After a year of accusations, court proceedings and bruised reputations, Collin Finnerty of Garden City and his former Duke University lacrosse teammates Reade Seligmann of Essex Fells, NJ, and David Evans, of Bethesda, MD, can finally move on with their lives. The alleged rape, sexual assault and kidnapping cases against each of them are over and all charges have been dropped, according to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, as he announced during an April 11 press conference.

Cooper, who was asked by Durham, NC District Attorney Michael Nifong to take over the three cases back in January, said that not only was there insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges - including first-degree rape (which was later dropped), kidnapping and sexual assault - but based on the "significant inconsistencies" between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, Cooper and his legal team believe the three boys are innocent. "In this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house that night ... We believe that these cases were the tragic result of a rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations," Cooper said.

Last year, Finnerty, Seligmann and Evans were arrested and indicted in the alleged rape, sexual assault and kidnapping of a stripper hired to dance at a March 13, 2006 off-campus party thrown by the university's lacrosse team. The alleged victim, a mother of two and a student at a college near Duke, told police three men attacked her in a bathroom at the party. The three men consistently maintained their innocence and refused to accept a plea bargain in the case.

"We have carefully reviewed the evidence collected by the Durham County prosecutor's office and the Durham Police Department. We have also conducted our own interviews and evidence gathering," Cooper said. "Our attorneys and ... agents have interviewed numerous people who were at the party, DNA and other experts, the Durham County district attorney, Durham police officers, defense attorneys and the accusing witness on several occasions. We have reviewed statements given over the past year, photographs, records and other evidence. The result of our review and investigation shows clearly that there is insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges ... We are filing notices of dismissal for all charges against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans."

Because of this incident, Cooper is now proposing a law that the North Carolina Supreme Court have the authority to remove a case from a prosecutor in limited circumstances. This would give the courts a new tool to deal with a prosecutor who needs to step away from a case where justice demands, he said, adding, "In this case, with the weight of the state behind him, the Durham district attorney pushed forward unchecked. There were many points in the case where caution would have served justice better than bravado. And in the rush to condemn, a community and a state lost the ability to see clearly. Regardless of the reasons this case was pushed forward, the result was wrong. Today, we need to learn from this and keep it from happening again to anybody."

Durham DA Nifong, who submitted the bills of indictment to a grand jury last year, is now under investigation for ethics violations for allegedly withholding DNA information. Nifong was appointed to the position of district attorney in 2005.

As for Finnerty, he and his family, who stood by him during the entire ordeal, are relieved it's all over. At a Raleigh, NC press conference last week, he said he looks forward to returning to be a college student and is currently assistant coaching lacrosse at Chaminade High School, his alma mater. "It's been a long and emotional year for me ... for all of us," he said at the press conference, adding that because he had the truth on his side, he was confident that in the end justice would prevail.