At Duke, a Tawana Brawley Situation?
You heard it here first, several days ago: the specter of Tawana Brawley. Now the idea of a false charge of rape seems more plausible, given that
DNA tests on 46 of 47 Duke lacrosse players have revealed no match with any material found on the accuser. Lawyers for the accused athletes are calling on D.A. Joe Nifong to drop the case.
Nifong, who has been a little too ubiquitous on tv and in print, one thinks, responds with a quote that isn't exactly confidence-inspiring. "I'm not saying it's over," he said. "If that's what they expect, they will be sadly disappointed."
It's possible, of course, that all three alleged rapists used condoms. (A consequence of the hotly-debated
CSI Effect?) But the alleged victim says that she lost four fake fingernails fighting off the alleged attackers, and the nails were found in the bathroom where the attack supposedly took place. It seems almost inconceivable that there wouldn't be something from them on her.
Further damaging the accuser's case is the revelation that
photographs from the party allegedly show the woman to be "very impaired" from the point she got there, with cuts and scrapes consistent with what she later claimed were the results of being attacked.
According to the Duke Chronicle and the
Raleigh-Durham News & Observer, "A 27-minute gap in photos corresponds with a stint during which the woman and another dancer locked themselves in a bathroom, [according to] attorney Joe Cheshire, who is representing senior captain Dave Evans.... Photographs taken after the gap show the woman smiling and wearing a negligee that Cheshire said shows no signs of damage or violence."
Meanwhile, defendants of player Ryan McFadyen say that his
appalling e-mail was actually a sick joke inspired by the film
"American Psycho." I've seen the movie, and that's not an entirely impossible suggestion.
In which case, let me ask: Would McFadyen's e-mail actually constitute a form of satire, rather than a threat or "hate speech"—and should his suspension from Duke therefore be revoked? I'm beginning to wonder if maybe McFadyen didn't get a raw deal....
