Rest of Duke Lacrosse Team Announces Suit Against University and City of Durham - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

In Washington today, the remaining members of the Duke Lacrosse team who were not originally prosecuted for rape by the city of Durham, North Carolina announced that they were filing suit against both the University and the city for the emotional distress they suffered over the course of the case.

In all, more than three dozen current and former students will take part in the lawsuit that was filed today in Federal court in North Carolina. Pictured above is Steve Henkelman, father of former Duke lacrosse player Erik Henkelman, speaking his piece about the suit today at the National Press Club.

Previously, the three former students who were falsely accused of the crime, Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, filed suit separately against former Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong, the city and the University. They reached a settlement with Duke in June while the other cases are still pending.

Here's attorney Chuck Cooper:

"These young men want an acknowledgment that they were wronged by institutions and individuals that they trusted to treat them honestly," Cooper said in a statement. "They were victimized by a corrupt investigation that ignored or suppressed evidence that would have cleared them."

Not named in the suit is Nifong, who was disbarred and spent a night in jail for his role in railroading the three former Duke players and getting them indicted through suppression of evidence, among other transgressions. The only reason why, apparently, is because Nifong is expected to shortly file for bankruptcy.

It's hard to underestimate just what sort of injustice this case represented, as Nifong's chicanery during the investigation triggered a chain of events throughout the academic community and the national media that resulted in the entire team being tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. If you don't believe me, take some time to read this steaming pile of innuendo that ran at Slate in the midst of the case. It can be summed up pretty easily as: "Who cares what the facts are as long as the narrative fits."

If there's one individual who deserves credit for standing up to the bullies in Durham and elsewhere, it was K.C. Johnson, a professor at Brooklyn College who smelled a rat from the beginning. If you really want to educate yourself about the case, it would be a good idea to start with his blog, Durham in Wonderland. Later, Johnson would co-author a book with Stuart Taylor called Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacross Rape Case. Below is an interview Taylor did with Fox News earlier today about today's announcement.