Posted on 10/27/2006 5:00:15 AM PDT by abb
Nifong to give up more documents to defense
By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun October 26, 2006 9:44 pm
DURHAM -- District Attorney Mike Nifong today will give defense lawyers about 2,000 additional pages of information about the Duke University lacrosse rape case -- the largest single batch of documentation he has surrendered so far.
Nifong turned over some 1,800 pages of information in one previous court hearing and another 615 pages last month.
After they receive today's batch, defense attorneys will have roughly 4,500 pages of documentation about the case that has polarized Durham, brought intense national publicity to the community and sparked a movement to oust Nifong as chief prosecutor.
In addition to paperwork, defense lawyers will receive 3 DVDs from Nifong today. Among other things, they reportedly contain e-mails generated by Duke students and lacrosse players.
The information will be surrendered in a hearing before Judge Osmond Smith, who was specially assigned by the N.C. Supreme Court to shepherd the controversial lacrosse case to completion.
Three suspects in the case, Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans, are not required to be present today. They are free under $100,000 bonds as they await a trial that is expected to occur next year.
The three are accused of raping and sodomizing an exotic dancer during an off-campus lacrosse party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-March.
All have professed their innocence.
Other than the surrender of information by Nifong, no major developments are expected during today's hearing.
"I don't think anyone knows exactly what will happen, but I don't believe there will be much to it," said one lawyer, asking not to be identified.
Critical defense motions in the case have yet to be heard, but they will not be argued today.
Among other things, those motions accuse police of misleading a judge to obtain a search warrant, and of devising an unconstitutional photo lineup -- a lineup that allegedly was too suggestive because it included only pictures of Duke lacrosse players.
Several national television pundits, along with a host of Internet chatters, have blasted Nifong for allegedly rushing to judgment in the case and getting the three suspects indicted on insufficient evidence.
In addition, the lacrosse incident is responsible for an anti-Nifong movement in the Nov. 7 election.
Voters are being urged to cast their ballots for County Commissioner Lewis Cheek as part of an effort to recall Nifong.
However, Cheek has said he would not serve as district attorney if elected, meaning the governor would have to choose a replacement for him.
Another anti-Nifong faction is led by local Republican Party Chairman Steve Monks, who is running for the chief prosecutor's seat on an unaffiliated write-in basis.
Monks said in an interview this week that a combined oust-Nifong effort would be better than two fragmented ones.
"It is probable that one of us has to withdraw," he said. "It has to happen. Someone has to be the frontrunner for the anti-Nifong movement. Otherwise, Mike will continue to be DA?. I can't scream from the highest mountain loudly enough that we need a combined effort."
And Charlotte Woods, a campaign leader for Monks, said she had told Cheek "a multiplicity of times" that Monks would withdraw from the race if Cheek agreed to serve as district attorney if elected.
"We have made it plain over and over again," she said. "We've told him and told him."
But Cheek said Thursday that, "Service as DA is not an option for me."
He said he made it clear earlier that responsibilities to partners and employees prevented him from leaving his private law firm
"Nothing has changed," he added.
Meanwhile, Nifong said Thursday that he continued to stand by the rape case, and he denied he was responsible for polarizing the community.
"This particular case has not divided the community," he said. "It has pointed to divisions that already existed. It is a signal to us that we need to address these underlying divisions."
Nifong would not be specific, but he apparently referred to town-gown issues and racial issues, among others.
The accuser in the rape case is black. The three suspects are white.
"Another prosecutor might make the case go away, but he can't make the underlying issues go away," said Nifong.
The district attorney, who has been a prosecutor in Durham for 27 years and head of his office since April 2005, said he wasn't withering under a storm of adverse criticism about the lacrosse incident.
"It's the difference between character and reputation," he said. "Character is what you are. Reputation is what people say you are. As long as you know who you are, you don't have to worry over what people say about you. ?
"I might be better off if I wasn't DA," Nifong acknowledged. "It certainly would be less stressful. But this is a path I have chosen to take in my life. I'm seeing some of the not-so-fun part of the job right now, but you can't take a job and just do it when it's easy and fun. URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-782289.html
http://americandaily.com/article/16232
The Hazards of Duke: A Conspiracy Involving the North Carolina Bar Association?
By David R. Usher (10/28/2006)
In my April 12, 2006 piece The Hazards of Duke: Predatory Feminism, I called the Duke Lacrosse rape case a travesty of justice based on inconsistencies that had already made it a perfect match with the McMartin Day Care travesty.
We have all witnessed the prosecutor, Mike Nifong, commit one outrage after another pursuing a case that is obviously a rape of three young men who, like too many young college students, party too much and behave stupidly.
Nifong’s latest disclosure tips the case into outrage: He now admits to trying the case despite never having interviewed the allegor to see if her story holds together.
Understand the meaning of Nifong’s confession: "I haven't talked with her about the facts of that night. ... We're not at that stage yet."
One of the first things first-year law school students learn is this: never try a case unless you know that the primary witness is credible and won't fall apart on the stand.
The second rule he violated: never try a major case unless you have the primary witness deposed, or at least in recorded interview, so you know you have a case worth trying, and so you have something to fall back on if the witness changes his or her story at trial.
Where this case is clearly false to begin with, and in addition to several acts Nifong committed that fall well outside well-settled prosecutorial boundaries of practice, Nifong has evidently malpracticed by failing to verify his facts to begin with. In fact, he has gone out of his way not to verify them.
Nifong is not trying this case because he should ... but because he can.
I have seen enough of this case to declare Nifong the "most-wanted criminal in North Carolina". This is not said in jest. A prosecutor who has committed so many acts of malfeasance in office (remarkably, in just one case) has an irreconcilable conflict of interest.
Where a prosecutor cannot prosecute himself, he must be forcibly removed and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Where is the Attorney General of North Carolina? Does he not have a duty to ensure that all state's actors are behaving in accordance with applicable laws and rules of court of North Carolina?
Where is the North Carolina Bar Association? This is cause for public outrage. One does not try a case until facts are ascertained.
That the North Carolina Bar Association has not yet taken decisive disciplinary action strongly suggests that the legal system in North Carolina is corrupt beyond belief.
Those who wish to do something about the debacle in North Carolina may wish to study my article "How To Reform the Corrupt Legal System", which provides a powerful and legal tool for citizens to apply in disciplining an irresponsible legal profession.
A reasonable person could conclude this affair may be a conspiracy involving the North Carolina Bar Association, who in remaining strangely silent and in failing to act, is apparently an accomplice during-the-fact.
---
David R. Usher is Senior Policy Analyst for the True Equality Network, and President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, Missouri Coalition
Where ARE her kids? And who is caring for them while she's pole dancing at that strip club? Apparently, only Nifong knows,
I could say the same thing. Let's see:
"She grasped the pole and lowered herself into a squatting position, so that her buttocks almost touched the floor. With her hands on the floor, she stretched out her right leg vertically, as though she was kicking to the ceiling while squatting, and waved her leg several times to either side of the pole. "
After reading the above account I cannot say with certainty that it was the accuser dancing. Those are not the usual and customary things I have associated with "dancing."
Perhaps while she was grinding her butt and waving her leg she could be heard panting "Nifong, oh Mikey, YES YES YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS."
The club manager verified that it was Precious up there "dancing".
I know, they call it "dancing." I just kind of smirk when I hear what they do described that way.
I would love to show the picture of her corpulance sprawled on the back porch of the Duke house to Wilson and ask him: "In your professional opinion, would you describe this as dancing?"
A thought occurred to me prompted by the predatory feminism theme of the Usher articleTime to do some digging on Nifong's wife.
Nifong's probably caring for them.
Based on the pictures and videos that have been shown, she needs to avoid cameras while plying her trade. They are not her friends.
Which is why beer goggles were invented...
LOL, I don't think beer goggles would work for me in this case. I don't think I could ever drink that much beer.
And I enjoy my beer to much to try to make it into goggles.
What a powerful observation! After the latest court hearing I would ask the same questions: "Where is the State Attorney General?" "Where is the bar association?" Are we supposed to believe that what DA/Lead Investigator Nifong is doing is usual and customary in North Carolina? Frightening if true.
It begs the question then. Are there other accused from past Nifong indictments still sitting in jail because Nifong has yet to talk to the victim?
Irritating little pests aren't they?
They seem to keep getting in the way of a few little lies and one big hoax.
Outstanding! Nifong believes her. But he has yet to interview her. LOL!!!!!
Scary, isn't it?
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