Posted on 09/09/2006 2:39:24 AM PDT by abb
I just had a thought to expand the Law and Order TV franchise: Law and Order, Durham Style -- the inside story of what happens when the legal system becomes corrupt and out of control. It will be so scary it will have to on at 10PM.
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/09/sounds-of-selective-silence_11.html
I said from the beginning -- it's not going to go away. Once it gets that far -- it goes and goes, like the Energizer Bunny. I knew those families and those young men were in for the long-term and a very, very bumpy ride. That's why I've asked for prayers and been a cheerleader for each and every one of you who have spent hours helping to get this story out. I wish I'd had the courage to write to all of you when we were going through it, but we were just small fry and it hadn't happend on such a large scale. Plus, our attorney asked me if I wanted the media and I said NO!!! He stopped it in it's tracks. Hindsight -- maybe that was wrong, but I didn't think my knees would hold as it was. Got a little weak thereabouts. Leaving for the day, but I MEAN IT -- thank God for you guys. You may have saved lives here and that's a wonderful thing.
You did not ask me but it was Nifong giving so many public statements that cause me to look more carefully at this. It is offensive for a DA to use a case to win a primary election like this. So I watched for a while and then when it turned out to be a hoax that was pushed by the DA, it became compelling to me.
Well if it dies, I think we will all point to a time much earlier, even when Nifong lies and claims it was because something hand changed.
As for Gottlie:
1. He clearly has made up evidence in this case.
2. He may as someone pointed out taken the easy arrest and gone after nondangerous drinking college kids.
3. I can see police reasons for bringing that many officers along. I am sure they have tired of going out on these calls and having many of the students just split as they arrive. If you want to taken in a whole party of people, you need a number on your own.
4. The Blinco's incident would not be such a big deal, if he were not trying to frame these kids. That is really my point. A bunch of drinking cops getting out of hand is not such a big deal. It is a misdemeanor. They did not do it under the color of law or anything. But he was bound to get this kind of publicity from it and I bet more in the Triangle area than here. His old accident was bound to come up. He would have been much better off had this case had gone away several months ago. I guess he can not influence Nifong either.
I had seen the activity on FreeRepublic when the threads began, but I didn't pay much attention to it. In fact, mrs. abb asked me what Lacrosse was and I had to look it up on Wikipedia. This was about the time the potbangers were in full bloom.
I began to follow the threads and kept up. When the DNA came back negative, I said there's no way the DA will keep going. But he did. That's when I decided I would keep at this thing for the long haul. I knew exactly what we had - a rogue DA completely out of control. Nothing scares me more than government - at any level - that has unchecked power. So here I am, and here I shall stay until the last dog dies...
Y'all take a look at this...
http://www.duiki.com/wiki/Lacrosse_scandal
Melanie's finally put up an updated blog...
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/editor/index.php?title=duke_lacrosse_latest_gottlieb_profile&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
I don't think it's necessary to take nine cops along to arrest some students on a misdemeanor noise violation. I don't think it's necessary to show up at 3AM and put them all in handcuffs and drag one out of bed and down the stairs either. That sounds excessive to me. Especially since this same cop just gave a citation to a non-Duke student who was carrying a concealed gun and had some pot. No arrest and no handcuffs for that person.
I should also say, as the daughter of a non-US citizen, that I think his threats to have someone deported are really offensive. Since I've had Immigration Law, I can tell you that generally, to be deported, you have to commit a crime involving "moral turpitude". This is sort of a hazy term but generally it means an act of baseness, vileness and depravity and is generally restricted to felonies and offenses that are "malum in se". I don't think making noise qualifies for this. Gottlieb strikes me as someone who likes to use his authority to threaten and scare students and that sounds like an abuse of authority to me.
We sure were on to Herr Gottlieb early on.
"I don't think it's necessary to take nine cops along to arrest some students on a misdemeanor noise violation."
Durham crime is so bad that according to an article in USA today, some black pastors buy tickets out of Durham for their youth. Durham has about ten times as many gang members as Raleigh. Durham has, in fact, a "crime emergency" (and an absent police chief) whether they declared one or not.
And to put this much effort into quieting some noisy college kids is ridiculous. They could have left that to Duke, and been doing some real police work.
There will be other stories; there always is when a renegade like Gottlieb is involved -- he can't help himself. The September 22 hearing will be fascinating since Gottlieb conducted the line up. There may be a suppression hearing on the photo ID and, if so, Gottlieb will be forced to testify. I find it interesting that the dossiers mentioned in the article were collected before the LAX case broke, meaning that people knew he was out of control and did nothing to reign him in. Because some students chose to go to trial to fight bogus charges, the Duke administration cannot claim ignorance of this situation. As an aside, I'd love to ask Brodhead what did he know and when did he know it.
The ironic part is this is nothing new. When we went to Duke twenty years ago, students knew not to roam into Durham after dark because we did not know the dangerous areas and even then the local police had a reputation for roughing up Duke students. In my humble opinion, Gottlieb and Nifong had been pulling these stunts of treating Duke students like yesterday's garbage for years with impunity, only this time they took it way over the top.
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-lacrosse-gottlieb-questions-for.html
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2006/09/duke-lacrosse-more-gottlieb-info.html"
And what is it that Gottlieb reported said?
He separates one and threatens him with deportation in order to apply pressure to one in order for him to make incriminating statements against the others at the party.
The incident that I'm aware of is the DPD showing up a Duke house with a reputation for parties with the Large Swat team truck and a Paddy wagon. The enormous blinding lights from the Swat team truck were turned onto the house and seconds later they broke through the front door.
They only found underage drinking (by 19-20 year olds) and they charged those over 21 with noise violations and some with open container violations. But, several students were pulled aside individually and told of how long they'd be in jail - and what other things they had on them; however, they could extricate themselves from the arrest and the ensuing suspension and expulsion from Duke - if they incriminated some other students in illegal drug use at the party - so they were told.
Where's the sense of appropriateness compared to the wrong-doing (underage drinking) ? Compared to the daily shooting and gang activities in Durham?
And Nifong sounds like he echoed this feeling against the Duke Students in that public statement where he said something like for too long, there's been a feeling that the Duke students could escape Justice and their Rich Daddies would get them off???
It almost sounds like powerful parts of the DPD and the DA were content to leave most of Durham under seige while they exacted revenge on a tiny portion of the population - due to inherent biases they harbor to this day!
I don't know if it can all be tied together - but money is involved in this particular prosecution. That's my sense.
Follow the money works more times than not.
FreeRepublic was the FIRST bulletin board to get out in front of this hoax. We were the only ones for a while. Before the blogs
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I was told by a local covering the case that Crystal's name was first disclosed on Free Republic. And it was hard for me not to weigh in that I was very familiar with FR.
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Duke Case: The Asylum - Doing Crazy
The Duke lacrosse rape hoax needs to be ended ASAP. "Soon" is the operative word. Three innocent young men should be immediately found innocent of all the bogus rape charges manufactured by Mike Nifong. The goal for all concerned citizens should be: immediate exoneration and proof of innocence for the three Duke lacrosse players. This injustice should not be allowed to stand.
This case is an insane breakdown of truth, justice, law enforcement, journalism, administration, commonsense, the work ethic, and the American way. And following the Duke lacrosse case feels like being trapped in an insane asylum with the crazies.
THe picture is coming together clearly. Simultaneously, there was a DA with an upcoming election and police with a track history of (at best) grossly exaggerating incidents involving Duke students.....
The flag incident noted in the article is revealing because it shows his willingness to concoct a charge to make life more painful for Duke students when he had to know there was no way that charge would ever be sustained.
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You make some excellent points.
It appears that Gottlieb had no fear of being rebuked or censured by a Judge in Durham - and he didn't fear any internal investigation into his actions. I doubt someone that believed they were subject to oversight or even the possibility of scrutiny would've acted like this repeatedly.
He operated fearlessly - did he have good reason?
I have to tell you, that first hearing gave me a sinking feeling. I did not care for Stephens attitude from the beginning.
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