Review: It’s Not About the Truth
I just finished reading a book entitled It’s Not About the Truth by Don Yaeger. If you haven’t already heard of the book, it’s the “Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered.” Yaeger has written 13 books and was the Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated for 10 years. He actually has already sold movie rights for this book.
Yaeger used notes taken by former Duke Lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler during the entire fiasco as well as thorough research into this case and the circumstances behind it. The book is definitely not pro-Mike Nifong, but it’s hard to argue with his viewpoint after you read everything that the team had to go through.
Now before I go any farther, I wanted to give you my thoughts about this case before I had read the book. When I first heard the news report that members of the Duke Lacrosse team had allegedly raped a stripper, I believed the report like most of America. As Yaeger argues, it was a perfect storm of rich white kids playing lacrosse at a prestigious university versus a poor black stripper that created a controversial story that the country jumped on.
After reading the book, I can actually better sympathize with the Duke players. Should they have hired two strippers for a party? No, it wasn’t a good idea. Were they perfect students? No. But the majority of college students drink and party so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the lacrosse players did so as well.
I attended a college preparatory high school where men’s lacrosse was pretty popular and quite a few of our players ended up playing for D-I programs (ie. Syracuse). For the most part, these players were white and from wealthy families. For me, I don’t find it hard to believe that the team was bored on spring break and made a poor decision by hiring two strippers. I also believe that when the two women who showed up were not what they requested, the strippers were asked to leave. Unfortunately, one stripper decided to lie and cry rape.
In part because of the racial division between the two sides and the fact that DA Mike Nifong needed the publicity to win the upcoming primary and consequent election, the case was pushed forward and heavily publicized despite the fact that the alleged rape victim kept changing her story and the DNA tests did nothing to prove a rape had happened by any of the lacrosse players.
I had casually followed the case on TV so I knew the basics about this case, but I was blown away by how completely unlucky the players on the team were. Nifong appeared to be on a witch hunt and didn’t look like he would stop until the jury read off the guilty verdict. Fortunately for the players, the tide started to turn and they were eventually able to clear their names but those three players will always be known for their role in the alleged Duke Lacrosse rape case.
If you have any interest in the case, I would highly suggest reading this book. It’s Not About the Truth was an easy and enjoyable read. It’s amazing how many things were left out of mainstream media about the alleged victim and even the DA. Yaeger estimates that Nifong “granted up to seventy interviews in rapid succession” and in those interviews he misinformed the public by making incorrect claims or ignoring facts that hurt his case. He also tried to attack the character of the lacrosse players during these interviews and one time called them hooligans.
My jaw literally dropped a couple times in utter shock of the things Nifong did. Here’s an excerpt from pages 262 and 263 that summarize some of the things Nifong did.
1) On more than one occasion, Nifong suggested condoms may have been used in the attack - this after he had read the report, which stated the victim said no condoms were used. Nifong knew the statements were false, but he still suggested circumstances that excused the exculpatory evidence.
2) The DA insinuated that results of certain tests performed as a part of the investigation proved their guilt. No such evidence existed.
3) Nifong openly proclaimed the players’ guilt, poisoning a potential jury pool.
4) Nifong should not have castigated the lacrosse players for their alleged refusal to cooperate with or make statements to law enforcement authorities. Nifong painted a picture that the players hid behind a wall of silence, which, it was noted, was false. They voluntarily helped investigators with the search warrant, offering personal statements and DNA.
5) Nifong also “defamed the character, credibility, and reputation” of the accused. This, along with his expression of opinions and views of the nature of the alleged crimes, had a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused. The bar cited sixteen comments that attacked the reputation of the accused white men and their “ganglike rape” of a black woman.
You can buy It’s Not About the Truth today on Amazon.com for only $16.50.
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