Posted on 06/12/2006 4:27:33 AM PDT by Perdogg
DURHAM, N.C., June 9 — When a woman hired to dance at a Duke University lacrosse team party claimed that members of the team raped her, Michael B. Nifong, the district attorney for Durham County, responded with an aggressive, unflinching and very public investigation.
"There's no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location," Mr. Nifong said on national television after the case surfaced in March. Mr. Nifong called other lacrosse players "hooligans" who had aided, abetted or covered up for the rapists. Local police officers seemed equally certain that they had a horrific crime to solve.
But in the intervening months, the case has come to appear far less robust. Three players have been indicted, but evidence that has surfaced, much of it turned over to defense lawyers by prosecutors and then filed in court with defense motions, has thrown the woman's claims into doubt. Mr. Nifong, so vocal at first, has refused to speak publicly about the case since the beginning of April.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It looks like someone in Durham may run against Nifong:
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/449748.html
"Uh, George old buddy, we've got a problem here, and you're going to have to get some sort of a handle on this prosecutor of yours and get him back on a short leash, and the basic problem is that I can't really look at the people who send their children to my school and tell them that just having the school in this city exposes them to malicious prosecutions.If you can't get some sort of a handle on this guy and put a stop to this, I'm afraid I'm going to have no options other than to move the entire physical plant of Duke University to Greensboro North Carolina, and it's not easy to believe that would do the local economy here a whole lot of good."
So WHY the silence? Is he trying to figure out how to worm his way out of prosecuting the case?
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The "case" doesn't come up until spring 2007. He will not prosecute personally, he will hand off to an assistant. Remember, he has already been reelected by the minority community in Durham for vigorously pursuing this case. He doesn't need it any more. Any more talk from him just keeps it in the news. This thing won't go away however, and Duke, and the city of Durham look ridiculous for destroying this team without a shred of credible evidence.
That was my reaction. The sooner the better, for these three young men.
AFTER the election he will drop the case. He's not facing any serious contender now, the seat is virtually his. However, to drop it now could give enough time for someone else to start a write-in campaign and defeat him.
NiFUNG will try to hold onto the case until after the November elections.
Nifong has merely won the Democratic Primary for election as District Attorney. The General Election in November will be the deciding election. The reason people think Nifong was "reelected" (erroneous because he has only been appointed so far -- never elected) was because there is no organized opposition from the GOP (near non-existent in Durham). However, in November if an opponent can garner enough upset Democrats and all the Republicans, Nifong can be defeated.
Thanks, GAgal, for posting that link. Mr. Cheek has said that he would decide within the next two week whether to run as a write-in candidate against Nifong in November. If he doesn't someone else will be recruited.
I'm beginning to wonder if Mikey had a previous relationship and or encounter with this woman. It would explain much.
When they get the list of calls from the cell phone she was using, it could prove interesting.
A campaign, even if ultimately futile, will make Nifong leave his bunker and speak. Speaking seems to be Nifong's Achilles Heel, as everything he says sounds foolish, vindictive, and egotistical ... at the same time.
If a majority of Durham voters want Nifong, they will also have to accept the embarrassment and derision he brings to the city and to them. If 80% of the eligible Durham voters sit out the election again, they deserve whatever follows.
One would think he'd better keep quiet. With information coming out that the original judge who signed the search warrant was not given all the facts of the case. When the grand jury was told false information; and when you have a witness stating the rape charges are bunk, Nifong is smart not to dig his grave further.
Too bad the players and their families have gone through hell these last few months over this. Not to mention the financial toll this must be.
They should publicly hang this SOB for messing up peoples lives for political gain.
If he drops the case, you can bet it's heading straight to a lawsuit by the falsely accused.
Ask Tawana-Brawley-Al how that works. The falsely-accused assistant DA only got $65,000 (and his name cleared) from that suit, but I'd bet the Duke players will be asking for a whole lot more.
He's probably working furiously to discredit the second dancer as we speak -- or maybe he'll take the Fitzgerald route, and charge the players with something vaguely related to the crime that wasn't, like being drunk while white and rich.
He has no option but go to trial, if he drops the case anytime as the article states, "He'd have hell to pay from the African-American community," "They'd say, 'Give her her day in court. What do you have to lose?"
As Wilson and Glater conclude, Nifongs only escape route is a trial and then he could deflect any African-American anger by a jury not guilty verdict.
However, watch the pre-trial jockeying with Nifong trying to get a majority white jury or a majority African-American jury.
Either will suit him.
Supposedly it's on top of the nail. Most likely it was transferred when he (Dave) picked it up to throw it away. If a rape happened there, they would have flushed the nails down the toilet.
Thank you for your post, GAgal. From your link:
DURHAM - A Durham lawyer and county commissioner is considering a write-in election campaign to try and unseat District Attorney Mike Nifong, the prosecutor overseeing the investigation of a rape accusation involving three members of the Duke University lacrosse team.
The case has generated headlines across the nation about Duke and Durham, and Nifong's role in the case has become the subject of almost nightly segments on some national cable news shows. Much of it is critical of Nifong's performance.
In an interview Sunday, Commissioner Lewis Cheek said he has been recruited to challenge Nifong.
"I am looking at it," Cheek said, "and ... it means I'm seriously thinking about it. I need to look at it from every angle and think about what is the right thing to do."
He said he will decide within about two weeks -- in time to meet a June 30 deadline for being eligible as a candidate.
Nifong could not be reached by telephone Sunday.
(snip)
I don't think so. If nobody files in time to run, Nifong is home free.
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