Test ordered to see if lacrosse accuser competent for murder trial
A judge has ordered that the Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape in 2006 undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if she is competent to stand trial on a murder charge.
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Crystal Mangum, 32, is charged in the April death of Reginald Daye. Her attorneys requested the evaluation last week.
Daye, 46, was stabbed with a kitchen knife during an April 3 argument at his Durham apartment, police said.
Daye and Mangum had been dating for about a month at the time of his death, but his family members said they weren't a couple. They said Daye was only trying to help Mangum get back on her feet and had provided her a place to stay.
In March 2006, Mangum claimed three white players on the Duke 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 state officials later declared the players innocent, saying there was no credible evidence against them.
Last December, she was convicted on several charges stemming from a domestic dispute with a former boyfriend.
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