Three former Duke University lacrosse players - including Reade Seligmann '09 - who were falsely accused last year in a rape case that garnered national attention, filed suit last Friday against former district attorney Mike Nifong, the city of Durham, N.C., and police officers and lab personnel involved with the case.
The lawsuit accuses Nifong and city personnel of pursuing an exceedingly weak case in order to bolster the district attorney's political image in the run-up to a contested Democratic primary, according to an Oct. 5 article by the Associated Press.
The complaint filed by the players called the case "one of the most chilling episodes of premeditated police, prosecutorial and scientific misconduct in modern American history," according to an Oct. 5 article on Bloomberg.com. In the suit, the athletes claim officials violated their rights under the Fourthand 14th Amendments, according to Bloomberg. These amendments require the state to demonstrate probable cause before issuing warrants and guarantee equal protection under the law.
The lawsuit comes a month after lawyers for the families of the three men met with city officials seeking a $30 million settlement and several judicial system reforms. Among the reforms were the creation of an ombudsman committee to oversee police activities for 10 years and changes to the photo lineup that helped point the finger at the former defendants, according to the AP.
The players' attorneys gave the city a month to respond or face a civil rights lawsuit.
"This is not about money for the boys, though obviously they deserve compensation," Richard Emery, a civil rights attorney representing Seligmann, told the AP. "This is about sending a message to public officials who only get the message when they have to pay the money."
The suit does not specify an amount of damages.
David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Seligmann - who transferred to Brown this year and now plays for the men's lacrosse team - faced charges after a stripper accused them of attacking her after she danced at a team party. The three players allege in their complaint that authorities bungled the investigation and withheld evidence that supported the athletes' innocence.
Authorities mishandled the investigation and withheld evidence that supported the athletes' denials, the athletes said in their complaint.
Nifong was disbarred when the flimsiness of the case came to light. He resigned from office and spent a night in jail earlier this year after a judge held him in criminal contempt for lying about the DNA evidence in the case.
