IWF hosted a panel that explored the procedural errors, media bias, and anti-jock feelings on the Duke campus in 2007 when members of the lacrosse team were accused of rape.
Because the accusations fed into a host of prejudices, the media convicted the young men without a trail, while the accuser got a book deal. The charges were ultimately dropped but it will always be a caution against jumping to conclusions based on our prejudices.
Therefore I merely report this update on accuser Crystal Mangum with the hope that Mangum will be accorded all the safeguards our judicial system affords. She is innocent unless proven guilty (something the media should have remembered when she made charges, and something we remember now as charges are made against her):
Authorities say former Duke Lacrosse accuser Crystal Mangum was arrested overnight Sunday for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend in the chest.
Authorities say around 3 a.m., officers responded to a stabbing at a home in the 3000 block of Century Oaks Drive.
When police arrived, they found a 46-year-old man stabbed in the chest.
The man suffered serious injuries and was taken to Duke University Hospital for treatment.
Investigators say the victim is Mangum’s boyfriend and say they believe the stabbing occurred during an argument at the apartment the couple shared.
A man who claims he’s the victim’s cousin says Mangum and the victim had a brief relationship.
“I mean he was excited,” said the man. “He was like, ‘man, guess who I’m dating now.’ He was excited, but I told him ‘man, you know her background, be careful, you know what I mean.'”
Mangum, 32, was later arrested at a nearby apartment and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.