Remember her…the woman whose words destroyed the reputation of young men?

Crystal Mangum found guilty of 2nd-degree murder

DURHAM — A jury found Crystal Mangum guilty of second-degree murder Friday for stabbing and killing her boyfriend, Reginald Daye, in 2011.

After Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway sentenced Mangum to 14 years and two months to 18 years in prison, deputies immediately led her handcuffed out of the courtroom.

Mangum’s attorney, Daniel Meir, said she will appeal.

The case was unusual because, unlike most murder cases, the jury heard the victim’s side of the story.

Mangum, 35, stabbed Daye on April 3, 2011, and an investigator spoke with him twice before he died April 13, 2011.

Daye told the investigator that he became angry at Mangum for disrespecting him by bringing other men to the apartment. He admitted Mangum was in the bathroom when he kicked in the door and that he grabbed her by the hair. He said as they continued to fight, Mangum tried to stab him several times before stabbing him in the side of the chest as he stood in the hallway.

Mangum took the stand in her own defense and said it was Daye who attacked her with knives by throwing them at her. She stabbed him, she said, after he dragged her out of the bathroom by the hair, straddled her and began strangling her.

Photos of the apartment showed kitchen steak knives scattered throughout the apartment. Blood drops were on the carpet in the hallway where Daye said she stabbed him, but not in the master bedroom where Mangum said she stabbed him.

Family satisfied

Members of Daye’s family said they were satisfied with the verdict.

“We’re just grateful that justice was served for Reggie today, for his family and his friends,” said his sister, Cynthia Wilson. “We just thank everybody that played a part, and thank God. We’re just happy.”

Meier said he hoped for a not-guilty verdict or guilty of voluntary manslaughter verdict.

“We are thankful that it did not go with first-degree murder,” Meier said.

Meier won’t file the appeal himself but said he expected the appellate defender’s office will appeal the denial of his motion to continue to give him more time to prepare for the trial and the admittance of evidence about an incident in 2010 involving another Mangum boyfriend, Martin Walker.

Walker testified that during a fight, Mangum attacked him with a chair and a step stool, slashed his tires, smashed his windshield and lunged over an officer while screaming she wanted to stab and kill him.

Name recognition

Former Durham City Councilwoman Jackie Wagstaff, one of Mangum’s supporters, said she believed Mangum was being punished because of who she was and her name recognition.

In 2006, Mangum accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her at a party. The charges were later dismissed after the evidence did not back up Mangum’s story. Her accusations tore apart the Duke lacrosse program and resulted in the disbarment of District Attorney Mike Nifong.

Assistant District Attorney Charlene Franks, who prosecuted the murder case, said it was never about Crystal Mangum, the Duke lacrosse accuser.

“It was about Reggie Daye and what happened in April 2011,” she said.