Dave Evans’ father. He’s a lawyer. In Washington, DC. Represents non-profits and trade associations. Firm has 1,500 lawyers. He’s practiced for 36 years.

Grew up in Indiana. Father a Yellow Pages ad exec. Mom worked in the home. Wife is from Savannah, Ga. (no wonder I like her). Son grew up in D.C. area, Maryland suburbs of Bethesda and Chevy Chase.

Says his son is a great kid, lots of friends, used to go out of his way to make friends feel comfortable. Went to Landon Schools (HUGE lax school) before coming to Duke. Did not go with a scholarship. Got one the second semester of his junior year. Earned that on the field.

“Dave loves Duke.” Made best friends you could ever make there. Did well academically, 3.4 average. All-ACC academic team each year, elected captain his senior year, started in the national championship game two years ago.

About the party: Was a spring break tradition for 15 years. Dave was one of the hosts. Dave called from Coach Pressler’s office to tell him what had happened. “We made a mistake, I know that, but I wanted to describe the situation to you.” All the captains accepted responsibility from the start for hosting the party and hiring dancers.

Says Dave, Matt Zash and Dan Flannery did exactly what a prosecutor should want. Cooperated fully. Gave oral statements for 5-7 hours. “I can tell you that Dave’s written statement was the most detailed written statement” and they knew from the start what happened. Said his statement was a “carbon copy” of the findings of the Attorney General more than a year later.

Says Dean Sue Wasiolek told them to cooperate without counsel or telling their parents, and they did that. Says “we were floored” by Nifong’s statements about non-cooperation, knowing what Zash, Evans and Flannery had done.

As an attorney, what did you think of his statement that if they were innocent why did they need lawyers. “I notice Mr. Nifong has lawyers,” he says, nodding toward Nifong. Says he learned in law school that everyone has a right to counsel. Said the boys’ parents wanted them to hire lawyers because Nifong had “begun to malign the entire team,” trying “to make them look bad for seeking counsel.”

Says Joe Cheshire, Dave’s lawyer, tried very hard to get exculpatory info to Nifong. Could prove he didn’t have a mustache and said he passed a private lie-detector test, but Nifong wouldn’t hear it.

“These statements came out and maligned an entire team…our entire world was under attack.” Says Dave still has to live with the fact that he was a captain and a host of this party. Feels terrible his friends had to be drug through this. Say he didn’t deserve this, even having the party and the dancers.

Says Dave has handled this “outrageous situation” well. Had been offered a job as a sales analyst at J.P. Morgan before he graduated. “We knew that Mr. Nifong was targeting our son. We knew that at the beginning of April.” Said he called Brad Bannon on graduation weekend and was told Dave would be indicted on Monday. The day before that, Sunday, was graduation. “So Dave graduated one day before he was indicted.” J.P. Morgan withdrew the offer because of felony charges.

“We knew this was all a lie. We knew this was going to go away,” but they said the job couldn’t be held for him, that he would have to reapply. Happy to say that on April 12, 2007, the day after they were exonerated, J.P. Morgan called to renew the offer, but Dave had already accepted another job.

“It’s not like turning off a switch.” Said he didn’t sleep last night after hearing the testimony. Found 5 million hits on Yahoo search when he put in “Dave Evans” and “Duke lacrosse.” Dave feels that the day he dies he will be identified as one of the three indicted Duke lacrosse players.

[I can see big civil awards coming.]

Says he began to lose weight and had trouble sleeping. Worrying every hour “that there’s got to be something I can do to help my son” but we “learned that we had to prove” Dave’s innocence. Found he had Type 1 diabetes, probably from the stress [the civil awards just increased].

Talking about his father-in-law, Ray Forker. Loved Duke lacrosse and was loved by the players. He took this news very, very hard. “He was consumed with the case,” would call Dave several times a day to ask why Nifong continued to go forward with such an incredible accuser. He died on Aug. 20 of a heart attack. Their great regret was that he died before learning the system worked. St. Raymond is the patron saint of the falsely accused so they feel he knows the result. “We all wear the St. Raymond medal.”

What did he think of Nifong’s statement. “It resonated with me when he said he wanted his son to be proud of him.” But has to tell you how dissappointed we were when he was asked if he felt a sexual assault occurred and then said he thought something happened in that bathroom. “I have a real hard time with that, I can’t accept it.” Points out that the special prosecutors found the accuser was a liar with mental health problems. Says Nifong referred to her as they victim. “There are the victims,” he said, his voice rising and pointing to the boys. “Not Crystal Mangum.”

“What that does is take me back all the way to last March…I’m must surprised he gave that answer. He must have believed it. I have a hard tiime after that going much further into his apology.”

He’s dismissed.