Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of increasing the punishment for “false accusers” (and in a he-said-she-said situation, forget about proving it one way or the other) – is that the false accusers will more often stick to their story until the bitter end and not admit “I was so drunk, I am not sure what happened, but my boyfriend and I had rough sex repeatedly.”

Not all North Carolina DA’s are like Mr. Nifong, and not all NC plaintiff attorneys are eagerly waiting for an opportunity to “take the civil case…” Some of us have remembered, and lament the passing of, the better days — when colleagues of the bar would return each others’ phone calls, would work to schedule proceedings without putting the opposing attorney and his/her client to disadvantage, and when inflated expectations of “pot of gold” wins in civil suits could be tempered by sober reflections on weaknesses of a case before suit is filed.

Stuart E.

I am shocked that a law prof from Duke writes that he supports Nifong still, and supported him on May 2. The fellow must have a screw loose about elections for DA. Duke hired the prof after he served as Chief Judge for the Court of Military Appeals. Based on the prof’s letter to the editor of a newspaper, making the appropriate suggestion that the AV be asked to submit to a polygraph, the prof is probably a bit old and biased in favor of prosecutors.

Lack of any comment from Erwin Chemerinsky from Duke’s law faculty is disappointing. At the least, EC might suggest that the Durham electorate should have a contested general election for the position of DA (voted in my all concerned students and faculty and staff from Duke), based on what has unfolded to date in the lax rape case.

“Finally would like to Samuel Cartwright, a 1800’s racist social commentator. “There is no office that the negro…covets more than that of being body servant to a real white gentleman”. “They are delighted to be at the elbow,behind the table..,or black the shoes, or to perform any menial service”. This innate love to act as a body servant ..is too strongly developed in the negro race to be concealed”.”

Maybe if you stepped out of the 1800s and to the 21st century the context would be different?? Just a guess.

Life waits for no one, so stop living in the past, catch up and live in 2006.

Nifong, you are a disgrace my friend.

Bill, I agree that this is going civil faster than you can say Katelyn Faber. Crystal looooves money so much that she refused to give up fake nails and hair weaves in order to feed her children. She will drop out of the criminal case at the eleventh hour, then immediately hire herself a civil lawyer.

On another blog someone heard a rumor that she lost her scholarships due to the publicity but admitted it was unverified. I verified in a NC paper that she requested the university seal her records. Does anyone know if this is true?

(I said no one reporting a crime is going to lose scholarships or financial aid, but if she is making mad cash under the table/illegally then she no longer qualifies.)

Nifong has ‘his’ timeline. Well, let me share my timeline with you – the timeline that really matters.

The second round of DNA testing done by a mysterious ‘private’ lab happened to not be available until AFTER the primary election.

Now, the trial will not happen until AFTER the general election – hmmmm.

There is still a good chance a few things will happen here – the entire case will be thrown out in discovery on the 18th due to the nefarious handling of the case (bogus line-up etc) by the Prosecutor. #2 The accuser refuses to testify due to her fear of being nailed for perjury (something she should worry about).

Now that the trial won’t happen until after the elections, Nifong doesn’t have to worry about the latter – does he?

The house where this brutal 30 minute rape supposedly took place is small folks. We are to believe that this woman was brutally raped and beaten for half an hour and the other stripper who was just in the other room didn’t hear a peep?

Wouldn’t a woman scream in this case? Oh no wait, the prosecutor will say she was too afraid to scream – that 5 minutes seemed like 30 minutes, that 3 men seemed like 20 men, that the men didn’t use condoms (no wait, no DNA), they used condoms (no wait, no latex residue or spermicide), they used a broomstick…

One glaring question. When the woman first reported the rape, did she say they raped her with a broomstick? If so, why did Nifong say they used condoms?

THE PROSECUTION’S FINAL ARGUMENT:
Oh I know, they used non-spermicidal animal skin condoms on the end of a broomstick. She was so afraid she had her eyes closed the whole time and couldnt tell that she was being raped with a broomstick – because she felt the condom, she thought it was male genitalia.

Also, because she had her eyes closed, she felt like it was 20 men raping her. By the time she opened her eyes at the end, she only saw the three left and then saw the condom covered broom-handle.

Her watch was running 25 minutes slow so she thought it was 30 minutes when it was only 5 because she checked her watch right before the rape, but the wall clock after the rape.

We’ll call this the MAKE-IT-UP-AS-YOU-GO prosecution.

The accuser already has a criminal record – stealing a cab and trying to run over a cop with it after a chase (from what I understand).

If she gets on the stand and commits perjury by making false rape claims, she could do some serious jail time.

You hear about how she has “ulcers” and is so upset? Folks, THAT’S why. THAT is why she may in fact refuse to testify in this case. THAT is why Nifong has delayed this case until Spring 2007 (because he KNOWS she will not testify).

I am just hopeful that when the discovery on this case is done before a judge, we have a judge who has the nerve to throw it out.

Case in point – actual convictions have been throw out because the accused was not read their rights at time of arrest. Doing a photo line-up with ONLY Duke Lacrosse Players (like a multiple-choice test with no wrong answers) is MUCH worse than that.

Any judge worth his salt would throw out that line-up evidence from the get-go. No line-up, no case. This thing could die on Thursday folks.

M

No one is talking about this, but I will wax prophetic for a second here.

This criminal case will either be thrown out, or lose in court. It is purely political and the delay until Spring 2007 (after the elections) is transparent.

However, the dark flapping thing that no one is talking about here is the coming CIVIL SUIT by the accuser.

The burden of proof in civil suits is much lower than in criminal. Many suits are settled for large sums out of court just to get it over with (Kobe Bryant) even though no guilt was found in criminal court.

This is a case of blackmail folks – a money grab to be carried out in broad daylight.

So watch – after the criminal case is lost, the civil charges WILL be filed.