Duke Settles With Lacrosse Players
Duke University has probably done the smartest thing it could have under the circumstances. It has reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the three lacrosse players falsely accused of rape. One hopes the young men and their attorneys squeezed every penny out of the university that they could, considering the number of tenured faculty there who called for the legal lynching of the innocent players.
Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans were indicted last year on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after a woman told police she was attacked at a March 2006 team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper. Duke suspended all three, canceled the team's season and forced their coach to resign.
The allegations were debunked in April by state prosecutors, who said the players were the innocent victims of a "tragic rush to accuse" by Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong. He was disbarred Saturday for breaking more than two dozen rules of professional conduct in his handling of the case.
The players' families racked up millions of dollars of legal bills in their defense, and appear likely to file a lawsuit against Nifong.
Duke said in a statement that it had reached a private settlement with each former student after determining "it is in the best interests of the Duke community to eliminate the possiblity of future litigation and move forward."
Rough translation: "We would get the living heck kicked out of us it if this went to court. We'd better pay up now or pay a lot more when the jury hands us our heads."
UPDATE: Others: Durham-in-Wonderland, TalkLeft, Facing South, Gateway Pundit, Townhall, The Moderate Voice, La Shawn Barber's Corner, A Blog For All, Right Angles,
By Lars Walker, June 18, 2007 @ 2:44 pm
You know, it seems like you very rarely actually see justice served anymore. There’s much satisfaction in this.