For journalists, the Duke lacrosse case is the gift that keeps on giving. For the justice system, though, it’s a virus that apparently can’t be contained.

The latest twist in this saga that had us gaga for over a year is that a special committee formed to investigate the Durham police department’s handling of the case has stopped its work. The reason? Durham officials fear that lawyers representing the three former defendants will use the committee’s findings to beat even more money out of the city than they almost surely could get now.

The problem with the lacrosse case is that we’re past the point where it’s simply about justice for the three Duke students victimized by the investigation. The legal system itself is now the focus. Those young men endured a horrible ordeal, but that’s what they did: They endured it. They’re on the other side of the nightmare now, and from the comfort of my armchair it seems that they’ve been made whole again — at least as far as their reputations and the public’s perception of them is concerned. Yes, it’s appropriate for them to expect that their families’ legal costs will be recovered, but are they owed something more than that?

Maybe — unless it’s a pound of flesh they want.

And that seems to be the case, judging by the heavyweight legal talent the former defendants brought on board after the criminal case was concluded. If so, then I have now arrived at the natural end of my sympathy for the three young men. To repeat: This is not about you anymore, fellas. The city of Durham has a need and duty to find out what went wrong within its police department. Its responsibility is now to the future targets of criminal investigations more so than to past targets. By making it difficult for Durham city leaders to do some much-needed soul-searching, the three lacrosse players risk undermining the wave of goodwill that has buoyed them in these recent months.

Then again, that’s been the hallmark of the Duke lacrosse case all along. Public opinion has swung wildly at different points, never developing a reasoned equilibrium. This would be a good moment for the pendulum of opinion to settle into a small, gentle arc. The defendants were cleared and lionized for their fortitude, the rogue prosecutor driven from office and disbarred, the accuser shown for the unstable, pitiable soul she is, and — if the special committee is allowed to complete its work — incompetent police investigators will be identified, then disciplined or fired.

I have some advice for the three former defendants: Ask for compensation for your legal fees, then walk away from this mess and get on with your lives. Any victory from this point forward will only be pyrrhic.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 1:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.