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 ...
Is that Mr. Vann's criteria for wheher a case should be pursued or dropped - the "political price"?
I've never thought any of them were guilty...but for the times to backflip, could also mean that one of the boys parents has been a long time democratic party supporter.
More like Bob Bennett...
I agree that he is "just a white puppet, dancing on a string"....and I think that he put himself in that position. I'll bet that his days are consumed by thoughts that what he thought was a quick way to get votes could cause him permanent damage
hand it off to Tracey Cline since she has shown she has no problem in going forward with bogus rape cases with no DNA.
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There was plenty of DNA inside her, just none of it from the accused. (smile). It was kind of like the Maury show where they try to find the baby daddy. They asked her who could the DNA be from and she named three names that she had sex with in the past 48 hours and that's how they matched her "boyfriend".
I hope all young athletes take heed of this situation.
It's just not worth the risks to party like that under any circumstances.
That's what I meant. Just like in the 2002 case of Leon Brown.
How ?
"Cooling the mark"
Yes, it has, and he can be. The question is not IF he can be pursued, but rather WHO will undertake it. As I see it, nobody at the state level is going to do it. the defense should seek assistance from the feds and/or through fed court.
There's enough on Nifong now with the bogus search warrants to go after him. They only need Himan's testimony as to what Nifong instructed him to do and what not to do that point to misconduct.
One thing he can do is frighten Mangum into not making it known she will not testify, just as he frightened her into agreeing to testify when he needed her. If she bails out, he can publicly state that she and her doctors have informed him that she is too mentally fragile and unstable to testify and, that although he regrets not being able to go forward with the case because he is convinced the accused are guilty, he has no choice but to dismiss because he cannot proceed without her testimony as evidence. He can tell Mangum that dismissing the charges does not preclude her from pursuing the case civilly, that she is in no trouble, and have a nice life, he wishes her well, and same for Kim.
It would be easy to scare her into declining to testify now simply by pointing out all the evidence of her lies and instability and line of work and personal conduct the defense got their hands on and, alas, there was nothing he could do to prevent it. That would send her over the edge and they would have no trouble getting a doctor to state she's not capable of testifying.
What's bizarre is that this is a ploy generally used by the defense to stop a prosecution - that the defendant is "non compos mentis", meaning not mentally capable of understanding what is going on, the severity of it, the content of it, etc.. The fact that she was about to be committed that night works to their advantage in this respect.
She can't run again in this election. You only get one bite at the apple per each election.
No, I think he's saying it's Nifong's criteria, perhaps.
Month or so back, Protect the Bill of Rights and I did some digging on surname "Cheek", Durham.
Isn't Crystal's mom's maiden name Cheek?
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