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| US lacrosse 'abuse' case dropped |
| Prosecutors have dropped all charges against three former students of a top US university in a sex abuse case whose racist overtones had shocked
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 12-April-2007
3:39:55 AM |
| The three white men, all members of Duke University's lacrosse team at Raleigh Durham, had been accused of attacking a black woman at a party.
Rape charges were dropped in December but the three still faced accusations of kidnapping and sexual assault.
These were thrown out on Wednesday by North Carolina's attorney general.
The BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, says the charges had outraged many Americans, reminding them of the treatment of black people by privileged whites in years gone by.
Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans were accused of rape, kidnapping and sexual offence charges following a complaint from a 27-year-old student from another college that she had been sexually assaulted after being hired to perform at a Duke University party.
But the charges have been dropped because of insufficient evidence that an attack had taken place.
The collapse of the case will lead to further dismay and soul searching, our correspondent says.
The local prosecutor Mike Nifong, who once called the lacrosse players a bunch of hooligans, is facing trial on charges that he withheld evidence.
Later on Wednesday it is expected that the three accused will be formally told that they face no charges, leaving the local community and Duke University with the difficult task of accepting that this whole episode is over and should never have happened.
State attorney general Roy Cooper said in an assessment of the case: "There were many points in the case where caution would have served justice better than bravado.
"I think a lot of people owe a lot of apologies to a lot of people... I think those people ought to consider doing that."
Mr Cooper said the charges against the three came from a "tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations".
One of the accused, David Evans, said he had been treated "like Hitler" by college mates, with his picture planted on posters accusing him of rape.
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