Update III (12/22 @ 12:45 p.m.): Looks like Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann, and David Evans won’t face charges of rape. Ding-dong Mike Nifong dropped the rape charges. But kidnapping and sexual offense charges stand. (???) This post is closed to commenting, so please visit the latest post to discuss the good news: DUKE RAPE CHARGES DROPPED!
Every bit of exposure helps. Thanks.
Update: First-time or new readers may be interested in my Duke Rape Case archives (going back to April – sometimes the “Next Page” link at the bottom left of the middle column doesn’t show up in the IE browser unless you move the cursor near the small dash) and two columns I wrote for Townhall, The Most Absurd Rape Story of the Year (original title) and Scottsboro Revisted.
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Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.
I’ve written an op-ed about the latest developments in the Duke “rape” case that I hope will be published at National Review Online this week or early next week. In the meantime, I wanted to highlight a few new items.
It’s becoming incredibly obvious to anyone with sense that Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong is a rogue prosecutor, at least when it comes to the so-called case against the indicted Duke lacrosse team players. At last Friday’s hearing, Brian Meehan (pictured), director of DNA Security, the private lab that analyzed DNA found in and on the stripper-accuser, admitted, under oath, that he and Nifong agreed to suppress evidence favorable to the defense.
As I mentioned in this post, Meehan’s lab found that DNA from the stripper-accuser’s body and clothes matched multiple unidentified males. See defense’s Motion to Compel Discovery: Expert D.N.A. Analysis (PDF), filed last Wednesday. The motion is chilling enough, but Meehan’s testimony is downright unbelievable. When grilled by the defense attorney, he offered weak explanations why he failed to include exculpatory information in his final report and admitted that failing to do so violated his laboratory’s protocol.
According to the motion, and supported by the attachments, the lab was quite faithful in reporting any hint of a match with lacrosse players, no matter how miniscule, and quite negligent, to put it mildly, in reporting findings that ruled out the lacrosse players.
Nifong violated his professional ethics and procedures and broke several laws, and I believe the case likely will be dismissed before it goes to trial. Why has Nifong gotten away with this? Why isn’t Durham’s legal community outraged and embarrassed by Nifong? Do the black Duke professors who judged the lacrosse players guilty realize the same kind of railroading can (and does) happen to black defendants under Nifong’s watch? Even liberal and feminist Susan Estrich says, “Duke Justice Demands Nifong’s Removal.” I say a lot more in my op-ed, so stay tuned.
By the way, a reader e-mailed to ask if I’d seen a floor plan of 610 N Buchanan, the “rape” house. I have not. If anyone has a link to an online version, please forward.
KC Johnson, who attended last Friday’s hearing, has immersed himself in the case and he has much, much more.
Other “Duke” bloggers: John in Carolina, Right Angles, LieStoppers, The Johnsville News, Crystal Mess…
Joe at Joe’s Dartblog posts a letter from a Duke alum. More from Power Line.
Sources:
- It’s Time to Be Honest About Duke: “The problem with the blind allegiance to the alleged victim in this Duke case is that there will come a time in which an African-American woman WILL be raped in the future. She WILL need the support of the African-American community and WILL deserve justice…And it won’t be there for her, because ‘we’ spent all of our morality money and credibility elsewhere in an incredulous way.”
- Video of stripper-accuser pointing to three random photos
- The Worst Worsens (Thomas Sowell)
- Lab chief: Nifong said don’t report all DNA data
- District Attorney Mike Nifong on Trial
- Duke Rape Case Update
