Posted on 12/29/2006 10:07:41 PM PST by rawhide
They cant just drop it, three lives have been ruined. What is the DAs office going to say, "Sorry our rogue DA screwed your lives up, but hey, at least your not being prosecuted"??? The State of North Carolina owes these three boys..
All NC can do is drop the charges or go to trial. That is the only choice the state of NC has. Whether the defendants will sue or not belongs to them. But certainly dropping the charges before the next term at Duke starts reduces defendant's potential damages and Durham Co.'s potential liability.
And of course while the defendants have been damaged, part of the reason they have had such a public defense is they want more than acquital. They want to be exonerated in the minds of the public. They have to a great extent accomplished that. So despite what many here say, the defendants' lives are not ruined. [Though Nifong was certainly indifferent to ruining their lives as long as he won his election.] Certainly their lives have been changed, certainly they suffered damages and will likely sue and collect damages, but I would not say their lives have been ruined. How about you, if you were in a hiring position, would you hold this charge against these defendants if they applied for a position with your organization or would it cause you to be sympathetic and look more closely at their application?
Then all charges will be dropped. This looks like exactly what will happen. It's the best outcome even for Nifong. In fact, it is so good, that I suspect it is a setup. Nifong can even claim he could have won the case, and that political backroom maneuvering in the bar association, this North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, and others, squeezed him out of a winnable case just to gain favor with the white, racist, power structure. This is just so neat - this has got to be the way it will end.
It's a setup or Nifong played it real cute knowing this kind of thing would happen - the Bar and now this group putting pressure on him to recuse himself. Reminds me of an old episode of I think it was called the Defenders on TV where a judge knows a black defendant is being railroaded and doesn't want to go along, but can't go head to head against all the good ole boys at the club, so makes such outrageously racist comments in court that he guarantees a retrial on appeal.
bttt
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-804014.cfm
Also Friday, a group of Durham citizens reportedly filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Justice Department asking for an investigation of the lacrosse case.
The complaint contends the alleged victim had her civil rights violated by lacrosse players' use of racial epithets and alleges that Duke has failed to respond properly to half a dozen campus rapes "over the past several years."
It also calls for hate crime charges to be lodged against Finnerty for his recent conviction in Washington, D.C., on charges stemming from a confrontation with a gay man.
Activist Victoria Peterson issued a press release announcing the complaint and said she faxed and mailed copies to the Justice Department on Friday.
No one at the Justice Department's press office or civil rights office was available Friday to confirm that the complaint had been filed. Peterson would not disclose the other members of the group.
Nifong could stay till the bitter end...the judge is considered an old mentor of his and probably would help slide the case to the guilty side. But the negative press doubles each week now. The city will be the laughing stock in the end.
They're trying hard to maintain Crystal's victim image. Victoria is a loud mouthed idiot. She could be Kingfish's mother-in-law.
I think the judge can do it without Nifong's agreement. Let him be dragged kicking and screaming from the courthouse.
Ditto for Mangum. I hope they hound that lying whore the rest of her life.
Thanks for the ping, Howlin.
Yes, the troops are massing on Nifong's every flank.
Squeeze play.
If post 28 is right and the Judge is an "old mentor" of Nifong
he may let this trial proceed. The Judge may resent outside interference.
There hasn't even been time yet for that complaint to be processed, if we start tolling with the Meehan testimony. The process involves a period where the complaint isn't made public - a preliminary investigative phase. Give it time. Let's see what they do with it, assuming a complaint has been or is about to be filed relatives to the Meehan testimony. Then look for another one pertaining to the line-up fiasco, assuming the claims in the pending defense motion pan out in testimony.
Professor Johnson's latest:
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/
"The Last 200 Hours
The last 200 hours have witnessed a tumultuous turn of events in the case."
I was thinking earlier that Peterson may be in some trouble as well, for slanderous statements made.
It's a malicious, frivolous, CYA complaint. She may be buying trouble for herself in filing it, if indeed she has. She strikes me as being a racist gadfly full of hot air.
Yeah, I believe:
1. Nifong was told to get rid of this rape case after Meehan's testimony. Like the tin earred idiot he is he dropped just the rape charge.
2. So the NC Bar filed its charges publically.
3. Then Nifong did not act today and drop the charges or get out of this case
4. So the NC DAs made their letter calling for him to recuse himself public.
Someone has decide this is costing the DAs or attorneys of NC too much credibility. Plus of course if a new term starts with these charges out there, the damages to two of the defendants and the liability of Durham Co. grows. So as you say a squeeze play is going on. But it is important in this case never to underestimate how tone deaf Nifong can be.
What's ypur source that Smith is a mentor of Nifomg's and will rule his way? So far, he hasn't. Further, Nifong perjured himself directly to Judge Smith which is a HUGE faux pas, in view of all the other flaws troubling the case, with more to come.
ROFLMBO! :>
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