Let Me Tell You a Little Something About Law & Order - Nifong’s wrongs.

National Review Online ^ | January 12, 2007 | Fred Thompson

[neverdem]

January 12, 2007, 1:08 p.m.

Let Me Tell You a Little Something About Law & Order
Nifong’s wrongs.

By Fred Thompson

Editor's note: Click here to listen to the original audio version of this radio commentary. 

You know, I not only play a prosecutor on TV, I used to actually be one. So when I see something like the farce that’s playing out in North Carolina it makes my blood boil.

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, who brought the Duke Lacrosse players rape case, has violated just about every rule in the prosecutor’s book. He sat on evidence that indicated the defendant’s innocence. The alleged victim’s statements were inconsistent and he had never even talked to her when he brought the rape charges, which he has now had to dismiss. The attorney for one of the Duke students tried to show Nifong physical evidence which would have demonstrated that the student was not even present when the alleged incident took place but Nifong refused to meet with him. The whole the time he was making public statements alleging the defendant’s guilt.

Now Nifong’s case is crumbling and the North Carolina Bar Association, as well as the North Carolina DA’s Association, is on his case. He’s facing much-deserved calls for his resignation. Maybe this will remind us just how important and powerful these prosecutor’s jobs are. People’s freedom, reputations, and very lives are in their hands. And, as one wag so aptly put it: A prosecutor could, indeed, get a ham sandwich indicted if he wanted to. My experience is that the large majority of them are dedicated public servants  But when one of them gives in to self interest and public pressure no greater injustice can be imagined.

In the North Carolina case, 88 Duke professors (civil libertarians, I’m sure), praised the DA and many in the black community pressured him as he rushed to judgment against these accused students in the midst of his reelection campaign. And for the media the story had everything — sex, rich vs. poor, the racial element — everything but proof of guilt. These accused young men are forever tarnished, but at least they can afford to defend themselves. What about the less fortunate who cannot? There is a lot at stake when we go to the polls to vote for a local prosecutor. We should never forget that. They, like judges they sometime have to stand against the howling mob, not become a part of it.

— Fred Thompson is an actor and former United States senator from Tennessee.

© PAUL HARVEY SHOW, ABC RADIO NETWORKS

[Argus]

The Duke lacrosse players are the white version of the Scottsboro Boys. Except, fortunately, it doesn't look like they'll be going to prison. But not for any lack of effort on the prosecutor's part.

[Dan Evans]

Has Fred Thompson ever weighed in on the recurring practice of Law & Order screenwriters to adapt current events to scripts, reversing the racial identity of perps and victims?

This has happened about a dozen times. Law & Order transforms real life black criminals into white bigots.

[StormEye]

"Has Fred Thompson ever weighed in on the recurring practice of Law & Order screenwriters to adapt current events to scripts, reversing the racial identity of perps and victims? This has happened about a dozen times. Law & Order transforms real life black criminals into white bigots?"

One of the reasons I never watch anti-white leftist programs like "Law and Order."

[neverdem]

Has Fred Thompson ever weighed in on the recurring practice of Law & Order screenwriters to adapt current events to scripts, reversing the racial identity of perps and victims?

I don't watch prime time TV shows like Law & Order, and I'm not from Tennessee. I can't say.

[Chode]

i don't need to hear the audio... i heard his marvelous voice recite the whole thing in my head.

BURN NIFUNG!!! Fred Thompson for president in 08.

[fishergirl]

Nifong and the "accuser" need to share a cell. The real victims in this sorry mess are the three lacross players and their families!

[Duffboy]

I stopped viewing L&O 2 years ago ever since they
did that phony show dealing with captured terrorists and
how the poor darlings were mistreated.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Has Fred Thompson ever weighed in on the recurring practice of Law & Order screenwriters to adapt current events to scripts, reversing the racial identity of perps and victims?

This has happened about a dozen times. Law & Order transforms real life black criminals into white bigots.

Why would any reasonable person subject himself to broadcast TV? Between football games I forget that broadcast channels even exist.

[Chode]

affirmative...

[ReignOfError]

In the criminal justice system, the people of Durham are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups. The police who gather evidence, and the district attorney who ignores it. These are their stories.

[Doink-doink]

[ReignOfError]

Has Fred Thompson ever weighed in on the recurring practice of Law & Order screenwriters to adapt current events to scripts, reversing the racial identity of perps and victims?
This has happened about a dozen times. Law & Order transforms real life black criminals into white bigots.

A dozen times in seventeen seasons? The horror!

I certainly don't see an anti-white bias on the show. Are the demographics of criminals on the show in line with the real world? Probably not. Suspects on L&O are a lot whiter and a lot richer. You may note that routine muggings, burglaries, gang-bangers shooting each other, car theft and drug possession cases are far underrepresented, because they tend to be pretty boring. I see it as a bias in favor of good storytelling, not racial politics.

I find the show's politics pretty even-handed, which certainly hasn't always been the case. I catch the occasional re-run from the Michael Moriarty years, and it's amazing how heavy-handed some of the episodes are when they wander into political/legal topics like abortion and defendants' rights. It becomes more even-handed (and much better written) over the years, and the addition of Fred Thompson certainly helped -- less, I suspect, because he fights with the writers, but because he's a really good actor and a more eloquent voice for conservatism than they had before.

[Dan Evans]

A dozen times in seventeen seasons? The horror!

I would say once is bad enough. Imagine what would happen if the screenwriters did a show based on Jeffery Dahmer and changed him to a black guy who ate his victims.

I certainly don't see an anti-white bias on the show. Are the demographics of criminals on the show in line with the real world? Probably not. Suspects on L&O are a lot whiter and a lot richer.

No, that's not an anti-white bias, it's political correctness. It's pandering to the race-baiters. It's cowardly to to change the race from black to white because you don't want to be accused of "stereotyping".

[Dan Evans]

I haven't watched a full episode for years. Sometimes I will watch the opening scene just to see which politically incorrect group gets savaged this week. Last time it was a bunch of white kids beating up some poor illegals who were only trying to find work on a street corner.

[jmaroneps37]

If the three young men were from a community college, working in Wendy's to pay their way, they would be in prison already. This is not over, but it will soon appear to be over. Trust me it won't be over until powerful forces have just gotten tired of hitting nifong back. Because he picked the wrong guys from the right school he is in for hell until they are finished with him. This will also be a small victory for us against liberal scumbags that make believe they have something besides hate America/Whitey/men/Christians etc. to say.

[Howlin]

Here's our boy.

[jellybean]

Thanks for the ping, Howlin!

I heard this commentary on Paul Harvey yesterday, but didn't know there was a transcript available online.

[soldier143]

Exactly! The tragedy is that prosecutors wield tremendous power, including the power to punish before trial as we are seeing here. Most innocent people when accused have to sell all they own including their homes, and take on an enormous amount of personal debt to hire a competent lawyer and defend themselves. The prosecutor has the deep pockets of the taxpayers and isn't out a dime either way.

If the prosecutor wins he looks tough on crime, if he loses he claims that "the system worked". Meanwhile the innocent person has lost ALL they own (assuming they didn't get falsely convicted). I don't think this is the way the system is supposed to work.