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Duke Lacrosse Team and the Prosecutor

Angela Austin, MGT5019

Northcentral University

11/29/11



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CONTENTS

I. Introduction««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««.4

II. Impact On Stakeholders................................................................................................... 5

III. Outcome and Fairness of Punishment««««««««««««««««««««..6

IV. Financial and Racial Implications««««««««««««««««««««««7

V. Prosecutorial Misconduct«««««««««««««««««««««««««8

VI. Were These Men Targets Because of Their Social Status?................................................9

VII. Conclusion«««««««««««««««««««««««««««««.....10

VIII. References ..................................................................................................................... 12



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The Duke Lacrosse Team and the Prosecutor

Introduction

Duke University is known for being one of America¶s top learning institutions. People

come from all over the world to attend this esteemed school. Education is a privilege in our

society and does not come cheap. Most students attending a prestigious school of this caliber

come from affluent families. In 2006 three young men from affluent families such as these were

falsely accused by two exotic dancers of sexual assault. The incident allegedly occurred at a

Duke Lacrosse team party, where these two young women were hired to entertain the team with

their services.

The problem to be investigated is how our legal system is flawed and how ethics may

have played a role in the government¶s responsibilities to all parties in the case. This paper will

first determine the impact that this scandal had on Dukes stakeholders. Next it will analyze the

racial implications involved with black accusers and white defendants. Then it will evaluate the

outcome and determine the fairness of punishment that these young men received. Finally, it

will discuss how the prosecutor in this case acted in such an unethical manner that he was

eventually disbarred as a direct result of his actions involved with this case.

Duke University is located in Durham North Carolina, and is known for their beautiful

gothic architecture, exceptional educational programs, and highly competitive athletics

department. Lacrosse is one of the many sports that Duke University offers their students. The

sport is played with two teams of ten players, ³It was played with a 3 to 4 foot long cross stick

(known as a "Crosse") with a loop and net on the end. The ball was made of deerskin and

stuffed with hair.´ (Sports Information.org) The game of lacrosse has become very popular in



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the United States as well as Canada where according to sports information.org the sport has

become Canada¶s national game. (Sports Information.org)

Impact on Stakeholders

Whenever a sport is played at a college level, many local people, businesses, and

organizations have a stake in the team as well as the University that the team represents. The

area that Duke is located in Durham, North Carolina is a low- middle class area.

According to Durham, (2006) demographics:

y Median household income, 1999 $41,160

y Per capita money income, 1999 $22,526

y Persons below poverty, percent, 1999 15% (Demographics for, 2011)

While the majority of students at Duke are from other areas, and as previously mentioned are

from affluent families. Local organizations depend on much of the revenue generated by the

college and its students, and even more on the sporting events involving the Duke Lacrosse team.

When an organization such as Duke has a scandal of this magnitude it is hard to believe

that the stakeholders in their community will be forgiving. Negative publicity can linger on for

decades tarnishing a once prestigious institution. It is most important that the establishment

learns from the incident. Knowledge always finds a way to turn a negative into a positive.

According to Dufresne, (2008):

In particular, we share a special interest in understanding how organizations can be

"hyper-resilient" in the face of a crisis so that they are not just quickly returning to the



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status quo once the dust settles, but rather using the crisis as a springboard to becoming

even better than before.

This case was sensationalized by the media much like the O.J. Simpson trial, resulting in

split opinions coinciding with factors such as race and wealth. (Smith, 2006) Political motives

were behind much of the district attorney¶s ambitions to prosecute three innocent men. Negative

media had a huge impact on the reputations of many involved with this case. Between the

unethical acts of one man trying to manipulate a jury in order to catapult his own political

desires, and the university suspending these students during the investigation, a court of public

opinion had convicted these men prematurely.

According to Duke News and Communications, (2006):

Even during the first few weeks of this story, when many people assumed the players

were guilty, Duke President Richard H. Brodhead repeatedly said they must be

considered innocent until proven otherwise« Brodhead also reminded people that the

appropriate venue for determining guilt or innocence was the legal system - not the news

media, the university or elsewhere. Prior to December, the two students were on interim

suspension, which is not a disciplinary measure or judgment of guilt but, instead, a

temporary measure that many colleges and universities use when a student is charged

with a violent crime. (p.1)

Outcome and Fairness of Punishment

The prosecutor Michael Nifong was suspended due to unethical behavior and was

eventually disbarred. (Jennings, 2009/2006) The three boys involved, David Evans, graduated



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in 2006. (Duke News, 2006) Reade Seligman graduated from Brown University. May 30, 2010

(Clemmons, 2010) Collin Finnerty graduated May 20, 2010 (Mallia & Lefkowitz, 2010) these

young men were all exonerated of all charges involved with this case. This was a fair sentence

because these men were innocent. The District Attorney did a press release stating that not only

were they found not guilty they were innocent which is the strongest language used in a court of

law.

According to Duke University, (N.D.):

On April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper stepped before a

crowded press conference and spoke the words that ended one of the most publicized

legal stories in recent American history. ³We believe these three individuals are innocent

of these charges,´ he said (p.1)

Financial and Racial Implications

Furthermore, these three boys managed to graduate college although they were charged

with a very serious offense. Most are not so lucky. Had these affluent white students been poor

and black, they would be serving 10 to 20years in prison.

According to Duke Law News, (2010) Professor Coleman stated:

It was not a unique case in the sense of how the criminal justice system can go awry, he

said, but in who the defendants were ± the fact that they had influence, could afford to

retain the best lawyers in the state, and attract the attention of the press, as opposed to



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being poor people of color who can¶t afford competent counsel and fail to attract

coverage. (p.1)

Even though the charges were later dismissed, these young men and their families

suffered major losses including reputation, financial, and time which can never be replaced. The

University did, however, settle out of court with the three families for an undisclosed amount

saying it was in the best interest of the school to move forward.

According to Duke, (2007):

Also in June, university leaders announced a settlement with David Evans, Collin

Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, noting in a statement how µthese young men and their

families have been the subject of intense scrutiny that has taken a heavy toll¶ and saying

³it is in the best interests of the Duke community to eliminate the possibility of future

litigation and move forward.´ (p.1)

A question raised by this case is ³how many innocent, poor, black, or white individuals

sit in jails across America with life or even death sentences. Every day we hear of people being

exonerated due to new DNA evidence being found or entered in their case. The problem is why

are they there to begin with? Over-zealous prosecutors in political arenas are practicing the same

way as Nifong every day and are getting away with it. This case is proof of a flawed legal

system that caters to the rich and runs over the poor.

Prosecutorial Misconduct

Michael Nifong, the prosecuting attorney on this case was up for election as district

attorney, when he was given the lacrosse team¶s case. He actually had no chance of winning



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because Black, his opponent had a majority of the white vote and Kieth Bishop had the majority

of the Black. The towns demographic at the time for voters were about 45% white to 43% black.

The case fell into Nifong¶s lap, when the election was only days away. Because the accuser was

an african-american woman, Nifong saw his opportunity and issued an incitement for the three

young men. This was a sign to the black community that this prosecutor would be fair to the

black community instead of immediately siding with the rich affluent white students of the

prestigious ³Duke´ University. His plan worked and he won the election by a slim margin of

some 800+ votes.

K.C. Johnson, (2006) states:

Of course, he did prevail, by the slim margin of 45%-42%, or 883 votes« Both

anecdotal and statistical evidence suggests that Nifong's pre-primary decision to bring

two indictments (against Seligmann and Collin Finnerty) aided him with African-

American voters. (p.1)

Were these men targets because of their social status?

On the other hand, did the fact that these men were of privilege play into why this

accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum, chose these men as targets for financial gain? It seems that this

whole incident may have been some elaborate plan thought up by two money-hungry women

who were not credible witnesses. Magnum has had a long criminal history of violent crimes.

She had at that time already tried to have at least two different men charged with rape and

attempted murder.



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³She originally told police that her three alleged attackers had held her against her will, raped

her, and threatened her life. However, she failed to follow up with police after the initial

interview and simply dropped the charges.´ (Gibson, D. 2011) Mangum may have been

manipulating this whole story in hopes that these wealthy families would offer up some sort of

settlement quietly instead of having their good names drug through the mud. However this was

not the case. These boys proved later that they were not even at the scene when the incident

supposedly took place, according to triangulated phone records, video from an ATM and no

finger prints what-so-ever from on of the alleged attackers in the room where the crime took

place. (Dezenhall, N.D.)

Society definitely looks down on women who choose to take their clothes off for

money. Many feel that women in this industry also dabble in prostitution, drugs, and other such

immoral acts. Although this may not always be the case, as in some instances less-fortunate

young women choose to work in this industry to make money for college in order to ³break the

cycle´ in their underprivileged family lineage.

Conclusion

On March 14,2006 (Jennings, 2009/2006) an exotic dancer Crystal Magnum, claimed

that after being hired to perform at a party for the Duke lacrosse team, she was physically

attacked, and sexually assaulted by these young men. Her story changed from a gang rape

situation of the entire team to isolating three young men assaulting her. The woman was black

and came from a poor family which was totally opposite from the three young men she accused

who were of substantial wealth and power. The lawyer assigned to the case was a candidate,

involved in an upcoming political election for district attorney. Michael Nifong used this

opportunity to capture the majority of Durham¶s black vote (which was 43% of the population at



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the time) by issuing an immediate and unwarranted incitement against three white, affluent Duke

Students and won the election.

The incident had a substantial impact on stakeholders of Duke University in which many

reputations were damaged, time lost, money spent and lives changed forever. The outcome and

punishment in this case was fair. Even though the DA was unethical by withholding evidence

that would beyond any reasonable doubt exonerate these alleged rapist, top defense attorneys

hired were able to prove their client¶s innocence. Michael Nifong was suspended from office

and later disbarred due to these extremely unethical actions involving this case. The three

students, who were suspended from the lacrosse team and from the school during this

investigation, later went on to graduate from other colleges and became very active in their

communities.

Racial implications were involved in this case because of the differences in social status

between the accuser and the defendants. Black residents in Durham voted for Nifong due to an

excess in media coverage which portrayed him as a fair man willing to defend the poor black

community against spoiled white preppie boys who parents could afford to buy them a top notch

defense team.

The question that was drawn from the conclusion in this case was; did this woman

Crystal Magnum purposely target these men? Is it possible that Magnum wanted to receive a

financial gain either from the families or out of the publicity over the case? This theory is not

too farfetched, as Magnum later went on to become a career criminal with lengthy jail sentences

for grand theft, child neglect, and in the latest case against her an attempted murder conviction.



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References

Clemmons, A. K. (2010, March). In ESPN (Ed.), Former Duke players move forward .

Retrieved December 7, 2011, from Sports.ESPN.Go.com Web site: http://

sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4980370

Demographics for Durham NC. (2011). Demographics for Durham NC [demographics -

population - age - housing prices - income]. Available December 7, 2011, from Ask.com

Web site: http://raleighdurham.about.com/od/citiesandneighborhoods/a/Demographics-

For-Durham-Nc.htm

Dezenhall, D. (n.d.). In Dezenhall Resources LTD (Ed.), Fighting Back in the Age of YouTube:

The Duke Lacrosse Counteroffensive and A Roundup of Recent Crises. Retrieved

December 8, 2011, from Dezenhall Resources.com Web site: http://www.dezenhall.com/

pub_excerpt.htm

Dufresne, R. L. Claire. (2008). Moving Beyond Feast and Frenzy: [Imagining Possibilities for

Hyper-Resilience Arising from Scandalous Organizational Crisis]. Law and

Contemporary Probloems, 71(Autumn), 201. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from Duke

law.edu Web site: http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/

cite.pl?71+Law+&+Contemp.+Probs.+201+(autumn+2008)#H2N1

Duke Law News. (2010, April 18). A Wrongful Convictions Reality Case. Duke Law, 1.

Retrieved December 7, 2011, from Duke Law News and Events Web site: http://

www.law.duke.edu/news/story?id=1193&u=3

Duke University. (2006). Duke and Men's Lacrosse >> FAQ. In Duke University (Ed.), News

and Communications (Frequently Asked Questions, p. 1). Retrieved December 7, 2011,



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from Duke News and Communications Web site: http://today.duke.edu/showcase/

mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/faq.html

Duke University. (Ed.). (n.d.). Looking Back at the Duke Lacross Case. Retrieved December 8,

2011, from Duke Office of News and Communications Web site: http://today.duke.edu/

showcase/lacrosseincident/

Gibson, D. (2011, April 4). In Norfolk Crime Examiner (Ed.), Duke Lacrosse Team Accuser

Arrested Again in North Carolina. Retrieved December 8, 2011, from Examiner.com

Web site: http://www.examiner.com/immigration-reform-in-national/duke-lacrosse-team-

accuser-arrested-again-north-carolina

Jennings. (2006). Business Ethics (6th ed.) [Case Studies And Selected Readings]. Mason, Ohio:

Cengage Learning. (Original work published 2009)

Mallia, J., & Lefkowitz, M. (2010, May 23). In Newsday.com (Ed.), Collin Finnerty, once

falsely accused, graduates from college. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from

Newsday.com Web site: http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/collin-finnerty-

once-falsely-accused-graduates-from-college-1.1937697

Smith, K. (2006, April 20). In D. Franks (Ed.), Public Opinion Figures Large In Duke Lacrosse

Case. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from WRAL.com Web site: http://www.wral.com/

news/local/story/157152/

Sports Information.org. (Ed.). (n.d.). Lacrosse. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from Sports

Information.org Web site: http://www.sports-information.org/lacrosse.htm

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