Roy Cooper Steps Up

Jeff Taylor | April 11, 2007

It is nice to be surprised.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper actually called the three Duke lacrosse players innocent during his just-completed press conference announcing that all criminal charges have been dropped by the state. I didn't think Cooper had it in him.

Moreover, Cooper said that no attack occurred that night in Durham last March and called Durham DA Mike Nifong a "rogue prosecutor." The only thing Cooper did not do is announce criminal charges against Nifong, but he repeatedly pointed out that Nifong faces a State Bar investigation into his conduct.

Taken together, Cooper's finding and choice of words greatly increases the chances that the young men charged by Nifong could win some sort of civil action against Nifong, Duke University, or both.

Keeping watching Durham for more fallout from this major turn of events.