New Shock Waves At Duke

Duke University lacrosse coach Mike Pressler resigned and the school cancelled the rest of the season Wednesday, as authorities investigating rape allegations made public an e-mail — attributed to a team member — expressing a desire to kill and skin strippers.

The coach's resignation, said Duke University president Richard Brodhead, at a news conference in Durham, N.C., is "highly appropriate."

Pressler, whose team won three championships in his 16 years at Duke, stepped aside amid a burgeoning scandal over allegations that three players on the team raped a stripper — a student at a nearby school — on March 13 at an off-campus party.

"Coach Pressler offered me his resignation earlier this afternoon, and I accepted it," said Duke Athletic Director Joe Alleva. "I believe this is in the best interests of the program, the department of athletics and the university."

Duke, considered a national title contender before the season began, had a 6-2 record with seven regular-season games remaining before news of the allegations became public.

The coach's resignation came on the same day as new revelations sent yet another shock wave around campus.

Authorities unsealed documents stating that hours after the alleged rape, a player apparently sent an e-mail saying he wanted to invite strippers to his dorm room, kill them and skin them.

"The court released today a previously sealed warrant, whose contents are sickening and repulsive," said Brodhead, who has announced a series of steps Duke plans to take to address the allegations, including blue ribbon panels to examine the culture of the lacrosse team and investigate the school's response to the scandal.

The aim, says the Duke president, is to uncover whether there is "a special history of bad behavior with this team."

The (Raleigh) News & Observer reports that during the past three years, 15 players had criminal charges brought against them, and most of those charges were resolved in deals with prosecutors that allowed the players to escape criminal convictions.

The lacrosse team's co-captains have denied that anyone was sexually assaulted at the party, as have attorneys for the players.

The stripper, a student at North Carolina Central University, which is just four miles away, has told police she was raped at the party by three men who choked her in a bathroom. Investigators are awaiting the results of DNA tests on 46 of the 47 team members. The team's lone black member did not have to provide a sample. A spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office said Wednesday the analysis has not been completed.

A lawyer for the player who purportedly wrote the e-mail said the content suggests his client is innocent.

"While the language of the e-mail is vile, the e-mail itself is perfectly consistent with the boys' unequivocal assertion that no sexual assault took place that evening," said attorney Robert Ekstrand. The e-mail "demonstrates that its writer is completely unaware that any act or event remotely similar to what has been alleged ever occurred."

District Attorney Mike Nifong has said that he is "pretty confident that a rape occurred" but he does not expect to file charges until next week.

The e-mail, according to an application for a search warrant of the player's dorm room, was sent from a player's Duke e-mail account just before 2 a.m. March 14. Police said investigators received a copy from a confidential source, though they later won a court order seeking access to the account.

In the e-mail, addressed "To whom it may concern," the writer says he has "decided to have some strippers over" to his dorm room, "however there will be no nudity."

"I plan on killing the bitches as soon as they walk in and proceding (sic) to cut their skin off," the author of the e-mail says, adding in vulgar terms that he would find the act sexually satisfying.

The e-mail was signed with what police said is the player's jersey number.

The warrant for the player's room was made public on Wednesday. In it, police provide a detailed timeline of the alleged attack and some additional details of their investigation. The warrant also adds conspiracy to commit murder as one of the crimes police are investigating.

According to the warrant, the alleged victim told police she believes the players used false names and falsely claimed to be members of Duke's baseball and track teams. The warrant also states that a team captain and resident of the house where the party took place told police he used an alias when hiring the dancers at the party.

The stripper is black and has said that her attackers are white. Investigators and witnesses have also said the lacrosse players taunted her with racial slurs and insults.

So far, no one has been charged.

In a town where most people make less money in a year than the $43,000 it costs to attend Duke, there is resentment among some in Durham who view the university's students as privileged and elitist.

Students and townspeople have marched on campus and off, angry over the school's handling of the allegations and the team members' refusal to cooperate with police. Investigators have said the athletes are sticking together and keeping silent.

Duke freshman Charisma Nelson told CBS News correspondent Trish Regan that the allegations have put a new strain on the already delicate relationship between the school and the community of Durham.

"I don't think we wanted to admit how fragile it was," Nelson told Regan. "I think this incident shed more light and just made it more evident."