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Duke Lacrosse Charges; North Korea's Promises; Iraq Duty Extensions?; Chasing Life
Aired April 11, 2007 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips, who is on assignment.
Three college athletes one year under a criminal cloud. Are the charges against them about to be swept away? We're expecting a major announcement from Raleigh, North Carolina, in a few minutes.
LEMON: And the calls keep coming. Not the request line, but calls for a radio icon's job. They're getting louder and coming from loftier heights. Does the I-Man stay or does he go?
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
WHITFIELD: Thirteen months ago, they became the accused, but the criminal case against three former Duke lacrosse players could be its final hours. Defense sources tell CNN they expect that kidnapping and sexual offense charges will be dropped today. The rape charges were thrown out months ago.
CNN's Jason Carroll is in Raleigh awaiting word from the North Carolina attorney general.
Is the attorney general's office leaking any kind of idea as to whether these charges will be dropped or not?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: They're remaining pretty tightlipped about the whole thing, Fredricka, but we can tell you, as you've said, from our defense sources telling us, that they believe that all the charges will be dropped against all three players -- Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans. We are currently waiting for that announcement, expecting it to happen in just about a half an hour from now.
Roy Cooper, North Carolina's state attorney general, will be leading the press conference. He will take questions. So, presumably we will get a chance to hear why the state attorney general's office came to a conclusion that the district attorney who formerly handled the case, Michael Nifong, was unable to come to a similar type of conclusion. So, we are waiting to hear that press conference.
All the players are here in Raleigh. Reade Seligmann and his family arrived last night. We are told as soon as the attorney general finishes up his press conference, the defense attorneys will have a press conference of their own. All three accused players will be there, they will be making statements.
In addition to that, the entire Duke lacrosse team, we are now being told, will be there as well as a show of solidarity. So a lot of people standing by to see what happens here just about half an hour from now -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jason, still the question -- it's a big "if" -- if these charges are dropped, already is there talk about potential civil lawsuits?
CARROLL: Absolutely, there certainly is, Fredricka. Defense sources telling us that it is likely they will seek a civil suit against district attorney Michael Nifong. He is the Durham district attorney who you remember at one point was handling this case.
In the very beginning he was very confident about how he felt about the case, then he did a 180, and basically said that he was no longer feeling confident about the case, asked to be recused from the case. The attorney general accepted that offer, and a lot of defense attorneys said that -- early on criticized his handling of the case, said he mishandled it, in fact, said that he was guilty of obstruction of justice.
And so now it's with the state bar, and the state bar is currently investigating Michael Nifong about his role in the Duke lacrosse case. So, once again, civil charges likely will be filed against him, as well as Duke University when all this is over -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Jason Carroll in Raleigh.
Thanks so much.
(NEWSBREAK)
LEMON: New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has completed his mission to North Korea. He was there to collect the remains of U.S. soldiers, but he also discussed the North Korean nuclear program.
CNN's State Department correspondent, Zain Verjee, joins me with the report on where things stand.
Zain, has there been a breakthrough on the financial deadlock?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there has. The U.S. says that the financial stalemate with North Korea essentially has ended. The U.S. had frozen North Korean money at a bank in Macau about 18 months ago, essentially accusing it of conducting illicit activities. And now what's happened, Don, is that that money has just been released.
They say you can have it all back. And the U.S. Treasury Department has cleared the way for that to happen.
We're talking money in the sum of $25 million. They say that the North Koreans can have it back with no strings attached.
The question today are, did the U.S. just cave in to North Korea, cave in to nuclear blackmail, some critics say. The State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, here says no, that's not the case at all He says the U.S. just wants to focus on the big picture here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN MCCORMACK, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: With this issue resolved, the focus can now get back to what we are doing about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. That's the main focus of the six-party talks. And I think everybody will agree that if we are able to achieve that through this six-party process, then that will -- that will have meant a considerable positive change in the regional security situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: The problem is now that there are three days left, crucial days until North Korea's expected to shut down its main nuclear reactor at the facility known as Pyongyang. And the State Department, though, is saying -- is answering questions on whether North Korea will meet that deadline, and it's essentially saying that we're going to have to wait and see until Saturday. There are questions, too, about whether there will be an extension. There are indications, there are hints that that may happen -- Don.
LEMON: And Zain, I understand that Bill Richardson had a message today for the North Koreans. Is that correct?
VERJEE: Yes he did. He's held talks with North Korean officials before, but the main two points that came out from his meetings with North Korean officials was essentially that they'll allow inspectors back into the country as soon as they get their money, and according to him, the North Koreans also told him that, give them 30 days, they need that amount of time to shut down the nuclear reactor at Pyongyang -- Don.
LEMON: Zain Verjee.
Thank you so much for your report.
WHITFIELD: For months he's been grappling with how to proceed, and today it looks like the North Carolina attorney general has some answers. We're hearing that all charges may be dropped against three former Duke lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting an exotic dancer.
You're looking at live pictures right now out of Raleigh, North Carolina, where the attorney general is expected to take that announcement within the hour.
Let's pull in our legal expert to talk a little bit about what may potential be said -- criminal defense attorney B.J. Bernstein here in Atlanta, and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin in New York.
Good to see both of you.
B.J., let me begin with you.
Defense attorneys say they believe the charges, all the charges will be dropped. Would this be wishful thinking, or would the defense attorneys actually get this kind of heads-up from the attorney general's office first?
B.J. BERNSTEIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They'd probably get the heads-up first. It's usually professional courtesy for the prosecutor to tell the individual defendants before they tell the world what's going to happen to them. Certainly it's significant that all the young men are now gathered there in Durham. I doubt they would show up for, you know, bad news, and that they're hopefully there for good news for themselves that the case is going to be dismissed.
WHITFIELD: And so, Jeffrey, if indeed all the charges are dropped, what will this mean? How will this make it that much more difficult for any other alleged rape cases to proceed?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, as a technical legal matter it will have no impact on other cases. As a sort of precedent that the world knows, I think it could have a big impact in the sense that, you know, rape victims come forward, their credibility is often called into question, and here in the past few years we have had two very high-profile cases fall completely apart.
You've had the Kobe Bryant case in California, you've had the Duke case in North Carolina, both of which have fallen apart because the accusers' stories have fallen apart. And, you know, as prospective jurors, as citizens, people can't help but remember these things, and I think it's going to part of the popular culture that will make it that much harder for real rape victims to get justice.
WHITFIELD: All right.
Jeffrey Toobin and B.J. Bernstein, we're going to be hearing a lot more from you over the next hour and a half as we await this scheduled announcement from the attorney general out of North Carolina, coming out of Raleigh, scheduled for 2:30 Eastern.
We'll be checking back with you two as the hour progresses.
Thanks so much.
LEMON: Well, all they wanted was a sofa to sit on, but what was on it knocked them right to the floor. Wait until you see the label. Is it a typo, is it a sick joke, or is it something more? We're going to give you the details coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
WHITFIELD: And living to be 100. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us for the next chapter in his "Chasing Life" series and puts his own mortality to the test. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
WHITFIELD: Longer tours of duty in Iraq, it's on the table. A senior Pentagon source says the Army is proposing to extend tours of most, maybe all soldiers, by three months. No final decision has been made as of yet.
And let's check in right now with Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with more on these possible troop duty extensions -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this word now just coming in. A press conference has been scheduled for 3:00 p.m. East Coast time here in the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected on very short notice to meet with the Pentagon press corps to make that announcement about the changes in troop deployments to Iraq.
Several military sources are indicating to CNN at this hour that the changes that are expected to be announced will be these: that active-duty combat forces in Iraq will now have their tours of duty extended from 12 months to 15 months, three additional months on the ground for combat forces in Iraq. The National Guard is not expected to be immediately affected by this decision. They will continue to try and hold to their 12-month tours of duty. But we do expect for the active duty that this change of policy will affect both the troops already there and the troops scheduled to deploy in the weeks and months ahead.
Every indication we are getting is that this press conference scheduled for about 40 minutes from now will make these announcements. Why are they doing this, Fredricka? Very tough news for the troops already in Iraq and those expected to go, but with the so-called surge, trying to keep that higher level of troops on duty in Iraq for these security operations, they have got to find a way, they tell us, to just simply keep more troops flowing to the war zone -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Tough choices. And of course we'll be following that live at the top of the hour, 3:00 Eastern.
Barbara Starr, thanks so much -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Fred.
Want to live to be 100? I'm not just asking Fredricka. I'm asking everybody.
It sounds like it could be fun, but what exactly are your odds? It's a focus of a new book, "Chasing Life," by our very own chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, along with this special that's coming up this weekend right here on "CNN SUNDAY".
He joins us live now from New York.
And I know you've had someone predict how long you're going to live. It sounds a little bit weird. I don't think you're going to answer this, but how long are you going to be with us?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I'm not going to answer that right now, you're right.
LEMON: Oh, I figured it.
GUPTA: Yes, you figured it. And it is a little weird as well, you know, sort of peering into a crystal ball, if you will. But a lot of people still want to get some sense of how long they're going to be around.
Now, it's not a perfectly scientific test, by any means, but there is a life expectancy calculator out there that's pretty good, pretty well researched. So I decided to put myself under the microscope, if you will, and take a look at how long I'll live. And also, Don, what I might look like when I get there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): I'm 37. And this forensic age progression by artist D'Lynn Waldron shows how I might look if I'm lucky enough to reach the century mark. Handsome, right?
But I wanted to know if I have what it really takes to live to 100. Or even beyond.
To see how my life stacks up, I turned to one of the world's leading experts on centenarians, Dr. Thomas Pearls. Pearls (ph)has devised a formula to predict how long you'll live. And he agreed to follow me over the course of a day.
At the Gupta home, the day starts early.
(on camera): Last night, I didn't get out of the operating room until very late. So I've only had about four hours of sleep.
(voice-over): Wrong answer. For most people, Pearls (ph) says sleeping fewer than eight hours a night will cost you a year and a half of life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No coffee in the morning?
GUPTA (on camera): No, not a coffee drinker.
(voice-over): Bingo. Much better. Pearls (ph) says more than two cups a day will trim life expectancy by a year or more.
As we drove to work, something else had him worried.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you're a neurosurgeon who decides to take on another full-time job. So two full-time jobs. And then two babies. So, automatically, on the calculator, in terms of stresses, you would be off the charts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the 8:40 hit, nothing about their brains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In terms of the number of hours, how many a week would you say you're working?
GUPTA (on camera): It's well over 80.
(voice-over): Pearls (ph) tells most people to work less. Fewer than 40 hours a week if they can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how many days a week do you exercise?
GUPTA (on camera): I try and do at least three or four.
(voice-over): This interview was a real workout.
Regular family time? Yes. Add years. Blood pressure, good. Cholesterol, not so good.
(on camera): My cholesterol is not great. It's 209.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll punch your numbers in and see what comes out.
GUPTA (voice-over): Could I look forward to 100 candles on my birthday cake, or was I headed to an early grave?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Now, I spent the entire day with Dr. Pearls (ph), and I found out how long he thinks I'm going to live. And if you want to find out as well, you can actually tune into the special this weekend, "Chasing Life," 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.
And also, if you're curious about yourself, you can go to the Web site, cnn.com/chasinglife, to plug in your own numbers and figure out how long you'll live.
And Don, I figured out how long you're going to live as well.
LEMON: Oh my goodness. I know.
GUPTA: We got some information about you, and...
LEMON: Do we have to do that, Sanjay? Because...
GUPTA: No, no, I mean, we don't have to, Don, but I thought you wanted to.
Don't you want to?
LEMON: That's all right. I took part in it. But you know -- Fred is over here going, oh, come on.
WHITFIELD: Come on!
LEMON: Before we get to that, I've got to say it looks like your ears grew, right, when you aged?
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And 40 hours or less, come on, everybody in this building is going, huh, that will never happen.
GUPTA: I know. I know. And, you know, a lot of that has to do with not so much the stress in your life, but how you deal with it.
LEMON: Yes.
GUPTA: And Don, that's something I want to talk about with you as well, because -- do you want to guess, by the way?
LEMON: I probably would say late 70s, early 80s, because I really -- you know, I don't really let much bother me, but I have bad dietary habits. I come from the South and I eat a lot of junk.
But good genes, because I don't get fat.
GUPTA: 81.
LEMON: 81, that's not bad.
WHITFIELD: That's OK.
GUPTA: 81, that's pretty good. That's actually beating -- beating the average, Don. So good for you.
I'm happy for you.
A couple of things. A couple things if you want to knock the numbers up a little bit. They recommend -- and this is what comes out of it. Apparently you have a family history of diabetes. And you probably should be...
LEMON: I do. My dad died from complications of diabetes.
GUPTA: So you should probably get your blood sugar checked regularly. You get a half of year for that.
Also, flossing regularly, it's interesting. The inflammation in our body seems to be a big culprit of things. Just simply flossing every day can actually give you another year of life as well, Don.
LEMON: Are you telling people you don't floss every day, Sanjay?
GUPTA: Apparently you told us that, Don.
WHITFIELD: Busted.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I do most of the time. But sometimes, you know, you have a long day, and you're like, I'll brush, but I'm not going to floss.
WHITFIELD: No excuses.
GUPTA: I hear you.
Well, we're sharing the most intimate details of our lives.
Hey, but I've got another thing for you, Don, really quick.
LEMON: OK.
GUPTA: In case you're curious as to what you might look like as you get older, take a look.
LEMON: Oh god.
WHITFIELD: Uh-oh.
LEMON: Oh, you're kidding me.
GUPTA: There you go.
LEMON: Oh my gosh.
WHITFIELD: Oh, man.
GUPTA: Look at that hairline.
LEMON: Oh, Sanjay...
WHITFIELD: Your forehead grew, Don.
LEMON: ... I used to really like you, but now...
GUPTA: You have perfectly normal ears, you should be happy about that. Did you see my ears? You could fly away with those ears.
LEMON: OK.
I do have to commend you, though, because there are a couple of questions I want to ask you, but your book, this book is already Amazon top 10.
Congratulations, Sanjay. That's amazing.
GUPTA: Thank you very much.
LEMON: And it is really fascinating to confront mortality like that. So, is that something you think about? Is it something most people think about, do you think?
GUPTA: You know, it's interesting. For me, Don -- and, you know, it's one of those things where I never thought about it at all, and I wasn't sure I wanted to live forever, or for a very long time.
I think after the birth of my daughter, I'm a slightly older dad, and I thought I want to be around for the milestones in her life. But I think everyone at some point or another has a brush with mortality. Maybe a loved one gets sick or they themselves get sick, or something happens and suddenly all this stuff becomes very important.
Because, you want to stick around. It's not so much how long you stick around, Don. I think it's the whole idea of we think of aging as a disease, and you want to live healthy your entire life and then suddenly go, like a light bulb. No flickering at the end.
LEMON: Yes.
GUPTA: And, you know, I think that makes a huge difference.
LEMON: You know, I never worry about aging, honestly. I kind of like getting older. You get wiser, and I think you get better, like a fine wine.
Tell us what's happening tomorrow on your series.
GUPTA: Well, you know, we want to travel all around the world. There are places around the world where people live much longer than we do here in this country. And I really wanted to figure out why that was.
And in Costa Rica, for example, if you reach 60, you're four times more likely to get to 100. What is it? What can we adapt, what can we adopt from that lifestyle so we may all live younger and healthier over here as well?
LEMON: Sanjay Gupta, honestly, fascinating. And I still like you despite the really bad picture.
GUPTA: Thanks, Don. You look good. You look good.
LEMON: You look marvelous. Thank you.
And you can catch -- oh, jeez, look at that. You can catch all of Sanjay Gupta's hour-long special, also called "Chasing Life," this Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Sanjay's book, "Chasing Life," is on sale now. And for a free autographed copy, go to cnn.com/chasinglife.
WHITFIELD: You both look good. I don't think either one of you have anything to worry about.
LEMON: Oh jeez.
WHITFIELD: All right.
Well, one year plus. They've lived with sex crime charges hanging over their heads for more than a year now. We're expecting a major announcement from Raleigh, North Carolina, in just a few minutes. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
And more on the developing story about troop deployment. More months for service members on the ground in combat zones. A briefing from the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs chair, that's all coming up at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: For months he's been grappling with how to proceed. And today it looks like the North Carolina attorney general has some answers.
We're hearing that all charges may be dropped against three former Duke lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting an exotic dancer. You're looking at a live picture right now in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the announcement is expected within minutes.
Let's pull in our legal experts, criminal defense attorney B.J. Bernstein, in Atlanta, and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin in New York.
Jeffrey, let me begin with you. If indeed the charges are all dropped, is it as simple as evidence just wasn't there? And if so, does it take 13 months to come to that kind of conclusion?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I -- yes, I guess you could say the -- it's as simple as that. A crime -- an alleged crime like this does take a while to investigate.
One of the problems, the many problems for the prosecution here is that they arrested these Duke students way too fast before they'd completed the investigation. Now they have to go back and admit that there was never enough evidence to -- to justify an arrest in the first place.
So one of the many lessons I think that comes out of this case is prosecutors, if you don't have to, don't rush.
WHITFIELD: B.J., this could be potentially very damaging for the attorney general's office there in North Carolina. How could they possibly recover if, indeed, what we're hearing from defense attorneys is they will indeed drop all the charges?
B.J. BERNSTEIN, FORMER ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, for the district attorney's office, I think this is going to be a permanent scar until we hear what happens with the North Carolina Bar Association, an ethical sanctions possibly pending against Mike Nifong.
Mike Nifong's name has now become synonymous with, as Jeffrey just talked about, jumping the gun, not doing your job properly, not fully investigating before you file charges.
In this case, remember, they didn't just arrest these kids and then have a preliminary hearing and the normal things that you would do. They went with a direct indictment to block the information, and they've paid for it dearly ever since.
WHITFIELD: And -- and so, B.J., what would happen to the alleged victim, the accuser in this case, if indeed these changes were to be dropped? Is there still a window of opportunity for any other kinds of charges for her and her camp to pursue?
BERNSTEIN: Well, criminally this should take care of any criminal charges. If she wanted to pursue civil charges, that's always the possibility if it's within the statute of limitations, but again, she would be exposing herself.
You know, once -- her name is protected right now, but if she files a civil lawsuit, then everything that's been rumored would have to be out there. She would have to sit for a deposition. I don't know if that young woman would want to go through that type of public scrutiny.
WHITFIELD: So Jeffrey, if not for the alleged victim to pursue any kind of civil suit, then what potentially might be the civil cases that these lacrosse players would want to pursue if, indeed, these criminal charges are dropped?
TOOBIN: Well, I think the best thing, speaking as a human thing rather than a lawyer, the best thing these three guys could do is get on with their lives and not file civil lawsuits, and simply, you know, just put this whole, ugly incident behind them.
In theory, they could potentially sue the D.A.'s office. They could sue Duke University. They could sue individuals who may have libeled them. All of those lawsuits have very, very remote chances of success. The best thing they could do, frankly, is nothing.
WHITFIELD: And is your gut saying that that's where it might stand with them? Because there has been such a drumbeat leading up to, if not just today but throughout the entire 13 month period that these defense attorneys have been pretty adamant that someone is going to pay, since these students not only had to put their lives on hold, their education on hold, and their reputations, just as the alleged victim's reputations, were all soiled.
TOOBIN: Well, they were, but you know, Mike Nifong, the D.A., is under investigation himself, possibly for criminal charges of obstruction of justice, certainly for some sort of discipline by the North Carolina Bar Association. Mike Nifong is a very discredited figure at this point.
That is a tremendous victory for the three Duke students and their lawyers, the fact that they have turned the tables so dramatically.
But filing a whole separate lawsuit strikes me -- and again it's just an opinion -- as a very unlikely avenue for success. And also just more heartache and more disruption when these are three young -- one guy's graduated, the other two are about to graduate. They should just get on with their lives and do their best to forget about this whole thing.
WHITFIELD: And as you underscore, Jeffrey, the North Carolina Bar Association has yet to weigh in on Nifong, but in your opinion, you know, just in legal circles, where does his career go from here?
TOOBIN: Well, he's an elected official, and so ultimately he answers to the voters of his county, not as directly to the bar association as, say, a private lawyer would. But it's very hard for me to imagine that he could be reelected.
The kind of charges that he's facing -- they haven't formally announced the charges against him, but the kind of area of charges that he's being investigated for, seem unlikely to me to lead to disbarment. That is, you know, taking his ticket to practice law.
WHITFIELD: In that state.
TOOBIN: But some sort of -- but some sort of discipline, some sort of censure, some sort of criticism does seem very possible, and it's very hard to get reelected with those -- that kind of a black mark on your record.
LEMON: I've got to -- this is Don Lemon. I've got a question for B.J., Jeffrey, as we -- it looks like we've got maybe the two- minute warning. So we may have to cut -- cut you off, B.J.
But what about the young men not filing any civil charges against the young lady? She's caused such ruckus and turmoil in their lives, and they said they're not going to file any charges against her, because she's a troubled young lady.
BERNSTEIN: You know, I think that may be the right move. Now I'm going to disagree a little bit with Jeffrey. I know I have a lot of clients come in and always want to sue after we're successful with charges being dismissed or acquitted, but this may be the case to actually break the usual and the norm when you're not successful with a civil lawsuit.
There have been so many egregious errors apparently by the district attorney, so much evidentiary things ignored, that this may be the one case where someone does...
ROY COOPER, NORTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good afternoon, everybody.
WHITFIELD: B.J., thanks so much. Let's listen into Attorney General Roy Cooper.
COOPER: Welcome anyway.
On January the 13th of this year, I accepted the request of the Durham County district attorney to take over three Durham cases. At the time I promised a fresh and thorough review of the facts and a decision on the best way to proceed.
I also said that we would have our eyes wide open to the evidence, but that we would have blinders on to all other distractions. We have done all of these things.
During the past 12 weeks, our lawyers and investigators have reviewed the remaining allegations of sexual assault and kidnapping that resulted from a party on March 13, 2006, in Durham, North Carolina. We carefully reviewed the evidence, collected by the Durham County prosecutor's office and the Durham Police Department.
We've also conducted our own interviews and evidence gathering. Our attorneys and SBI agents have interviewed numerous people who were at the party, DNA and other experts, the Durham County district attorney, Durham police officers, defense attorneys, and the accusing witness on several occasions. We have reviewed statements given over the year, photographs, records, and other evidence.
The result of our review and investigation shows clearly that there is insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges. Today we are filing notices of dismissal for all charges against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans. The result is that these cases are over, and no more criminal proceedings will occur.
We believe that these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations. Based on the significant inconsistencies between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges.
Now, we approached this case with the understanding that rape and sexual assault victims often have some inconsistencies in their account of a traumatic event. However, in this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house on that night.
Now, the prosecuting witness in this case responded to our questions and offered information. She did want to move forward with the prosecution.
However, the contradictions in her many versions of what occurred and the conflicts between what she said occurred and other evidence like photographs and phone records, could not be rectified.
Our investigation shows that the eyewitness identification procedures were faulty and unreliable. No DNA confirms the accuser's story. No other witness confirms her story. Other evidence contradicts her story. She contradicts herself.
Next week we'll be providing a written summary of the important factual findings and some of the specific contradictions that have led us to the conclusion that no attack occurred.
Now, in this case, with the weight of the state behind him, the Durham district attorney pushed forward unchecked. There were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado, and in the rush to condemn a community and a state, lost the ability to see clearly.
Regardless of the reasons that this case was pushed forward, the result was wrong. Today we need to learn from this and keep it from happening again to anybody. Now, we have good district attorneys in North Carolina who are both tough and fair, and we need these forceful, independent prosecutors to put criminals away and protect the public, but we also need checks and balances to protect the innocent.
This case shows the enormous consequences of over-reaching by a prosecutor. What has been learned here is that the internal checks on a criminal charge -- sworn statements, reasonable grounds, proper suspect photo lineups, accurate and fair discovery -- all are critically important.
Therefore, I propose a law that the North Carolina Supreme Court have the authority to remove a case from a prosecutor in limited circumstances. This would give the courts a new tool to deal with a prosecutor who needs to step away from a case where justice demands.
I want to thank everyone in the North Carolina Department of Justice. I want to thank the investigators, our SBI agents, and especially attorneys Jim Coman and Mary Winstead for their hard work in this matter.
Next week we will be distributing a fact summary sheet, and you will have that then, but I'll go ahead and take some of your questions now. Go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Considering what you just said about the D.A. and about the accuser, what would you say to the three men who were charged?
COOPER: Well, I'm telling them what I tell everyone in North Carolina. We have looked at the charges. We have looked at the law. And we have cleared them of all of these charges. And it is important to note that the Durham County district attorney is now facing ethics charges with the North Carolina Bar Association.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cooper, do you feel like -- do you feel the need to apologize in any way, I mean, in terms of what happened here?
COOPER: Well, you know, I think a lot of people owe a lot of apologies to other people. I think that those people ought to consider doing that.
Yes? Down here. OK, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think District Attorney Mike Nifong is thinking, now that you've reviewed all this -- all the evidence, done these interviews? What -- how do you think he came to the conclusion he came to?
COOPER: Well, I'm concerned, although our investigation did not concentrate on this, but I saw the statements and now we've done the investigation. I'm concerned that statements were made publicly about things that turned out not to be true. That's a concern. And right now I think it's appropriate that the North Carolina Bar Association is looking at these ethics charges. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How damaging do you think it will be to the perception...
COOPER: I'm not going to speculate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, the justice system in North Carolina. How concerned are you that it will have a negative impact to the justice system?
COOPER: I'll tell you about this. Any state in the country, including the federal government, can have a rogue prosecutor who goes on out on his own and does thing continues. Here in North Carolina we have solved the problem, we've corrected the problem. But I propose today a way that I think it can be done more quickly, and I think that that's important.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To follow up just briefly, I just was wanting to know. This brings up a largest contextual concern. These defendants were able to retain counsel. They had -- were able to retain counsel, no doubt at a high cost. What about the people who are in these north county jails or state prisons who cannot afford counsel, who may be innocent of charges?
COOPER: I think there are a lot of broader issues that we have to look at. What we were concentrating on are the facts in this case, and we rendered a decision based on those facts.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How -- how difficult has this decision been for you? And is there any truth to the fact that you went to see a doctor yesterday?
COOPER: Well, what happened yesterday is I was out running and got a little bit dehydrated. I run four, five days a week. Got a little dehydrated. I wanted to make sure that I got it checked out. That's all. I'm fine. I wanted to run to this press conference, but my staff wouldn't let me. So I'm doing just fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A relayed (ph) question. Did Mike Nifong ever interview Crystal Mangum before charges were brought? Do you have any evidence about that? And secondly, has she ever told the same story twice?
COOPER: Well, in answer to your second question, she's told many stories. Some things are consistent within those stories, but there were many stories that were told. We're going to release a lot of the specific information next week.
I don't want to say for sure whether Mr. Nifong talked with her before charges were brought. I know he talked with her at some point, but I don't know the answer to that question. We can find that out for you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you recommend to the council of the state that the state of North Carolina defend his liberties as he defends himself?
COOPER: You know, I am not going to speculate or comment on any particular civil litigation that might occur at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, you do have authority to recommend to the counsel of the state whether or not the state picks up his legal fees.
COOPER: Well, we'll deal with that issue when it comes -- comes about.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What conversations have you had with Mike Nifong? And how did that go?
COOPER: Jim Coman and Mary Winstead have talked with Mr. Nifong about this, and I don't know what the results of their conversation were, but they were going to call him and tell him about our decision today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you not talk with him?
COOPER: I don't talk with him, no.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe the accuser lied in this case? And will there be any criminal charges against her?
COOPER: Well, we have considered that. Our investigators who talked with her and the attorneys who talked with her over a period of time think that she may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling.
And in reviewing the whole history, there are records under seal that I'm not going to talk about, but we believe it's in the best interest of justice not to bring charges, and we have made that decision, as well.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think she (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
COOPER: I'm sorry, what? I'm sorry. I didn't...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about Mike Nifong? Do you think that his actions warrant a criminal investigation?
COOPER: Well, I think it's important that we let the process work with the North Carolina State Bar Association. Our investigation dealt mostly with the facts of this case and making a decision. Their investigation is dealing more with the pretrial comments and with the discovery issues on the DNA that our investigators really did not get into the details of that.
I think once the bar finishes that hearing process, then we will know more about that process when it comes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it a possibility?
COOPER: It's certainly a possibility, but I don't want to -- to speculate at this point. I think all options are certainly on the table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cooper, the charges caused some racial discord, to say the least. How much damage, in your opinion, do you think has been done to the community? And do you think your actions today go very far in fixing the problem?
COOPER: Well, first I think all over the country there is certainly racial and economic injustice. And in my public career and in my private career, I've worked to help right those wrongs and work toward progress. And I think we all need to do it.
But for the purposes of this case, we looked at the facts and the evidence alone and made a decision on it. We promised that we would have blinders to all other distractions, and so we've worked mostly on this case. I'll leave it to other people to decide any kind of long- term effects that this has.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were many defense attorneys who believe that Michael Nifong should be disbarred for his actions, that he -- that was guilty of obstruction of justice.
I'm wondering, based on your investigation, based on everything you know, do you believe he should be disbarred? And if you cannot answer that question, what do you think should happen? Should he be allowed to continue as district attorney?
COOPER: I think it would prejudice his hearing of the bar if I would preempt their opinion. I want them to go through the process. He should be afforded that process, to have that hearing over there on all of these issues. So we'll let that happen first.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the woman somewhat mentally unstable? Was that part of the problem? With all these stories. You mentioned she believed some of these different stories. Is there a mental illness?
COOPER: I -- I don't want to characterize that in that way. What I would want to say is that our investigators looked at all of the records, think she actually believed what she -- the many stories she was telling, and we made the decision based on a lot of things. I don't want to talk about what was in those records under seal, but I think it's in the best interest of justice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last question. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do the investigators think that she believed what she was saying from the start, or that she came to believe them over time?
COOPER: I think that -- I think that they believed the belief occurred as she was telling these things. And they don't know, but they've worked real hard with her, but it just doesn't make sense. You can't piece it together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cooper, can I just ask you...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... how do you feel about this legal abuse of power? What does it say about the legal profession?
COOPER: Well, what I have worked on is what has happened with this case. We've made a decision on this case. We're going to continue to work with the proposal that I have made to make things happen more quickly, and we're going to continue to work hard to do good for North Carolina.
Thank you all very much.
WHITFIELD: All right. You were listening to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper saying that Reade Seligmann, David Evans, Collin Finnerty, the Duke lacrosse players, are all free to go and resume with their lives, because the criminal charges against them involving sexual assault and kidnapping have all been dropped. In short, because there was a tragic rush to accuse, said the attorney general, and based on the evidence, these three individuals are innocent.
We're going to talk to our legal experts on the other side of this break, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. The North Carolina attorney general's office says that the three Duke lacrosse players who were accused of sexual assault and kidnapping, all of those criminal charges have now been dropped. As a result, simply not enough evidence to proceed.
The attorney general's office had that case for three months while the district attorney's office out of Raleigh-Durham area had it for over a year before reaching that very conclusion.
Our legal analysts, Jeffrey Toobin and B.J. Bernstein, with us now. You heard everything from start to finish from Roy Cooper.
And so B.J., let me begin with you. In short, he said simply the evidence wasn't there. There was a tragic rush to judgment. And this attorney general didn't mince any words. He made it very clear that the district attorney did a bad job.
BERNSTEIN: An extraordinarily strong statement from the attorney general. Some of the speculation before, and even while it got here at CNN, were people asking, would he just say the charges are dropped or is he going to actually exonerate completely these three men?
And a very strong statement; he said these three boys are innocent. And that's very unusual to hear a prosecutor to say, and very significant to hear the chief attorney of an entire state say and criticize a fellow district attorney, and to even say that he wants to get the new rules in place to prevent this in the future.
WHITFIELD: And criticized him point-blank, Jeffrey. This district attorney, Roy Cooper said, quote, "The Durham D.A. pushed forward unchecked." That's an incredible indictment on Mike Nifong, especially as the North Carolina Bar Association is now investigating ethics charges against him.
TOOBIN: I thought it was an amazing statement from the attorney general. As B.J. said, he could have simply gotten up there and said, "Look, we think there's insufficient evidence to proceed. We're dismissing the case."
Instead, he said these guys are innocent. He used the word, as B.J. said, innocent...
WHITFIELD: Yes.
TOOBIN: ... which is not something prosecutors are usually comfortable saying. So he completely rejected the charges against them.
And second, he just laid into Mike Nifong's investigation and said that they were incompetent, they were unfair. And that is not something that one law enforcement official usually says about another, much less in such a high-profile setting.
So you know, Attorney General Cooper has a very calm, folksy demeanor, but that was an extraordinarily outspoken statement and a complete vindication of these three former defendants.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, B.J. Bernstein, thanks so much. Appreciate it -- Don.
LEMON: We're going to have more on the developing story about troop deployments, or redeployments, more months for Army troops on the ground in combat zones. A briefing from the secretary of defense and joint chiefs chair, coming up at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips, who's on assignment.
Combat duty in Iraq. Troops who are deployed or soon to be? This is not exactly what they want to hear. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
