Duke Rape Suspects Speak Out

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

(CBS) 
Roberts says the three indicted players never used racial epithets. The three players fear they will be punished unfairly for the sins of some of their teammates.

"If that comment was said, it's disgusting. And there's no way I can defend that. You know, that's a horrible thing for anyone to say. It's just, I couldn't even imagine saying it and, I'm not gonna be accountable for, you know, another person's, you know, unbelievably horrible remarks. I won't. I won't, you know, accept responsibility for that, 'cause I would never do it myself," Seligmann says.

Seligmann says he also won’t accept responsibility for a rape he didn’t commit. And he says he can prove it.

Faced with a claim from a black woman that she had been brutally attacked and sexually assaulted at a party of white Duke lacrosse players, the Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, in the midst of a tough election campaign, aggressively moved to build his case. Evidence was collected, there were tests and photo lineups and three players who were at the party were indicted. Many people at Duke, in Durham and around the country were quick to judge the players, believing that the team was covering up a crime.

But based on 60 Minutes' six-month review of the case file, it appears that standard police procedures were violated and evidence disregarded – evidence that may have pointed toward the players’ innocence.

From the beginning, David Evans says he did everything he could to cooperate with authorities – starting soon after the party when Durham police turned up at his house with a search warrant and rousted him from his sleep.

"It was scary. I woke up from a nap to ten police officers in my living room with a search warrant," he recalls. "As they read the search warrant I went through every part of it – told 'em where they could find things and that we'd fully cooperate and answer any questions they had."

Asked what he thought would happen next, Evans says, "I'd done everything that I thought I could do. I put my faith in the legal system and told them what happened. I gave my statement. I offered to take a polygraph, I gave my DNA over. I don't know what else I could do."

Still, investigators believed the entire lacrosse team had something to hide. So, the district attorney’s office asked a judge to order all 46 white players to provide their DNA – there was one black player on the team. Prosecutors promised it would “immediately rule out any innocent persons and show conclusive evidence as to who the suspects” were.

Collin Finnerty says the players were happy to oblige and says they weren't nervous.

"I mean, we were kinda, I mean, shocked by the fact that we – that we had to actually go to a police station to give DNA. But everyone – we were told it would help to clear everything up. So we were happy to go," Finnerty explains.

They were even happier when the results came back: there was no match. No DNA from any member of the lacrosse team was found on or inside the accuser or on her clothing. Reade Seligmann thought the case would now be closed, but he was wrong.

"It’s so frustrating because that was an opportunity for us to exonerate ourselves, and we were told that," he says. "We trusted that you know if we cooperated, we would, you know, those that were innocent would be shown to be innocent. And that's just, it didn't play out that way."

District Attorney Mike Nifong, who had declared that DNA would be the crux of his case, played down the results, speculating that the absence of DNA meant that the attackers may have used condoms, although the accuser had already stated that there were “no condoms used”, and that at least one of her three attackers had ejaculated inside her. Although it was a major setback for his case, the D.A. said he was undeterred.

"For most of the years I’ve been doing this we didn’t have DNA. We had to deal with sexual assault cases the good old-fashioned way – witnesses got on the stand and told what happened to them," Nifong stated.

[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!

[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!