Father gains custody of Duke lacrosse accuser's children

[The Northerner]

Durham, N.C. — A Durham County judge has awarded custody of two children of the woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape in 2006 to their father.

The order, which District Judge Doretta Walker filed on Tuesday, gives Richard Ramseier temporary custody of his 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.

Crystal Mangum, 32, is being held in the Durham County jail under a $500,000 bond on a murder charge.

Police say that Mangum stabbed Reginald Daye, 46, during an April 3 argument at his apartment on Century Oaks Drive. Daye died 10 days later.

In March 2006, Mangum claimed three white players on the Duke lacrosse team trapped her inside a bathroom at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., where she was performing as a stripper at a team party, and raped and sexually assaulted her.

Read more: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/9850179/

[MADem]

1. Sounds like a good call by the Judge.

A murder charge?

That young lady can't seem to stay out of trouble...

[FreakinDJ]

3. Hate to say it

but folks should have pushed her into Rehab instead of bolstering false claims for political gain

she might not be in the predicament she is in today

[yella_dawg]

5. Yeah.

She's such a misused little victim. All the stress drove her to stab a man to death. After what those other men actually never did to her, can you really blame her?

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. Her kids would be better off if someone had intervened much earlier. n/t

[brewens]

2. One thing I don't see mentioned about the Duke Lacross case.

How quick did their coach bail on them? He resigned right away. I got the feeling that he knew his guys were so much capable of doing it, that he bailed immediately.

The coach bailing made me think they were probably guilty. I expected them to confess, cut deals and slither away. I still think I would have been okay on the jury though. I'm capable of being objective and making the right call.

[Daggoo]

4. coach forced to resign

Durham's a crooked town. (The police at one time were accused of running prostitution out of their on HQ. Check the stats, and you'll
find that they almost never arrested anyone for prostitution in the years 2000-2006.)

Only the DA can investigate and put and end to that. Nifong was (in some people's opinion) the establishment's choice for DA; but he
was 20 points behind in the polls. He needed a case. And--as in the Old South--a case with race exactly fit the bill.

After DNA testing showed no lacrosse player had any contact with the accuser, the fallback was to have the accuser ID someone--so, on her
seventh or eighth try, she suddenly recognized her assailants--who by coincidence were from the richest families on the
team. (Despite the best efforts of Nifong and the police to find someone who wasn't "on a plane somewhere at the time", they still managed
to pick two suspects who in fact where elsewhere at the time of the supposed rape).

Duke has to live in Durham; it has to think of "the big picture" and "long term". Hence, it went along. (Or as Robert K. Steel, then Chairman of the Trustees, said, "Sometimes good people have to suffer for the good of the organization".)

Duke allegedly had PR releases already prepared; and after President Brodhead was informed by phone (in Boston where he was attending a Duke basketball
game) that the sacrificial lambs had been chosen, the following day lengthy statements were issued, and with great self-righteousness Duke
"required" the coach to resign. The coach begged for Duke to wait until the DNA tests came back (they weren't public yet).
But the Athletic Director told him, "It's not about the truth any longer; it's about the integrity of the university, it's about the faculty, the city, the NAACP,
the protesters, and the other interest groups." IOW, the public image of the college. Pressler told the team before he left: "One day, we will get a chance to tell the world the truth. One day."

[brewens]

9. That shows you why they weed out prospective jurors that

have seen "details" of a case. All I saw was the coach resigned and knew nothing of what the DA was setting up. A coach bailing like that and not sticking of for his guy is huge to someone like me. Goes to show you thing aren't always as they (are made to) appear.

[LisaL]

6. Well you expected wrong.

:eyes:

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. 3rd edit. The english language doesn't facilitate the degree of sarcasm justified by this article.

Suffice to say, it's about time.