Duke invites 2 lacrosse players back

[Placebo]

Duke University has invited two of the lacrosse players accused of sexual assault to return to school as students in good standing, a defense attorney said Wednesday.

Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann had been barred from attending class during the fall semester while their case made its way through court. The third player charged in the case, Dave Evans, graduated in May, the day before he was charged with raping a stripper at a team party in March.

Rape charges against all three players were dropped last month, after the accuser said she could no longer remember some details about the case. The men are still charged with sexual offense and kidnapping.

"As circumstances have evolved in this extraordinary case, we have attempted to balance recognition of the gravity of legal charges with the presumption of your innocence," Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president for student affairs said in a letter to Seligmann dated Tuesday.

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[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Whatever happened to those other charges?

The gay bashing ones?

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Not done to be fair. It's to discourage a lawsuit from the parents

and/or the students for being asked to leave in the first place.

[Egalitariat]

3. It was the right thing to do***

nm

[Botany]

4. I hope they go back and protest in the "front yards" of the anti rape

women's group & civil rights organizations that made their lives hell.

I hope they then go and pee on that D.A.'s desk too.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Heh

Yeah, and rape the guy's wife while they're at it, to teach him a lesson.

:sarcasm:

[geek tragedy]

6. Wtf? Nifong is the criminal, and they're the victims.

Safe to say that instead of pissing on his desk, they'll be looting his bank account and liquid assets via the court system.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Nifong is a criminal?

So whatever happened to assumption of innocence?

[MrCoffee]

9. Assumption my ass, there are cold hard facts to back up Nifong's guilt

as opposed to, say, the utter lack of facts supporting the charges against the lacrosse players.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. LOL

:rofl:

[marshall]

21. And there is Nifong's confession

Nifong has admitted that he did not turn over evidence to the defense, as he is required to do.

Another nail in Nifong's coffin will be when information about the grand jury comes out. If it turns out that he also concealed the DNA evidence from the grand jury he will really have some fires to put out.

[geek tragedy]

13. He violated their civil rights. And there's a LOT

more evidence that he's a criminal than those two kids.

[brentspeak]

19. Yeah, whatever did happen to assumption of innocence?

"Yeah, and rape the guy's wife while they're at it, to teach him a lesson."

:freak: :freak: :freak: :freak: :freak: :hurts: :hurts:

[dsc]

23. Prosecutors are immune from such suits

even if he were to go to jail for his conduct of his case, he still couldn't be sued in all probability.

[Renew Deal]

7. Duke needs to do this to restore their image.

And the last thing they want is the image of covicted rapists. This is largely a PR move.

[Captain Hilts]

11. There is no evidence backing the charges. It's the right thing to do. nt

[Renew Deal]

18. That's correct.

:thumbsup:

[Placebo]

12. God Bless PR.

It occasionally leads to good things.

[geek tragedy]

14. No, they don't want to be associated with the witch

hunt that Nifong led.

They have gotten negative PR for the way they threw two innocent students under the bus. As they should have.

[laureloak]

15. Where is the outrage from civil rights leaders re

the abuse of the rights of these young men?

[Mike Daniels]

16. If the races had been reversed w/ everything else exactly the same

you would have had every civil rights group accusing the DA of trying to lynch the athletes.

But because it was just a bunch of rich white boys they were considered fair game.

[LostInAnomie]

17. "Gee, thanks Duke. Letting me play lacrosse for you...

... is a great way to make up for you joining in on a witch hunt that has probably ruined my chances of ever having a successful career!"

If I were them I would sue the shit out of Duke, Nifong, the DA's office, and the "victim". I might even take a crack at suing all the civil rights leaders who took the opportunity to pile on. Then I would use my newfound wealth to get Nifong disbarred.

On a side note: I wonder if Jesse Jackson is still going to pay for the "victim's" education?

[IndianaGreen]

20. Duke realizes that it may be held liable for its treatment of Reade Seligmann

the one defendant having time-stamped ATM video showing that he was not at the house when the alleged rape (now assault) took place.

[marshall]

22. I will be anxious to hear what he says when it's all finished

I wonder if he left the party and was across town (getting his face photographed by a time stamped ATM video) because he didn't want to participate in underage drinking and cavorting with "dancers"?

[PBass]

24. Even if they didn't rape the woman,

the team is still a disgrace to the university IMO... major discipline problems (out of control drinking, fighting etc).

The coach should be fired IMO, and the whole team should take a year off get their act together. Any coach with integrity would have kicked these jackasses (the ones who have team parties with strippers) OFF the frigging team.

[Mudoria]

25. The same could be said for most of the fraternities

on college campuses across the country. Close those down too? And the coach resigned over six months ago (they have a new one now).

[mbperrin]

26. Hmmm, I guess Finnerty's homophobic assault conviction didn't count...

nt

[marshall]

27. No, it wouldn't

Since they weren't aware of that incident until AFTER the incident in question, you're probably right.