Posted on 08/09/2006 9:18:34 AM PDT by flixxx
There is a scandal now brewing in the Duke lacrosse case. I'm not even sure whether to call it a rape case anymore. You're about to see why.
Consistent with the procedure in North Carolina and elsewhere, the prosecution has to turn over its evidence to the defense to prepare for trial. There's still more to come, but the bulk of what has been turned over is troubling enough. It suggests a failure to follow standard procedure that is rather mind-boggling.
Consider: The District Attorney went to the grand jury for an indictment before he even performed DNA tests (it turns out there was no match). One of the investigators was still collecting prices for DNA tests while the DA was giving interviews. He announced to the press that he was certain that a rape had taken place before excluding the possibility that the woman's physical symptoms were the result of sex with another man (turns out she'd had sex with her boyfriend within the preceding 24 hours). They were still investigating the woman's whereabouts during the 24 hours leading up to the party, and they had already been to the grand jury. The prosecutor relied on a photographic identification procedure that reportedly violated the standards of his own department. If the discovery is any indication, his case is sitting on quicksand.
None of this means the woman is lying. But at the very least, standard procedure should have been to await the results of tests, and then, given the results, the inconsistencies in the woman's statements, the fact that at least one of the boys seems to have an airtight alibi, investigate further before indicting anyone.
Instead, the train had already left the station.
It doesn't matter anymore why the DA was so determined to indict. His critics will say it was just because he was thinking about his political career. His supporters will say he really believed her, and that a District Attorney has every right to be responsive to the community that elects him. My guess is he really did believe her, but it certainly didn't hurt that he needed to. And one thing is clear: He's not going to change his mind now.
That means this case is going to trial, unless a judge steps in to stop it, which is something that rarely happens.
And of this you can be sure: No good will come of it. Trials do not tend to be healing experiences. Sides dig in. Things get more contentious, not less. Tempers are bound to flare. Reliving the evening in living color is not likely to be pretty. Hearing the racial epithets again, rereading the e-mails, all of that will not improve race relations, even if it has nothing to do with whether a rape happened or not.
Even before that, there will be the questions of who serves on the jury and what counts as a jury of their peers. Shall we start counting how many minorities there are, how many "Duke" people, how many of "us" and how many of "them"?
If she takes the stand, she'll be slaughtered on cross.
If she doesn't, the prosecution doesn't have a chance.
No one will be convinced that the case was handled fairly.
If even one of the boys is convicted, there will be outrage in the Duke community.
If they're all acquitted, there will be outrage in the black community that three white boys got away with rape.
Conservatives will be outraged that three boys' lives were ruined because an ambitious prosecutor believed a lying "slut" (as in the nuts and sluts defense), which will be played to a fare-thee-well.
Victims rights advocates like me will be depressed because we will worry, rightly, about all the messages being sent to legitimate victims.
And what would have happened if the District Attorney had waited to go to the grand jury, followed the identification procedure, let the test results come in, found out about the boyfriend and investigated enough to learn that one of the suspects had an airtight alibi? He might have decided not to file charges at all, or not to file them against these three young men.
There are reasons you follow procedures. In general, they are there to spare outrage.
"Conservatives (as well as anybody else) should be outraged because of prosecutorial misconduct"
BINGO!!In the end this IS THE ISSUE with this case.....
As mentioned over on the Friends's site, most politicians, their staffs, and most local media people are only vaguely aware of the outlines of this story. They don't follow it daily; for them, it is still just about a possible rape by three hubris-laden white jocks.
It is NOT about prosecutorial abuse, deprivation of civil rights, and a lying accuser. (The MSM has not gone out of its way to not inform the general public about any of these things.)
So, our job before the next hearing is to get the word out,
(maybe using the Neff article)
and emphasize the illegal actions of the DA, the nature of the corrupt southern oligarchy which rules Durham, and the call for a federal investigation of the whole Durham scene.
THAT part of the story is not fraught with racial overtones; it is something people can grasp (corrupt politics, corrupt police who give protection to prostitution and drugs, a corrupt DA) and come to terms with without having to change any of their concepts or world view (i.e, that all male jocks are evil,
that every woman who cries rape is truthful, etc.)
If enough people learn the truth about this, then they will start to view anything that comes out of the Durham system with skepticism. And that means close scrutiny of the judicial process. And close scrutiny of that process means the end of this case.
So let's not let up. Every media outlet (including local talk radio), every politician (calling for help in getting an FBI investigation--and asking why the FBI isn't aleady involved), every news commentator and columnist--should get the facts (which in fact many of them probably haven't seen); to help them start questioning.
The media and the politicians have to be spoon fed; so get out your tableware. One letter a day, one email a day.
If enough mail hits the politicians, they'll start having to take notice.
Also from the Friends' site, someone posted:
"Jeanine Pirro, the former Westchester County (NY) DA is the current Republican candidate for NY Attorney General. She is also a regular guest on Greta van Susteren's show. Perhaps she should be contacted about this case."
Her website is http://www.jeaninepirro.com/
The corruption and abuse in Durham is something which at least--if she were informed about it--she might be able to talk about. And help call for an FBI probe of what goes on down there. Especially helpful to contact if you are from New York; but you can let her know this issue (prosecutorial abuse and deprivation of civil rights) affects the whole nation, too.
I agree with you on your theory of Mangum's injuries from a pimp beating. Dan Abrams said something about the UNC medical records that led me to believe there were visible injuries that happened after she was seen at the Access Center and Duke. I haven't been able to locate a transcript of the Abrams comment, but I know I heard it.
Feds want agency data
Biesecker; Staff Writer, News & Observer, February 4, 2006
DURHAM -- Federal officials have asked the Durham Housing Authority for extensive information about two companies it paid thousands for doing little or no work.
The request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development came days after a Durham housing board member requested an investigation of the authority's handling of a $35 million Hope VI redevelopment grant.
A Jan. 21 article in The News & Observer detailed more than $130,000 in questionable payments to the two companies: Eagle Village Community Development Corp. and Durham Regional Community Counseling.
Tax records show the board of directors at Eagle Village included the housing authority's longtime executive director; a senior authority staff member; an authority board member; Durham City Council member Howard Clement III, the city's longtime liaison to the housing authority; and several people who had business dealings with the authority.
Deloris Rogers, the chairwoman of the housing authority board, said Friday that she was never told of any dealings with Eagle Village or made aware of the potential conflicts of interest raised by so many with ties to both the private company and the public agency.
"I never knew anything about Eagle Village or who was on its board," Rogers said.
In 2004, the city of Durham cut off funding to Eagle Village, named for its affiliation with N.C. Central University, because it refused to turn over financial documents and taxpayer money disappeared. Despite the well-publicized problems, money from the housing authority continued to flow.
Documents released Friday show questions were raised within the authority last summer about whether Eagle Village and Durham Regional had been bilking the agency. Further payments were suspended. But those concerns were not disclosed to the public, the authority's board or federal officials monitoring the Hope VI project.
"None of this was shared with me," said RaShanne Woods, the board member who requested the investigation and chairwoman of the authority's Hope VI oversight committee. "I definitely think there was an effort to keep this from leaking out."
Asked Friday if HUD was now investigating the authority's relationship with Eagle Village and Durham Regional, a spokeswoman at the federal agency's Washington headquarters said, "The request for information speaks for itself."
Other investigations
There have been at least three investigations of the Durham Housing Authority since April 2003. At that time, the agency's executive director, James Tabron, was forced to resign after making more than $12,000 in personal charges on an agency credit card -- including a gold ring, flowers and cash advances. Federal auditors later alleged more than $12 million in misspending and improper loans tied to the agency and two nonprofit subsidiaries created by Tabron.
State incorporation records show Tabron helped charter Eagle Village in 1998, signing as the nonprofit company's board secretary. Four years later, acting as the head of the housing authority, Tabron signed potentially lucrative contracts with Eagle Village and Durham Regional to provide financial consulting to residents displaced as part of the expansive Hope VI redevelopment.
Complex demolished
HUD awarded Durham the $35 million grant in 2000 to tear down the Few Gardens public housing complex and replace it with 425 new East Durham homes. Of that, $5.3 million was budgeted to help the more than 200 families that would be displaced so they could qualify for federally backed mortgages to buy new Hope VI homes.
More than $3 million in grant money was spent, but The N&O reported in April that the authority had lost track of the majority of the families it was supposed to help and that only eight residents completed the required homeownership classes.
Within weeks of the revelation, Hope VI director Gwen Simpson was fired, along with most of her staff. One of the dismissed staff members, William V. Harris, was later charged with a felony count of embezzlement for allegedly stealing the rental payments of low-income residents. Harris is awaiting trial.
Also fired was Charles H. Smith Jr., who directly oversaw the contracts with Eagle Village Community Development and Durham Regional Community Counseling.
Tax records also list Smith as a board member at Eagle Village.
Smith was fired as executive director at the Wilmington [Del.] Housing Authority in 1999 after an FBI investigation and HUD audit found millions in misspending and missing money. HUD banned Smith from working for housing authorities in Delaware, but Tabron hired him in Durham the following year.
Invoices in question
After Simpson and Smith were dismissed last year, outside consultants discovered that all but one of the public housing residents the private companies claimed to have served had not been moved from Few Gardens, and were therefore not eligible. Many of the questionable invoices filed by the companies were approved by Simpson, even after news broke of the financial problems at Eagle Village.
The Durham City Council earmarked more than $1 million to invest in a block of 10 historic mill houses that Eagle Village planned to remodel. After spending $487,329, the city cut off payments in March 2004 when it was discovered that Eagle Village had not supplied required audits. Work on the project froze, and the nonprofit's director, Everett Miles, was fired. The city was later forced to repay HUD $13,473 given to Eagle Village after no proof could be provided that it was spent for any legitimate purpose.
No tax returns
The tax returns of nonprofit companies -- which detail their income, spending and board members -- are open to public inspection under federal law. The Internal Revenue Service confirmed this week that Eagle Village has failed to file tax returns since 2001.
Eagle Village's current executive director, Stephen Fountain, has not returned repeated calls from The N&O. Glyndola Massenburg-Beasley, the president of Durham Regional, could not be reached Friday evening.
** The FBI might just want to open a permanent office in Durham. **
The Committee to Recall Nifong - Vote Cheek filed with the Durham County Board of Education as a Political Action Committee according to Committee spokesperson Beth Brewer. Mrs. Brewer indicated that a formal statement would be released Monday.
The Committee to Recall Nifong - Vote Cheek may be contacted at 919.310.1147 or bbrewer@recallnifong.com
When even a Lefty can see the writing on the wall, then the writing is pretty clear.
Her conclusion is inescapable.
The UNC visit might have been to score some pain meds.
The NBPP is back in the news, this time with Cynthia McKinney. Hannity & Colmes ran a segment on the scuffle with McKinney's campaign people. There were some pretty disgusting anti-semitic remarks thrown out by the McKinney side, and I think we should preserve them for posterity. These are Nifong's buddies.
And there's this from RealClearPolitics via Yahoo!
McKinney's Black Panthers
Tom Bevan Mon Aug 7, 9:31 AM ET
Check out this nugget on the McKinney campaign buried at the end of a story in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Several people dressed in black suits and boots followed McKinney around.
The patches on their clothes said: "New Black Panther Party Freedom or Death." The organization does not have an official role in McKinney's campaign and are not on her organization's payroll, said McKinney's campaign manager, John Evans.
So members of the "largest organized anti-Semitic black militant group in America" just show up spontaneously to follow McKinney around during the final hours of her campaign?
-- http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20060807/cm_rcp/mckinneys_black_panthers
Your questions about the Duke lacrosse case
Thanks for sending in the questions. I’m not addressing any questions
about sources, or what should or shouldn’t happen in the case. I’ve taken
the liberty to fix grammar and spelling for clarity’s sake. And I’m steering
away from speculative questions: I’ll leave those to the blogs and commentators.
— Joseph Neff, N&O staff writer
Q: Does anyone know the accuser's current whereabouts and whether
she can even testify in a coherent manner?
Ricardo Castells, Miami
A: The police and prosecutors must know her whereabouts.
We at the newspaper don’t know where she is or how she’s doing.
---continued at- http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/469139.html
She is a hooker.
She is a SLUT, raped or not.
Estrich didn't insult anyone.
I spent the past month in Durham (working at RTP) and made two trips by 610 N. Buchanon. One thing I will say is the house was larger than I anticipated. Also, the neighbor/witness next door has moved out. His house is roughly 15 feet from the LAX house, so I imagine he had a good view of the aftermath. His timeline should be concrete and this favors the defense.
I saw it all. It was HOT in Raleigh-Durham the July!
"No one else even questions that Nifong meant vaginal swelling when he said trauma."
"N&O immediately issued a correction when they got a date of a memo wrong. Don't you think they would have issued a correction if they wrongly claimed Nifong wanted to rule out her vaginal swelling."
Nifong didn't have her medical records until April 5. The memo was written April 4. How could he have known about diffuse edema on that date?
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