Posted on 01/18/2007 4:46:46 PM PST by SmithL
Durham, N.C. -- The state chapter of the NAACP on Thursday called on those involved with the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case — from defense attorneys to state bar officials — to stop talking publicly while the state attorney general's office begins its review.
"We sincerely believe that the high level of public scrutiny and controversy involved in this matter is unwarranted and threatens to pervert the truth-finding process," said the Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
No parties involved in the case have indicated whether they plan to stop speaking publicly.
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, under heavy criticism for his handling of the case, asked the attorney general's office this month to take over the prosecution — a decision Barber said his organization applauded.
Until turning the case over to state prosecutors, Nifong led the investigation into allegations that a 28-year-old black student at North Carolina Central University, hired to perform as a stripper, was raped and beaten by three white men at a March 13 party thrown by Duke's highly ranked lacrosse team.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Certainly it is human nature not to want any more constraints on your authority.
The Fed in the US is independent of the political authorities unlike in most countries. The Fed naturally likes it that way. But to keep it that way the Fed is very careful in its dealings with various Congresses and Administrations regardless of political stripe.
Nifong as I have said was a peon who viewed the DA as god in his world. When Nifong got the position, he was just sure he could do anything he wanted.
BTW, if you were a defense attorney at the quad murder case, wouldn't you have asked if that was all the discovery today and followed it up with an "are you sure?"
ecdysiast
One entry found for ecdysiast.
Main Entry: ec·dys·i·ast
Pronunciation: ek-'di-zE-"ast, -zE-&st
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek ekdysIs
: STRIPTEASER
Given those pics you three hooligans showed me of Jakki: I admit: I wanna know who did his cleavage. I've seen lots of boob jobs on men and women in the SF Bay Area, some so obviously not "very" natural looking. Jakki's cleavage was well done.
"I don't think it was Cash. He's a staff writer for that paper, but he's not on the editorial board, as far as I know."
I replied to the "WE'RE WATCHING YOU, MR. COOPER" POS, and received a reply directly from Cash.
"What we must do is insist that we follow the facts wherever they lead and face the facts when they are all in."
If ONLY I believed that were possible.
I agree, Jakki/Clyde's role is puzzling. Perhaps a fresh look is in order.
I hear you loud and clear!
Yep. I would have wanted that on the court record, no doubt.
Apparently the paper has an informal arrangement with their writers. One day you're a staff writer, the next you're an editor, then back to writer. Maybe editorship fluctuates as they perceive the need, so if someone complains about something, you end up complaining to the very person who wrote the piece, unknown to the complainant. I would not be surprised that such people would have an unorthodox structure. Apparently it's just an organization of racist bitchers fronting as a legitimate, professional publication.
Cash tries to sound halfway fair and rational when he puts his name to a piece. Perhaps when he wishes to take cheap shots and tell fantastic lies or make threats he hides behind "editorial"?
The "fact sheet" on NC NAACP's website is so bad it's almost funny. The "fact" sheet is full of things which are irrelevant or for which there is no evidence. And they have not updated it to correspond with the latest version.
Thanks for posting the highlights. There is some comic value to the thing. I can't get through #1 without flashbacks of Algonquin J. Calhoun.
Link to new thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1770235/posts
He also asked that defense attorneys "refrain from efforts to influence Durham citizens regarding the evidence which might be introduced at a trial." To that end, he urged the State Bar to use its power to limit "the publication of evidence" that could possibly influence a future jury.
Barber wants to gag the defense, meanwhile he posts an 82 item "fact sheet."
Big hint for NAACP: gagging the defense would not have ended the dissemination of exculpatory evidence.
One thing that set this case apart from all others is that the defense has attached actual discovery documents to numerous defense filings. Kirk Osborn is a genius for making his case filings available on his website. I believe the availability of primary source documents was a major factor in building widespread public support for the defense. I wouldn't be comfortable basing my opinion on something I read in a newspaper or heard on TV. No one had to convince me of anything. I read the documents and I made up my own mind.
Brad Bannon wrote an article "Pre-trial Publicity: Know the Rules," which was published in TRIALbriefs,Dec 2003. It's a good article that even an ordinary person [me] can understand. http://www.cheshirepark.com/Pre-TrialPublicity.pdf
Prostitution case results in sentences
Runaways forced into sex trade
The Charlotte Observer, Jan 19, 2007 03:05 AM
Brothers Tracy and David Howard were each sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for their roles in a Charlotte prostitution and drug ring that forced runaway girls as young as 14 to have sex with up to 10 men a night.
Their mother, 43-year-old Ila Howard, accused of operating an escort service and conspiring with her sons in their prostitution business, was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison.
During the three-week trial, six girls told jurors that they were forced to visit apartment complexes in northeast Charlotte and have sexual intercourse with men who paid $25 for 15 minutes. The girls were also sent throughout the Carolinas to engage in acts of prostitution for the escort service.
Before sentencing the brothers, U.S. Chief District Court Judge Bob Conrad talked about how the young girls had been beaten and abused.
"He deliberately targeted drug-addicted runaways, who he marketed door to door for sex," the federal judge said before sentencing 25-year-old Tracy Howard, who housed and fed the prostitutes.
"But if any caused trouble or showed signs of attempting to leave, he beat them back into submission," the judge said.
Conrad called 26-year-old David Howard's conduct "monstrous."
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/533834.html
What a bunch of hypocrites they werent saying that when the case first broke in March.
Perkins gets more than 20 years for murdering cousins
By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun, Jan 18, 2007 : 10:41 pm ET
DURHAM -- Donte Lejuan Perkins pleaded guilty Thursday to fatally shooting his two cousins -- one of whom was pregnant -- and was sentenced to between 20 and more than 26 years in prison.
Perkins said nothing on his own behalf during the hearing in Durham County Superior Court, choosing not to explain the killings or apologize for them. Instead, he let his lawyer do the talking.
Assistant District Attorney David Saacks conceded that Perkins "clearly was suffering from some kind of mental illness." -cut-
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-810573.cfm
Four murder suspects indicted
By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun, Jan 17, 2007 : 11:08 pm ET
DURHAM -- Four men were indicted by the county grand jury this week on murder charges, including two who allegedly participated in a "contract killing" for which $10,000 was said to have changed hands.
The indicted suspects are Lee Brewer, Daniel Fraley, Angel Luis Richardson and Lemuel "Zeke" Sherman.
Indictments officially move criminal cases into the Superior Court system, where they eventually will go to trial or be plea-bargained.
Brewer and Fraley are accused in the 1999 slaying of 63-year-old Charles Johnson, who was found lying in a pool of blood inside his Virgie Street home. At the time, investigators said they retrieved marijuana plants and two weapons from the house.
The other two men indicted this week, Richardson, 20, and Sherman, 23, are charged in the purported contract killing.
Investigators contend they gunned down 23-year-old Marlon Rand last month.
Police reports indicated that Rand was at his car on North Street, the street on which he lived, when a man approached and shot him. The victim tried to run but collapsed and died of multiple gunshot wounds behind a drug rehabilitation facility on the same street.
Sherman and Rand reportedly knew each other.
Without elaborating, prosecutor Tracey Cline said in court recently that she believed $10,000 was paid for a "hit" on Rand.
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-810191.cfm
Murder suspect's bond is raised
By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun, Jan.17, 2007 : 11:08 pm ET
DURHAM -- An alleged gang member who has bounced in and out of court while awaiting trial in a first-degree murder case was hauled before a judge yet again on Wednesday, accused of dealing drugs while free on bond.
Prosecutor Tracey Cline asked that bail for the suspect, Michael Wayne Goldston, be revoked because police caught him with a large rock of crack cocaine at his side in April 2005 and then videotaped him making what appeared to be a "hand-to-hand sale" of narcotics in December.
A tape of the purported December transaction was played Wednesday for Superior Court Judge Orlando F. Hudson.
But Hudson noted that the Constitution does not allow criminal suspects to be held without bond, so he set bail for Goldston at $300,000 -- far below the $5 million requested by Cline.
"I do not agree with some people who believe there is a revolving door to the jail," said Hudson.
"However, it appears this defendant has a particular knack of going to jail, getting out and committing crimes," the judge said of Goldston. "His opportunities have run out. He is a danger to the people of this county."
Goldston, identified by police as a street-gang member, is accused of murdering Nathan L. Alston over $30 worth of cocaine in 2004. The victim was 24. -cut-
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-810190.cfm
Suspect, dad on poor terms
Police have released little about the woman charged in the slaying of an NCCU student
Matt Dees and Samiha Khanna, Staff Writers, N&O, Jan 20, 2007
DURHAM - More than two weeks after Denita Monique Smith was found shot to death outside her apartment, police won't say why they think Shannon Elizabeth Crawley pulled the trigger.
Police won't even reveal how Crawley, of Greensboro, knew the N.C. Central University graduate student, much less divulge a suspected motive for the shooting that stunned the campus.
As of Friday, authorities hadn't made public what they found in Crawley's home during a search Jan. 9, despite a legal mandate to do so "without unnecessary delay."
Prison officials confirmed this week that Crawley was moved from the Durham County jail to the N.C. Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh under "medical safekeeping."
Keith Acree, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction, said medical safekeeping means "there are medical or mental health issues the local jail is not equipped to handle."
"Inmates that are a suicide risk would fall into that category," Acree said, though he added he could not say whether Crawley had attempted to harm herself.
Other public records offer a sketch of Crawley, 27, a mother of two who worked as a 911 dispatcher. But they shed little light on what they think might have driven her to kill.
Crawley has had a rocky relationship with her father, Keith Aaron Crawley Sr., according to court records.
In September, Crawley asked a Guilford County judge to grant a temporary restraining order protecting her and her two children from her father. Her request was based on two incidents in which her father was violent, she said in the request, which eventually was denied.
The first incident was July 31, when Crawley called the 911 center where she worked, summoning ambulances to a house off a rural gravel road in northern Guilford County, according to court documents. At the time, she lived there with her father and her school-age children, according to neighbors and public records.
The swarm of ambulances worried neighbors. Resident Marjorie Reinbold said she remembers looking at the flashing lights and wondering whether Shannon, the neighbor she had come to know as friendly and open, was OK.
That day, Shannon Crawley's father had slapped her face and cut her lip in front of her children, Crawley wrote in the request for a restraining order.
In another incident in September, her father had broken down the door to her bedroom, she wrote. More than 6 feet tall and 250 pounds, her father was a former sheriff's deputy and knowledgeable in self-defense, she added. She asked that the court prohibit her father from owning a gun and order him to counseling.
It was unclear where Keith Crawley served as a sheriff's deputy. Guilford County officials said he was not employed by them.
Despite a long history of financial troubles, indicated by a trail of bad checks and evictions for failing to pay her rent detailed in court records, Crawley was able to buy a house in a new subdivision, just a couple of miles away from her father's home. The house and land, valued at $173,000, are in the same development where Denita Smith's fiance now lives.
Keith Crawley Sr., reached by phone last week, declined to talk about his daughter.
Crawley is the mother of a 10-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl fathered by the same man, who is from California.
The couple had been together since they were teenagers, having their son in 1996 in Rockland County, N.Y. They lived together for a while, according to child support papers, and had their second child in Pomona, Calif.
Efforts to reach the children's father were unsuccessful.
http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/534303.html
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