CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST – AT 8:37 P.M. ET:  Do you remember the Duke lacrosse case?  An African American woman, working as an "exotic dancer" (one of the great euphemisms) charged three Duke University lacrosse players with rape.

The case became a cause celebre, despite not a shred of evidence against the boys.  Radical feminists pounced.  The race industry went into full production.

And then the truth started to come out...about a corrupt prosecutor seeking black votes in an upcoming election, and a nutbag fringe of the Duke faculty, 88 members, whoi signed a statement essentially calling for a legal lynching of the innocent boys charged. 

Eventually, the boys were exonerated, and the prosecutor disbarred by courageous action of the North Carolina bar.  The faculty members, screaming "academic freedom," never bothered to apologize.  Duke offered a vague apology, published on page 265 of leading newspapers.

Now, the clearly disturbed woman at the center of the case has seen justice come 'round.  From WaPo, which has the courage to publish the story, and not from The New York Times, which doesn't:

DURHAM, N.C. -- A woman who authorities said falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape four years ago has been found guilty by a North Carolina jury of misdemeanor child abuse and damaging property.

A Durham County jury on Friday convicted 32-year-old Crystal Mangum of contributing to child abuse or neglect, injury to personal property, and resisting a public officer stemming from a February confrontation with her live-in boyfriend. Mangum was sentenced to time already served before she was released on bail earlier this year.

COMMENT:  How sad, how sad.  Nothing to cheer about here.  The Duke case was a setback for justice, and for the many true victims of sexual assault whose credibility is eroded every time there is a false charge, especially one that garners the publicity of the lacrosse episode.

We still have yet to hear an apology from the Duke faculty fringe, or any reflection at all.  I think it will take generational change to rid ourselves of adolescent college professors whose thinking never got beyond the 1960s. 

December 17, 2010