DA Moves to Reinstate Old Charges Against Duke Lacrosse Players
DA Mike Nifong said today he is going to move to revoke diversion deals with several of the Duke lacrosse players who attended the party that was was the site of the alleged rape.
According to court records, 16 players were charged in the past three years with misdemeanor charges in Durham including noise violations, public urination and alcohol violations. The deals placed the men on probation for either six months or a year. They were to complete community service and in some cases were required to abide by the rules and regulations of the university. The deals required the men to pay fees and in some cases remain in school.
Nifong said he will reinstate the charges against players whose deferred prosecution deals are still active, unless they can show they were not at the party.
The first to have charges reinstated: Dave Evans, a team co-captain who lived at the house.
He said he is reinstating a noise violation and an alcohol possession charge against Evans because he was one of the men who threw the party.
"He was one of the people who rented the house that was serving alcohol to underage people and hiring strippers," Nifong said in an interview. "In order to put somebody under deferred prosecution, the DA has to, under requirements of the statute, certify that he does not believe the person is likely to do any further criminal acts. Under the circumstances, it's hard for me to see how we could maintain that."
Meanwhile, in Washington, Colin Finerty was ordered to stand trial in an assault case for which he received a diversionary sentence to probation.
Under the new restrictions, Finnerty, 19, and his two co-defendants in the assault case have a curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and are not allowed to be present anywhere, in public or private, where alcohol is sold or consumed. They also must report by telephone to court officials each Friday. A tentative trial date was set for July 10.
One of the provisions of his diversion was that he not be arrested for any other crimes. I hope this is a tentative trial date that the Judge will reconsider if the Duke rape charges are not resolved by then.
The judge also issued this threat to Finnerty:
Bayly said that if he concludes that the rape allegations Finnerty faces in Durham are true, he will revoke Finnerty's release and put him in jail or a halfway house.
Although the grand jury meets again Monday, Nifong says he will not be asking for further indictments since it's the day before the election. Even he says that would look "too political."
I'll be discussing the new developments tonight on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes . In an interesting role reversal, Sean Hannity has been on the defense side of the case, while Alan has leaned more towards the prosecution and accuser's side.
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