Posted on 05/17/2006 3:33:37 AM PDT by Perdogg
Ping.
Since most, if not all, of the Duke/Rape case articles end up in chat, I'll post this interesting commentary on the subject by Thomas Sowell here (Hope it's not a duplicate.):
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If there is a smoking gun in the Duke University rape case, it is not about the stripper who made the charges or the lacrosse players who have been accused. The smoking gun is the decision of District Attorney Michael Nifong to postpone a trial until the spring of 2007.
That makes no sense from either a legal or a social standpoint, whether the players are guilty or innocent. But it tells us something about District Attorney Nifong.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that the players are guilty. What is the point of letting a bunch of rapists remain at large for another year? What about the dangers that they would pose to women on or off the Duke University campus?
Now suppose that the players are innocent. Isn't it unconscionable to have this damning charge hanging over their heads for another year?
The Constitution of the United States includes a right to a speedy trial, to keep people from being jerked around by unscrupulous or vindictive prosecutors who cannot prove that they have committed any crime. Prosecutors have to put up or shut up.
This is not a federal case, however, and the laws of North Carolina do not require a speedy trial.
Justice delayed is justice denied, whether the players are guilty or innocent.
What purpose does the delay serve? The most obvious purpose is the same as the purpose that delay serves in confidence games.
After a fraud has been perpetrated and it is only a matter of time before the victim finds out, it can still make a big difference whether the victim finds out suddenly or slowly over an extended period of time. This is called "cooling out the mark."
If the mark (the victim) finds out suddenly and immediately, instant outrage may lead to a call to the police, who can then get hot on the trail of the con man.
However, if the realization of having been taken begins to emerge at first as a sense of puzzlement, then as a sneaking suspicion, and ultimately -- after a passage of some time -- as a clear conclusion that a fraud has taken place, then the emotional impact is not nearly as strong.
The victim of the fraud may even be reluctant to go to the police, having had time to think about what a fool he may look like and how little chance there is now to do anything about it.
If the truth about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky had come out the very next day after he made that dramatic declaration -- "I did not have sex with that woman" -- it would have been far more of a shock than it was months later, after more and more bits and dabs of information came out, leading many to suspect the truth long before it all came out.
One of Clinton's press secretaries called these delaying tactics "telling the truth slowly."
The announcement that the trial of the Duke lacrosse players has been postponed until the spring of 2007 may be District Attorney Nifong's way of beginning the process of "telling the truth slowly."
At some point, this case will have to be either prosecuted or dropped. If it is going to be prosecuted, there is no reason not to go full speed ahead right now. But if it is going to be dropped, or if Nifong knows that a judge is likely to throw it out of court, then the time at which that happens is crucial.
It was out of the question for Nifong to drop the case before the recent election, no matter how flimsy the evidence might be or how much of that evidence exonerates the accused instead of showing them to be guilty.
Even after being re-elected, the district attorney cannot let his indictment collapse in public while there is nationwide attention focussed on this case 24-7.
What will be different next year? The public will have either forgotten the case or be tired of hearing about it. The D.A. can even turn the case over to some lawyer on his staff to take into court and see it either get thrown out by the judge or fail to convince a jury.
We will all be tired of hearing about it by then. We are the marks who will be cooled out.
Source: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/thomassowell/2006/05/16/197427.html
This is perfect. These guys are guilty. The whole case feeds into the minority belief system - rich white guys will get away with anything...
Thanks a bunch, Alia! :>
OMG that is bizarre~!
I think Dr. Sowell has nailed it.
and by bizarre, i mean that they would include that in this piece! what does it have to do with ANYTHING?
I just hope it doesn't end like so many others have. Paying her off to get it over. If they're innocent, and I believe they are, they need to fight this and not give in over time.
very much so. even the fishmouthed hideousity named Kimberly Guilfoyle, who has been a prosecution shill throughout, finds fault with Nifong for delaying til 2007
Furthermore, other than her donations to President Bush, the rest of the GOP donations are pretty much "moderate" Republican women such as Connie Morella, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Mary Bono and Nancy Johnson.
Here's another one.
I did learn about the alleged rape in VA. But this case, Duke/Durham, was a flashfire. Nifong and pressies piled the kindling high and rendered 70 "guilty" verdicts before evidence was even really collected, much less assembled, in classic "Holy Smokes" style.
Why this case, but not the VA case.
It's an old lament. I've been tracking the "why" this case but not the other "case" for years. Black racialist organizations have claimed for years that only the children of "whites" who are kidnapped get big press. Is the press trying to do a "balance" thing here?
Outrageous!
Marking your post. Now, how could "certified and graduated" journalists have omitted to mention this in the article.. Hmmm...
Snip:
The worst thing said in the case involving rape charges against Duke University students was not said by either the prosecutor or the defense attorneys, or even by any of the accusers or the accused. It was said by a student at North Carolina Central University, a black institution attended by the stripper who made rape charges against Duke lacrosse players.
According to Newsweek, the young man at NCCU said that he wanted to see the Duke students prosecuted, "whether it happened or not. It would be justice for things that happened in the past."
This is the ugly attitude that is casting a cloud over this whole case.
Thanks for the ping.
he is definitely spot on.
I understand what Sowell is saying but if Nifong is delaying the trial in order to quietly dismiss the case then why would he have indicted the third player knowing that he won't go to trial?
"Preppie-looking parents" means he is guilty! No question.
Why are you diclosing all of the super-secret, rich, white guy magic stuff?? You have violated the code. You will be shunned!
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