*** Scroll down to read the jaw-dropping update and more!***
Before I get to the substance of this post, I have to say this: I’m so glad FOX News redesigned the web site. It’s less “heavy,” less busy, and much easier on the eyes. The previous design was hideous, which is why I rarely linked to the site.
Author Wendy McElroy asks whether the accused Duke lacrosse players’ due process rights are being violated.
Of course they are.
I smelled a rat the first time I heard about the so-called rape. Twenty-four posts later, I can’t believe people still think three white Duke lacrosse players gang-raped a black stripper in a small bathroom during a party, despite overwhelming evidence that she made up the whole thing. Now that her gang-rape fantasies are ruining innocent lives, it’s time she sought professional help.
McElroy states the obvious: the presumption of guilt has been reversed in this case. Durham Country DA Mike Nifong made it clear from the beginning that he thought the stripper-accuser was gang-raped in that house by lacrosse players. He race-pandered and campaigned when he should have been doing his job and keeping in mind certain legal ethics. Nifong’s only redeeming quality is that he isn’t as clueless as he looks. He knows he should have kept his mouth shut.
Read the entire article to find out what McElroy has to say about due process. I want to focus on evidence of Reade Seligmann’s innocence. When he (pictured) and Collin Finnerty were arrested, Nifong made clear that he thought they were guilty. McElroy points out problems with this whole mess, particularly where Seligmann is concerned:
He is scheduled to be tried on three felony charges despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence: exculpatory DNA tests, a corroborated alibi, a string of contradictory statements by his accuser and an irredeemably tainted I.D.
Exculpatory DNA tests
The only DNA match in this case is the one between the stripper-accuser and a black “boyfriend.” There is no match between the woman or any of the three white men indicted on rape charges. Zero.
A corroborated alibi
Seligmann contends that evidence discovered so far doesn’t show that a crime even occurred that night, let alone placing him at the scene of said crime. The discovery does show, however, that the stripper-accuser’s stories were conflicted, including the claim that no rape had occurred that night. See Motion For Bill Of Particulars (PDF), filed June 26, 2006.
Even if the woman was raped in that house on that night, Seligmann was not even there when it was occurring. According to an eyewitness (cab driver), ATM receipts, and a record that shows his ID card was used to access his dorm, Seligmann was not in the house during the time of the so-called rape. (Source) But he’s still facing trial.
A string of contradictory statements
The stripper-accuser has told so many lies, it astounds me that anyone took her seriously in the first place. Here are just a few of her lies.
An irredeemably tainted I.D.
The photo identification process was questionable, to put it mildly. The line-up was comprised of 46 of the 47 lacrosse players (the lone black guy wasn’t a suspect) and no “fillers” (such as cops posing as criminals). Nifong was convinced the woman was raped by white lacrosse players; all she had to do was point to three. (Source)
In his excellent “Witness for the Prosecution?”, journalist Stuart Taylor writes about all of these topics.
Durham County DA Mike Nifong is fool who counted on racial resentment and class envy to keep his job. He’s no better than the prosecutor who railroaded the Scottsboro Boys for the same reasons. If I ever get the chance to talk to him face to face, I’ll tell him exactly that.
Update (8:25 a.m.): Commenter Ray Phelps pointed me to Nifong’s VoteBook page. Get this: His favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel set in the 1930s about a black man falsely accused and convicted of raping a white woman despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. Author Harper Lee obviously was influenced by the 1931 Scottsboro case.
Nifong writes this about his judgment: “Both personally and professionally, I have always been a person on whom the community could rely to make the right decisions for this office and for this community: decisions that further the cause of justice.” Emphasis added.
Nifong ought to be ashamed of himself on so many levels.
Update II: About the irony of Nifong’s fondness for To Kill A Mockingbird, KC Johnson says:
It would seem, unlike most who read the Harper Lee novel, Nifong saw little of himself in Atticus Finch, the defense attorney who holds sacred the law and legal procedures. Instead, the Durham D.A. seems to have been attracted to Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor who played to the basest prejudices of his community and who sought not justice but a conviction at all costs.
Johnson also parses an article written by a black feminist named Karla Holloway.
There was a legal symposium at Syracuse University yesterday — organized by the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media — about the Duke case. Several panelists discussed the case. You’ll need to register to read the article (maybe), but here’s an excerpt from the university’s newspaper:
After each panelist gave an opening address, [Mark] Obbie, director of the Carnegie Legal Reporting program at Newhouse, serving as moderator, asked the panel questions. Audience members were able to ask questions at the end of the panel discussion.
Tom Maroney, professor of law, cited the exact word of the law whenever the subject of legality came up. He said that a prosecutor is not allowed to make decisions based on his or her own political ambitions. Since the prosecutor was campaigning at the time of the allegations, this was clearly an important note.
Most prosecuted cases involve a black attacker or a white victim, according to figures provided by professor Linda Alcoff. She said a case with white attackers and a black victim is rare.
I’m trying to obtain a transcript of the discussion.
Speaking of college newspapers, there’s a new blog called Campus Newspaper Confab.
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Speaking of Mike Nifong, I think people will get a kick out of this. One of the local papers always has a Votebook part on their web page. Basically, it gives candidates a chance to write in a structured way what their platform is and whatnot. One of the afore mentioned sections is “Self-ranking on political scale”. Nifong says he’s bipartisan (as Democrats usually do) and explains what he is liberal on and what he is conservative on. Here are his ‘I’m conservative on’ comments :
“and somewhat conservative on issues of accountability and personal responsibility.”
Don’t know if this is irony or chutzpah at its highest order.
Link to Nifong’s Votebook entry:
http://www.votebook.com/candpage.cfm?NameID=791&RaceID=320&County=Durham
I wonder if after a verdict of not guilty is declared a defendant can sue for defamation of character and/or libel. It’s obvious that Nifong has done just that.
A few words from Judge Horton on the Scottsboro case (one of the last judges not to be swayed by political considerations) :
“History, sacred and profane, and the common experience of mankind teach us that women of the character shown in this case are prone for selfish reasons to make false accusations both of rape and of insult upon the slightest provocation for ulterior purposes. . . This tendency on the part of the women shows that they are predisposed to make false accusations upon any occasion whereby their selfish ends may be gained. . .
“The Court will not pursue the evidence any further. As heretofore stated, the law declares that a defendant should not be convicted without corroboration where the testimony of the prosecutrix (i.e., accuser) bears on its face indications of improbability or unreliability and particularly when it is contradicted by other evidence.The testimony of the prosecutrix (accuser) in this case is not only uncorroborated, but it also bears on its face indications of improbability and is contradicted by other evidence, and in addition thereto the evidence greatly preponderates in favor of the defendant.”
Judge Horton, where are you now?
This whole area is so chock full of “education and political correctness” that I think half these people’s brains are on overload and just don’t function properly anymore. The Muslim guy who ran over those people at UNC, all the while explaining that Islam required him to do so to the infidels, has not been charged with a hate crime. HUH? Apparently, he was just “confused” according one of their muslim leaders. Can anyone explain this to me?
LaShawn writes: “I can’t believe people still think three white Duke lacrosse players gang-raped a black stripper in a small bathroom during a party……….”
How about this: “I think three white Duke lacrosse players were gang-raped over and over again by a black stripper with the help of a willing accomplice, the DA, Mike Nifong.”
LaShawn writes: “I can’t believe people still think three white Duke lacrosse players gang-raped a black stripper in a small bathroom during a party……….”
Of course they believe it La Shawn, liberalism loves this, the victim mentality. As soon as Nifong is re-elected, he will drop the case and the Black community there and across the country will be in an uproar. Jesse and Al will lead the campaign saying that after all these years nothing has changed for Black people. “They messed with the DNA” will be the rallying cry.
My people, my people……
This whole situation absolutely disgusts me. It’s infuriating.
I can’t stand the fact that this man is in office and that people actually defend his prejudices. It’s revolting.
It is a sad day for our civilization when we are more concerned for the rights of terrorists who would gladly murder us all than we are about innocent citizens of our own nation.
La Shawn, check out this quote from Duke Prof Karla Holloway (from KC Johnson’s blog — she’s talking about accepting a role on a committee at Duke “investigating” the athletic culture there), and ask yourself how a nitwit like this managed to get a gig like being a Prof at Duke:
“My decision has vacillated between the guilt over my worry that if not me, which other body like mine will be pulled into this service? Who do I render vulnerable if I lose my courage to stay this course? On the other side is my increasingly desperate need to run for cover, to vacate the battlefield, and to seek personal shelter. It does feel like a battle. So when asked to provide the labor, once again, for the aftermath of a conduct that visibly associates me, in terms of race and gender, with the imbalance of power, especially without an appreciable notice of this as the contestatory space that women and black folk are asked to inhabit, I find myself preoccupied with a decision on whether or not to demur from this association in an effort, however feeble, to protect the vulnerability that is inherent to this assigned and necessary meditative role.”
What a bunch of hooey. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad that this pseudo-intellectual mumbo-jumbo passes for profound thinking at a place like Duke.
Too gross. Try again. – Admin
La Shawn
Nifong is just living proof that “White Guilt” is the driving force behind cases like his.
He has fanned the flames of Black victimhood, whicl wouldn’t exist if guilgy Whites didn’t also support it.
He paints a picture of a helpless Black woman who couldn’t get out of a crowded bathroom with a few dozen people a few feet away. Screaming and banging on a door would have brought attention to her. Are “poor Black women” too frail to do this?
Give me a break.
#10 – Greg, someone should have told her a simple yes or no would have been fine. LOL!!!!
Long after Crystal has been committed and NiFungu is working as a para-legal, these boys and the University will be still be scarred. On another note, my son says voter registration seems to be very active on campus, but the football team still S****s, our only hope is UNC-CH could be worse than Duke.
La Shawn, You had done heroic work here, and I hope you will stay in this until the end. Wendy is correct, and her writings at the beginning of this hoax were what pulled me into writing about it. I never have seen a case in which the prosecution has leaned upon speculation and has demanded that the defense “prove a negative,” which is impossible to do.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the black community in Durham have been at the forefront of promoting conspiracy theories (Duke University Hospital tampered with the DNA tests is one of them) and other false claims. At the heart of this is the notion that since they defense is questioning the claims of a black female, what they are doing is by definition “racist.”
For example, the local NAACP has been at the forefront of demanding a conviction, and anyone who challenges the evidence automatically is a racist. In many ways, the NAACP has done heroic work in the area of criminal justice, including the challenging of eyewitness testimony and the like. I would have liked to have thought that the NAACP was concerned about wrongful convictions as a matter of principle.
Unfortunately, as the Duke case shows, the NAACP is now promoting wrongful conviction. From this, I can only conclude that the NAACP is interested only in stopping wrongful convictions of blacks, and does not care for justice beyond that. I wish that were not so, but the evidence here is overwhelming — and quite saddening.
I have received emails myself declaring that I was a racist because I think that the AV is lying. And I can assure you that Nifong will play even more race cards before this thing is over. His only chance of “victory” is “jury nullification” by black jurors. One hopes that there are some blacks in Durham who can resist the pressure.
I am grateful that La Shawn and other blacks such as Wilton D. Alston have been wanting the TRUTH, not what is expedient. Thank you for your heroic work. It IS important.
Kemp, I think we’re gonna getcha again this year, but the score might be 56-49. Maybe we’ll both beat West Raleigh Bovine University. Or Wahoo U. up on the Mountain of Conceit to our north….
Wm. Anderson, about the best Nifong can hope for is that one or two jurors who lied when they said they could be fair and impartial will hang the jury and prevent an outright acquittal. There is no way — NO WAY — that Nifong will be able to stack a jury with 12 folks who will vote unanimously to convict with the facts of this case.
And Kemp, you might suffer during football, but you’ll get ‘em when the hoops season rolls around.
This correspondence between Nifong and a New Jersey gentleman first appeared, I believe, on Durham in Wonderland but has reprinted by Tony Soprano at Talk Left and at Crystal Mess (from which I got it). It is really worth repeating once again. Nothing could more concisely illustrate the low venom and fatuous egotism of the Nifong “intellect” than this little classic.
Huey Long (who was in a position to well know) once observed that Fascism would be brought to America by people who claimed to be anti-Fascists (not anti-Communists).The Durham scene is a living contemporary instance of what he meant.
“Bill in New Jersey” writes:
At 2:17 PM, September 19, 2006, Anonymous said…
I sent an e-mail to Mike Nifong threatening to move to Durham County, since I am retired, just so I could vote ABNVC. This was his response. I thought it was another arrogant statement.
Michael.B.Nifong@nccourts.org
Gee, Bill. Does this mean you are moving down here from NJ just to vote against me? I am flattered. Bad news, though. You’ll be stuck with me at least until the end of December.
And then…:
At 4:06 PM, September 19, 2006, Bill said…
I am the Bill from NJ that posted the response I got from Nifong, I found it interesting that I did not include my name or where I lived, in my e-mail to him. So not only did he read it and respond to the mail, he looked up some information on me. I think he wanted to see if I was a voter in NC. He found out I wasn’t but still sent an arrogant response.
Gee, with all this time on his hands, you’d a thunk he could’ve gotten some discovery responses out.
That man is a menace. ”
Sydney Carton
Nifond:
“and somewhat conservative on issues of accountability and personal responsibility.â€
How can you be “somewhat” conservative on accountability and personal responsibility?
I second #15. Lashawn, your coverage of the duke rape case has been in-depth and amazing. Cheers for you! This case has been such an embarassement for black americans like myself. If our black leaders ever did have an ounce of legitimacy, they have lost it all now. I think that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (as well as the black panthers) should be added to the list of those who should have kept their mouths shut.
“Bill in Jersey’s” comments were first posted at FODU. I put them up on the Mess from there; KC’s piece followed…
“Creative Prosecuting”
If you have seen the reports of the 9/22 court proceedings you know that now the time line of the rape occurred as early as 11:30 pm and in fact only lasted between 5 and 10 minutes…totally negating most alibi(s).
This is very creative on the part of Nifong…if the the evidence doesn’t fit the crime…change the crime!! If this was not such a serious matter for the young men, it would be a comedy.
Nifong has created a nice moving target here.
I’m told CBS’ 60 Minutes is running its entire show next week on the Duke case. Should make interesting viewing, if they do their usual hit piece journalism, but directed at Nifong. This case should outrage every American.
Re: #22
…totally negating most alibi(s).
Um, no.
Note that police have already destroyed evidence in the case :
http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/
“…the “highlight” of the Duke Hoax hearing came with the announcement by the prosecution that the recordings of all Durham Police Department radio calls for March 13th and 14th had been destroyed. It seems Durham Police Department tape use policy calls for tapes to be reused after 60 days.
So, even though tapes were requested in April 28th motion by the defense, and ordered by Judge Stephens on May18th, the prosecution now maintains that the tapes were destroyed on or after May 13th, just five days or less before Judge Stephens’ order. Yep, we believe that! The defense indicated that they could call all the officers to testify as to their recollection of those radio calls. This was met with the assertion that the police could not be expected to recall their radio communication with accuracy at such a late date. LieStoppers can only wish that all police officers had the same “amazing†memory and recall powers as Sergeant Gottlieb does!”
Don’t know where to file this one : Bush and Brodhead were classmates :
http://www.yaledailynews.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15802
(from 2001)
The president graduated in the same class as Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead. With both showing a penchant for Sterling Memorial Library, and its comfortable couches, Bush said he and Brodhead had a mutual understanding.
“Dick wouldn’t read aloud, and I wouldn’t snore,” Bush joked.
And also at Andover Preparatory Academy :
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Phillips_Academy_in_Andover
Class of 1963:
* Richard H. Brodhead — President, Duke University
* George W. Bush — President of the United States
Would it be reasonable to assume that GW is at least aware of the Duke Hoax? Concerned?
Anyone feel like emailing the White House to show our own concern?
Greg,
I wish your hoop idea was true, UNC is loaded this year. We picked them No 1 in the Handbook.
Good news Duke won this weekend, they had a bye and Clemmens beat the tar poots!
Nifong is an idiot. Part 41
Nifong branded the poll Friday as “prima facie evidence of an attempt to influence jurors.”
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-772261.html
Criminal Justice 101 for Political Science Majors – You can’t tell motive from a sample size of one. The police officer may have beat up the black man because he was thought to be resisting arrest or because the officer was racist. Unless you can read minds or obtain a confession, you can’t presume the police officer was a racist – or the lawyers were trying to influence jurors in this case. You can prove the man was beat up or the potential jurors were influenced, but you can’t prove why.
Nifong is an idiot. Part 42.
Nifong’s “new” 5-10 timeline within 1.5 hours is not a timeline but total lack of a timeline. A timeline does not have to pin down every minute, but it has inbetweens where a crime could have happened.
Nifong is an idiot. Part 41b.
Actually, Nifong may actually benefit from the impossibility to PROVE motive, since it’s impossible for people to prove if Nifong is criminally abusing his office as some here suspect OR if Nifong is just wrong/an idiot.
Kim skates –
link
DURHAM — Kim Roberts, a dancer who performed at a Duke lacrosse party that ended with rape charges, admitted five probation violations today and will serve up to two months under house arrest.
(snip)
The probation violations that Roberts admitted to in court were:
– She was behind on restitution payments.
– She missed two appointments with a probation officer.
– She left the state without permission.
– She quit her job without notifying probation officers.
– She moved without informing probation officers of her new address.
I would doubt seriously that her ‘house arrest’ will be monitored. In effect, the state’s chief witness gets no sentence at all.
(I will try to find out who the judge was in this case.)
Also today :
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/490676.html
Two former Durham police officers charged with assaulting a cook this summer at a North Raleigh sports bar had their court appearances postponed this morning.
Doubtless until after the lacrosse case is finished. . .
-She missed two appointments with a probation officer.
– She left the state without permission.
– She quit her job without notifying probation officers.
– She moved without informing probation officers can’tof her new address.
If Collin Finnerty tried any of that, he’d be behind bars.
David Evans kicked some cans and got a noise violation conviction and had to pay a fine.
But I guess if you embezzle $25,000, avoid your probation officers, and fail to make restitution, you are sent to your room for two months.
Nifong is an idiot. Part 43
“Nifong learned of the survey when a pollster called his wife, Cy Gurney, at home.”….
Gurney wrote. “She (the pollster in NY) also did not appear to be recording my (on phone in NC)answers.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/488886.html
But there is a chance, about the chance a rape did occur, that the defense lawyers, in addition to being unethical, implicated themselves by telling the “survey firm†“It’s not a real survey. Don’t bother recording the answersâ€
And if Nifong could add, he might figure out the odds of even just one of the 300 people polled, out of a city of how many, being on the jury is low. If there were 3600 prospective jurors, then influencing 300 of them should affect one juror. My guess is that there are closer to 36,000 prospective jurors in Durham?
Re: 24
La Shawn -
The 60 Minutes piece on this case has been pushed back and will now run October 15. This might be the first time I watch 60 Minutes in years.
Thanks for your continued work exposing this sorry abuse of the criminal justice system by an out-of-control DA.
Could the 60 minutes piece on this case will be pushed back again until after the elections? September 24th scheduled showing was delayed because it was too close to a trial date. Why was October 1 schedule showing delayed? Are they changing the piece for the sake of a neutral position?
Could the 60 minutes piece on this case will be pushed back again until after the elections? September 24th scheduled showing was delayed because it was too close to a trial date. Why was October 1 schedule showing delayed? Are they changing the piece for the sake of a neutral position?
The gag order was lifted at Friday’s hearing for everyone except attorneys; so it may mean that now they are allowed to interview many more people close to the case.
Will they change the focus of the piece, or make it more “neutral”, or postpone it again until after the election?
I don’t know; but I assume there is always pressure to do that.
Ref: Crystalmess.blogsplot.com
If Kristiana Bennett (a student at NCCU) is not compelled to write what she knows… “She went to confession of a sort, confiding her quandary to The Echo’s faculty advisor, Bruce dePyssler” – what about Bruce dePyssler (NCCU faculty) – his responsibility to the Durham college community to let the truth be told.
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