District attorney says accuser in Duke case not interviewed

DURHAM, N.C. — The district attorney prosecuting three Duke lacrosse players accused of raping a woman at a team party said during a hearing Friday that he and his assistants haven't interviewed the accuser about the facts of the case.

They have only spoken to the woman to monitor her well-being, Mike Nifong said, and have left the investigation to police.

"I've had conversations with [the accuser] about how she's doing. I've had conversations with [the accuser] about her seeing her kids," Nifong said. "I haven't talked with her about the facts of that night."

Nifong made the statement in response to a defense request for any statements the woman has made about the case.

"I understand the answer may not be the answer they want, but it's the true answer," the prosecutor said after the hearing.

Defense lawyers said outside court that they found Nifong's statement surprising.

"One of the most interesting things to me of course is Mr. Nifong did admit that he in fact has basically never talked to this woman and has absolutely no idea what her story is, and yet he has chosen to continue to go forward with this case," defense lawyer Joseph Cheshire said.

Nifong also turned over more than 1,900 pages of discovery evidence as well as a CD and three DVDs to the defense. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 15.

Dave Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., was charged in May with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. A month earlier, a grand jury indicted players Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City, N.Y., on the same charges. The accuser, a student at nearby North Carolina Central University, told police she was raped in a bathroom March 13 by three men at the off-campus party.

The players' lawyers have strongly proclaimed their innocence.