Replies

Click and scroll down to Tuesday, Jan. 11, "Nifong Ripples....": http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/

It supports what I've been saying for awhile now - that the NC DAs are in panic mode because Nifong is blowing a good gig for all of them. Once rumblings for reform began, they abandoned him. NC has a skeletal oversight structure, and even that meatless framework is not enforced. These guys don't want oversight and the state bar doesn't want anyone stealing their thunder or authority, either. The liestoppers' piece I've linked to looks as this case from the standpoint of the NC legal community, and they're scared the fun may be over due to Nifong's conduct. I have often wondered why some judicial oversight wasn't exercised by the presiding judge and was told s/he had no authority. According to the piece, s/he does have the authority, at least as part of a recent ethics oversight legislative act, but obviously hasn't exercised it. Therefore, the authority is as good as non-existent, except that establishing it but not employing it serves as a barricade to other forms of oversight being enacted and/or employed. I've also pointed out the GS 7A-66 means to get rid of him, and apparently NOBODY has filed such a petition, and I'm absolutely baffled about that. As I've said many times, the DAs have a real racket going in that state and the people of NC are crazy if they don't demand extensive and meaningful reform. I wonder if it will take a public referendum to put an end to this, if in fact the NC citizenry has the public referenda/plebiscite available beyond state bond referendums, and the cojones and drive to do it? And God forbid NC should reform it's criminal procedures and grand jury system while they're at it, which I've carped about for months and is also discussed toward the end of the piece. NC has a criminal justice and procedures system that came over on the ark. Does anybody in that state care about anything?

The piece is a good read because it concisely lays out what is/was possible in this case in connection to Nifong's activities in this case and closely related issues.

One other thing - that law prof at Duke, Metzloff, seems to think Nifong's biggest problem for himself is withholding the DNA evidence, but I disagree. In light of Meehan's testimony, I think his biggest problem is the affidavit he signed attesting to having given over all the DNA evidence, as well as a verbal representation of the same effect he gave to the judge. Even if Nifong were to get away with the argument that the evidence isn't exculpatory, just usable for impeachment of Mangum, a legal position already established as invalid under NC law, he was still required to turn it over. Meehan's testimony makes clear that Nifong knew about it and, while he supposedly didn't overtly direct Meehan not to disclose it, he instead told Meehan what he wanted disclosed, which amounts to the same thing, inasmuch as Nifong knew about the nature of the totality of the DNA results before he directed Meehan as to what should be included in the report, which Meehan complied with against the lab's policy. So, conspiracy may be a "no-go" as far as the DNA goes, but obstruction and perjury as to the DNA are pretty clear and quite serious offense for an officer of the court to commit. And there may have been a conspiracy in connection with the photo line-up, which is why someone needs to sweat Himan and Gottlieb and whomever all were involved in all those photo line-up preparations and sessions. But who's going to do it? There are criminal violations at hand here, and taken altogether define an effort to deprive these boys of their civil rights, yet there is no action on either prosecutable front, nor even throwing Nifong out of office by petition as allowed in GS 7A-66.

I am baffled.