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To: Howlin

Is this the active thread?

Just want to add a couple of points:

1. Crystal identified four players who "assaulted" her. Gottlieb ignored her fourth (actually her first) choice. Just slid right over it. And as we know, that player was from Durham -- a city with one of the lowest median incomes.

2. How can any of us forget the interview with Cousin It when his/her face visibly lit up when s/he was asked about a civil suit?

There do seem to be a lot of coincidences. And although I don't think this was Crystal's initial motivation to cry rape, I understand why many wonder whether she continued with her lies after someone planted the idea of a lucrative civil suit. I don't think she came up with this idea on her own.

This latest analysis from KC does make you go hmmm.

But how can we heal if we ponder issues such as these?


20 posted on 01/09/2007 12:00:37 PM PST by Mad-Margaret
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To: Mad-Margaret

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/18407
Scripps News
Nifong Should Face Prosecution
(Editorial)

It had all the makings of a boffo case. Rich, white, arrogant jocks from a prestigious Southern college hire strippers for their drinking party and gang-rape a poor, black, single mother, holding her against her will in a bathroom.

The case drew national headlines, spurred a debate about privilege and race, led Duke University to ax its lacrosse coach and program, and propelled District Attorney Mike Nifong to re-election, after he had appeared to be losing to a woman whom he had once fired.

Nifong's good political fortune, however, seems to have come at the expense of justice. He now stands accused of gross prosecutorial misconduct. The North Carolina State Bar has announced it has found reasonable cause to refer him to its Disciplinary Hearing Commission for trial; he could be disbarred. And the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called on Nifong to recuse himself from the case.

But as well as quitting the case, he should resign, and face criminal prosecution.

After dragging three students through the mud for months, Nifong dropped rape charges last month, when the alleged victim said she was no longer certain she had been raped. He was still proceeding with kidnapping and sexual-assault charges.

Meanwhile, the head of a DNA laboratory testified under oath last month that he and Nifong knew back in April that there was no DNA evidence from the lacrosse men on the woman who accused them. And there was DNA of several other men in her underwear and in intimate areas of her body.

Even though they knew that, they agreed to keep it a secret from the public _ and from the defense. In May, Nifong signed a statement saying the prosecution "is not aware of any additional material or information which may be exculpatory in nature." The law requires him to turn over such evidence, and such a statement could expose him to charges of perjury.

There's more. In disregard of standard practice, he presented the alleged victim with a lineup that included only Duke lacrosse players. She seemed an unreliable witness in many ways, telling different stories. And the DA seemed uninterested in evidence strongly suggesting that the accused could not have committed the alleged crime.

Nifong told the media that he believed the alleged assault was racially motivated, and he called the accused students "hooligans," in apparent violation of the state Code of Professional Responsibility, which requires prosecutors to "refrain from making extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused." It seems clear he made such statements to swing enough votes to win his election.

Prosecutorial misconduct strikes at the heart of our criminal-justice system, destroying public trust and subjecting innocent people to the abuse of the state. In cases of rape, such misconduct could have horrific consequences, in making it harder for women who are genuine victims of these crimes of violence to come forward and put predators behind bars.

Justice demands that the rights of the innocent be protected. It is an encouraging statement about our system that now Nifong will be required to defend his actions. Let's hope that sterner steps follow, sending a message to headline-grabbing prosecutors.


22 posted on 01/09/2007 12:18:12 PM PST by abb (The Dinosaur Media: A One-Way Medium in a Two-Way World)
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