Endgame at Duke

It has been a long time coming.\nLast week, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced he was dropping all charges against former Duke lacrosse players Dave Evans, Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann. \nIn a blistering assessment of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong’s performance, Cooper said, “There were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado.”\nI have not written about this case before. I believe the national media has said so much already. Over and over.\nHowever, there are a few important points to be made here.\nFirst, there is a shortage of quality prosecutors.\nGiven the awesome power prosecutors wield, it is important to have someone who knows what they are doing.\nEarlier this school year, I co-wrote a column endorsing Chris Gaal’s candidacy for Monroe County prosecutor. I agreed to do so because I examined incumbent Carl Salzmann’s record and found him to be lazy and incompetent. The records I uncovered from the county courthouse showed a steady decline in case filings during Salzmann’s tenure. Overall, I found Gaal to have ideas that would restore dignity and respect to an office that lost both under Salzmann.\nThe point here is that a prosecutor must have a good legal mind and be effective in the pursuit of justice. Nifong, like Salzmann, was neither, and it will probably cost him his job.\nSecond, a community must be careful how it handles these situations.\nAlmost immediately after this case was filed, the Duke lacrosse team was suspended from play and an innocent coach was forced out of his job. \nIn addition, the student body and faculty of Duke University turned on the boys. \nThen-sophomore Kristin High was quoted as saying that “people are nervous and afraid that these people are going to get away with what they did because of a wealthy privilege, or male privilege, or a white privilege.” Another student said a message needed to be sent that these students are not going to be “coddled.” \nI bet those people are eating some crow now.\nThe bottom line is that Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann were targeted because they are from wealthy families and are white. Folks were ready to believe the worst. The citizens of Durham and faculty and students at Duke owe these boys a huge apology.\nSo where do we go from here?\nThis case has shown that reverse racism is a powerful force and can destroy innocent lives. It has also shown what can happen when a less than stellar lawyer becomes a prosecutor.\nIt is unfortunate, but I can see this case happening here. Not because we have an arrogant prosecutor bent on vengeance, but because campus reaction would condemn someone because he happens to be a wealthy white male.\nDo not let IU become the next Duke. Our school’s honor should not have to suffer that fate.