An earlier rape case prosecuted by Nifong--
(reposted from another poster)
"The "alleged" victim made two calls the night of the incident to a friend and the messages left had "accidentally" been voiced over briefly by a female ADA and a DPD detective.
The prosecution initially tried to argue that they could be trusted to vouch for whose voice was on the tape but the judge agreed with the defense that an expert needed to be called in. The expert verified that the voice of the ADA was on the tape.
Needless to say the suspect, a former correctional officer was acquited. BTW, the alleged victim did happen to work at a naked bar and Duke Hospital found no injuries consistent with rape, no signs of anal penetration as was alleged nor any physical signs of a beating. (Anything sound familiar?)"
A Durham case from 2002 (when Hardin--now a judge--was DA; he was a mentor to Nifong):
http://www.monkeytime.org/archive/September2002.html#durhamDNA
"9.20.02 - Ok, you tell me if this doesn't sound weird: There's a trial going on right now in Durham, according to the Herald-Sun, in which DNA samples taken from a man accused of rape don't match DNA samples taken from inside the victim. . .
(Simons) told jurors that Brown voluntarily gave DNA samples that did not match samples from the victim. Nor did pubic hairs surrendered by Brown match...In addition, the victim initially told authorities that she thought her white cousin (not Brown, who is AA) was the intruder...
When the cousin was arrested, duct tape and other incriminating items were found in his car and on his property...(but) District Attorney Jim Hardin Jr. gave the cousin "complete immunity" to testify against Brown, Simons told jurors. . .
"... The white cousin who was initially fingered by the rape victim strikes a deal for immunity with the D.A. in order to testify against a black guy whose DNA doesn't match the DNA found inside the victim? ... It's difficult to understand why the guy being charged with rape is apparently not the one whose semen was found inside the victim."
http://www.monkeytime.org/archive/October2002.html#durhamDNA2
"10.2.02 - Update on that Durham rape trial... the suspect, who'd spent a full year in jail awaiting trial, was completely acquitted of all charges. . . The jury foreman, Howard Williams, Jr., had extremely harsh words for the prosecution, describing the trial as "a waste of time":
"We all wondered what we were doing there," he said of himself and fellow jurors. "The evidence was nonexistent. ... I can't understand why that man spent a year in jail when there was no evidence whatsoever against him. It made no sense to us. Where's the justice?"
" Given the strange deal-making in the case... is it fair to wonder - without engaging in moronic cop-bashing - how often this kind of thing happens in Durham, or in other Triangle jurisdictions? I think it is."