It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered » (Unabridged)

Don Yaeger is a former associate editor for "Sports Illustrated". He is the author of seven books and coauthor of the "New York Times"bestseller "Under the Tarnished Dome" and the critically acclaimed "Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL".

Mike Pressler was the head coach of the Duke Lacrosse team. Under his leadership the team won three Atlantic Coast Conference championships, ten NCAA tournament berths, and made an appearance in the 2005 Division I men's lacrosse championship game. He now coaches the lacrosse team at Bryant College in Rhode Island.

Mike Pressler walked into the bottom-floor meeting room of the Murray Building and, as he had done hundreds of times over a sixteen-year career at Duke University, prepared to address his men's lacrosse team. Forty-six players sat in theater-style chairs, all eyes riveted forward.

It was 4:30 P.M. on Wednesday, April 5, 2006. The program's darkest hour had arrived in an unexpected and explosive announcement.

Pressler, a three-time ACC Coach of the Year, informed his team that its season was canceled and that he had "resigned," effective immediately. While his words reverberated off the walls, hysteria erupted. Players cried, confused over a course of events that had spun wildly out of control. What began as an off-campus team party with two hired strippers had accelerated into a rape investigation---one that exposed prosecutorial misconduct, shoddy police work, an administration's rush to judgment, and the media's disregard for the facts---dividing both a prestigious...

Author's Note

1 The Perfect Storm 1

2 Don't Worry, This Will Blow Over 15

3 Duke and Durham 27

4 Lacrosse at Duke 33

5 The Strippers 47

6 The Cops 55

7 I-I and Done 63

8 Blue Wall of Silence 75

9 Who Is Mike Nifong? 89

10 Press Hound 99

11 The President 107

12 Perfect Offenders, Perfect Victim 119

13 Agendas All Around 131

14 The Media 147

15 "It's Not About the Truth Anymore" 165

16 No Match 177

17 Politics of Race 183

18 All In 193

19 Crumbling Case 203

20 Summer Camp 213

21 General Election 221

22 "No Penetration" 233

23 "You Can't Make Me" 245

24 Cruelest of Ironies 259

25 Duke Lacrosse 2007 267

26 Exonerated 277

27 Moving On 285

Epilogue 299

A Timeline of Events 309

The Cast of Characters 331