UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT

Hot-off-the-press reprobation of the badly flawed indictment process in this notorious incident.

It was an unhappily converging “perfect storm” of: (a) unsubstantiated allegations of rape by a hired dancer at a Duke lacrosse team party; (b) the professional and political motivations of the local prosecutorial community, including the now-infamous, now-disbarred and undoubtedly soon-to-be-sued district attorney; (c) academic politics at a well-known national university; and (d) just in case the foregoing were not enough, race and class. In this era of in-your-face Michael Moore–style media screeds, we all might be excused for being unresponsive to the promise of yet another exposé of yet another outrage. However, unlike our experience with Moore, who specializes in breathtaking generalities and over-spun characterizations, we are here flogged with innumerable details, each well reported and each implacably pointing to the same conclusion: The players were railroaded. National Journal columnist Taylor (Pulitzer-nominated for his Supreme Court coverage at the New York Times) and Johnson (History/Brooklyn Coll.) have done their investigative homework, seemingly too well at times. Still, they provide a solid analysis of a prosecution gone wrong and of academics relentlessly pursuing their own politically correct agendas, even in the face of the facts. The authors single out in particular the utter collapse of due process for accused students at a highly respected school.

A cautionary tale for all readers.