Duke Lacrosse 60 Minutes Broadcast (Live Thread)

CBS News ^ | 10/15/2006 | Locomotive Breath

[xoxoxox]

Show went on without the DA
'60 Minutes' tape in hand, he says

Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer, N&O, Published: Oct 17, 2006 12:30 AM

DURHAM - Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said Monday he did not watch a "60 Minutes" segment highly critical of his handling of the Durham lacrosse rape investigation.

"I didn't actually see that report," Nifong said when asked about the show, which aired Sunday night. "It would be kind of hard for me to comment on something I hadn't seen."

"60 Minutes" reporter Ed Bradley interviewed Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann -- the three men charged six months ago with raping an escort service dancer hired to perform at a spring break party attended by members of the Duke University lacrosse team. It was the first time Finnerty and Seligmann have spoken publicly about the case.

Asked whether, as the prosecutor, he was disinterested in what the accused players had to say, Nifong responded curtly.

"I have a tape of it. I have a transcript of it. I didn't watch it," he said. "There was no need for me to watch it last night."

Bradley's report portrayed Nifong as a prosecutor motivated to charge someone in the rape case more by politics than evidence. Nifong was in the midst of a Democratic primary when the charges were filed.

Though he was concerned about the potential for such publicity to influence future jurors, Nifong said Monday he didn't think the nationally televised report would significantly harm his prospects for re-election in the November.

"You know, we're not going to know after the election is over whether it made any difference or not," he said. "It's a totally separate issue."

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/499442.html

[xoxoxox]

Duke Rape Case: Nifong Has No Evidence
By Michael J. Gaynor
Oct 15, 2006

Watching the "60 Minutes" expose on the Duke rape case on October 15 was a pleasure. Having "60 Minutes" on one's side is very helpful. The visuals were very effective, especially the sincere faces of each of the Duke Three contrasted with Crystal Gail Mangum, the sly accuser lying on the floor during her "performance" and dancing partly naked with a pole a couple of weeks later.

Like the child in the fable who said that the pompous emperor was not wearing any clothes and thereby opened deluded people's eyes, "60 Minutes" exposed the fact that Durham County, North Carolina District Attorney Michael B. Nifong does not have credible evidence to support his case against the Duke Three (and also exposed his egregious misconduct and now ludicrous lies).

All of the young men whom Ms. Mangum falsely accused spoke to "60 Minutes," but not Ms. Mangum.

That's a hint as to who is telling the truth.* -more- cut--

http://www.postchronicle.com/commentary/article_21244698.shtml

* A rare commodity in this town.

[CondorFlight]

More video from CBS interviews with the players--outtakes that were not shown on the 60 Minutes show, at :

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

[Locomotive Breath]

One early part of the the interview that did not see print---

Reporter: Mr. Nifong aren't those your entrails on the floor? Wouldn't you like to pick them up so that someone doesn't slip on them.

Nifong: Ooops. Sorry.

[Locomotive Breath]

"It would be kind of hard for me to comment on something I hadn't seen."

More implausible deniability.

[San Jacinto]

In watching the 60 Minutes segmant on the Duke case, I broke a streak of not seeing any part of the program for almost 20 years. Fortunately, it was the lead segment and I was able to flip the channel the second the Duke coverage ended.

I have the following observations: (1) I'd bet the video of the naked dancing FA (injured back notwithstanding)came from the defense team, and I'd bet they have a whole library of material stored up on her; (2) two of the Duke students have iron-clad alibis, and the second of those is being very wise to keep it totally under wraps so as to spring it on Nifong at trial; and (3) IF the case goes to trial and IF there is not a change of venue, the best the boys can reasonably expect is a hung jury because they are going to get O.J.'ed in Durham for sure.

[Sue Perkick]

I'm glad Dave Evans denied them the satisfaction of that diploma in hand picture. But sorry he was denied that moment he had worked so hard for at the same time. I'm so ashamed of Duke University. Unless there was evidence that indicated otherwise they should have presumed these boys innocent & publically declared their support for them. You keep shaking your head. How could this have happened? It's just surreal.

[luv2ski]

Lacrosse episode was lame I can't believe they, and by extension I, pay for this stuff.

The author posts his email address at the end of the article if anyone wants to wade in. He makes so many errors and ignores facts to the point that I would not know where to begin.

[maggief]

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/ruth/index.php


Tuesday, October 17, 2006
OK, OK! Uncle!

Respondents to my last post's comment that I personally didn't see much news in the 60 Minutes report on Duke lacrosse slam me for failing to note the brief but remarkable footage of the alleged victim dancing at a strip club. Yes, that was the news out of the piece, particularly because it appears she was dancing at the same time she was, according to Nifong, still so traumatized by the alleged rape she could scarcely function, much less discuss it. If she was hurting physically, it was awful hard to tell it from the way she was um, dancing, with that pole.
Posted at 10:36 am by Ruth Sheehan in General

[Fido969]

What I hope to see is someone from the prosecution side break ranks.

You know. We know you know.

PLEASE COME FORWARD!

[Locomotive Breath]

DNA Testing: In Our Blood

[snip]

And then there's Prof. Henry Louis (Skip) Gates Jr., head of Harvard University's African-American Studies department. Gates always knew he wasn't 100 percent African-American. According to family legend, Gates's only white ancestor was a slave owner named Samuel Brady, who had sex with Gates's great-great-grandmother Jane on his farm in Maryland in the 1800s. But recent DNA analyses turned Gates's world upside down. There was no trace of Brady on Gates's genome. Further testing revealed that Gates, in fact, carries as much Western European blood as he does African—and that one of his white ancestors was probably an Irish servant who met Gates's sixth or seventh great-grandfather sometime before 1700. "I'm thinking I'm a Brady and maybe I'm from Nigeria, and here I am descended from some white woman," says Gates. "It's incredible."

[snip]

Too bad for him. The family legend of master-slave sex turned out to be false. Instead there's a "Mic" in the woodpile. Horrors! (my surname is Irish so I found this to be particularly funny)

Cornel West can't get along anywhere. Here's what Wiki says...

1993 saw the publication of Race Matters, a bestselling collection of essays, as well as his departure from Princeton to join the Afro-American studies program at Harvard, chaired by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (who called West "the preeminent African-American intellectual of our generation"). In 1998, Harvard appointed him the first Alphonse Fletcher, Jr., University Professor.

West's popularity was not, however, universal. Critics, most notably The New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier, charged him with opportunism, crass showmanship and lack of scholarly seriousness. West remains a widely cited scholar in the popular press, in African-American studies and in studies of black theology, although his work as an academic philosopher has been almost completely ignored (with the exception of his early history of American pragmatism, The American Evasion of Philosophy).

In 2001, West became involved in a very public dispute with newly appointed Harvard president and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. (As one of the 17 faculty members with the distinguished rank of University Professor, West reported directly to the president on his research agendas and was permitted total freedom to teach across departmental lines and in other Harvard schools). Summers, in one of his meetings with West, allegedly accused West of devoting too much time and attention to political activities and traditionally non-academic pursuits, including West's spoken-word CD Sketches of My Culture, which he believed was at the expense of his teaching and academic responsibilities.

Soon after, West was hospitalized for prostate cancer. West complained that Summers failed to send him get-well wishes until weeks after his surgery, whereas newly installed Princeton president Shirley Tilghman had contacted him frequently before and after his treatment. In 2002, West left Harvard to return to Princeton. West later lashed out at Summers in public interviews, calling him "the Ariel Sharon of higher education" on NPR's The Tavis Smiley Show.

I guess I know what his point of view will be. "Claiming our Democracy" should be changed to "Claiming our Entitlement".

[Locomotive Breath]

La Shawn Barber opines (link in Ruth's blog)

Duke Rape Case: Skanks, Greed, and Shattered Lives

[Locomotive Breath]

I gave him an e-mail earful first thing this morning.

[gopheraj]

mark

[JLS]

More implausible deniability.

Yep, sadly Nifong has lied and lied and lied and lied to these local media types, yet they continue to accept what he says at face value rather than questioning him skeptically. The N&O particularly is coming across terribly.

[Dukie07]

"I didn't actually see that report," Nifong said when asked about the show, which aired Sunday night. "It would be kind of hard for me to comment on something I hadn't seen."

My mind went straight to, "OH! You mean, like an alleged rape?"

[maggief]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/16/earlyshow/main2090285.shtml

Sherman: '60' Interview Good For Accused
CBS Legal Analyst Mickey Sherman Says '60 Minutes' Interview Probably Helped Accused

[JLS]

La Shawn Barber opines

Well if we are counting "columnist" from the awful Huffington site, then certainly Ms. Barber counts too. She is someone who figure this hoax out very quickly.

[Locomotive Breath]

Look at the comments. I still can't get over the people who cling to the belief that "the DA must have something" and can't get their minds around the fact that ALL evidence is in the hands of the defense and that the defense has shown it ALL to numerous news organizations including Ed B. (If my two experiences as an expert witness are any indication, discovery comes page numbered and indexed so it's easy to tell that if anything's missing.) If Mike Nifong still "has something" he's breaking the law.

Let's underscore the fact that, except for RS's alibi and the time-stamped photos, 60 Minutes used the PROSECUTION'S evidence for the story. We've not seen most of the DEFENSE evidence. If it looks this one-sided against the prosecution using their own evidence, what will it look like when we add in the defense evidence?

[Howlin]

LOL! How appropriate!