In their first public interviews, the three members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team indicted for raping an exotic dancer strongly defended their innocence Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes."
David Evans, Trinity '06, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann told CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley that they never expected the case would be carried this far and said the accusations had brought irreparable damage to their lives and those of their families.
"This woman has destroyed everything I've worked for in my life. She's put it on hold," Evans told Bradley. "She's destroyed two other families and she's brought shame on a great university. Worst of all, she's split apart a community and a nation on facts that just didn't happen and a lie that should have never been told."
Last night's program was extensively critical of District Attorney Mike Nifong and the prosecution's case.
"Over the past six months, '60 Minutes' has examined nearly the entire case file," Bradley explained in his introduction to the segment. "The evidence we've seen reveals disturbing facts about the conduct of the police and the district attorney and raises serious concerns about whether or not a rape even occurred."
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Seligmann told Bradley he has never been asked by the district attorney's office or the Durham Police Department to give his account of the events of March 13.
"I never once talked to the police about the night. Never once," Seligmann said.
Kim Roberts, the other exotic dancer present at the party in March, gave her account of the night's events and directly refuted several points in the alleged victim's statements to police, including details of the two dancers' separation at the party. She also noted that although the alleged victim appeared very intoxicated, she never acted as if she had been raped or assaulted.
When asked by Bradley if the alleged victim ever said anything about being hurt or in pain, Roberts responded, "No. She wasn't-she obviously wasn't hurt, because, you know, she was fine."
Bradley also interviewed Duke law professor James Coleman, who decried the line-up used to bring charges against the three players.
Coleman, who chaired a University committee last Spring that investigated the lacrosse program, has been involved in establishing the North Carolina standards for line-up procedures.
"[Nifong] pandered to the community by saying, 'I'm going to go out there and defend your interests in seeing that these hooligans who committed the crimes are going to be prosecuted,'" he said. "I think in this case, it appears that this prosecutor has set out to develop whatever evidence he could to convict people he already concluded were guilty."
Like Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann said the case and its aftershocks had changed their lives forever.
"I never expected anyone to get indicted, let alone myself," Finnerty said. "It's probably going to be something that defines me my whole life."
In an interview late Sunday with ABC News, a relative of the alleged victim said the defense team was trying to "break" her cousin by participating in interviews like those on "60 Minutes."
"I think a lot of this is intimidation," said the alleged victim's cousin, who asked to be known only as "Jakki." "I think they want to her to break, to say, 'Enough is enough.'"
"60 Minutes" showed a tape of the alleged victim performing at an exotic dance club only two weeks after the alleged rape occurred. The tape was meant to refute claims by the alleged victim that she had suffered debilitating injuries.
"It's enormous," defense attorney Joseph Cheshire, who represents Evans, told The Associated Press Sunday. "We'll have testimony and demonstrative evidence that days later she's in the strip club performing."
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