Ex-Duke Player Now on the Accusers' Team

Jun 15, 08:03 AM

Current Headlines: By Ann Givens, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Jun. 15--RALEIGH, N.C. -- Collin Finnerty was greeted in a North Carolina courtroom yesterday with hugs and handshakes as he arrived this time on the side of the accusers, rather than the accused.

Finnerty, 20, one of three men falsely accused of raping a stripper at a Duke University lacrosse team party a year ago, has come back from Garden City to seek justice against the man who relentlessly pursued criminal charges against him, Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong, said Collin's father, Kevin Finnerty. Collin Finnerty, who sat somberly all day in court, did not comment.

"What happens to Mike Nifong is an important part of the story for these three boys," Kevin Finnerty said. "It's about justice being served. Now it's his [Nifong's] turn to be judged by the system."

Nifong is being tried by a North Carolina Bar Association grievance commission on charges that he committed ethical violations in his prosecution of the case. If he is found guilty, he could lose his license to practice law. Nifong recused himself from prosecuting the rape case in January amid charges that he made inflammatory statements about the case to the media, lied to a judge and failed to turn over evidence to the defense, as the law requires.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper took over the investigation and soon after proclaimed all three men innocent. Since then, Nifong's role in the case has been that of the defendant.

The state bar expects to call its last witness in the first phase of Nifong's hearing -- to determine whether he's guilty of ethical violations -- today.

After that, Nifong is expected to be called to the stand as one of the first witnesses in his own defense. If Nifong is found guilty, the panel will then hear testimony about what his punishment should be.

Brad Bannon, a lawyer who represented Reade Seligmann, one of the accused players, testified yesterday about how he repeatedly asked Nifong for all DNA evidence in the case, only to receive, finally, an incomprehensible, 1,844-page scientific report on the subject. After spending nearly 100 hours decoding the document, Bannon was stunned to discover that the DNA of at least four men had been found on the accuser, and none of it belonged to anyone who was at the lacrosse team party that night.

Prosecutors now say Nifong deliberately withheld that information from defense lawyers. Nifong's lawyers have denied that.

Kevin Finnerty said it was difficult to hear Bannon testify about Nifong's handling of the case. For what he did, Finnerty said Nifong must be disbarred.

"I don't think he deserves the chance to do this to anyone else ever again," he said.

Finnerty said a lot has changed in a year. His son is looking at new colleges where he can complete his degree. And he and the other accused men and their families are looking for ways they can help other wrongly accused people.

"Collin hasn't been in the classroom for the past year, but he sure did learn a lot of lessons that he'll never forget," he said. "This is a new day for us."

-----

To see more of Newsday, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsday.com

Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.