Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Lawyers: DNA tests will clear Duke players

DURHAM, N.C. - The lawyers for Duke men's lacrosse players said Thursday that police and an outraged community will owe the team an apology after DNA tests are completed - tests they said will prove no one on the team raped an exotic dancer.

Four lawyers representing nearly all the 46 players forced to give samples protested what they said was a presumption that their clients attacked the dancer or kept quiet about what happened. No one has been charged.

"We believe that the DNA will show that this is not true. We believe that a full and complete and fair investigation will show that it is not true," lawyer Joe Cheshire said.

Investigators are still collecting evidence, but District Attorney Mike Nifong has said he believes a crime occurred. Even if the state crime lab's DNA analysis proves inconclusive or doesn't provide a match for any of the athletes, Nifong has said he'll have other evidence.

"If the only thing that we ever have in this case is DNA, then we wouldn't have a case," Nifong said.

This week, university president Richard Brodhead suspended the highly ranked team from play until the school learns more about the accusations.

But Cheshire said Nifong and police have created a mob mentality that has tainted the men "before the evidence has all come out in a way that they will never recover."

[Last modified March 31, 2006, 01:10:06]