Rape charges dropped in US Duke lacrosse case

RALEIGH, NC, Dec 23: Prosecutors have dropped rape charges against three former Duke University lacrosse players but they still face accusations of kidnapping and sexual assault, the prosecutors said.

The three white men were accused by a black woman who worked as a stripper of rape and assault at a March 2006 team party in an off-campus house in Durham, North Carolina.

The case led to a major investigation at the university and stirred national debate, in part because some community activists cited it as an example of racial and class tensions on campus and in the town where the school is located.

David Evans of Bethesda, Maryland, Collin Finnerty of Garden City, New York, and Reade Seligmann of Essex Fells, New Jersey, still face charges of first-degree sexual assault and first-degree kidnapping in the case.

They have repeatedly denied the allegations.

''He (Durham district attorney Mike Nifong) is proceeding on the other charges of first-degree sexual offense, first-degree kidnapping,'' Candy Clark, Nifong's administrative assistant, told Reuters.

Nifong dismissed charges of first-degree rape against the three former players after the accuser told detectives she was not certain about a crucial detail in the alleged assault, the News and Observer newspaper said on its Web site.

''The victim ... cannot ... testify with certainty that a penis was the body part that penetrated her vagina,'' Nifong wrote in a filing dismissing the rape charge specifically against Evans, who had been a co-captain of the lacrosse team.

''Since penetration of the vagina by a penis is one of the elements of this offense that the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt ... the state is unable to meet its burden of proof with respect to this offense,'' the filing said.

PRESSURE

Nifong was elected in November to a full term as Durham's district attorney. Duke University president Richard Brodhead on Friday called on him to step aside and let an independent party handle the case.

''Given the certainty with which the district attorney made his many public statements regarding the rape allegation, his decision today to drop that charge must call into question the validity of the remaining charges,'' he said in a statement.

''The district attorney should now put this case in the hands of an independent party who can restore confidence in the fairness of the process,'' Brodhead said.

The head of a private laboratory testified last week that he and Nifong had agreed not to report DNA results favorable to the accused as required by state law after DNA from men not accused of the crime was found on the woman.

Republican Rep Walter Jones of North Carolina has also asked the US Justice Department to investigate Nifong's handling of the case.

Defence attorney Joseph Cheshire told a news conference the case was far from over because the penalty for first degree sexual offense is the same as first degree forceful rape.

REUTERS