Prosecutor in Duke lacrosse case apologizes a day after charges dismissed
On Wednesday, North Carolina's attorney general declared three Duke lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting a black female, innocent of all charges. David F. Evans, 24, of Annapolis, Md.; Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade W. Seligmann, 21, of Essex Fells, N.J. can now begin to put the year long case behind them after this week's events.
Durham County North Carolina was overrun with protests and charges of racism following the accusers false claims. So many people across the country quickly jumped on the bandwagon in what seemed to be a case of three rich white boys taking advantage of a helpless black female. When these types of cases are put out there, it seems so easy to rally the troops, point fingers, and make claims of bias and mistreatment.
But a rush to judgement under any circumstance is both unhealthy and unholy. There has to be a more methodical calculated approach to ensure the validity of these cases no matter how emotionally charged they may be. We have to follow the Montgomery Improvement Association approach for fighting injustice. Those who know their history are well aware of the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King did not take on every case as a cause.
It's still unclear just what happened the night of March 13, 2006. But it is clear, according to attorney general Roy Cooper, what did not happen. Cooper said, “We believe that these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations.” He went on to say, “we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred.”
On Thursday, Durham County prosecutor Michael Nifong apologized to the players whom he had charged with rape. Mr. Nifong now faces the very real possibility of being disbarred for his ill-conceived prosecution.
The New York Times was used as a source for this post.
