LIVE THREAD: 2:30 Press Conference Regarding Nifong's Request to be Excused from Duke Case

FNC | January 13, 2007

[Peach]

Press conference scheduled for 2:30 regarding Nifong's request to be excused from Duke case.

FNC will carry live.

[OldFriend]

Since all of his cases are in jeopardy you can bet that they won't be going after NiFong with any seriousness.

They protect their own and to hell with these rich white boys from the east coast.

[Hoodat]

Both Nifong and Attorney General Cooper happen to be Democrats who attended UNC-CH. Go figure.

[Sue Perkick]

I'm not finding the profiles I thought were supposed to be up on the site.

All so far is this
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2515848_1?noconfirm=0
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2167670_1?noconfirm=0

Just basic contact info. There are some links with it not sure if there's much of anything to them or not.

Anybody else see these profiles Cooper was talking about?

[Sue Perkick]

I ran to MSNBC when she started yapping.

[Mad-Margaret]

I'm trying to find a picture of Mary Winstead. Unfortunately, there's an actress from NC with the same name.

[ConorMacNessa]

Whether or not they go after him, the Habeas Corpus writs are about to start flying, if they haven't already.

[maggief]

(no link)

Coman taking command of SBI Attorney general taps 'tough prosecutor' to help agency shift gears
The News & Observer
February 3, 1993
Author: ROB CHRISTENSEN; Staff writer
Estimated printed pages: 3

James Coman, a salty, aggressive prosecutor, Tuesday was named North Carolina's top cop, replacing Charles Dunn as director of the State Bureau of Investigation.

State Attorney General Mike Easley said Coman is a trusted friend who will help him make some changes at the SBI.
Those changes include greater use of investigative grand juries and closer ties between state Justice Department lawyers and the agency. Easley said the SBI also will step up its involvement in investigating hate crimes, child abuse, drugs cases, violations of environmental laws, school violence and white-collar crime.

Coman will take charge of the agency Friday, heading a force that includes 310 agents and 265 other employees.

"He's a tough prosecutor and he will be a tough cop," Easley said at a meeting of SBI personnel at their headquarters on Garner Road in South Raleigh.

Coman, 50, has been a senior deputy state attorney general and head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division since 1985. The son of a Rahway, N.J., police chief, he had such a reputation for aggressiveness as a prosecutor that his colleagues once presented him with a "buzz saw award" -- a saw blade mounted on a plaque.

Easley's decision to remove Dunn marks the end of an era at the SBI. Dunn has been the agency's director or deputy director off and on since 1969. Easley heaped praise on Dunn's leadership but said he wanted to set a new tone with his own choice.

"My years of experience with Jim Coman have just convinced me that he would be the director who could do the things I want the bureau to do," Easley said. "He's interested in and proficient at a lot of the things that I think are important to law enforcement."

Coman suggested that such changes come with the territory. If Easley should leave the Attorney General's Office, he said, he would expect to lose his SBI job.

Dunn served two tours of duty with the SBI. After his replacement was announced Tuesday, bureau employees formed a long line for handshakes and hugs.

"I deeply appreciate the opportunity given me over the years at the SBI," Dunn said. He received a standing ovation at the start of his speech and long applause at the end. He said he has no hard feelings about being replaced, although he was surprised at the timing. He has agreed to remain with the SBI for 30 days to help with the transition.

Robert Morgan, a former U.S. senator and former SBI director, said Dunn has left his mark on the agency.

"His contributions to the SBI are just inestimable," Morgan said in an interview. "When he became the director in 1969, there were 35 agents. He doubled it the first year.

"He upgraded the standard so only college graduates could be hired. There was no crime lab. There had never been an SBI Academy. He made it a meaningful criminal investigative agency."

Dunn first served as SBI director when Morgan was attorney general, then was hired as assistant director when Morgan himself became director after serving in the U.S. Senate. He was promoted to director when Morgan retired.

Easley's predecessor, Lacy Thornburg, brought Coman to Raleigh to join the attorney general's staff in 1985. He has prosecuted more than 200 criminal jury trials, including murder cases, sexual assaults, drug trafficking and white-collar crimes.

Thornburg used to refer to Coman as "my junkyard dog," according to John Simmons, who was Thornburg's chief aide.

"As head of the criminal division, he didn't have to personally prosecute cases, yet he chose to," Simmons said. "He would take the most difficult cases. I have never seen him shy way from controversy."

Coman's barroom language is legendary in the halls of the Justice Department.

"I have never heard anybody more creative in their use of salty language," Simmons said. "Coman makes music out of cussing."

Coman's appointment was lauded by Durham District Attorney Ronald Stephens.

"Jim Coman is an experienced, excellent trial prosecutor," Stephens said. "He has the respect of every district attorney in the state. He has been there. He has tried capital cases, and other less serious cases."

Easley said he wants the SBI to develop a closer relationship with the rest of the Justice Department.

"Historically, there have been the lawyers uptown and the bureau on Garner Road," Easley said. "That is what we have got to get away from. We have to see ourselves as a unit."

With local police forces better trained these days, Easley said, the SBI should spend less time investigating routine breaking and entering cases and more time on more sophisticated crimes.

He said he will involve the SBI in expanded use of

investigative grand juries, which he said "must be used much, much more in this state."

###James J. Coman

Age: 50

Raised: Rahway, N.J. Son of police chief.

Family: Married with two children.

Education: St. Anselm's College in Manchester, N.H., A.B. in history and government, 1964. Wake Forest University law school, 1971.

Military: U.S. Army, 1966-68.

Career: Senior deputy attorney general and Criminal Division chief, state Justice Department (since 1985). Assistant district attorney, Greensboro (1978-85). Greensboro police attorney (1973-78).

[gitmo]

I've decided it's a huge mistake NOT to publish the "victims'" names. They can destroy people with virtually no evidence.

[F.J. Mitchell]

I believe Howlin has had herself cloned. She often posts on several threads at the exact same time. :~)

[maggief]

Coman gets it right
The News & Observer
August 9, 1996
Estimated printed pages: 2

James Coman, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, is a tough former prosecutor who's come up against many an investigation in which he would have liked more latitude in pursuit of bad guys. But Coman understands clearly that ethical standards of law enforcement often demand restraint even when restraint is inconvenient.

How clearly he understands is evident in a comment he made to The News & Observer in the wake of an embarrassing case of investigatory excess on the part of the state's Alcohol Law Enforcement agents. Investigating "adult businesses" in Jacksonville, agents paid for sex acts and watched as women performed sex acts on each other. The investigation resulted in charges against 16 women, and the owner of the businesses for which they worked may, according to an attorney involved in the case , face tax-evasion charges himself.
But Coman, who does not supervise ALE, was not pleased. "There is," he said, "an ethical and a moral code that you cannot allow your officers to go beyond or compromise." He suggested that agents could have infiltrated the offending businesses without being permitted to go to the extent they did.

(snip)

//

Easley reassigns SBI chief
The News & Observer
September 10, 1999
Author: WADE RAWLINS; STAFF WRITER
Estimated printed pages: 3

Attorney General Mike Easley on Thursday reassigned his outspoken State Bureau of Investigation director, James Coman, to lead a new division within the Department of Justice.
Coman, who has headed the SBI since 1993, will rejoin the attorney general's office Oct. 1 in a lower-profile job as senior deputy attorney general. He will head the new law enforcement and prosecutions division and serve as the chief contact with district attorneys and local law enforcement agencies.

"The problem with a lawyer like Jim Coman is that you need him everywhere," Easley said in announcing the change.

(snip)

//

JIM COMAN IS PRAISED FOR HIS VICTIM ADVOCACY
Greensboro News & Record
October 17, 1999
Estimated printed pages: 1

This is in response to the News & Record Oct. 10 report on the fact that Jim Coman, SBI director since February 1993, is moving to a new division in the Department of Justice. He was lauded for always ''doing the right thing.''

I want to add that he has made a major contribution to victims of crime during the past years. When he served as chief prosecutor for the Guilford district attorney's office, he was a friend of the Victim Advocate Program of Family and Children's Service of Greater Greensboro, now known as Family Service of the Piedmont. He assisted with the training of volunteer crisis line workers who would be responding to victims. He also did an outstanding job of prosecuting sexual assault cases.
Coman has been actively involved with the North Carolina Victim Assistance Network since its inception in 1984, having served as president of the board of directors. He has played a major role in leading the Network to become an active voice for crime victims throughout the state. In 1994 he received the Network Award, the highest recognition NC-VAN bestows on one of its members. I believe his efforts have stemmed from a real concern for crime victims and those who are working to balance thescales of justice. Jane Cauthen Greensboro

The writer is a director of NC-VAN.

[libstripper]

I fullly sympatize with your problem. Before my current two dogs I had, in order, a lab cross and a pure bred lab, each of whom was raised as an only dog. Neither would allow me to get near any other large, friendly dog. The whole thing was a mater of passionate jealousy. The older of my two current dogs wasn't raised as an only dog. I adopted him when he was about three as a rescue. Then he enjoyed being an only dog for about four years until I adopted the present addition to the family. Brother, the older dog, has had some trouble adjusting to Ulysses, the younger, but no where the problems a genuine only dog would have. They are really very possessive.

[Mad-Margaret]

OMG! That's a 1993 article and it mentions Easley and Stephens! It's incestuous down there.

Does anyone doubt that Nifong isn't going to continue as the DA of Durham? He may only serve one term, but he'll get his pension. And no more than a slap -- if that -- from the state bar.

Great find, maggief. Can you find a picture of Mary Winstead?

[Sue Perkick]

He was lauded for always ''doing the right thing.''

Let's hope he does the right thing here. Because you don't even need eyes to see it.

[xsmommy]

i have a 3 and a half year old cavalier and just got a new cav pup for christmas,she's 4 mo. old. Lucius, the older boy is having some problems but i think he will get over them. he is doing everything in his power to convince the little snip that he is the alpha dog, but she is very feisty and not totally convinced of it yet.

[Mad-Margaret]

Never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness my mother is here (visiting from Chicago). She can play with the pup, while I catch up on all the blogs. Heidi doesn't care if the mother gives attention to the pup.

Jeesh! All the news today including that gruesome story from NC on the father who decapitated his four year old daughter.

[maggief]

Clement's daughter receives probation
Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC)
July 10, 2004
Author: JOHN STEVENSON jstevenson@heraldsun.com; 419-6643
Estimated printed pages: 2

The daughter of City Councilman Howard Clement was placed on probation Friday for stealing another woman's purse during a stabbing incident two years ago that reportedly left the victim with a puncture wound under her eye.
Marcella Clement, who now lives in New Jersey, received the punishment after she pleaded guilty in Durham County Superior Court to charges of misdemeanor larceny and failing to show up for an earlier court appearance. Her father was not with her.

Clement, 34, could have received up to six months in jail for the offenses. Her probationary sentence was part of a plea bargain between her lawyer, James D. "Butch" Williams, and the state attorney general's office.

To avoid a possible conflict of interest, Durham's district attorney did not participate in the deal.

In addition to placing Clement on probation, Judge Kenneth C. Titus ordered her to pay $551.48 in restitution to the victim and $752 to the state of North Carolina for extradition expenses.

Assault charges against Clement were not prosecuted.

Deputy Attorney General Mary Winstead said the crimes occurred on Nov. 11, 2002, when Clement drove up behind a car occupied by Gladys Burnette.

Clement then walked to Burnette's car, stabbed her in the face with a pen and took her purse, Winstead said.

Although Winstead did not mention it Friday, reports at the time indicated that Clement also punched Burnette.

Clement then failed to show up for a May 5, 2003, court appearance in Durham, Winstead said.

Defense lawyer Williams said Clement was abusing alcohol and drugs when the crimes occurred. The reason she missed her court appearance last year was because she was in treatment in another state, he added.

Clement was caught after she made a right turn at a red light in Manhattan, N.Y., where such turns are not permitted, and was stopped, Williams told the judge.

She then spent six months in a New York prison while awaiting extradition to Durham, Williams said.

Before that, she spent about 50 days in the Durham County Jail because her father would not bail her out, the defense lawyer said.

"It's been an arduous experience for her," Williams said. "But out of all chaos and confusion comes some order. It gave her a chance to reflect on her life. ... It has all come together for the family. It's a happier situation now."

Williams added that Clement now enjoys "a law-abiding life" as an HIV counselor in New Jersey. "There's a lot going for her," he said.

Clement declined an opportunity to speak on her own behalf Friday.

[Howlin]

The "old" dog never, ever has anything to do with the new dog; UNTIL you take the "new" dog away; when she/he comes back, the "old" dog will be the protector and love her.

Mark my words.

[Sue Perkick]

There's apparently also a "Mary Winstead" who is an author as well. Complicates things.

[JLS]

I've decided it's a huge mistake NOT to publish the "victims'" names. They can destroy people with virtually no evidence.

Another problem with this is if Jane or John Doe citizen know this person is lying because there were elsewhere or they bragged to them about doing this, the lack of public mention of the person making the claim can cause the not to KNOW to come forward.

[JLS]

I agree one of two things are going on here:

1. The fix is in and to help Nifong they will take this to trial.

2. They know this loser case must be dropped and these two need this on their resume to look like fair people.