The woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her is coming out with a memoir in early October, according to a news release on Thursday.
"'The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story' is the only definitive account of the life and struggles of the woman at the center of the Duke Lacrosse case, the alleged accuser," says a release from Fire! Products Inc., the film studio that is representing her.
Mangum was a student enrolled at North Carolina Central University in March 2006 and also worked as an exotic dancer when she performed at a party hosted by several Duke lacrosse players.
It was at that party, Mangum alleged, that three members of the team trapped her inside a bathroom and raped and sexually assaulted her. Three Duke lacrosse players were later indicted on the allegations.
Then-District Attorney Mike Nifong dismissed rape charges against the three players in December 2006 after Mangum said she was not certain she was raped. Nifong was disbarred and jailed following the collapse of the case.
In April 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper declared that the three players were innocent and had been wrongly accused, and he dismissed the remaining charges of sexual assault and kidnapping against them.
Cooper never pursued a case against Mangum, saying she likely believed her allegations.
The press release for the memoir says that Crystal Gail Mangum has been "called an exotic dancer and a prostitute, and the public was led to believe she wanted to frame some 'good college students' from Duke and put them in jail. ...
"Published reports throughout 2006 and 2007 portrayed Crystal as a gold-digging hooker searching for a big payday or as an unstable, troubled young woman. The truth about Crystal's life, her account of what happened on March 13, 2006, accusations and the motives of the people criticizing her were never seriously explored," the release continues.
Magnum, a divorced mother of three, will donate $1 from the purchase of each book to help battered women, the release says.
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