Duke Lacrosse Players File Law Suite
These articles in the New York Times reveals that three former NCAA athletes falsely accused of rape have decided to press charges against the man who handled the case. For those who are unfamiliar with this issue, last spring a woman claimed that she was raped at a lacrosse team party in Durham, North Carolina. The woman was hired as a stripper for the men’s annual pre-season get together in the spring of 2006. Almost one year later this woman reported that she had been raped by several of the team members. Mike Nifong was the prosecutor in the case.
The men were eventually found not guilty of the crimes and now they wish to seek punitive of compensatory damages. The three men were released from the team and were slandered in the media when these charges first came out. Mr. Nifong was eventually released from the case because of poor judgment and withholding of evidence. The woman’s story changed from the time of the charges throughout the prosecution and her credibility was found to be lacking. She had previously charged rape against another man only to settle out of court for a sum of money. DNA tests, the evidence Mr. Nifong withheld, eventually proved these men innocent.
These former lacrosse players simply want to be compensated for their losses that were directly caused by Mr. Nifong’s faulty prosecution. The question I have is whether these men deserve this money or is it enough that Mr. Nifong was relieved of his duties and subsequently spent 30 days in jail.
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As an avid sports fan, I have followed this case. The lacrosse team’s season was canceled and the head coach of 16 seasons resigned after the whole ordeal. The prosecutor withheld information that could have cleared the three men charged but instead carried on with the case. The prosecutor was called very “egocentric” on ESPN and it also said that he enjoyed the publicity he was getting all too much.
Instead it took the defendants lives, as well as their family and friends, and turned it into complete chaos. To answer you question Josh, I believe the men deserve money and any other compensation they receive for having to go through with such a long, grueling process, that could have been ended much sooner.
I hope you guys don't mind adding to this conversation (and I'm merely trying to respond, not lecture...) but I just wanted to say something about what it might mean for this court case to succeed, and what it means that the case is getting so much media attention in the first place.
For one thing, I find difficult to have any sympathy for these Duke students. Certainly, given the context of the original situation (wealthy, white, male students paying for a poor, black, single mother to strip for them) it's nothing less than reprehensible that they are choosing to make a fuss about financial compensation for emotional duress. I wonder how much compensation the woman they paid ever got? I wonder--in the larger schema of her lives, and the students' lives, who will actually endure more emotional duress as a direct result of this situation? I wonder how fair it is--at this point-- to abstract the consequences of a court case in which the students were found innocent, from the personal, economic, and cultural histories that allowed the situation to ever take place, and that will guide these people as they all try to move on from it?
Furthermore, statements like this one--“one of the most chilling episodes of premeditated police, prosecutorial, and scientific misconduct in modern American history”--(which comes from the article that Josh cited, and which was composed by the students' lawyer) are impressively idiotic and frankly insulting, given the disparate treatment minority and non-minority people receive in the United States today. I suspect none of these individuals will ever be aware of the real cases of "chilling" judicial or authoritative "misconduct,"
For some examples of this, read up on the Jena 6 case (hyperlinked), read the Human Rights Watch report (hyperlinked) about the racial inequality of our judicial system, or check out this site (hyperlinked) about wrongful death penalty cases.
In any case, I just wanted to say that the way these students are victimizing themselves seems utterly absurd to me, and it certainly distracts from the most troublesome issues involved in the Duke lacrosse case.
“Willfully ignored and were deliberately indifferent to overwhelming evidence of plaintiffs’ actual innocence,” if this particular quote (taken from the written complaint of the plaintiffs) is true, then I believe that the plaintiffs do deserve the right to receive a considerable sum for what they went through. Regardless of their previous financial or social situation, nobody deserves to be put through the embarrassment of a false rape case. If there was overwhelming evidence that proved the defendant’s innocence it should have been shared to the court immediately to reduce the public humiliation these four students unrightfully received.
In this case, I do not have any sympathy for the women who originally claimed that they raped her. It is her fault that she is in the situation that she is in and she has absolutely no right to try to ruin the lives of four men by claiming untrue rape allegations against them. In my opinion, sexual crimes such as rape are the worst types of crime, and they ruin the credibility of anybody ever accused of them even if they are found not-guilty. Maybe this is not the most “chilling episodes” that has happened throughout the history of American justice, but nevertheless it is still unjust and the men who suffered throughout the case should be paid for the damaged incurred. As for the prosecutor, if he did look over many facts because he wanted this to remain a high-profile case to enhance his public appearance, then he should be the one punished and spending the time behind bars. He committed his life to uphold and enforce the laws set in the United States, and it is his duty to fulfill his commitment.
I am very torn on this subject because I feel sympathy for all members involved. The Duke students’ lives were destroyed from these allegations. They were publically humiliated and forfeited their lacrosse season. These boys aren’t only pushing charges to get money to cover legal fees but “This is about sending a message to public officials who only get the message when they have to pay the money.”
However, I support the other side of this case. The prosecutor did know information, however as a lawyer, he is not going to hand this information to the other side. It is still horrible that these boys’ lives were ruined, but he is trying to win a case. I don’t think it should be this way. Society should be about justice, and always doing the right thing, but it is not. This man was just doing his job.
This case was and still is very disturbing to many and hopefully these players will receive some compensation, but also should not be doing too much damage to the prosecutor.
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