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
Politics outweighs the case, so his political savvy about Durham is shining through. He knows exactly what he is doing. He is an incompetent DA making it by because politics is more important than the justice system in
Durham.
If he is still DA when this case is resolved, the incompetent DA will then come shining through to the citizens of Durham.
Well, to those who can't already see it, anyway.
Meanwhile . . .
http://www.wral.com/news/10174210/detail.html
Former Durham Officer Arrested In Alleged Bar Fight
October 27, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. -- A former Durham police officer who resigned from the department Wednesday is behind bars for his involvement in an alleged bar fight.Authorities said Shawn Patrick Stone, 40, punched another man in the face in a bar on Weaver Dairy Stone Road. Stone then apparently left the scene on his motorcycle and eluded authorities.. .
He has been charged with felony fleeing to elude arrest and misdemeanor simple assault.
(felony "fleeing"? But punching a guy in the face is only "simple assault"?)
So all that talk from Nifong's assistant about DA's not talking was a bunch of crap, because Nifong is actually the lead investigator, and the assistant had to know that.
And more . . .
http://www.wral.com/news/10174338/detail.html
Court Clerk Arrested, Suspended
October 27, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Wake County deputy court clerk has been charged with obstructing justice and has been suspended, authorities said Friday. . . The Wake County District Attorney's Office called for an investigation after Brown was accused of giving false information to prosecutors, authorities said.
Well, KC Johnson attended the Monks press conference, and Monks apparently won't withdraw, and says (unbelievably) he is doing much better (at 20% of the vote) than he was in the N & O poll (2%). (Most unlikely. . . to say the least.)
It must be something in the water they drink down there.
I'm off this merry go round.
You have a great day.
IMO, he's an incompetent DA, and a good Durham politician.
Now, since that's just my opinion, there is no need for you to attempt to refute it.
Well, why should we trust the N&O poll, and if Monks does have that much, it's bad news for Nifong, isn't it?
The lack of editors is not a concern. The "few checks" is laughable. The checks are built right into the system - via competition between the blogs themselves. Fortunately, many moderate-to-right-wing blogs value accuracy over vitriol (I wish I could say the same for left-wing blogs).
Finally, sites like FreeRepublic serve as checks on the accuracy of the various blogs. This, in a way, is a debating forum in which facts always trump partisanship (almost always? ;-P). The bloggers on the DukeLAX case do NOT miss the complexity, but rather see through it. The players are not angels, but the mere accusation does not necessarily merit the pre-judgement punishments meted out by the school, especially regarding the public evisceration of the players' reputations.
I don't trust the N & O polls, but Monks had no real basis for his assertions, IMHO. There aren't that many republicans around, and I seriously doubt he is getting ANY support from the black community, though he claims he is. That statement to me sounds a bit off. . .
Makes me wonder if Nifong is really referring to a different sort of problem in the community ~ maybe the one where some of 'em, like him, are still fighting the Civil War.
I believe republicans are only 10 % of Durham county voters.
Where and how Monks going to get 22 % of the votes?
I don't agree that ALL defendants should be reimbursed, there are a lot of guilty people that get off on technicalities and such. But there should be a way to sue them for it in extreme cases like this.
I doubt it. He seems like the type that hates rednecks.
That's the saddest part for Duke. What white northern parent would send their student there? I hope Brodhead is thrown out on his ear for Duke's sake. The boys were right. This stripper has not only harmed the Duke three but a prestigious University and the city it resides in.
I'm still working over the names they gave these guys in their little game ~ Adam, Brett and matt ~ Jewish names maybe ~ Jews from New York City? Is that the point, or was it A, B, C and she couldn't remember "C".
I think one of my earliest posts (shortly after Howlin's first) referred to "Return to Macon County" as the source of Nifong's script.
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