Nifong: Every Member Of Duke Lacrosse Team A Potential Witness

WRAL.COM ^ | July 17, 2006

[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.

---

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."

[bjc]

The problem with this article is that it tries to be balanced. In so doing, Ms Kwak forgets that old aphorism: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - then it is probably a duck!

This case has all the hallmarks of a false rape accusation: complainant with questionable motives, past history of false complaints and conflicting accounts of what happened; a DA who has yet to provide any evidence that a crime was actually committed; no DNA evidence where there should have been DNA evidence; a loud mouthed DA with a huge motive to gain favor in one community during a close election; problematic and questionable IDs of alleged perpetrators; alleged perpetrators with strong independently verifiable alibis; a media that jumped to conclusions and sensationalized a story before they had any facts.

Ms Kwak should learn to recognize a duck, especially one as big and as loud as this one!!

[bjc]

You just made me remember the scene in Animal House with the horse and Dean Wurmer!!

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

You are right about the Black Activists...they grabbed an opportunity.

[stands2reason]

Well that was depressing (the CTV link)...

Who is this this psycho?

sarasun
Senior Member
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: Watching Mei & Tai
Posts: 4171

T - Gotta love those instigators, dontcha? 10 (alleged) out of how many good citizens...uh huh

BTW racial identification is always capitalized.

_____________________________________________

WTH???? Racial ID capitalized? No. Absolutely not. NEVER! Who the heck does she think she is? Is she some neomarxist moderator from hell?

[DvdMom]

I think regina who posts in blue is worse

I miss reading marco's posts

[JLS]

One thing to keep in mind is there are not necessarily as many of those nuts over there as it looks. A month or so back one replied to itself apparently thinking it had switched to another one of its nicknames.

So there may be about half as many of those nuts over that as it appears. And some are just pure trolls yanking your chain.

[DvdMom]

I'm talking about the courtv posters

[investigateworld]

There are so many things wrong with this case, my (retired) cop computer cannot even begin to to sort it out. Normally, a Chief of Police would run interference with those who have a political agenda, but this Chief seems to have an empty scrotum and/or is beyond, by a hugh measure, the Peter Principal.

I am surprised that the powers that be (at the state level) have let it go on so long.

[pepperhead]

I am not surprised that CTV posters would suffer from multiple personality disorders. ;)

[stands2reason]

Here is a sobering post from the Friends board in that link that M&M posted:
____________________________________________________________________________
At 9:56 AM, July 18, 2006, Anonymous said...
Why the defense will lose this case (unless they change strategy)

Although we are just 3 or 4 preliminary hearings into this case, the Nifong strategy is clear. And it will be devastatingly effective.

First off, any sense that Titus (or any of the Durham judges we have seen) will intercede to stop this farce is misplaced. Titus looks to be another Ito warming to his new-found fame and will become increasingly bizarre in his behavior as time goes on. Highly predictable.

Then there is Hamlet Cheek, who has just apparently ended his career by his egotistical vacillation, and will be of no use.

OTOH, Nifong’s approach is already completely apparent, and will build with each court appearance. He intends to try the 43/44 unindicted Lacrosse players (and their 20 “high-priced” lawyers) as unindicted conspirators

(He managed to dupe Aaron Beard of the AP into exactly trumpeting that line in newspapers across the country yesterday, with the headline “DA: Entire team could be witnesses” –read in Nifongian: Entire team _could_ be guilty, I just didn’t want to charge them to save time.).

It will be the wolves-in-khaki strategy from beginning to end. Nifong will repeatedly point out the hulking suited LAX (including their teammates in the gallery to provide moral support). And imply that no matter what the evidence shows that the 3 indicted and 43 unindicted wolves must be guilty of something.

And the team of defense lawyers will make things even worse.

In the preliminary hearings so far, all of the Lawyers shuffling back and forth and making disjointed, incomplete arguments looked like they were guilty of something themselves.

Nifong will continue to inject his timely sarcastic insults (unimpeded by the trial judge, as he has apparently been for the past 27 years) and the defense lawyers collectively will be unable to effectively respond as a group.

They will end up looking weak and disorganized, as they did when Nifong (not for the first or last time) accused them of a legal Blue Wall of Silence yesterday.

It is time to stop underestimating Nifong. His early public comments and his courtroom asides are intentional and premeditated efforts to blur the facts of the case and instead use a smear campaign as the state’s case.

And that will be a slam dunk for the DA.

With Nifong standing there as the sole defender of the safety of the citizens of Durham against marauding out-of-state jocks, both black and white jurors will respond.

If this case goes to trial, and it will, it is imperative that the defense lawyers attempt to sever the cases and try each individually.

To try and break this dynamic. It will not be easy but if they don’t, Finnerty, Evans and Seligmann may well be convicted.
___________________________________________________________________________

I report, you decide.

[stands2reason]

They don't care, it's payback time.

They think, "It's about time some white boys got what so many black boys got over the years."

They aren't going to shed tears over a few privileged white boys who get falsely accused and convicted of rape.

Still, I'll bet many of those intractables would not feel comfortable actually doing the deed. Expect more than a few potential jurors to find excuses not to participate. They'd rather just let it happen and not care, like the majority of whites had done in the past.

[Carolinamom]

I can't remember where I read it, but some time ago I read that Bob Bennett was a cousin to one of the fathers of the 3 accused Lacross team players. Does anyone here know which one?

I also read just the other day that Bennett is working pro bono. Any more details on that?

[CondorFlight]

And remember that the jury will be like the OJ jury--people too familiar with the case from Court TV, the Internet, newspapers, etc., will be banned.

Probably they will all have to be computer illiterate,
and in the end will "know" about this case only that "something must have happened in that house". The DNA will be too confusing for them. The pressure on any hold-outs to 'go along' will be intense.

We should not be complacent (as I somethings think the defense attorneys have been.) Everything must be done to halt this before it comes to a trial.

[stands2reason]

And those that I mentioned are the members of the AA community that actually know the case is crap.

There is a still a sizable percentage that believe that Duke with its money and privilege covered up the crime. And they will probably be happy to serve on the jury.

[DvdMom]

I think the defense needs to investigate the police & the escort service connection.

Also it's disgusting that Nifong is arresting alot of Crystal " Precious" Magnum buddies .

Nifong is arresting them so they can't testify against her.

[abb]

Here's the story on Bob Bennett
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/09/AR2006060902029_4.html

[pepperhead]

If this case goes to trial, and it will, it is imperative that the defense lawyers attempt to sever the cases and try each individually.

At this point in time if I was one of these kids I think I would have a better chance being tried with the others. I am sure you can get 3 lawyers to act as one in a case where the FA's stories have changed so much. Nifong might try and make the 40 something other players part of this but they will not be represented here by a lawyer. A good jury is key here. And if you get one you stand a better chance that people on the jury could start to have doubts on one persons guilt. And once they question one persons guilt they will question the others.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Is there a player with the last name Walsh?

[pepperhead]

Right the defense needs to turn up the heat on all the cops, hookers and friends of Crystal in Durham since the judges are not going to doing anything to stop this sham.

[CondorFlight]

And head into Federal court;
and get one of the unidicted players to start a civil suit
right now against the AV, in his home state (not NC).

That will force the AV and others in this case to submit to depositions.

Do it now.