The Real Rape Victims...

David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty..the Duke lacrosse team's accused `rapists'

By now, most of you know that North Carolina's attorney general, Ray Cooper dropped all charges against three Duke students falsely accused of kidnapping and gang raping a black stripper at a party.

The case was highly questionable from the start, with no evidence whatsoever except the word of the accusing witness, who kept changing her story.

Yet, the district attorney in the case, Mike Nifong, chose to prosecute. The fact that he was up for election in a tight race and needed the support of black voters was hardly coincidental.

Two of the students were suspended ( the third graduated before charges were filed), the entire lacrosse team was demonized as a buncha drunken white frat boys, and there were threats and demonstrations against the three `rapists', which included hysterical letters signed by a number of Duke faculty and students.

Aside from making prejudicial statements to the media, Nifong also violated the rules of discovery by concealing evidence from the defense and knowingly lying about it - something for which he will likely be disbarred, at the least.

This kind of attorney misconduct was what Ray Cooper was talking about when he referred to Nifong as a `rogue prosecutor.'

Fortunately,Evans, Seligmann and Finnerty came from families with the means to secure them a proper legal defense. If that wasn't the case, they'd likely be in prison as we speak.

These three young men and their families were the real rape victims, with the rapists being the dinosaur media and members of the Duke faculty as well as Nifong.

Nifong has apologized to the players, sort of. I'll be interested to see if his fellow rapists follow suit.

And speaking of suits...I hope the three victims are exploring the proper venues for a nasty lawsuit in several quarters. Aside from the accuser, there's Nifong, Duke University for acting on Nifong's questionable conduct and perhaps Durham County...