Posted on 04/22/2006 2:45:35 AM PDT by abb
Defense lawyers and legal experts say District Attorney Mike Nifong may have crossed ethical lines in public comments about rape allegations involving Duke University lacrosse players, potentially prejudicing jurors and setting off a media maelstrom.
Nifong says that he has done nothing wrong, though he has ceased talking with reporters about allegations made by an escort service dancer hired to perform at a March 13 team party. He would speak only about his handling of the case Friday.
"In terms of what I said, no, I wouldn't say I regret anything I've said," Nifong said. "I think what I have learned, basically, is that if you cooperate with the media out of a sense of duty to public truth, you make yourself a victim."
Local observers were hard-pressed this week to remember a case with so much back-and-forth between the prosecution and defense playing out in a 24-hour news cycle. It has some suggesting a judge should step in with a gag order.
Defense attorneys for the lacrosse players say it is their clients who have been victimized by Nifong, and they blunt criticism of their own extensive public comments by saying they are just attempting to limit the damage. Some also said photos, ATM receipts and other evidence they claim exonerates the two team members arrested Tuesday were given to the media only after Nifong refused to look at them.
In its ethical rules, the N.C. State Bar orders lawyers to refrain from statements outside the courtroom that they know might have "a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" legal proceedings. But once one side talks to the press, ethics rules say the other side can make statements "a reasonable lawyer" would believe are required to protect a client from bad publicity.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
IMHO Pressler is a great coach but I'm 50/50 on him returning because he did fail to rein in the relatively small fraction of his team that was pushing the limit. Yes, they were off campus in a private house but he had to know he would take the heat for any of their misdeeds and for his own self interest he needed to have done so. Apparently he had enough warning that could have nipped it in the bud. All he has to do to get a certain standard of behavior from his players is to threaten them with no playing time. These guys love much for lax for them to not fall in line. Maybe now Pressler has been properly punished himself that he would have the zero tolerance in the future that he needed to have in the past.
The other practical difficulty for him is that if the lax players are eventually exonerated because they are in fact not guilty of rape there will be a significant segment of Durham that will think it's just the latest example of "white privilege". Durham has a significant gang problem and I can see Pressler and his family being right in the bulls eye.
Yes.
Thanks so much, Tex.
Let me clarify that. Yes, there is a parking lot for the Edens complex.
so if Reade, who was with a friend, swiped his card after a short walk to his dorm could the cabbie have gotten back to 610 befor 12:55? The ladies were gone when police arrived, and he overheard the argument...someone has the time wrong.
You are welcome!
According to post #128, both Seligmann and Finnerty were ID'd on April 4. Which doesn't answer the question of why Nifong only hinted at one ID at the NCCU forum on the 11th. Perhaps he was afraid of a stampede if he admitted in that setting that he had two IDs, but no arrests.
JASON BISSEY, LIVES NEXT DOOR TO ALLEGED CRIME SCENE: I noticed a car drive up and two young women get out, met with the gentleman and then walked back to the back of the house.
As to Jason Bissey, we know that this statement is NOT true as the girls came separately. He later claimed that Mangum didn't seem impaired but that can't be trusted either given this statement.
snip...
And at that point, the young women were coming back out of the house, getting into the car and driving away. And there were a lot of young men running this way, towards Duke's east campus. And that's the point, when the girls were driving off, that I overheard the racial slur. One of the young men yelled, Hey, "expletive," thank your grandpa for my nice cotton shirt.
Again, this is a lie because we know Mangum was passed out and had to be helped to the car by one or more of the players. Given his inaccurate account so far, the racial slur comment should be taken with a grain of salt too.
I'm trying to remember, as I have made that trip several times. My guess is around 10 minutes, maybe less. We are talking 2 lane streets. Some stoplights and stop signs. But, I must admit, I probably drive more slowly as I drive by landmark. North Carolinians drive fast! Must be a nascar thing :)
My student says less than 10 - especially at night.
Thank You!--I'm thinking that perhaps he left Reade at 12:42 and went straight to 610--but I have no idea!
I have more respect for whores than I do for our MSM.
True, but everyone knows Jesse came to the aid of the AV so maybe they thought there could be a shakedown coming if they had her as a client. Also, she had the embezzled 25,000 for a down payment. LOL
Less than an hour after he says he picked up Seligmann and a friend, Mostafa says he got another call -- at around 1:07 a.m. March 14 -- to pick up people at the same North Buchanan address.
He said he saw about 20 people on the lawn of the home, "yelling, talking back" to each other, including one African-American woman who he said didn't appear to be injured.
Four men got into the taxi, Mostafa said, and they appeared to be drunk.
One of them said, "She's just a stripper," Mostafa quoted.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/20/duke.rape/
That was so bad. LOL
It asks if the complainant had consensual sexual intercourse with anyone in the previous FIVE days prior to the alleged rape.
I still haven't gotten a reasonable answer as to where Kim was from 12:04 to 12:41. Her friend was passed out on the lawn. Why did she wait if they hadn't come together? Was she in the bathroom or not?
According to Nifong, the defense started it when they responded to his attacks on the players???????????????
I think I read that his records showed dropping RS off at 12:41. I remember because I questioned it taking 5 minutes to get to the dorm. Depending on exactly where the cabbie pulled up, it's about 500-600 yards to the dorm entrance (from the most used drop-off point - at least, that's where I saw all the pizza delivery guys park). However, especially if he was with another player who may not live in the same dorm, they may have chatted a bit before going into the dorm.
I have a question. What's with this "2C" stuff? When I was there the Edens Quad dorms were York, Lancaster, Mirecourt and Burton. I lived in Lancaster. At that time they were called the "new dorms" because they were the first dorms built in a long time and they weren't built on Main West but down the hill across Wannamaker drive. At that time the quad was "unfinished" because they ran out of money.
I know they've "finished" the quad since then and then built even more dorms by cutting Wannamaker drive. Don't the dorms have individual names anymore? Last time I walked through, Burton had been made the Phi Delt(?) house because one of the administration's desire to disperse the frats from Main West. What dorm is 2C?
It was very odd seeing my old dorm room window on Dan Abrams the other night.
Story is that when she was advised that she was being taken to jail for being drunk and refusing to get out of the other girl's car she decided the best thing for her was to claim rape of her probation would have been violated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.