Duke player?s bond reduced

A judge reduced the bond of a Duke University lacrosse player charged with rape to $100,000 at a Thursday hearing, and the prosecutor said he had turned over hundreds of additional pages of evidence to defense lawyers.

The family of sophomore lacrosse player Reade Seligmann had posted a $400,000 bond after their son was charged in April with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense.

The two other players facing the same charges ? Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., and David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md. ? remain free on $400,000 bond.

A trial isn’t expected to begin before spring 2007 in the case, which began when a stripper told police she was raped by three men at a March 13 team party. Attorneys for all three have strongly proclaimed their clients’ innocence. Prosecutor Mike Nifong said he had provided defense attorneys with an additional 536 pages of evidence. Last month, Nifong had provided nearly 1,300 pages of discovery.

“Frankly, for a case of this nature, with the voluminous amount of information of that’s been provided, there appears to have been at least a good faith effort” to fulfill the defense requests, Judge Ronald L. Stephens said.