Duke Rape Suspects Speak Out

(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.

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[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]

this is a test.

[cbsmoron1]

this is a test.

[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!