The third Duke lacrosse indictment

Since we haven't had a chance to hear directly from the accuser in the Duke lacrosse rape case, it's not fair to jump to serious conclusions based on the words of the latest defendant.  I did, however, watch a news story that carried the entire speech by David Evans, and my first thought was that either he really is innocent or his lawyers are horribly inept in letting him speak so much publicly.

A third possibility is that his lawyers didn't want him to speak to the press, but that he insisted on doing so.  As the Martha Stewart case demonstrates, even the most expensive lawyers aren't always able to get their clients to heed their advice.  (I am, of course, assuming that Ms. Stewart's lawyers warned her against lying to the government.)

Still, the clarity and strength of Evans' statement really sounds like it was drafted by a lawyer.  True, Evans is a student at a terrific institution, so it's not unreasonable to credit him with a degree of articulateness; but the speech did sound much like a lawyer's closing argument.

Comments

[tom]

Doesn't matter how smart he is, no 21 year old American male ever uses the term "fantastic lies" unless it's written for him by a lawyer.

[Mac Diva]

Both of David Evans' parents are lawyers, Tung. The mother is a lobbyist, in addition. Suffice it to say he likely had plenty of help drafting those remarks.

But, I was not impressed. Relying on whining about polygraph results not being of interest to the prosecutors is silly. It assumes the public doesn't know polygraphs are unreliable and inadmissable as evidence.

Actually, the whole time I was reading the article about Evans in the NYT, I kept thinking about the orphan pubic hair found on the alleged victim. Is it his? Seems to me there may be some additional 'discovery' coming up for all three suspects.

[Tung Yin]

Mac Diva, thanks for the info. I wouldn't put a lot of stock into the polygraph result, but his willingness to take one is similar to other alleged actions (speaking to the police without counsel, assisting in the execution of the search warrant) that at least is not indicative of consciousness of guilt. Do I think he's innocent? (That is, he's innocent in the eyes of the law right now, but do I think he committed the crime?) I actually have no idea.

[jmilhouse]

I read a rather entertaining but often insightful blog of a “Twenty year old girl with a blog" as she calls herself. She has been posting on Duke from the beginning more in relationship to “rape culture" than anything else, but her latest post mimics the feeling here to some extent.

Her post here

My wife is also a lawyer and she did not give all that much credence to the polygraph but she also is going with the assumption that this DA has to have something else or he is crazy.