Ex-Duke Players Seek to Rebuild Reputations

April 12, 2007 — -- The dropping of charges might mean fewer legal worries for Dave Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty -- three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape 13 months ago -- but the trio must now work to rebuild their reputations.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that all charges had been dropped.

In the year since the allegations were first made, though, the lives of these players have been dramatically altered.

Evans graduated the day before his indictment, and subsequently lost a Wall Street job offer. Seligmann and Finnerty were sophomores last year, and were suspended from school. They were invited back to Duke when the first set of charges were dropped in December 2006, but the pair chose not to return.

"I think one of the tragedies of this case is there is no way to make these three young men who were accused whole again," New York prosecutor Linda Fairstein told ABC's David Muir. "There will always be the asterisk that 'he was the defendant in the Duke lacrosse case.'"

They have begun to move on. Seligmann was recruited to play lacrosse at Brown, and Finnerty is taking classes at Hofstra while coaching at the high school where he earned his Duke scholarship.

"Collin is helping with the lacrosse program and working with students, serving as a model of moving on," said the Rev. James Williams, Chaminade High School's principal.

But some say moving on scar-free will be nearly impossible for those involved in this case.

"There are other people who know absolutely nothing about them, other than they were defendants in a rape case. Some of whom won't remember what the outcome was … and that will be their history for the rest of their lives," said Duke law professor James Coleman.

Also affected, Duke coach Mike Pressler, who resigned after 16 seasons. He became emotional Wednesday at a news conference as he responded to the dropped charges.