Posted on 07/28/2006 4:52:22 AM PDT by abb
To those familar with NC politics--did Jim Hunt and Mike Easley have any political relationship?
(BTW-isn't Hunt dead? He was Gov when we left Eden)
Of course! Easley was Attorney General under Governor Jim Hunt.
I'm trying to line up the players at the state level..It's kinda hard. Haven't lived in NC in years. Had to make sure I was right on this one.
Holshouser was Gov when we Lived in Monroe and then Hunt.
Martin was Gov when we left Eden for Syracuse, but I don't even remember him. But I had a toddler and an infant. Don't remember much except I didn't sleep too much, LOL!.
Lacrosse case may get single judge
By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun. Jul 28, 2006 : 9:41 pm ET
DURHAM -- The Duke lacrosse rape case likely will get an "exceptional" designation from the state Supreme Court that would be the first of its kind for a criminal issue in Durham, officials said Friday.
The designation, which must be approved by the chief justice of the state's highest court, could speed the case by providing one judge to handle every detail from now until the end of a trial.
With only one judge making all the decisions, consistency and efficiency would be vastly improved, officials predict.
"I think it's a great idea," lawyer Bill Cotter said Friday. -cut-
If the "exceptional" designation comes, those involved in the lacrosse matter would come up with the names of three possible judges and submit them to the Supreme Court chief justice, who would select one of them.
***Durham's senior judge, Orlando F. Hudson, agreed Friday that the idea is a good one -- largely because a trial of the lacrosse case could set a longevity record for local criminal proceedings, possibly lasting even longer than the five months it took to try murder suspect Michael Peterson in 2003.***
Hudson said the lacrosse case has three defendants rather than just one, and that they might be on the witness stand seemingly endlessly if they choose to testify.
In addition, extensive publicity and racial issues surrounding the lacrosse incident might cause jury selection to drag out for weeks, Hudson said.
The three indicted lacrosse players are white. The accuser is black.
It took a month and half to seat a jury for the Peterson trial.
According to Hudson, an "exceptional" designation might cause a trial to occur even sooner than the early 2007 time frame mentioned by District Attorney Mike Nifong.
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-756704.html
Important considerations for local leaders will be the effect of an earlier, long-drawn-out trial on Duke's highly
visible Basketball season, and maximum exposure during Spring network TV ratings sweeps.
I guess I should maybe mention what I am trying to do with these names and articles.
Nifong's presser :
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/465647.html
"....He said that during his primary campaign earlier this year, Cheek and two men who eventually backed Cheek's petition drive -- Ed Pope and Roland Leary -- visited him to give campaign advice. Nifong said he did not take the advice. He said that later he thought that Pope, a state juvenile justice official, and Leary, a former sheriff, wanted to control the district attorney.
"I realized that their concern had not been with the concept of a small group of people owning the District Attorney's Office but with the concept of it being owned by someone other than them," he said.
Cheek, Pope and Leary could not be reached Friday...."
The DCABC board was recently in the news in connection with an allegation of nepotism. Someone linked the article on one of these threads in the last week or so.
Might have been one of abb's finds.
What was it Nifong said???
April 13, 2006
WRAL
At a forum early Wednesday evening, the three candidates for Durham County district attorney fielded questions about law, morality and the community. But all roads seemed to lead back to an ongoing rape investigation involving an exotic dancer and Duke University's men's lacrosse team, and the nationwide attention focused on Nifong and his handling of the case. "The reason that I took this case is because this case says something about Durham that Im not going to let be said," said Nifong. "I'm not going to allow Durham's view in the minds of the world to be a bunch of lacrosse players at Duke raping a black girl from Durham."
Wonder who is starting to really worry about Durham's image?
I respectfully disagree.
Nifong doesn't want out. Nifong WANTS this. Nifong still is swinging for the fences (a home run).
He is vindicated and becomes very famous and popular in Durham.
On the "out of Durham official," do we know that this person will be out of Durham AND won't be a Judge from the same pool or District be assigned (like Judge Stephens).
I was thinking that this State official will appoint one of the guys that's in that Durham circuit, but he will remain on the Duke case for some issues.
The Defense lawyers may have felt pressured to agree. After all, read their comments on the "Quasi-gag-order" from Titus in the day or two surrounding that order. They were happy, it won't affect them in anyway, we have no problem at all with it. 4 days later they file a motion asking that that Quasi gag-order be lifted or reversed.
The State or someone in power has way of persuading you to agree, when you realize you don't have any choice - really.
What was the alternative - Have Nifong do all the scheduling?
'Wonder who is starting to really worry about Durham's image?"
The folks who have and are investing Hundreds of millions of dollars
in the new American Tobacco complex and other downtown projects.
"I'm not going to allow Durham's view in the minds of the world to be
a bunch of lacrosse players at Duke raping a black girl from Durham."
I always thought this meant they were innocent.
Do you know who got the ball rolling on the fast trck thing?
I agree, he does want this trial..No way, no how will he drop the charges. He feels no guilt or remorse.
But I think he is feeling pressure from some sectors as to how this has gotten out of control. Just a gut feeling.(Not that he gives a damn)
I posted that once, but maybe others did too. A very qualified applicant in another County made a stink because the person selected didn't meet the qualifications of the job and, it appears, no one else was even considered.
I want to make sure no one missed this in my post 220:
A Durham County sheriff's detective wants to find out who made $1,500 in calls to phone sex lines from ABC headquarters.
I didn't read that latest article!
That is good news! If the Defense Lawyers get to select that is better than having in done in Nifong's office - that's for sure.
I wonder if this stems from charges or actions that the Defense team was going to make in regard to Nifong purposefully delaying the date in a punitive way. Maybe the Def lawyers indicated they would make a Federal request on civil rights violations or the like and this was the compromise.
It seems to me, Nifong wouldn't give up a tool, for no reason. A tool he wields in every criminal case.
Someone doesn't relinquish their normal responsibility and duties without deriving some benefit from it.
I can tell you they don't want Hardin !
and we all know Stephens.
If you search the N&O archives, you'll see that when Hardin was DA he was accused of Judge shopping and repeatedly going back to Hudson - almost exclusively - in high profile cases. And even other Judges are quoted as inferring that Hardin kept going back to Hudson BECAUSE he consistently ruled for the prosecution. There were multiple N&O articles - can't link - but they're in the arhives. A lawsuit was even brought in regard to this Judge-shopping which was essentially going back to Hudson repeatedly. The lawsuit was "settled" out of court. That Judiciary agreed to review the way cases were assigned, but it was very heated and Hardin and other Judges made Public statements on the case.
Hardin, as DA, said that he'd be an idiot NOT to utilize his option to schedule those cases where they have their best shot.
The article said plainly that North Carolina is the ONLY state in the country where Judge shopping is LEGAL.
CREDIT to JLS ,, he told me about the article(s).
So, if you read that article, you'll understand the Orlando Hudson shouldn't be chosen either.
So, what if their options are Hudson, Hardin, and Stephens?
That's BIG trouble ! But, I'm probably being too negative.
Comment from: J.W. [Visitor] 07/28/06 at 23:39
Who's the BALD COP that ABC described as the "intial Perpetrator" that did NOT get indicted?
Any explanations why the Ring-Leader and Central figure in the assault wasn't charged?
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That is the Question at this time. This is big.
Sure, the Media is overlooking it, but if someone exposes it at the National level, it could be explosive !
Mike, I read somewhere that Nifong tried his 300 felony cases in front of everyone but Hudson.
It meant they were innocent and he was race baiting in a way that would put Jesse to shame.
Do you have the link handy?
Olando Hudson is black--
Doesn't worry about the Committee.
He knows case is crap.
He does like being on TV.
My predicton it goes to him-
He will be fair. Has most respect
from public, black or white.
When working with Hardin, they
went thru a ream of hard-core
criminal cases to clear huge dockets.
They put the right people in jail,
which is very hard to do in Durham.
Nifong was only Other ADA to try in
front of Hudson. Hardin is Duke so out.
Hung or unanimous acquittal.
Durham and all its crooks will be the
ones on trial.
Another note to self:
State NAACP Leader in 2005 Melvin "Skip" Alston
Check to see if related to first husband of Travis mangum's mother.
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