Duke Captain: Charges Are All Lies
16.05.2006 02:25 - category: Category two: Sub category 1 - Source: CBS
(CBS/AP) A Duke University's lacrosse team captain became the third player indicted in the rape scandal Monday and the first to speak out, blasting the charges against him as "fantastic lies."
"I look forward to watching them unravel in the weeks to come," said David Evans, a just-graduated 23-year-old economics major from Bethesda, Md., who was one of four team captains.
At a news conference, Evans was backed by other players and his mother, Rae Evans, a Washington lobbyist who is the chairwoman of the Ladies Professional Golf Association board of directors.
The charges followed a March 13 party at an off-campus house, where a 27-year-old black student at nearby North Carolina Central University told police she was raped and beaten by three white men after she and another woman were hired as strippers.
Evans also proclaimed the innocence of sophomores Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., both of whom were indicted last month on the same charges.
CBS News correspondent Trish Regan reports Evans claimed that he had cooperated with investigators from the start by helping them collect evidence from his home, the site of the alleged rape; by volunteering to take a lie-detector test; and by offering to meet District Attorney Mike Nifong in person, a request that was denied.
Nifong issued a statement late Monday afternoon saying that he had no plans to indict any other lacrosse team members, Regan reports.
Defense attorneys have insisted all the players are innocent, citing DNA tests they say found no match between any of the team's white players and the accuser.
According to defense attorneys, second, more detailed DNA tests came back Friday and prove no player had sex with the dancer — but that the accuser had sex with another man.
Attorney Joseph Cheshire said the tests showed genetic material from a "single male source" was found on a vaginal swab taken from the accuser, but that material did not match any of the players.
"In other words, it appears this woman had sex with a male," said Cheshire, who spoke at a news conference with other defense attorneys in the case. "It also appears with certainty it wasn't a Duke lacrosse player."
Still, inconclusive genetic material that resembles two players' DNA was found under one of the accuser's plastic fingernails and that's the evidence Nifong is expected to use, reported Regan. According to a search warrant executed March 16, police recovered five fingernails from the house, but it was unclear where those fingernails were found or whether they included the one containing DNA.
Cheshire said the accuser identified Evans with "90 percent certainty" during a photo lineup. Cheshire said the accuser told police she would be 100 percent sure if Evans had a mustache something he said his client has never had.
Evans turned himself in after the news conference. Cheshire said he expected his client to be released later Monday.
"I look forward to watching them unravel in the weeks to come," said David Evans, a just-graduated 23-year-old economics major from Bethesda, Md., who was one of four team captains.
At a news conference, Evans was backed by other players and his mother, Rae Evans, a Washington lobbyist who is the chairwoman of the Ladies Professional Golf Association board of directors.
The charges followed a March 13 party at an off-campus house, where a 27-year-old black student at nearby North Carolina Central University told police she was raped and beaten by three white men after she and another woman were hired as strippers.
Evans also proclaimed the innocence of sophomores Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., both of whom were indicted last month on the same charges.
CBS News correspondent Trish Regan reports Evans claimed that he had cooperated with investigators from the start by helping them collect evidence from his home, the site of the alleged rape; by volunteering to take a lie-detector test; and by offering to meet District Attorney Mike Nifong in person, a request that was denied.
Nifong issued a statement late Monday afternoon saying that he had no plans to indict any other lacrosse team members, Regan reports.
Defense attorneys have insisted all the players are innocent, citing DNA tests they say found no match between any of the team's white players and the accuser.
According to defense attorneys, second, more detailed DNA tests came back Friday and prove no player had sex with the dancer — but that the accuser had sex with another man.
Attorney Joseph Cheshire said the tests showed genetic material from a "single male source" was found on a vaginal swab taken from the accuser, but that material did not match any of the players.
"In other words, it appears this woman had sex with a male," said Cheshire, who spoke at a news conference with other defense attorneys in the case. "It also appears with certainty it wasn't a Duke lacrosse player."
Still, inconclusive genetic material that resembles two players' DNA was found under one of the accuser's plastic fingernails and that's the evidence Nifong is expected to use, reported Regan. According to a search warrant executed March 16, police recovered five fingernails from the house, but it was unclear where those fingernails were found or whether they included the one containing DNA.
Cheshire said the accuser identified Evans with "90 percent certainty" during a photo lineup. Cheshire said the accuser told police she would be 100 percent sure if Evans had a mustache something he said his client has never had.
Evans turned himself in after the news conference. Cheshire said he expected his client to be released later Monday.
www.sitename.com