Duke Lacrosse: What really happened in the 2006 "rape incident"

It's an unwritten rule that I must hate Duke University because I attended the University of North Carolina. This hatred for Duke University and all things Duke is seemingly ingrained in the hearts of every student, faculty member, or fan of UNC. The two universities are only 15 miles from each other and the rivalry is ever palpable.

That being said, I have to admit that Duke University is a great academic school with a strong lacrosse program. However, for all of the success of the Duke Lacrosse program, it's amazing to realize that they have never won a national championship. Their program boasts three Final Four appearances and they recently advanced to the 2006 National Championship Game where they were heavily favored against Johns Hopkins, but lost. They have yet to win the elusive national championship. In fact, there are only 7 teams that have ever won the Division I Lacrosse National Championship. Syracuse has won 10 championships; Johns Hopkins 9, Princeton 6, North Carolina 4, Virginia 4, Cornell 3, and Maryland 2.

While Duke lacrosse may not be in the national spotlight for the number of championships its program has won, the Duke Lacrosse case in 2006 catapulted the Duke Lacrosse program and the sport of lacrosse itself onto the national stage. The incident was highlighted in major stories in The New York Times, The New Yorker, BBC, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, "60 Minutes" and other high-profile national and international media sources.

The Duke Lacrosse "incident" refers to the 2006 episode in which three Duke Lacrosse players were falsely accused of rape by Crystal Mangum, an African-American stripper, escort, and student at North Carolina Central University. Mangum accused several members of the Duke lacrosse team of raping her during a party held at the house of two of the team's captains in Durham, North Carolina. Members of the team apparently called an escort service and requested two strippers. Two strippers were sent by the escort service: Mangum and her coworker Kim Roberts.

Stories and rumors about the reported rape by the Duke lacrosse team were all over the news the morning after the incident occurred. Some of the players on the UNC team were still friends with some of the players on the Duke team (many of the players on these teams know each other from high school, as some of the top players often come from the same hometowns but attend different universities). Hearing the news about the reported rape, one player on the UNC team decided to call up his friend from high school who plays for the Duke lacrosse team to ask for the "inside scoop" on the incident. All the Duke player had to say was, "…it's not as bad as the media is making it out to be, but it was pretty bad…" Hearing this, the players assumed the allegations had some truth to them.

As it turns out, the allegations were not true. The Duke lacrosse players never raped the woman; the women left the party in Robert's car shortly after they arrived because the predominantly white players began to yell racist remarks at the strippers. A neighbor reported hearing one of the players yell out "thank your grandpa for my nice cotton shirt".

As Mangum and Roberts drove away from the Duke lacrosse house, they began to argue. Roberts supposedly tried to kick Mangum out of the car, but Mangum refused. Roberts then parked at a local convenience store and asked a security officer to remove Mangum from the car. The security officer did his best, but Mangum still refused to leave the car. The police were then called in to remove her. Mangum was then sent to a mental-health clinic, and it was there that she claimed she had been raped by the Duke lacrosse players.

Mangum was transported to the Duke University Medical Center and inspected for trauma. Doctors found evidence that Mangum could have been raped (it was later discovered that she had voluntary sexual encounters earlier in the day). Mangum's accusation of rape and the medical confirmation that she had sexual encounters that day was all Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong needed to hear. He immediately called the incident a "hate crime", accusing the predominantly white players of violence against the black stripper. The Duke lacrosse players were presumed guilty as the incident quickly became national news and evidence of ongoing "racism" in the southern state of North Carolina.

Duke University President Richard Brodhead quickly took action by canceling the remainder of the 2006 season and by asking the head lacrosse coach, Mike Pressler, to resign.

Nifong now found himself in an important position. Durham County is predominantly populated by African-Americans. The national media focused on the "hate crime" aspect of the accusations, and this made the African-American community outraged towards Duke and called for the Duke lacrosse players to be severely punished. As 2006 was an election year for Nifong, he realized that he could generate support from the black community by making a strong case for the players' guilt. However, Nifong reasoned that if these Duke lacrosse players were found to be innocent, the black community might think that the white District Attorney was letting these wealthy, white players go free even though they "raped" a black woman. Nifong decided it was in his best interest for the Duke lacrosse players to be guilty. Their guilt could help him win popular support from the black community and help him be re-elected. To personally ensure their guilt, Nifong decided to lead the investigation in the case against the Duke lacrosse players himself.

Violating their own rules, Nifong and the Durham Police Department gave Mangum a suspect-only photo identification procedure (the correct procedure is to give the accuser numerous photos to sort through as she attempt to single out the correct picture of the person responsible for the crime-Mangum was only given photos of Duke lacrosse players to identify as the rapists). Mangum randomly chose Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans as the three people involved in her alleged "rape".

Nifong used other dubiously ethical methods in addition to the suspect-only identification procedure to try and prove the Duke lacrosse players' guilt. He distributed a poster presuming the guilt of the suspects shortly after the investigation, ignored the inconsistencies in Mangum's accounts of the evening, overlooked the solid alibi evidence provided by Seligmann and Finnerty, and dismissed discrepancies in the notes taken during the investigation.

Eventually, the case against the players began to unravel. It wasn't until April 11, 2007 that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped all charges and declared the innocence of the three Duke lacrosse players. Nifong had ethics charges filed against him and he was eventually disbarred (meaning he could no longer serve as the Durham County District Attorney or practice law) for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation". Nifong was found guilty of criminal contempt and served time in jail (albeit for one day).

Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty both transferred schools in the wake of the case. Seligmann plays lacrosse for Brown University and Finnerty for Loyola College. David Evans graduated from Duke University in 2007. Mike Pressler, the former Duke lacrosse coach, is now the head lacrosse coach at Bryant College.