Two lacrosse players arrested in Duke rape

DURHAM, N.C. -- Two Duke University lacrosse players were arrested on rape charges Tuesday in a scandal that has rocked one of America's elite campuses and has raised explosive questions of race, class and the privileged status of college athletes.\nThe two players are both graduates of all-boys Roman Catholic prep schools in New York City suburbs. District Attorney Mike Nifong said a third player could also be arrested but has yet to be firmly identified.\n"It is important that we not only bring the assailants to justice, but also that we lift the cloud of suspicion from those team members who were not involved in the assault," Nifong said.\nLawyers for the two men bitterly assailed the district attorney for bringing the charges. Other attorneys for Duke's lacrosse players said the two were not even present at the time the rape is alleged to have occurred.\nReade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., are accused of attacking a stripper at a team party at an off-campus house on the night of March 13. They were charged with first-degree rape, sexual offense and kidnapping and were released on $400,000 bail each.\nThe district attorney would not say what evidence led to the charges. \n"Apparently it was a photographic identification, said Kirk Osborn, an attorney representing Seligmann. "And we all know how reliable that is."\nSeligmann is "absolutely innocent," Osborn said. "He's doing great." \n"The next jury will hear the entire story, which includes our evidence, and we're confident that these young men will be found to be innocent," said Finnerty's attorney Bill Cotter.\nThe case has raised racial tensions and heightened the long-standing town-vs.-gown antagonism between Duke students and the middle class, racially mixed Durham. The accuser is black, and all but one of the 47 lacrosse team members are white.\nWell before the scandal, the nationally ranked team had a reputation for a sense of entitlement and boorish behavior that included public intoxication and public urination. After the scandal broke, the university announced an investigation into whether it had put up with such behavior for too long.\nThe case has led to the resignation of the team's coach and the cancellation of the rest of the season.\n"Many lives have been touched by this case," said Duke President Richard Brodhead in a statement. "It has brought pain and suffering to all involved, and it deeply challenges our ability to balance judgment with compassion. As the legal process unfolds, we must hope that it brings a speedy resolution and that the truth of the events is fully clarified."\nThe university would not comment specifically on any disciplinary action taken against the two men but said it is Duke practice to suspend students charged with a felony.\nBoth players are products of wealthy suburbs and Northeastern prep schools. Finnerty attended Long Island's Chaminade High School, where 99 percent of the students go on to college. Seligmann went to the Delbarton School, a lacrosse powerhouse in Morristown, N.J.