Crystal Gail Mangum (born July 18, 1978)[1] is an American former stripper from Durham, North Carolina who has been incarcerated for murder since 2013.
Mangum's work in the sex industry as a black woman, while the young men she accused were white, generated extensive media interest and academic debate about race, class, gender, and the politicization of the justice system.
In February 2010, she was charged with the attempted murder of her then live-in partner, Milton Walker, but was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, injury to personal property and resisting a public officer.
[9] In 1996, Mangum filed a police report alleging that three years earlier, when she was 14, she had been kidnapped by three assailants, driven to Creedmoor, North Carolina, and raped.
Ultimately, Mangum pleaded guilty to four counts: assault on a government official, larceny, speeding to elude arrest, and driving while impaired.
[1] In 2004, Mangum earned an associate degree from Durham Technical Community College, and subsequently enrolled full-time at North Carolina Central University.
[1] In March 2006, Mangum was hired as an exotic dancer at a party organized by members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team.
After arriving in an intoxicated state, having earlier consumed alcohol and cyclobenzaprine, to perform with another dancer at a house rented by three of the team captains, she became involved in an argument with the occupants of the residence and subsequently left.
The officer who arrived on scene took her to a local drug and mental health center, where she was in the process of being involuntarily committed when, after being asked a leading question, she made a false allegation that she had been sexually assaulted at the party.
[10] District Attorney Mike Nifong, who was up for re-election, pursued the case despite questions about the credibility of Mangum,[11] and conspired with a DNA lab director to withhold exculpatory evidence that would have cleared the lacrosse players of the sexual assault accusations.
They arrested Mangum on charges of attempted murder, first-degree arson, assault and battery, identity theft, communicating threats, damage to property, resisting an officer, and misdemeanor child abuse.
[20] On December 17, 2010, Mangum was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, injury to personal property and resisting a public officer.
[21] After the verdict, Judge Abe Jones sentenced Mangum to 88 days in jail, which she had already served, and left the custody decision in the hands of social services.
[22] Durham Assistant District Attorney Mark McCullough announced on January 21, 2011, that he would not retry Mangum on arson charges.
She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflicting serious bodily injury, a class C felony in North Carolina.
[33] A version of the story of Daye's killing was featured in an episode of Wives with Knives, which aired December 12, 2012, during its first season on Investigation Discovery.
[38] Taylor, Stuart Jr.; Johnson, KC (2007), Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, Macmillan, ISBN 9780312384869