to anyone who's followed the case that he either knew or should have known that the accusations could not be substantiated, but he pursued charges he knew were bogus solely because doing so would help him with a segment of the electorate in a close primary election. That's the textbook definition of corruption. Nifong belongs in jail.

Ultimately the taxpayers of Durham are going to have to pay through the nose for redress & recompense to the victims (the 3 players) for their crooked DA's gross criminal malfeasance.

And Duke U's administration isn't much better. Nobody in their right mind now could even think of sending their children to that school after seeing how these obviously innocent students were thrown to the wolves by Duke's president for the sake of political expediency. Shameful.

[justice58]

Tortmaster

"unfounded charges"??? are you kidding me.
The point is...I have been following this case from the VERY beginning. My view has not and will not change about the victim in this case, despite the one sided reporting. Again, Ed Bradley, you need to redeem yourself for this onesided view of so called journalism.

[tortmaster]

Mr. Ed Bradley followed the evidence and told the truth, and for that reason he will be remembered as a giant and a just man.

There is no way to tell two sides of a one-sided story. No DNA match, no trace evidence, airtight alibi, inconsistent stories of no rape, rape by 5, rape by 0, rape by 2, rape by 3, then the accuser identifies 4 as her 3 rapists, and on and on....

There is literally no credible evidence, not a scrap, to suggest that a rape ever occurred. That, and prosecutorial misconduct were the stories.

Please read up on the case before leveling unfounded charges against an honorable man.

[justice58]

I am a fan of Ed Bradley and have watched him for years. As I watched his segment on the duke rape scandal, I was shocked to see such one sided journalism. Ed Bradley should be ashamed. Where was the accuser's side? The investigation WAS not thorough and NEITHER was it complete. Some duke supporters have described the investigation as "true journalism" and I beg to differ. True journalism is telling both sides of the matter. I have always respected Ed Bradley in his reporting and he needs to give his viewers the same treatment. The truth should be told and it doesn't matter whose toes is stepped on. Ed Bradley, you need to redeem yourself. Shame on you!

[as28801]

I can't imagine how scary that is for you men. Good thing women only have to worry about being raped- which by the way, regardless of what this police officer has told you, happens constantly!
Again, this is not the issue. But thank you for proving my point. Because of this DA, now, men like you will have a case to point to in order to doubt women who come forward with a legitimate claim of being raped.

[verve2006-2009]

This case is yet another example of the fact that our legal system acts as a mechanism for any woman at any time to falsely accuse any man at any time of rape with a very strong potential of sending him to prison. Are all women capable of this? No. But it doesn't matter because it is impossible to determine which women are capable of this. If it was only one in a million, that is still too many for me or any man. Living in a world where a man can be falsely and so casually accused of the most serious of crimes and sent to prison on the whims of a fickle, spiteful individual, i.e., a woman, is like the most horrifying episode of The Twilight Zone that even Rod Serling could not even imagine.

[verve2006-2009]

Wow! What planet are you from? Here's an excerpt from an interview with a police officer recently.

"When asked what the police%u2019s biggest problem is when dealing with rape allegations she replied that the biggest problem was the enormous time the police waste chasing down false allegations. When asked to put a number on the percentage of false claims she replied %u201C95%.%u201DMost, she said, fell into definite patterns that she as a police officer had given names to.

1. Jilted lover syndrome.

This is where consensual *** has taken place followed by an argument, which results in a parting of the ways for the two former sweethearts. Feeling angry, the female half of the love duo decides to take revenge.

2. One night stand syndrome.

A woman goes out on the tiles for the evening. She meets up with a man and ends up back at his place where she indulges in consensual ***. By the end of the night she has fallen in love with her new Romeo but, alas, her love is not returned. She goes to the police claiming that she did not give consent.

3. Female caught in the act syndrome.

Hubby bursts in and catches his wife cheating on him with her boyfriend; she claims that she is being raped to cover up her own wrongdoing.

Overwhelming evidence shows that some women will lie about serious matters for the pettiest of reasons."

[as28801]

... And case in point (verve2006). In principle, let me repeat, the DA has acted horribly here and he is the one who should be disbarred and reprimanded. As for women falsely accusing men of rape, you are way off. It is the most underreported crime. How can you take this case to make such a broad generalization. It is very hard for women to come forward when they have been raped. And furthermore, it is very hard to convict rapists. So don't worry, women are raped every hour, everywhere and no one sits in jail because of it. And hopefully our Country will never follow in the footsteps of others as far as handling rape cases as you suggest.

[verve2006-2009]

There is a bigger story here and that is the subject of false accusations of rape running rampant in this country. Let's pray that once this men are in fact found innocent, that this high profile case will draw the necessary attention to this legal insanity of women destroying men's lives out of childish spite or financial gain. In China there is a basic rule of law that says if someone falsely accuses someone of a crime, the false accuser must face the punishment that would have been given to the accused- I want to see the law drastically altered in the U.S. to where women like these serve 10-20 years of incarceration, and are registered as *** offenders for life, and since these men would be serving time in a men's facility, make women like this one serve their time in a men's prison as well, and maybe then they will understand what rape really is. I guarantee the rate of false accusations would drop to zero overnight.

[shellee_rae]

I am very grateful to Ed Bradley for a very thorough and complete investigation: it is the first true journalism I have seen related to this case. He wiped away all of the progaganda that has been deluging the airwaves about who is exactly guilty, "her" or "them." All of this leads me to the basic question, with the evidence and facts in the case, how does the DA have enough evidence to have them charged or tried?

[as28801]

The Assistant District Attorney in this case has ruined the lives of many because he is a political opportunist. It is obvious how he has done so regarding the three accused. The rest of the team has suffered as well, as far as reputations being blemished to say the least. The alleged victim was used as a means to his case for political purposes. He spoon fed her from the beginning of the case. As for the community of Durham, he is using it as well because he hit a soft spot. He attached this nonsense rape case to a real and valid issue for them (the racial tension) which now will lose weight because his case is bogus. The permanent damage done is to women nationwide who get raped. We have worked so hard to facilitate women who want to come forward with rape allegations. It takes such courage and strength. Now, this liar and unethical politician has given the public a case to cite in doubting every woman's rape case.

[savelax]

this whole case is egregious, the stripper made false accusations as did some of the accused, the accused were doing it to protect themselves, and there future. The accusations affected more than just this lacrosse team, throw out the social garbage that any minority will pull out, she and her false accusations have driven a knife into the reputations of lacrosse players across the country, id like to say thanks to her and her greedy D.A. for poisoning the sport of lacrosse.

[sunkist01]

The punishment definitely didn't fit the "crime". No wonder Finnerty is frightened of the results of a Durham trial. Posted by acccbb at 12:28 AM : Oct 18, 20

You are no legal eagle, Finnerty is a time bomb waiting to exploit. He should have been charged with federal charges, he plead guilty in DC, no body is that unlucky and wealthy!

Please, he probation program is based on him not getting into any legal troubles, since the dipstick plead guilty in DC, his probation and deal can be thrown out. Finnerty has more to lose than any of them, perhaps he will go to jail in their place. The sooner the better!

[broken_heart-2009]

Please can we just drop the dang case! It's getting pretty old! He said this, she experienced that. Let's just charge them all for false accusations!