Mangum appeals murder conviction in boyfriend's stabbing death
Crystal Mangum, most widely known as the woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape, is appealing her conviction of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her boyfriend.
In a Dec. 29 court filing, a lawyer for Mangum says the judge should not have allowed the jury to hear evidence about a February 2010 attack on another man, claiming it tainted the trial. Attorney Ann Petersen is asking the court to reverse the conviction and allow her client to have a new trial.
Mangum claims the April 2011 stabbing of her boyfriend, 46-year-old Reginald Daye, was a case of self-defense, saying Daye was beating her in a jealous rage when she grabbed a knife and "poked him in the side." Daye died 10 days later of complications at Duke University Hospital.
A seven-man, five-woman jury found Mangum, 34, guilty of second-degree murder on Nov. 22, 2013. Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway sentenced her to nearly 18 years in prison.
Mangum made national headlines in March 2006 when she claimed that three players on the Duke lacrosse team trapped her inside a bathroom when she was performing as a stripper at a team party and raped and sexually assaulted her.
Her story about the incident was so inconsistent that Attorney General Roy Cooper later declared the players innocent, saying there was no credible evidence against them.
