Summary
Crystal Mangum, who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006, admitted for the first time on a podcast that her claims were fabricated.
She said she lied for validation and apologized to Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, acknowledging they “didn’t deserve” the accusations.
The case, which drew national attention, collapsed after evidence disproved her story, leading to the disbarment of Durham DA Mike Nifong for misconduct.
Mangum is currently in prison for a 2011 murder conviction.
great job cunt, make everything harder than it already is for actual rape victims, because everything is all about you
I’m so old I remember this. Yeah she should serve out the accused’s jail time.
2006?
Yeah, it was a year they had before this one. Like, I dunno, a hundred years ago or something when there were like knights and cavemen.
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But not old enough to remember that charges were eventually dropped?
No harm, no foul, right? It’s not like the accusations by themselves did any damage to the players’ mental health, social lives or had any effect on their education. Those reports of vandalism to Duke property and death threats to staff must’ve been fabricated too.
As much as I’d like the justice of having her prison sentence extended by the length of time each player would have been facing, I don’t think it’s a good idea in general. Wouldn’t want to discourage survivors of rape from coming forward with legitimate accusations due to fear of repercussions if the evidence is not sufficient to convict their attacker. Lots of things can go wrong between the crime scene and court room, guilty parties don’t always end up where they belong.
As much as I’d like the justice of having her prison sentence extended by the length of time each player would have been facing, I don’t think it’s a good idea in general. Wouldn’t want to discourage survivors of rape from coming forward with legitimate accusations due to fear of repercussions if the evidence is not sufficient to convict their attacker.
I can’t believe how often I still see this sentiment.
This does not make any sense. Do not equate ‘the accused wasn’t convicted’ with ‘we have proof the accusation was a deliberate lie’, the latter absolutely does not automatically follow from the former.
A separate trial would need to occur to convict the false accuser–the lack of a conviction in the accused’s trial, in and of itself, would obviously (I’d think) not be sufficient to levy any sort of punishment on the accuser.
The only people a hypothetical measure like this would be discouraging are the false accusers. No actual victim, nor even anyone whose accusation is false for reasons other than them lying (e.g. mistaken identity) would be affected at all.
It’s important to take this weapon away from those people malicious enough to lie about something like this. A much more severe punishment for being proven to have tried to ruin someone’s life this way is a good step in that direction, I think. No one should have the power to ruin someone’s life with a single lie.
The Innocent Project website is a sobering look at what happens when there is nothing deterring false accusers from wielding that weapon.
I don’t equate the lack of conviction for the attacker with a separate conviction for false reporting by the accuser but it’d be a valid concern on top of the many other reasons someone might choose to stay silent. Many attackers may be content to escape with a “not guilty” ruling if the prosecution isn’t able to prove their case but some are certain to try and hit back through the legal system even when they know the truth of the matter. Not sure I’d roll the dice on a true (but hard to prove) claim if it opened me up to further victimization.
No, it would not be a valid concern. If your accusation is not a lie, you’d be fine.
Many attackers may be content to escape with a “not guilty” ruling if the prosecution isn’t able to prove their case but some are certain to try and hit back through the legal system
If there is zero evidence of deliberate lying, how do you expect such an attempt to ever go anywhere, much less reach a courtroom?
The only way I could see such a thing even getting off the ground immediately after trial is if, during that trial, direct evidence of lying came to light (e.g. video recording of the event in question showing an obviously-consensual sex act, or no sex act at all, or evidence of the accuser admitting the accusation to be a lie, etc.).
The vast majority of accused would not be in any position to ‘retaliate’ this way, and the few who are, only are because they’re justified in doing so.
I’d recommend looking up The Innocence Project to see examples of cases where false accusations result in convictions but you’re already familiar with their work.
Yeah, it’s a great idea. Because innocent people are never convicted in our justice system.
Because people never abuse the legal system with bogus lawsuits.
Because police aren’t more likely to be abusers themselves and therefore more likely to take the side of another abuser against a victim.
Because someone who is willing to rape someone isn’t ever likely to try to exert more power over them.
Because laws are always applied evenly and justly across all races, sexes, social classes, identities.
Because sexual assault victims feel totally empowered by our legal system and society as long as they’re telling the truth.
Oh wait, none of those things are true.
So no, it’s not a great idea. Not until we fix a fuck ton of other problems in our society and justice system.
Libel, slander, and perjury are already illegal. Let’s use existing laws rather than introducing something new that can make it even harder for real victims.
It’s amazing how some people hate men so much that they’ll go to bat harder for hypothetical women than actual men, who have been falsely accused.
Pitiful.
Not sure that matters. There should still be some time for knowingly making false statmentsto the police.
It was a long time ago, bean
This story is years old. It came out that she was lying like 2 or 3 years after the fact. But yeah, the lacrosse team had their character assassinated hard during that time.
I think rolling stone did a huge, like five page article or something at the time.
She should do the time for their “crime”
Well she is in prison…
For 2nd degree murder…
Its okay! All she did was murder someone and accuse 3 others of rape and assault so that someone would get to know God better!
You gotta figure she probably wasn’t facing the typical modern human challenges of having to wake up in the morning and so on. I mean, those are extra credit activities.
That’s fucking awful but also not a reason to ignore future victims of sexual assault.
It actually is a reason to be more sceptic and evidence focused. And she should be jailed for her perjury and crime.
You two are in agreement.
Absolutely. It’s also a reason to wait for somone to be convicted before crucifying them in public.
I think I’m gonna keep badmouthing CEOs, thank you very much.
Well, the alived ones anyway.
What a piece of shit.
I certainly remember the case, but I don’t remember how much consensus there was afterward that her story was sketchy and likely untrue. Obviously there would be people who believed her no matter what, and others who would believe the Duke students. But I vaguely remember that the balance of evidence tipped away from the women’s stories.
That 2011 murder conviction, though. Yikes!
Initial perceptions were they absolutely did it. Rich kids and university athletes, classic story of not being able to take no as an answer.
It took quite a while for the tide to turn from what I remember.
This is definitely a case of a lie travelling around the world before the truth has put in its shoes. Personally, I only heard the story of the lacrosse players (allegedly) raping her and charges being dropped.
I, like many others, assumed the charges were dropped because wealthy kids had good connections. I never recall hearing that the story was made up, until now. Poor kids.
Nah these guys were absolutely skewered and convicted in the court of public opinion before the charges got dropped a full year after the fact.
That said, there are still many things they did that were gross and reprehensible that evening. However rape was not among them.
Holy shit
Some of these comments demonstrate the tech-bro male dominated culture of lemmy and those people should be ashamed of themselves and piss off back to Reddit. I don’t want any rancid basement dwelling men in my replies either - I will not debate you. I will just block you.
Top 5 worst offenders?
There are only a few comments currently and I don’t see anything particularly disagreeable. Maybe link to one?
BLOCK ME BITCH!! SUCK MY COCK!!
