RALEIGH - North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper proclaimed the innocence of the three indicted members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team and harshly criticized the behavior of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong Wednesday.
Facing a crowd of national and local media, Cooper announced the remaining charges against David Evans, Trinity '06, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann are being dismissed.
"The result of our review and investigation shows clearly that there is insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges," Cooper said. "These cases are over, and no more criminal proceedings will occur."
Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann faced charges of sexual assault and kidnapping. Rape charges were dropped in January.
Cooper's announcement came more than one year after initial allegations against the players were brought forth.
The attorney general took over the case when Nifong requested recusal in January.
Cooper appointed James Coman, head of the attorney general's Law Enforcement and Prosecutions Division, and Mary Winstead of the Special Prosecutions Division to oversee the case.
In addition to reviewing previously collected evidence, lawyers and investigators have spent the past 12 weeks independently conducting interviews and gathering and reviewing statements, photographs, records and other evidence, Cooper said.
He added that unreliable eyewitness identification procedures, a lack of DNA evidence and contradictions between witnesses and among several stories provided by the accuser over the course of the investigation led the prosecutors to their ultimate decision.
"We believe that these cases were the tragic result of a rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations," Cooper said. "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."
He added that a written statement will be released next week detailing the facts of the case as well as the witnesses' contradictions that led investigators to drop the charges. In a later question-and-answer session, Cooper said it was unlikely that criminal charges against the accuser would be pursued.
He also addressed the conduct of Nifong, who faced substantial scrutiny for his early public statements as the case unfolded.
"There were many points in the case where caution would have served justice better than bravado," Cooper said. "Today, we need to learn from this and keep it from happening again to anybody."
Cooper proposed a law that would authorize the North Carolina Supreme Court to remove a case from a prosecutor under "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," Cooper said.
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