http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-05...

Third lacrosse player charged in Duke rape case
Mon May 15, 2006 4:17pm ET11


MIAMI (Reuters) - A third Duke University lacrosse player was indicted on Monday on charges of raping a dancer at a team party and immediately declared his innocence, calling the allegations "fantastic lies."

David Evans, a co-captain of the lacrosse team, was charged with rape, sexual offense and kidnapping, the same charges brought last month against two teammates, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty.

The accusations of rape brought by a black woman against the three white students at the elite U.S. university has captured attention of the U.S. media and some community activists, who are citing it as an example of racial and class tensions in Durham, North Carolina, where the school is located.

At a news conference, carried live on national television from outside the jail where he turned himself in, Evans said he had tried to provide prosecutors with evidence clearing himself and his teammates but had been turned away.

Surrounded by his teammates wearing business attire, Evans said he had taken a lie detector test that proved his innocence of the rape of the woman, who was hired to dance and strip at the party on March 13.

"I am innocent. Reade Seligmann is innocent. Collin Finnerty is innocent. Every member of the Duke University lacrosse team is innocent," Evans said. "You have all been told some fantastic lies and I look forward to seeing them unravel in the weeks to come ... the truth will come out."

The players' accuser, a 27-year-old mother of two hired to dance at an off-campus home shared by three of the players, told police the next day she had been raped by three white men.

The three played on the nationally ranked Duke lacrosse team. The coach resigned and the university canceled the team's season after weeks of community protests following the rape allegation.

The case has sparked wide U.S. media coverage of Duke, where the annual cost of tuition and board exceeds the average annual income of families in the city.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Bill,

This is known as media saturation, and is a great way to make sure that as many potential jurors know this kid passed a polygraph. Its effect has the potential to be devastating to the prosecution. And as we know the validity of the polygraph is garbage but it does make great theatre. It leaves the prosecution with little alternative but to try the case on its merits not hearsay. But the average juror will believe that the kid is innocent. He has some good lawyers ..... Most likely from his dad's law firm. Its a brillient strategy.

Regards ...

Quote:


Very clever indeed..!!  8)

I guess it always helps when Daddy owns a Law firm....