A Duke University lacrosse player charged with raping an exotic dancer will have to face a D.C. trial stemming from a drunken brawl outside a ritzy Georgetown hotel.
Collin Finnerty and two friends were accused of beating up a man they allegedly called “gay” outside the Georgetown Inn last November. Earlier this year, the trio accepted a deal that would allow them to perform community service in exchange for having the charges dropped.
But Finnerty, 19, has since been charged with raping an exotic dancer at a Duke lacrosse team party. The rape indictment voids his D.C. deal, prosecutors told Superior Court Judge John H. Bayly on Tuesday.
According topolice and court papers, Finnerty and his friends Dan D’Agnes, 20, and Patrick Bonanno, 19, were on the street in front of the Georgetown Inn, 1310 Wisconsin Ave. NW, in the early hours of Nov. 5 when a man they didn’t know walked by. The victim told police “that he was minding his business when [Finnerty] and his co-defendants began picking on him for no apparent reason,” a police affidavit states.
The three friends called the passerby “gay and other disparaging terms.” The man told police that he asked the trio to stop.
“When he tried to walk away, the subjects … attacked him, busting his lip and bruising his chin,” police wrote in an affidavit after speaking with the victim.
The three friends were in court Tuesday.
The Rev. Peter Lajarre, a longtime friend of Finnerty’s father, stood behind the accused.
Bayly apparently wasn’t swayed. He set a 9 p.m. curfew for the defendants and ordered them to stay away from alcohol. Bayly also warned them that he would lock them up if they violated terms of their release.
Speaking to a media throng outside the courthouse, Finnerty’s lawyer said that he “looked forward to presenting their case” in the D.C. assault. He also said the case has been “mischaracterized” as a gay-bashing incident. Finnerty is charged with simple assault, not a hate crime.
Finnerty’s trial in the D.C. case is set for July.
At a glance
» Finnerty, Bonanno and D’Agnes played lacrosse together at Chaminade High School on Long Island.
» D’Agnes is a member of the Georgetown University lacrosse team.
» When D’Agnes’ lawyer asked to have his curfew expanded so he could continue to play, Bayly said, “Your client’s sports schedule is not my primary consideration.”
» Finnerty’s lawyer asked Bayly to set the D.C. case for trial after the Duke trial because of concerns about his due process rights.
