Prosecution drops rape charges against Duke athletes

~ The three players still face kidnapping and sex charges.

DURHAM, N.C. -- The district attorney dropped rape charges Friday against the three Duke University lacrosse players after the stripper who accused them changed her story again. But the men still face kidnapping and sex charges that could bring more than 30 years in prison.

A lawyer for one of the athletes bitterly demanded that District Attorney Mike Nifong drop the remaining counts, accusing him of offering shifting theories of the crime in an attempt to win the case at any cost.

"It's now the shifting sands again, the shifting factual theory," defense attorney Joseph Cheshire said. He added: "It is the ethical duty of a district attorney not to win a case, not to prosecute all cases, but to see that justice is done."

In dropping the rape charges, Nifong filed court papers that said the accuser told an investigator Thursday that she is no longer certain whether she had intercourse, as she had claimed earlier. Nifong previously said he would rely on the woman's account because of a lack of DNA evidence against the players.

Lacking any "scientific or other evidence independent of the victim's testimony" to corroborate that aspect of the case, the district attorney said in court papers, "the state is unable to meet its burden of proof with respect to this offense."

The accuser, a 28-year-old student at North Carolina Central University, has said three men raped her while holding her against her will in a bathroom at a March 13 Duke lacrosse team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.

The indicted players -- Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann -- all say they are innocent.