Posted on 07/17/2006 2:08:51 PM PDT by Howlin
Every member of Duke University's men's lacrosse team is a potential witness in the case against three players charged with rape, Durham's lead prosecutor said Monday while arguing for access to their student ID card records. "We want to be able to confirm what they tell us about where they went afterward," District Attorney Mike Nifong said of the uncharged players.
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Titus also formally reaffirmed the state's rules governing trial publicity and disclosure of information to the public and the media. The order does not prevent attorneys in the case from talking publicly, but does prohibit statements that have a "substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" the case. "The rules of professional responsibility require us to be very careful of what we say," said Wade Smith, one of Finnerty's attorneys. "We'll do that. We've been doing that. And we'll continue to do that."
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
Yeah, he got the indictments but he has no case and he's trying to do investigative work he should have done right at the beginning.
Sure but he won the primary. That was his one and only goal with this case.
Are you sure Nifong gets to pick the trial judge?
I think judges are usually chosen at random by some system set up by the criminal courts of that county. Or a judge can be assigned by the supervising judge for the criminal courts division. Or a judge is assigned because he/she is next up on the docket or has space on their docket.
Usually both sides have a chance to object and bounce one judge if they find him/her to be unacceptable.
I've never heard of one side unilaterally picking a judge.
They have been reporting on all the news stations that the DA gets to pick the judge and set the trial date. Pretty sad way of running things.
I've been waiting all this time for a judge to stop things and set things right.
I read that Judge Stephens was an honorable man and would do the right thing. I looked to him to quash the warrants he had approved on the basis of false info. Then this thing was going to end.
I read that Judge Titus was a strict man, but a fair one.
He was going to maybe end the trial Monday by quashing the ID, and the whole thing would finally end. So much for that hope.
I have no confidence that any other judge in the Durham gang is going to do any better; or that Nifong won't use every bit of influence he has to get the trial judge he wants, by hook or by crook.
And I'll toss in Judge Bayly, who for some reason decided to help Nifong's hand with a ludicrous conviction and sentence. I haven't a clue as to why he should have done that. But DC did, and now I have no confidence in the judges there, either.
Nifong gets to set the schedule of the trial. There is a rotating system of judges. Clearly he can not set the trial before a Durham judge that has rotated to a different jurisdiction. But could rush to trial if a judge he liked was currently in Durham, he did not, or delay until someone he does not like rotates out. I am not sure if by setting this for Spring 2007 that he knows who rotates into Durham County then.
It seems that DAs in NC have this scheduling power and it makes them a good bit LESS deferential to judges than DAs in most other states. It also based on watching these settings makes judges a good bit MORE deferential toward the DA than judges elsewhere.
The decision on Friday will be quite interesting. I personally can not see why Nifong should have the permanent addresses of the lacrosse players unless he wants to designate them as hostile prosecution witnesses. He has not done that yet.
I am less sure about the swipe card data. He is certainly allowed to continue to investigate this case.
Add that to the technical flaws, ie sloppy work, in his subpoenas and I wonder if he should get either. As I said it will be interesting.
You've never been to the CTV board? You don't know what you're missing! LOL!
The posts are in the "I Don't Understand" thread.
See if this works:
http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.php?s=dd5155904db5300ffeef1d8b3a52ecc0&threadid=268163
I watched portions of the hearing and thought at least a few of the defense attorneys looked like disorganized buffoons. Predictably Titus admonished them at every turn while Nifong sat back in his chair facing them with that cocky sh!t eating grin on his face.
Hey maggief! Did you notice that post in on the Friends of Duke blog? (The link is upthread.) It looks like the poster is from the Fresno area becauses/he says that the 11-year old victim is white and that was initially reported by the local media.
I did read that post regarding the Fresno rape case but didn't post it because it isn't linked.
Here is the UNCONFIRMED post:
At 12:49 PM, July 17, 2006, Anonymous said...
THE FOOTBALL PLAYERS ARE ALL BLACK. THE ALLEGED VICTIM IS A BLONDE WHITE 11 YEAR OLD CHILD. THIS APPEARED BRIEFLY IN LOCAL S. CALIFORNIA AND HAS BEEN EFFECTIVELY BURIED BY THE ANTI WHITE LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA.
IT IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF THE BIGOTRY, BIAS AND PREJUDICE AGAINST WHITES AND FAVORITISM TOWARDS BLACKS OF THE LIBERAL MEDIA AND THE GOVERNMENT AND POWER STRUCTURE OF
THIS RACIST, ANTI WHITE COUNTRY.
http://friendsofdukeuniversity.blogspot.com/2006/05/general-topics-open.html#c115323100814015730
I don't have any faith in the judges either and if Nifong gets to choose, I can't even imagine how bad the trial judge will be.
Stephens and Titus seem to love Nifong. I'm beginning to think there really is a good ol' boy network in NC.
Bayley dismissed ample reasonable doubt and his behavior was just weird. Wonkette? What the hell?
This is the Durham County Case Management Schedule for yesterday, July 17, 2006. Starting at 3 p.m. it gives the names of the defendants and their lawyers for the motion to quash subpoenas. Not all the lacrosse players are represented there. I counted 36. I didn't see Matt Zash on the list. Isn't Kerry Sutton his attorney?
"Bayley dismissed ample reasonable doubt and his behavior was just weird. Wonkette? What the hell?"
First, that case would never have been heard if it hadn't been for the Durham charges. That alone made it prejudiced.
Second, the trial itself was biased.
Third, the sentence was absurd (you can kill somebody with a drunken punch in Georgetown and all you have to do is write a ten-page paper)
So, to me, that seems indicative that somehow there was a decision to railroad Finnerty into a conviction, and then a stiff sentence with a parole that could threaten him with jail at any time. IE, intimidation--like all the other principals in this case.
But my question then becomes, why would DC be so willing to help Nifong?
I can't help but wonder. Money? Extortion? (Sometimes the simplest answers are the best.)
Impossible? Sure. Not in New Orleans. Not in Durham. But in DC? (Am I to have no illusions left?)
Otherwise, what reason does Bayly have to force this issue--it should have been a $50 fine, or a 10-page paper;
no two days at trial, and the defense witnesses (all of them) should have been allowed to testify.
They could have granted the bartender immunity from the charge of selling to minors (IF that is what he was worried about--don't know, that's speculation) in order to get his testimony--if this case was so all-fired important that they had to hold a trial for it.
Instead, he was forbidden to testify--the only impartial and non-involved witness there (and offered by the defense, so I suppose his testimony was going to help them and not the prosecution).
What's the connection between DC and Durham, and why was DC doing what Durham wanted in this case?
I have no idea what the connection between Durham and DC could be other than prosecutors like to help each other out.
Look at all the talking head prosecutors that go on TV and say Nifong must have something and he's been a prosecutor for 27 years etc. They still support him in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The judge didn't have to rush this thing to trial. It could have waited - which is what Finnerty's lawyers wanted. I think he was biased from the start.
But what gets me is that the DC prosecutors have to have KNOWN, by this point, that the Durham trial is a hoax.
Are they that willing to still help out? (I could have understood if this was at the start, and they believed that Nifong really had a case.)
Is this in return for another favor?
Is Bayly from NC?
I'm looking for a connection.
Just give me a quick reading if you will.
Is the community burning to get whitey, or at this stage do they wish they'd never heard of the girl?
"Is the community burning to get whitey, or at this stage do they wish they'd never heard of the girl?"
That isn't enough. They should care about the guilt or innocence of the players. I'm white and I care about
whether or not the football players in Fresno get railroaded.
Aren't there black people in Durham who just care about whether or not the white players might be innocent?
Good Lord!
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