NYT and Oregonian articles on Luke...

While you're right that the Times article presents no new information, it does provide information to a wider audience than just Oregonians or college baseball fans. While I still maintain that Luke served his sentence, paid his debt to society (as light as it may have been), and has every right to attend college and play baseball, I do not think that exempts him from people bringing it up.

And look, the facts are this - he plead guilty to avoid putting any undue stress on his family, then last year says "I have taken responsibility for my conduct when I was a teenager. As a 16 year old, I was placed on juvenile court probation and ordered to participate in an individual counseling program. I'm grateful for the counseling I received, and since then, I realized that the only way forward was to work each day on becoming the best person, community member and student I can possibly be."

Then he goes undrafted and now it's "I never did anything, this is flat out false?" Essentially calling his niece a liar....explain to me how that's not putting additional stress on his family. It's OK to do it now that he might not get drafted?

I can't reconcile those things in my head, and I don't think I'll ever be able to. I haven't watched a game he's pitched this year, nor do I plan to.

I agree. I guess I just don't see the benefits to providing interviews that allow reporters to tear your family apart now.

Seems like a good time to go on offense. The record is expunged, unlike last year. It was probably dicey last year to claim innocence while still serving probation. Now there is no risk to state that he is innocent.

This is how I see it only Luke and the "alleged victim" know the truth. Luke took a polygraph and passed it. The mother of the girl is estranged from husband (ex) and didn't have custody of the girl.
There was a good amount of bitterness by her to Luke's brother (and probably his family) Luke's parents did not want to have the girl (their grandchild) go through a trial which would have been nasty for her. Luke's lawyer advise that the best thing to do is plead guilty go through the counseling, the records are sealed and expunged after 5 years. Everything would have worked out if it wasn't for changing states. Luke has maintained he is innocent from day one and has followed to the letter all that was required of him. Its obvious from the person doing the counselling that he believes Luke and evaluated him as low risk. According to everyone that knows Luke that he is very good person. No one else has ever stated that they have had any reason to believe he has done this to anyone else. The polygraph speaks volumes for me. My kudos for coach Casey for standing beside him. This is truly journalism at its worse. Enough said.

Our legal system is designed to extract plea deals... at every level, prosecutors are taught to dangle a carrot, and public defenders (and even private lawyers) are encouraged to advise clients to take plea deals. 

I understand SO many people cannot break the paradigm of "well he plead guilty... he did it". It is simply not necessarily the case. A guilty plea can be a strategic plan, based on circumstances. A calculated risk. 

We all want to delude ourselves into believing that in all cases, if we were innocent, we'd fight to prove it. The truth is, sometimes life is not fair, and the cards are going to be stacked against you. 

The reporting done by Eggers, the extra information such as passing a lie test, the mother saying Luke never had opportunity to be alone with the niece and his sports and school schedule kept him away from here nearly all the time, that she was always around and never noticed anything weird, the complaint came originally from an estranged ex wife that didn't have custody of the kid, and ultimately materialized as the brother calling the police after the ex wife persuaded him too, that his counselor stated before this interview Luke always maintained innocence, even when prompted many, many times that it is okay to admit he did it and no more trouble will come and it is part of healing. No matter what Luke always maintained he never did it. The therapist noted she saw no reason to not believe him. 

There is just so much out there that throws suspicion on the veracity of the claims. Enough that given his character before the accusations came out, we probably owe the kid the benefit of the doubt. 

When I was 18, in 1998, about two months before I left for the army, while at a house party, I got into a fight. A guy was driving around the block, screaming at us from his truck and lighting up the tires and revving the engine and so on. I told him to get the #@$!@ our of here. He got out of his truck, came onto my friends property and shoved me against a car. At that point I hit him with an uppercut that knocked him out on his feet. When he fell backwards unconscious, his head slammed into the asphalt, making a horrible sound. At that point I tried to wake him up. When he didn't wake up, I bolted.

I was arrested the following morning on Assault 2 attempt to maim or murder, a felony, of course, and a Measure 11 offense in Oregon carrying a mandatory sentence of 5 years and ten months in prison. I sat in jail for a couple weeks until my bail was reduced to a level that my parents could afford. The entire time I was I there, I was certain I was screwed for good.

After posting bail and retaining a lawyer, I was urged to plead guilty to Assault 4, a misdemeanor. I could take the case to trial, and I might win, but if I did lose, it was essentially 6 years in prison. If I plead guilty and paid restitution, hospital bills, then I could go on as a "free" man. I chose to plead guilty. I also had to write a letter to the "victim" and read it in court.

After doing so I went back to jail for 30 days, and after that was told the Army had no use for me. I was put on probation until I paid the restitution,and because of that I was turned down for apartment after apartment, and even cost me a job offer more than 9 years after the fact, even after probation.

I bring this up to point out that while I did plead guilty, I still contend to this day that I was innocent, and only defending myself. One effective punch isn't attempt to maim or murder. I also paid for this for almost a decade after the fact.

I don't know what happened in the Heimlich situation, but I can tell you that pleading guilty and writing a court ordered apology letter may be guilt in the eyes of the law, but there is a lot of gray area when it come to actual guilt and innocence, and sometimes you don't feel like gambling with the rest of your life, even though you didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes you have to play the game, by the games own rules, and it's tough to win.

This seems like a calculated move on Luke's part.  I would hazard to guess that it is in response to the response that he is getting from scouts and MLB team representatives.  The timing is very unfortunate, in my opinion.  However, Luke is doing what he always does, whatever is in Luke's perceived best interest.