[68skylark]

Interesting story -- thanks for the post.

What a mess. I hope this gets straightened out. I don't completely trust the Times to give a fair version of events -- they'll gladly cherry-pick certain facts and twist the truth to fit a "narrative" that they want to tell. But I also don't have a lot of faith in the justice system sometimes, and I think it's entirely possible that these men (except for Ballard) are innocent.

Anyone who falsely accused others of participation in the crime should get a lot of jail time for that crime -- if that's what Joe Dick and Derek Tice did then apologies aren't enough. A rape accusation is devestating, and if it's false it deserves to be punished.

[Fishtalk]

Well I read it all and two things:

The NY Times lies. You can’t trust them. Hey, maybe in this case it’s all true but that’s the price you pay for being....the NY Times.

I simply do NOT believe that what? Seven men now confessed to this crime? Nah. You’re asking me to suspend my disbelief a little too much.

I’d believe maybe one...possibly two ...misfits would falsely confess although most false confessions beyond the nut cases are almost always true...this factoid is even mentioned in the article. But SEVEN guys confess to a crime they did not commit? And the reason they falsely confessed is because they were in the military and used to taking orders? So when the detective said CONFESS, they all, boom, no problem, DID?

Please stop peeing upon my feet and telling me it’s raining.

It sounds to me like they grabbed this victim all of a sudden one night and with no forethought they all morphed into a gang mentality. It sounds like everyone heard the crime in process and all the gang stopped by to join in on the fun. I’m not convinced any one of this group of thugs knows who the hell was stabbing and raping as it looks like it all came down quick. Likely they only remember their crime buddies as they were fellows standing on the corner or nearby. The scene in the apartment must have been chaotic, like a corner of hell.

The jury, as the article quotes, heard of this information, the jury knew about the DNA issues, the jury knew about all the details and questions about who was there.

I’m not about to believe the NY Times and a bunch of fellows who confessed to a crime.

Would YOU confess to a crime you did not commit?

Yeah, well the way vast majority of people wouldn’t either.

[vox humana]

Police may legally pressure suspects using fabricated evidence, phony witnesses and lies about DNA or polygraph results.

There will be a warm place in hell for the Nifongs and police of this country who are responsible for sending innocent people to prison.

[skinkinthegrass]

thxs, for the report. :)

[Valpal1]

The victim’s friend that was out with her the night before....... she knows who the real killer is or is related to him in some way. JMO

I do believe these four have been Nifonged.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Dick says he told his interrogators that he was on board the U.S.S. Saipan at the time of the crime. And Dick’s immediate supervisor, Senior Chief Michael Ziegler, says that he has “no doubt” Dick was on duty the night of the murder. A decorated chief petty officer, Ziegler took a special interest in Dick because of what he described as his “diminished mental capacity.” When Dick was questioned by the police, Ziegler says he double-checked the Saipan’s records to confirm that Dick was assigned to the ship. Given the ship’s rigorous security, Ziegler says it would have been virtually impossible for Dick to sneak off, commit the crime and sneak back on board. “The Joseph Dick I knew couldn’t chew bubble gum and tie his shoes at the same time,” Ziegler told me. “There’s no way in hell anyone can convince me Joseph Dick could pull that off.”

Sounds like Detective Ford and the prosecutors need to be swapped into those prison cells to do life sentences in place of the guys they railroaded. They took advantage of some borderline mentally retarded guys to cover for their own inability to find and prosecute the real rapist/murderer.