Cho Seung-Hui Update

Cho Seung-Hui did something interesting after killing his first two victims and before continuing the massacre at Virginia Tech. He stopped at the Post Office and mailed to NBC studios a "multi-media manifesto" containing photos and videos and a lengthy document in an attempt to justify his actions. NBC issued a caveat before revealing part of what was in the envelope:

"We are sensitive to how all of this will be seen by those affected and we know we are in effect airing the words of a murderer here tonight"

In the mostly incoherent video Cho Seung-Hui claims he was forced into doing what he did.

"You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option," Cho says emotionally in the video clip. "The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."

Click Here to See the NBC Video Report by Brian Williams

It was also evident the Cho Seung-Hui also had psychological problems. Cho was accused of stalking two women in November and December 2005. After the second stalking complaint, the university obtained a temporary detention order and took Cho away because an acquaintance reported he might be suicidal, authorities said. Police did not identify the acquaintance.

On Dec. 13, 2005, a magistrate ordered Cho to undergo an evaluation at Carilion St. Albans, a private psychiatric hospital. The magistrate signed the order after an initial evaluation found probable cause that Cho was a danger to himself or others as a result of mental illness. The next day, according to court records, doctors at Carilion conducted further examination and a special justice, Paul M. Barnett, approved outpatient treatment.

Other evidence of Cho's mental instability appeared in two of his plays written in a play-writing class. One play was about a step father who raped his step son, laced with obscenity and violence. The other was about fantasizing how to kill a teacher who was a pedophile. Professor Carolyn Rude, chairwoman of the university's English department, said Cho's writing was so disturbing that he had been referred to the university's counseling service.

"Sometimes, in creative writing, people reveal things and you never know if it's creative or if they're describing things, if they're imagining things or just how real it might be," Rude said. "But we're all alert to not ignore things like this."

Lucinda Roy, professor of English at Virginia Tech, said that she, too, relayed her concerns to campus police and various other college units after Cho displayed antisocial behavior in her class and handed in disturbing writing assignments. But she said authorities "hit a wall" in terms of what they could do "with a student on campus unless he'd made a very overt threat to himself or others." Cho resisted her repeated suggestion that he undergo counseling, Roy said. "I wish I could have lifted him up bodily and taken him. I would have done it if I could," she said.


Two of Cho's roommates gave an interview on CNN about what it was like living in the same dorm with him.

Below is part 1 of the interview.

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To see the rest of the interview, broken up into three more parts, click on the links provided:

Roommates Pt2, Roommates Pt3, Roommates Pt4

A survivor of the massacre, Garrett Evans, gives a description of what happened from his hospital bed.

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Cho Seung-Hui Did It

Cho Seung-Hui is the killer responsible for 32 deaths at Virginia Tech. Cho, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English, graduated from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., in 2003. He arrived in the United States as boy from South Korea in 1992 and was raised in suburban Washington, D.C., where his parents worked at a dry cleaners.

The following is a quick recap of the events and aftermath of the worst school shooting in US history:

The Timeline

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Cho Seung-Hui Identified

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He was a loner who may have been taking medication for depression and was becoming increasingly violent and erratic. A student who attended Virginia Tech last fall provided obscenity- and violence-laced screenplays that he said Cho wrote as part of a playwriting class they both took. One was about a fight between a stepson and his stepfather, and involved throwing of hammers and attacks with a chainsaw. Another was about students fantasizing about stalking and killing a teacher who sexually molested them.

`When we read Cho's plays, it was like something out of a nightmare. The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of,'' former classmate Ian McFarlane, now an AOL employee, wrote in a blog posted on an AOL Web site.

He left a note behind: The Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site that the note railed against ``rich kids,'' ``debauchery'' and ``deceitful charlatans'' on campus. ABC, citing law enforcement sources, said that the note, several pages long, explains Cho's actions and says, ``You caused me to do this.''

Black Racism at Duke University

The Duke Lacrosse players accused of raping a Black girl have been cleared of all charges. The District Attorney in charge of the case now faces serious ethics violations for his role in this same case and may eventually be disbarred from practicing law. This would seem to be the end of a terrible miscarriage of justice perpetrated against the accused players. Not so for some people who had a prominent role in fostering race hatred aimed at the players. It would appear that just like beauty, truth is in the eye of the beholder.

That is the case with Malik Zulu Shabazz, born Paris Lewis, the leader of the New Black Panthers Party. Mr. Shabazz and the NBPP were very active at Duke University, organizing marches, giving interviews and meeting with the DA, Mike Nifong, insisting that the three Lacrosse players be convicted of raping Crystal Magnum. When it became evident that the evidence did not support the charges, the case was dismissed.

In an interview with Michelle Malkin, Mr. Shabazz was given a chance to apologise for insisting that the players be found guilty. Instead the interview degenerated into an ad hominem attack against Michelle Malkin. She was called a "political prostitute for Bill O'Reilly a white male chauvinist, racist."

Here is the interview:

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The Anti Defamation League has called the New Black Panthers Party: A mix of black nationalism, Pan-Africanism and racist and anti-Semitic bigotry. In fact many anti-Semitic and racist statements have been attributed to Malik Shabazz including:

"Death to Israel," "The white man is the devil," and "Jihad." Shabazz also said, "Kill every goddamn Zionist in Israel! Goddamn little babies, goddamn old ladies! Blow up Zionist supermarkets!"

If any racist, straw-chewin' tobacco-chewin' racist redneck lays their hand on any black man or woman in this county, crush that devil that is trying to do you harm and to do you evil in the name of God and in accordance with your legal rights.

It is people like Malik Zulu Shabazz who are attempting to foster race hatred in America. The truth does not matter if it does not serve his needs. Right and wrong are only concepts to be molded to fit into his plans. Decency and honesty mean nothing if they don't serve his goals. Equality and justice have no meaning at all.

However he is not alone in his quest for divisiveness and animosity in society. He happens to be Black but bigotry and racism come in all colors. It is like a cancer that is eating away at the fabric of society. Don't be fooled by it and don't get caught up in it.

Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Faces Charges

Mike Nifong, the Durham County District Attorney, who was the prosecutor in the Duke Lacrosse rape case, faces serious charges arising from his conduct during the investigation. The charges against all three players were dropped by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper. In doing so, Cooper portrayed Nifong as a "rogue" prosecutor who rushed the case by failing to verify the accuser's allegations.

Nifong is charged with withholding DNA evidence from defense lawyers, lying to investigators and making misleading and inflammatory comments about three former lacrosse players. If found guilty, he could be reprimanded, suspended or even disbarred. According to Thomas Metzloff, Duke law professor, he faces the possibility being hit with more charges.

On Friday April 13, a disciplinary committee rejected a request to dismiss ethics charges against Nifong. The decision by the three-member panel came shortly after an hourlong hearing, chaired by F. Lane Williamson. Mike Nifong is being represented by two lawyers, David Freedman and Dudley Witt. The rejection means that Nifong will face the charges in a trial, scheduled for June, that he withheld DNA evidence and then lied about it to the courts. David Freedman said resignation had not been discussed. "Here's a man who's devoted his whole life to public service. He still wants to serve people." Nifong had little to say Friday. "I'll do my talking inside the courtroom," he said.

Katherine Jean, counsel for the bar, the organization that oversees and disciplines lawyers, argued that Nifong knew that DNA from at least four men not on the lacrosse team had been found on evidence collected from the escort service dancer, Crystal Gail Mangum. That evidence was not turned over until December after numerous requests by the defense for all the DNA evidence. Jean said there were numerous opportunities to turn over that evidence before the players were indicted or at the hearings shortly after they were charged.

Nifong knew about the test results before he even won indictments against the three players. It's possible, she said, that with less capable defense counsel they might have chosen to enter into a plea agreement, which is how the vast majority of criminal cases in North Carolina are resolved.

"It's scary when you think about a case like this case," Jean said. "These men might have pleaded guilty never knowing the DNA evidence was exculpatory. ... It's a scary concept."

Mike Nifong had previously issued an apology to the three lacrosse players saying that the Attorney General Roy Cooper's decision to drop all charges, was the correct decision.

"To the extent that I made judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect, I apologize to the three students that were wrongly accused," Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong said in a statement. "I also understand that whenever someone has been wrongly accused, the harm caused by the accusations might not be immediately undone merely by dismissing them," Nifong added. "It is my sincere desire that the actions of Attorney General Cooper will serve to remedy any remaining injury that has resulted from these cases."

It turns out that Mike Nifong knew the accuser Crystal Magnum and her family since 1992 when he was the prosecutor in a case in which one of her uncles was killed in a robbery. The case dragged on for three years, but finally the killer was tried and convicted.

"The whole family knew him and trusted him because of that case," said Delois Burnette, a minister who has known the Mangums for decades. "People had confidence in him that he would do us right because he had prosecuted that case."

Hopefully Mike Nifong's judgement was not clouded by his familiarity with the family but it was obvious that the charges against the young men were at best very shaky, especially after the numerous times Crystal Magnum changed her story and the lack of DNA evidence to link any of them to her. It remains to be seen what will happen at Nifong's trial. He at least will have the opportunity to defend himself in a court of law.

Regardless of the decision of the court, it seems likely that Mike Nifong will be sued by the young men, Dave Evans, Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann whose lives have been irrevocably changed because of the false accusations from a mentally disturbed female and an over zealous district attorney.

Duke Lacrosse Team Vindicated

It took a year. Probably the worst year in the lives of Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann. They were the three members of the Duke Lacrosse team accused of raping Crystal Magnum at a party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.

They are Innocent!

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In an extraordinary move North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper didn't just dismiss all the remaining criminal charges against Dave Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty. He took the extra step of declaring the players innocent — the victims of a "tragic rush to accuse" by a rogue prosecutor who could be disbarred for his actions. "This case shows the enormous consequences of overreaching by a prosecutor," Cooper said.

The "rogue prosecutor" Roy Cooper referred to was Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong who is now facing ethics violations over his handling of the case. Nifong withdrew from the case in January after the North Carolina bar charged him with making misleading and inflammatory comments to the media about the athletes under suspicion. The bar later added more serious charges of withholding evidence from defense attorneys and lying to the court. Among other things, Nifong called the athletes "a bunch of hooligans" and declared DNA evidence would identify the guilty. He was also accused of withholding the results of lab tests that found DNA from several men — none of them lacrosse team members — on the accuser's underwear and body. If found guilty, Nifong could be disbarred.

Crystal Gail Magnum who accused the three players of rape, was a 28-year old mother who had struggled with poverty, alcohol abuse and psychological instability. She was also Black which fueled speculation about race being a factor in the case. The case itself began to fall apart when Crystal began to change the details of her story and finally admitted that she was not even sure that she had been raped. In recent years she turned to therapists for help with bipolar disorder and other mental problems and took anti-psychotic medication. As N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper said the special prosecutors and State Bureau of Investigation agents who interviewed her concluded that "she may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling." The Attorney General has declined to file charges against her.

History of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case

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After the decision to drop all charges against the Duke Lacrosse members was made, Mike Nifong issued an apology to the accused men:

"To the extent that I made judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect, I apologize to the three students that were wrongly accused," Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong said in a statement.

"I also understand that whenever someone has been wrongly accused, the harm caused by the accusations might not be immediately undone merely by dismissing them," Nifong added. "It is my sincere desire that the actions of Attorney General Cooper will serve to remedy any remaining injury that has resulted from these cases."

His apology may not be enough as the accused athletes and their lawyers contemplate whether or not to bring a lawsuit against him. “I think their chances of success suing Mr. Nifong are reasonably good, despite what we call prosecutorial immunity,” said John Banzhaf, a professor at the George Washington University School of Law.

“Ordinarily, a prosecutor has absolute immunity for the actions he takes in preparation for a case, but there are some caveats to that, and one of them is he does not have absolute immunity for misleading statements he gives at press conferences,” said Shannon Gilreath, an adjunct professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law.

The accuser could also be a potential target for a lawsuit. Cooper said his investigators concluded no attack took place. Some have suggested the players and their families might sue Duke University, which has been heavily criticized in some quarters for suspending the players and canceling the lacrosse team's season before the young men were even tried.

Mike Pressler, the coach of the Lacrosse team who was forced to resign in the wake of the scandal, now the head coach at Bryant University, expressed his relief that the case had come to a close and that his former players were finally exonerated.

"Today is the celebration of the two words we've attached our lives to for almost 13 months — the truth," Pressler said. "You can talk about loyalty, honesty and trust. They all apply to the 2006 Duke men's lacrosse team, but in the end, it all comes to down to the truth."

After all his team has gone through, head coach Danowski said with the case over, his team and his university can finally begin to heal.

"Duke University speaks for itself, and I think that Duke Lacrosse will, in time, speak for itself," Danowski said. "This is something that will eventually be a bruise, but nothing more than that. It will not define this program, just like it will not define Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann."