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Lacrosse accuser's lawyer in murder case quits

The lawyer who has represented the Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape in 2006 against a pending murder charge withdrew from the case Tuesday.

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Crystal Mangum in court
DURHAM, N.C. — The lawyer who has represented the Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape in 2006 against a pending murder charge withdrew from the case Tuesday.

Crystal Mangum, 32, is charged in the death of Reginald Daye, 46, who was stabbed with a kitchen knife during an April 3, 2011, argument at his Durham apartment, police said. They had been dating for about a month at the time of his death.

Chris Shella, who was appointed to the case last year, pulled out weeks after a Mangum supporter filed motions suggesting that Mangum wasn't happy with Shella's work.

The motions sought a dismissal of the murder charge, the removal of the Superior Court judge hearing the case and that any trial not be held in Durham County.

Supporters held a news conference Tuesday reiterating their call for the charges against Mangum to be dropped.

Mangum is being held in the Durham County jail under a $200,000 bond.

In March 2006, she claimed three white players on the lacrosse team trapped her inside a bathroom at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., where 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.

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