"What's different about this case is that it would never have been brought under normal circumstances."
Nifong hasn't been alone; he's had cooperation. The first honest judge at the bench should have stopped this case cold.
But Nifong knew he could trust his co-conspirators--so we have Stephens and Titus and Bushfan cooperating, and not throwing the case out--not even admonishing him for providing false info for warrants which they signed.
It's a perfect storm, plus a corrupted judicial system, plus
a corrupted local newspaper, plus a North Carolina DA
system that permits DAs to become tyrants over scheduling
and judge-shopping.
When there is an indictment, or an arrest warrant signed by another judge, a judge sitting for the hearings and even the trial cannot simply dismiss charges and throw out evidence willy-nilly. The proper motions have to be made and heard. I believe some of those motions have been made, and they follow a logical order in their presentation. We all hate that this case is going on, but we have to just be patient until the motions are heard. Getting this case out of the queue is extremely helpful. "Put up or shut up" will soon be upon us, I believe.
Lol, well, all those "plusses" are some of the elements of the perfect storm I was talking about, plus Mangum and her situation, spring break and the boys' situation, this being Duke, a prestigious university in a town overloaded with poor blacks and a lot of black criminals, and a black town leadership, on and on. It's uncanny how it all came together to create this masterpiece of a disaster.