[Locomotive Breath]

Except that the stereotype is the dumbass conservative uneducated redneck persecuting the poor black people. Here we have the highly educated liberal persecuting rich white guys and not a poor black man.

[Locomotive Breath]

that should have been

"now a poor black man"

[ladyjane]

the stereotype is the dumbass conservative uneducated redneck persecuting the poor black people.

Nope. That's not the stereotype northerners have of southern justice.

Many northerners have a very dim view of southern law enforcement and southern courts. They think it is an old boys network and totally corrupt.

Over the years many northerners have heard stories of their neighbors driving down through the Carolinas, getting stopped for speeding, hauled off to some magistrate's house and given the choice of paying an exhorbitant amount on the spot or coming back four weeks later for a trial.

I am not saying this view is accurate but the railroading the northern lacrosse players and intimidation of a witness won't help the image of Durham or of North Carolina.