My prediction: new Duke president will have to focus on fundraising. . .

because the Duke endowment is about to take a big hit!

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper didn't just dismissed all the remaining criminal charges against Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty. He took the extra step of declaring the players innocent -- the victims of a "tragic rush to accuse" by a rogue prosecutor who could be disbarred for his actions.

"This case shows the enormous consequences of overreaching by a prosecutor," Cooper said.

link

Now, remember how Duke handled this:

"Surely the answer to the question must come in the form of immediate dismissals of those principally responsible for the horrors of this spring moment at Duke. Coaches of the lacrosse team, the team itself and its players, and any other agents who silenced or lied about the real nature of events at 610 Buchanan on the evening of March 13, 2006, a day that, not even in a cliched sense, will, indeed, always live in infamy for this university."
-- Then-Duke English professor Houston A. Baker Jr., in a letter to the Duke University administration, March 29, 2006. (Baker has since joined the Vanderbilt University faculty).

Suspended the season causing all players to lose a year of NCAA eligibility

Fired the head coach

Suspended players accused

Made lots of comments that could now be seen as defamation of character

My prediction here:

Current president has, as his final task, signing some huge checks and preparing a list for his successor of where to raise funds to replace the loss to the endowment.

The $3 million for legal fees for the three players is just a drop in the bucket. And when the State AG says you were part of a "tragic rush to accuse;" your defense is pretty well shot. . .


My second prediction:

Disbarrment and a huge judgement against Nilfong!

Remember, he said:

"The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done."
-- Nifong, March 27, 2006.

Now, he is reduced to this:

The disgraced district attorney in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case apologized to the three athletes in a carefully worded statement Thursday as their lawyers weighed whether to sue him -- and some legal experts say they have a case.

While prosecutors generally have immunity for what they do inside the courtroom, experts said that protection probably doesn't cover some of Mike Nifong's more questionable actions in his handling of the case -- such as calling the lacrosse players "a bunch of hooligans" in one of several interviews deemed unethical by the state bar.

"I think their chances of success suing Mr. Nifong are reasonably good, despite what we call prosecutorial immunity," said John Banzhaf, a professor at the George Washington University School of Law.

link

My third prediction:

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are thanking God! that Don Imus exists; it lets them focus on something else so people are not asking when they will be in Durham to apologize. . .



Gene Wojciechowski had a nice column on ESPN. Rather than add his analysys, he just let the history of quotes speak for itself. It is the best column I have read in the media about the entire process! http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=2835342