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Nifong? Not fine by me.
With all deliberate speed
Kristin Butler
Posted: 11/3/06
In 239 days, Mike Nifong has sullied his 27-year career with the Durham District Attorney's office. During that time, Nifong has been roundly criticized for procedural and ethical violations.
So will Durham County voters consider his misconduct at the polls?
According to a Raleigh News & Observer poll, the answer is no.
That Oct. 16-19 survey of 600 "likely voters" indicates Nifong is strongly favored to win, attracting 46 percent of those surveyed. By contrast, 28 percent pledged support for Lewis Cheek, 24 percent remained undecided, and 2 percent preferred write-in candidate Steve Monks.
Now for once, I'm speechless: What could 46 percent of Durham's likely voters possibly be thinking?
If the past seven months have taught us anything at all, it's this: Mike Nifong is not fit to be our district attorney.
His highly unethical and unprofessional conduct is as serious as it is systematic; prominent among Nifong's most egregious acts is his refusal to consider exculpatory evidence, even as he misrepresented the facts of the case to media outlets.
Of course, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans may not have ever been indicted if Nifong had not orchestrated a tainted photo lineup, whose conditions violated not only Durham police standards, but also those of the Actual Innocence Commission, an organization that advocates for the rights of the accused.
And as we all found out last week, Nifong has never spoken-not once!-to the alleged victim about the events of that night; still, he had no reservations about telling Bill O'Reilly that "there is not a doubt in my mind that [the alleged victim] was raped and assaulted at this location" and announcing to Dan Abrams that "I am convinced that there was a rape, yes sir."
This brings us to an important point: It was Mike Nifong's mouth-at least as much as Durham's racial or socioeconomic tensions-that blew this case out of proportion.
While giving more than 50 interviews in the first days of the investigation, Nifong called the players "hooligans," wondered aloud "why one would need an attorney if one had not done anything and was not charged," and denounced their "blue wall of silence" to the press.
Despite the fact that such grandstanding is clearly in violation of prosecutors' ethical code, Nifong continued to claim that the students' "daddies could buy them expensive lawyers" and that they knew the right people, while even questioning their "manhood."
This arrogant, self-serving commentary is chief among the reasons why I will be voting against Mike Nifong on Tuesday.
Nifong did, indeed, have a responsibility to carefully and dispassionately investigate the alleged rape when it was reported. In that regard, he has done more than just fail; he has use this investigation as a bully pulpit to inflame racial and socioeconomic tensions in our community.
Now, some among his supporters-notably the Independent Weekly, which is widely distributed on campus-have noted that although Nifong "may have mishandled the case," we should ask, "How could anyone know whether or not the person the governor would appoint [if Nifong loses] would do any better than Nifong?"
Well, the answer is that we certainly couldn't do much worse. As we've seen, Nifong has violated every ethical rule in the book, all the while attempting to leverage his role as prosecutor for his reelection campaign.
And never forget that we're talking about a profoundly stubborn, unstable man here, one who colleagues say will "curse you, scream at you, call you names over nothing." Others report seeing Nifong "lose his temper and berate attorneys in an unprofessional manner."
In his defense, some Nifong supporters have rationalized that "we don't have a school to tell you how to handle crisis situations" and "he was very new to the situation at the time." Yet given the district attorney's mercurial personality, these defenses seem irrelevant.
Nifong has no one to blame but his own antagonism for his electoral woes.
And woes they are-especially on the Duke campus.
Whether or not it was true that "there's been a feeling in the past that Duke students are treated differently by the court system," Nifong has made sure that we are today.
Does the man who vowed to "not allow Durham's view in the minds of the world to be a bunch of lacrosse players at Duke raping a black girl from Durham" really think his behavior has done anything to "address the underlying divisions that have been revealed?"
Of course not; he is the one who has "revealed" them.
Kristin Butler is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every Friday.
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Off East, locals weigh in on Nifong, lax case
Nate Freeman
Posted: 11/3/06
Eight months after the lacrosse scandal first hit the Duke and Durham communities, many students on campus are rallying for the defeat of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong in the Nov. 7 election.
Walltown, a predominantly black neighborhood that lies just out of earshot of chattering freshmen on East Campus, is steps away when walking but miles away when talking. The community became a focal point of Duke-Durham tensions after three lacrosse players allegedly raped an exotic dancer at a March 13 party.
Now, there is still no consensus among Walltown residents about the scandal.
"We don't know the truth," said Abura Cain, an eight-year resident who operates a day-care center in Walltown. "The truth is going to come out and that's what I'm looking for. Some people take it personal. Me, I'm just sitting back and watching things."
Many residents emphasized that community discourse regarding the case has died down since the initial uproar.
"Around here nobody really talks about it-it's like the past," said 17-year-old resident Tasha Campbell. "There's really no anger anymore. There was a lot-now you don't hear it unless it's in the news. It's brought up again and then they forget it."
Even as they stressed the declining animosity connected to the incident, some residents voiced their approval of Nifong's aggressive pursuit of the indicted Duke students.
"Everybody would be down his throat if he didn't [prosecute]," Trevell Green said. "They get judged, and if they're guilty, they're guilty."
Other residents, however, shared the anti-Nifong sentiment prevalent on campus and criticized the district attorney for his handling of the case.
"Nifong, he botched the lineup, so that affects the way I vote," said Peter Hausmann, who has lived in Walltown for six months. "I can't speak for why people will vote for him. I will vote against him. I don't know what his motives are."
Cain criticized the team's decision to host a party with alcohol and dancers, but she said the alleged victim-a student at North Carolina Central University-should not have placed herself in such an environment.
"The girl was a student and she didn't have to take her clothes off," she said. "The young lady made a choice. It's no different from prostitution. What part of it did she think she wasn't responsible for? You've got to put a price on your identity; you've got to put a price on you. You can't give yourself out to the highest bidder."
Some members of the Walltown community took a critical stance toward the students at the party but praised the University as an asset to the area.
"Somebody raped a girl and [the party is] where she was," said a Walltown resident who declined to offer his name. "Duke is not the problem-it's some of the damn kids at Duke. They could've been anywhere."
Jessica Anduiza, a program coordinator at the Duke Center for International Development, lives in the Walltown neighborhood but said she has yet to discuss the lacrosse scandal with her neighbors.
"I think this is a very diverse community, and I can't speak for the community," she said. "I don't talk about it with them."
Despite their varying opinions regarding the case, Walltown residents and Duke faculty and students have shared in the sadness and regret generated by the incident, said Melvin Henry, a former Walltown resident who still attends services at the neighborhood's Northside Baptist Church.
"It's a no-win situation for Duke and it's a no-win situation for the community," he said. "It's just a tragedy. Everybody's hurt. I wish I could have erased the whole thing. The rest of our lives, this is history."