This is my favorite, from the athletic director:

"They are young men...and sometimes young men make bad decisions, bad judgements."

Yeah, you know. Sometimes guys rape and beat up people, no biggie. Fucking A.

By the way, as I wrote the above comment, CNN covered the story.

Apparently that same night, a 911 call was made by a girl after she and her friend walked by the house and the players starting yelling at them, calling them "niggers."

Sound like real cool guys. Fuckers.

fuckwits.

Local coverage has been pretty extensive. From what I can gather, the official Duke response has been this:

1) The accused are innocent until proven guilty.
2) Underage drinking and hiring strippers is what I think was being called "bad judgement." If the rape allegations are true, that goes well beyond bad judgement and into criminal violent behavior. The alleged crimes are felonies.
3) In response to the party and allegations, Duke first cancelled two immediate lacrosse games, and has since cancelled the rest of the season, "until there is a clearer resolution of the legal situation." (The season ends in a couple weeks, and it's unclear what a clearer resolution would be.)
4) Duke doesn't appear willing to take action against individual students until the police have completed their investigation.
5) In the face of the rape allegations against three (unknown) members of the team, there's been almost no discussion of the alleged racist and drunken behavior of other, more numerous team members. Neither the cops, protestors, or Duke University have addressed this yet, as far as I can tell.
6) Once the criminal investigation is complete, the university could undertake its own judicial process, with a range of possible penalties that includes expulsion, according to John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations.

Now the potentially bad news: in response to this allegation, the police instituted a DNA drag-net of the entire lacrosse team, including some who appear to not have even been at the party. They called it "voluntary" even though, according to our local CBS affilate, they threatened legal action against anybody who didn't comply. Other reports, however, indicate that a court order was obtained. Whether such court order is itself constitutional, if it exists, remains to be seen. A local constitutional law expert has been contacted by the local paper for comment, and thinks the DNA results will be tossed if they implicate any of the players.

This story comes during Duke's annual Sexual Assault Awareness Week.

From the Herald Sun (local Durham paper):
"Duke University will host a "Take Back the Night" rally and march honoring survivors of sexual violence tonight at 7 p.m. The event was planned before the alleged gang rape by members of the university's lacrosse team."

Damn libdevil, thanks for all the extra details. I had actually heard that the police dna-tested and that could be potentially thrown out because it is a violation of the lax players civil rights.

Awful.

this is unfuckingbelievable. what we need is an underground terrorist organization to deal with these pigs and others in ways they will understand. and in ways that will put fear into these predatory cowards. this human trash needs to be disposed of.

karey: Obviously the guilty should be punished, but you should probably hold off on the lynch mob until you know what exactly occurred and who was involved.

Samhita: Civil rights exist to protect all of us. Due process is not "awful"

I don't want to minimize the horror of these accusations, rather I would like to point out that we really don't know much about the reality of the situation, yet.

noname,

The issue is not the existence of the civil liberties, but the potential that the police erred in carrying out their investigation.

It would be awful if the police overstepped their bounds and end up causing critical evidence to be thrown out, which they could have later acquired by other means which are constitutionally valid.

Even if they can not otherwise acquire it, the fact that a defendant refuses a DNA test is an important piece of evidence in itself. Yet by putting legal duress on those who refuse, the police guarantee all of the players will accept, and this could be parlayed as a voluntary acceptance at trial.

Either way, a mistake by the investigating authorities in a felony case is always awful, especially when it comes to something as critical as DNA evidence. With a low rate of rape conviction in general, DNA evidence may well be decisive in proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt. It would be terrible if justice was not served in a brutal crime as the one alleged due to some legal error by the local investigating team (this is even before a grand jury has been called, am I correct?)

On the other hand I'm pretty sure (at least hope!) that karey was joking about the terrorists.

Bobby,

Understood, and agreed. It would be awful if guilty parties get off on a technicality. I only commented because this incident has shown up on alot of blogs recently, and most people seem very quick to condemn all 40 players based on the alleged actions of three without any knowledge of what actually happenned.

Well, now that the DNA tests have come back negative, I guess we don't have to worry about them being thrown out. At least we were able to convict these bastards in the media and in blogs like these before the case was thrown out, and isn't that really what this is all about?

All good people should stand up against women who falsely accuse men of rape

Stripper claims: She struggled so hard fighting off these three white men that five of her press on nails fell off.

Facts: nails were recovered and no DNA were found under the nails; no scratches were found anywhere on any of the boys. No scratch marks were found anywhere on any of the boys’ bodies.

Stripper claims: three men raped her on the bathroom rug,
Fact:
• No vaginal or seminal fluid, no skin, blood, or hair were found anywhere in the bathroom, bath towels, bath rug, door handle, bathroom floor, basin, water faucet handle, etc.
• A man cannot take off a condom and not get DNA from himself or the female on his hands and not transfer it to everything he touches?
• Accuser claims she was vaginally penetrated; accuser claims she was panicked and thought she was going to die; Where is her vaginal fluid, urine, or blood anywhere in the bathroom? Does her body defy basic physiology capable of keeping any ejaculate from spilling out?
• Accuser claims she was anally penetrated; Where’s her fecal material or scat smears in the bathroom? Does the accuser have inhuman anal sphinter control that prevented any of the ejaculate from dripping out?
• Accuser claims she was orally sodomized; where is DNA from her saliva and tears? Did she lick up every drop and swallowed any evidence?

DNA evidence not connecting the boys to the "criminal stripper" is significant enough, but absolutely no DNA at all is significant in suggesting the rape never occurred at all!

Stripper claim bruises were result of an attack from three boys:
Fact: Time-stamped photos prove stripper arrived bruised and cut while drunk.

Pictures show the stripper performed without the finger nails, and her knees were bruised before she arived.

Nifong stated that a condom was used, if this is true than where is the spermicidal lubricant evidence? Where are the condoms? Where are the condom wrappers? Where is the empty condom box?

If no DNA material were present on the stripper, than why were DNA samples taken? The District Attorney vigorously claimed that these DNA evidence will clear the innocent.

The second stripper stated that she didn’t notice any rape, and when they got back in the car the “accuser� didn’t mention anything about being rape.

Apparently the “second stripper charged with embezzling $25,000� changed her story to conspire with the “lying stripper under-probation-for-larceny-and-trying-to-kill-a-police-officer-with-a-stolen-car� as part of a deal with Nifong to get released from jail, also contacted a public relations firm to “not let this opportunity pas her by and to spin it to my advantage�.

This in the wake of pictures surfacing showing that the “lying stripper� had those fake finger nails missing before the time she lied that a rape occurred.

With the taste of his own foot still lingering in his mouth, District Attorney Mike Nifong has another piece of evidence blow up in his face, I wonder how's his ulcer is doing?

So would it be his own aura or is it the universe's way of getting back at Nifong for destroying these young boys lives?

It would be funny if Nifong's ulcer leads to a colonoscopy, or would it be “ironic� or “poetic justice� that he screws 47 boys over a false rape claim and have to take a 36 inch colonoscopy tube up his @ss for his part in the fiasco he created.

Lets not forget that not only that there lacks any DNA evidence of the boys, but there’s an absolute absence of DNA from her who claims she was raped vaginally, anally, and orally… why wasn’t any of HER vaginal, urine, blood, sweat, fecal, saliva, or tears not found anywhere in the bathroom? Nifong claims that condoms could have been used, then where are the condoms? The condom wrappers, the condom box, the spermicidal evidence from the rape kit?

Some feminist claim the boys were drunk and where so overwhelmed with excitement that they couldn’t ejaculate- not even one, obviously these women have never had sex with a 19 year old male or any male.

Finally, don’t forget the three boys who lived in the house agreed to be questioned by the police for over six hours, and volunteered to a lie detector test. When the boys were told to surrender DNA samples, none called their parents r tried to block the order, they complied because they new the “stripper� was lying. These are not the actions of guilty boys, but Nifong claimed that they were all covering up for each other and will charge each of them with aiding and abetting because the only information they had is that no rape occurred.

These boys were and continue to be put through hell by these criminal strippers and an unscrupulous DA. Hopefully these three will be held accountable for the racial riots pending the acquittal of these innocent boys.

Below is the text of the e-mail sent by Kim Roberts to 5W Public Relations in New York. Roberts, an exotic dancer, accompanied the woman accusing members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team of raping her the night of March 13.
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 2:21 PM
To: Ronn Torossian
Subject: duke lacrosse scandal
Hi!

My name is Kim and I am involved in the Duke Lacrosse scandal. Although I am no celebrity and just an average citizen, I've found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country. I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage. I am determined not to let any negative publicity about my life overtake me. I'm so confused as to who to talk to for relevant advice and I hope that you can return my e-mail. If you cannot help, do you know of any names and numbers I can call?
Thanks for your time,

Kim Roberts
Stripper, Model, Escort, Witness

Rape shields were created in the 1970s to protect the alleged “victim� from having her reputation ruined by baseless assumptions, unfair judgments, public humiliation, and character assassinations, but any of this could describe what’s happening to every member of the lacrosse team.

Irresponsible “special interest groups� have held protests everyday holding the name and pictures of anyone on the lacrosse team, to having their pictures and hate slogans pasted all over school. The actions of these groups against these men are nothing short of harassment and unfair character assassination.

Media hungry District Attorney Mike Nifong stated he is positive a rape has occurred, but he isn’t sure if it’s by the members of the lacrosse team, yet he obtained an order to get DNA samples from only the members of the team, then he stated on a national news program that the lacrosse team has a “rowdy� reputation on campus – obviously playing up to sexist stereotyping of jocks to further play his case for the media. As Nifong continues to publicly massacre the characters out his case for public consumption, he claims that the team is “stonewalling the investigation� because they claim not to have any knowledge of what transpired, but is Nifong now believing the men to be telling the truth as he recently changed his tune stating that even if the DNA evidence clears these boys that he’ll have other evidence.

Opportunistic political groups have descended on Duke’s campus using unscrupulous methods to get media attention at the expense of innocent young men who happen to be on the lacrosse team. Young men who were too recently, only boys not yet ready to handle this ugly side of the world. In today’s climate, we need the rape shield laws extended to protect all the innocent, including those who just happen to get in the way of media hungry district attorneys and opportunistic political groups.

District Attorney Mike Nifong’s should be held accountable for the irresponsible actions he’s taken in this rape investigation.

The boys are being tried in the national media before there is any charge are made. Nifong stated that someone else could have assaulted the 27 year old stripper, yet he publicly damned the men’s lacrosse team and only the men’s lacrosse team as gang rapist, and still not knowing whether or not the “alleged victim� was telling the truth, or if the three men sought are on the team, Nifong claims the team is stonewalling to protect its own.

In response, daily protest are held with hate comments made directly to the lacrosse teammates, pictures of the teammates with rape slogans are plastered all over Duke’s campus, and now gang members are driving by the east campus threatening students.

Nifong’s circus-like antics to perform for the national media has put the whole campus in danger.

Nifong proclaimed in the national media that the DNA sweep of 46 boys would find the guilty and clear the innocent. DNA tests prove that the boys of the lacrosse team were telling the truth, but Nifong wants to go ahead with the case only weeks before his election against a woman and a black man. There should be laws in place to prevent unscrupulous politician like District Attorney Mike Nifong from bulldozing over 47 innocent boys just to bask in the international media spot-light.

Will you all be addressing the Duke hoax? I guess I can understand why you wouldn’t want to after that scathing 60 Minutes report, but you should anyway.

Here is an interview by Ed Bradley about what he found. I will post a link to the full segment when it is posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4t3sEE3cMQ

That is an interview of Ed Bradley, not by Ed Bradley.