A few thoughts:
1. Does the ban on cameras imply Mangum may have to testify concerning one of the motions, say the motion to supress the IDs?
2. Will the media sue to get access? Hard for me to believe CourtTV and FNC will not.
3. Is Judge Smith the third consecutive really really really stupid NC judge who is assigned a case that is clearly a hot potato and fails to understand what he has? The faith in the NC justice system is in the balance here. His role is to both oversee a fair trial and convince the public that it was a fair "trial." [I put trial in quotes because there may never be one, but the hearing must be seen as fair.] This includes those of us here and the Durham and broader black community that believes the woman for whatever or even no good reason. Banning cameras does not smack of someone understanding what they have gotten into.
4. Why is it Gottlieb not Himan lying. Gottlieb has been doing this for years and year. Surely by now he has seen all sorts of criminals lie. Surely by now he knows that while a criminal might be smarter than each police investigator alone, what trips someone up is nobody is smarter than four or five people. A group of investigators always finds the holes in your story if you lie. Yet Gottlieb spins out a pack of lies that will be examined by 100s or thousands or even millions of people. He had to know it would not work. I could see a rookie like Himan thinking he could get away with this, but an experienced investigator? It is shocking.
I talked to my contact @ WRAL about this - she said she would bring it up with her General Manager. I told her that as far as the blogger community was concerned (Lol, took it upon myself to speak for everyone) we didn't trust anyone in the Durham judicial system - we needed to see for ourselves. And I bragged to her on how valuable the archived clips of the earlier hearings have been to us...
"His role is to both oversee a fair trial and convince the public that it was a fair "trial."
Maybe his role is just to protect the corrupt oligarchy which has been looting Durham for years.
Maybe these guys have been operating in their tiny corner of the world for so long that they can't really understand that a giant spotlight has just been turned on.
1). I doubt that Mangum would have to testify for the motions. I don't think the ban includes reporters in the courtroom, just cameras and recorders. There were no cameras during the Scott Peterson trial nor the Michael Jackson trial. Reporters were armed with blackberries, giving reports from inside the courtroom to their counterparts outside who reported on camera to their respective news stations. Most judges don't have "Itoitis." I wouldn't read a whole lot into the banning of cameras and recorders, even though I think it was a mistake.
2). I doubt that news stations will sue to get cameras in there.
3). Lol, yes, he probably is. Bad call, imo.
4). He's probably a better liar. He probably also wants to play along to get along. He's got his own troubles. Plus, at the time this case came down he was probably on departmental probation because he was promoted to sergeant less than a year before, then to supervisor of investigations in Feb. of '06. I don't know if the supervisorial position was just a command assignment or an actual promotion, but if it was, his probationary status would probably have started again then. If it wasn't, he nevertheless would have still been on probation when this case came down as he was promoted to sergeant in May of '05.
Yet Gottlieb spins out a pack of lies that will be examined by 100s or thousands or even millions of people. He had to know it would not work. I could see a rookie like Himan thinking he could get away with this, but an experienced investigator? It is shocking.
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His thought process could've been affected by Desperation! Remember Gottlieb had personally signed one of the affadavits submitted for court approval, where he swore that the Medical Records obtained by Supoena revealed that the woman had injuries consistent with being sexually assaulted ANALLY and Vaginally.
So his goose was partially (or already) cooked. How can one man change the fact that Duke Computer system and the custodians of their records had already provided information that the Medical Records weren't given to Police until 4/5?
Better yet, how can one man change the fact that the Medical records don't say what he said in an official sworn affidavit in order to garner court approval?
He can't change those things, it's impossible, but the next best thing is to create a scenario that would support what he had officially sworn to in affidavits.
So, with this is mind, it's a much smaller leap for him to modify his notes. What authority is going to pursue Gottlieb? Nifong? The corrupt DPD?
I suspect this isn't the first time someone's been railroaded in Durham - by the same crew.
No one is coming to town to see that Durham follows the law.
DC is a good example. Their mayor was on Video doing Coke, and he had a very corrupt citywide system that was heavily criticized. What did the people of DC do? They relelected Mayor Barry and later he was convicted of other charges and he still hold elected office in D.C.