RALEIGH, N.C. -- The woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her in 2006 was charged Monday with murder in the death of her boyfriend.
[/left]Crystal Mangum, 32, was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder and two counts of larceny. She has been in jail since April 3, when police charged her with assault in the stabbing of 46-year-old Reginald Daye. He died after nearly two weeks at a hospital.
[/left]An attorney for Mangum and officials in the district attorney's office did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
[/left]Mangum falsely accused the lacrosse players of raping her at a 2006 party for which she was hired to perform as a stripper. The case heightened long-standing tensions in Durham about race, class and the privileged status of college athletes.
[/left]The district attorney who championed Mangum's claims was later disbarred. North Carolina's attorney general eventually declared the players innocent of a "tragic rush to accuse."
[/left]Prosecutors declined to press charges for the false accusations, but Mangum's bizarre legal troubles have continued.
[/left]Last year, she was convicted on misdemeanor charges after setting a fire that nearly torched her home with her three children inside. In a videotaped police interrogation, she told officers she set got into a confrontation with her boyfriend at the time -- not Daye -- and burned his clothes, smashed his car windshield and threatened to stab him.
[/left]Friends said Mangum has never recovered from the stigma brought by the lacrosse case and has been involved in a string of questionable relationships in an attempt to provide stability for her children. Vincent Clark, a friend who co-authored Mangum's self-published memoir, said he hopes people don't rush to judgment -- echoing one of the oft-cited lessons of the lacrosse case itself.
[/left]Clark said Mangum realizes she has mental health problems.
[/left]"I'm sad for her. I hope people realize how difficult it is being her," Clark said.
[/left]When Daye's nephew talked to a 911 dispatcher after the stabbing, he referenced the notoriety Mangum still carries.
[/left]"It's Crystal Mangum. THE Crystal Mangum," said the nephew, whose name was removed from a publicly-released version of the emergency call. "I told him she was trouble from the damn beginning."
[/left]A federal judge recently ruled that the three players accused of rape -- Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans -- can pursue a lawsuit against former District Attorney Mike Nifong and the police investigators who handled their case. The players have not sued Mangum.
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