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Parents want 'hoax' rape reopened
Accusations in Brawley case ignited racial tensions decades ago  
  
Associated Press
First published: Monday, November 19, 2007

NEW YORK - Twenty years after her allegations of a racially charged rape became a national flashpoint, Tawana Brawley's mother and stepfather want to reopen the case, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Glenda Brawley and Ralph King want to press Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to re-examine the November 1987 incident, which a state grand jury ultimately concluded was a hoax, the New York Daily News reported.

  
"New York state owes my daughter. They owe her the truth," said Glenda Brawley, reiterating her stance that her daughter was raped by a group of white men who smeared her with feces and scrawled racial epithets on her body.

Representatives for Cuomo did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages early Saturday. A spokesman for Spitzer said his office was not aware of any formal request. The governor's office is not normally involved in investigating crime.

Brawley was 15 when she went missing for four days from her home in Wappingers Falls, about 75 miles north of New York City. After being found, she made the shocking allegations: She had been abducted and raped by six white law enforcement officials.

The case quickly made headlines and drew the attention of the Rev. Al Sharpton, who became an outspoken advocate for the teen.

But a special state grand jury found evidence Brawley had fabricated her story. A former Dutchess County prosecutor who had been implicated in the case later sued Brawley, Sharpton and other Brawley advisers for defamation, winning a $345,000 judgment against the advisers and a $185,000 judgment against Brawley.

A spokeswoman for Sharpton, who was held liable for $65,000, did not immediately respond to an e-mail message early Sunday.

Brawley has changed her name and become a nurse, the Daily News reported.