Posted on 12/29/2006 10:07:41 PM PST by rawhide
Dec. 29, 2006 — In yet another moral blow to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called for the prosecutor to step down from the Duke lacrosse case.
The group, which represents district attorneys from across North Carolina, said in a statement that "it is in the interest of justice and the effective administration of criminal justice that Mr. Nifong immediately withdraw and recuse himself from the prosecution."
"It's extraordinarily unusual and it means a great deal," said Joshua Marquis, a district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore.
The district attorney group also called for the case to be reassigned and handed over to "another prosecutorial authority."
The statement was prompted by charges of ethics violations against Nifong filed Thursday by the North Carolina bar. Those allegations accuse Nifong of making inappropriate comments about the case in a series of press interviews early in the proceedings.
"As prosecutors, we do not try our cases in the media. We do not file charges frivolously," Marquis, who is active in the National District Attorneys Association, told ABC News.
"I do not know what the merit of the charges are, but Mr. Nifong has not brought respect to our profession," Marquis said. "Some of his actions have brought great disrepute on the profession of prosecution."
Under North Carolina state law, there is no rule requiring Nifong to recuse himself from the case, even though he has been charged with ethics violations. But Nifong's critics — including defense attorneys for the three indicted Duke lacrosse players — say Nifong should step down because the ethics charges create a glaring and unavoidable conflict of interest. A prosecutor, they argue, cannot make fair and independent decisions when he himself is in legal hot water.
"My opinion is that this crystallizes the conflict of interest," Thomas Metzloff, a member of the North Carolina bar and professor at Duke Law School, told ABC News.
No sooner than three months from now, Nifong will stand trial before a panel drawn from the bar's disciplinary hearing commission. If that panel finds Nifong guilty of misconduct, he would be subject to punishment ranging from private admonishment to disbarment.
It looks like there is a great "Whore Divide", and we need a government program to help remedy this social unbalance.
Yep, that is why I think all of this is a concerted effort to get Nifong off this case or to drop this case. Probably the bar and the DAs associate privately have been warning Nifong to drop this for months. As you pointed out he has refused the DAs association help. So they have now gone public.
I wonder if Nifong stubornly does not drop the remaining charges by the end of the day Tuesday or Wednesday, if more shoes will drop? I wonder what remaining shoes there are? More bar association charges, but of course as Tom D. pointed out, it might be way too early for NC Bar charges on the conspiracy to hide part of the DNA evidence.
A war on whores?
So, what have you done to cause the political hogs a desire to crush you? I really don't understand your post. Seems very paranoid, weak and fearful. I live in rural Louisiana -- a state with a great reputation for political corruption -- but where it is more of a reputation than actual fact (in my area). Anyway, we try to live right and be good citizens and fear absolutely nobody.
What actions have you considered to combat these political hogs? If none, why not? If what you are saying is true something certainly needs to be done.
from that same link:
(I resisted the urge to post it earlier, I must be weak, LOL!)
" Where were all these "concerned" DAs during the past 9 months? "
Many of them have been on tv vigorously defending Nifong.
Norm Early was still defending Nifong with the old
" we don't know what evidence he has "
until just recently.
But, now....
" Norm Early, a former district attorney in Denver who now works with the National District Attorneys Association, said he could not understand why Nifong didn't dump the rest of the case, too."
Woody Vann was always on the courthouse steps defending Nifong's integrity.
But,now...
" Woody Vann, ......is one of the many members of the Durham bar who staunchly defended Nifong's professionalism when the story first broke,
said if the prosecutor had a witness to corroborate the woman's story, it would have come out by now."
Georgia Goslee and Wendy Murphy are still passionate defenders of Nifong .
They still believe that he has evidence " we don't yet know about " and that dropping the rape charges
" is a great tactical move " on Nifong's part and other nonsense.
Murphy believes that there are photos of the " attack " that are being hidden by the defense.
Goslee believes that there has been a big pay off to the " victim " to suddenly buy her silence.
Naw, the government will just quotas for the Whores to fill.
20% of the Johns will be with out visible means of support.
20% of the Johns will be conventions from out of town.
20% of the Johns will be infected with social diseases.
20% of the Johns will be members of the Bar.
20% of the Johns will be College Students.
Anyway, next thought:
I wonder if any of the accused have any student loans out? Might the money of been better spent paying off a student loan rather than paying for a dancing whore?
Time Mag chimes in:
"Is the Duke DA Guilty As Charged?
With ethics accusations swirling around District Attorney Michael Nifong, the prosecutor - and his controversial rape case - may not continue much longer"
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1573260,00.html
Willimington Journal chimes in:
"OUR VOICE, ''HOW MONEY TRUMPS JUSTICE'', WEEK OF DECEMBER 28, 2006-JANUARY 3, 2007
by EDITORIAL STAFF
The Wilmington Journal
Originally posted 12/29/2006
If you are a Duke Three supporter, be forewarned, your
blood is about to boil.
By now the world knows about Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong’s decision to drop the rape charges against the three indicted players in the Duke lacrosse alleged sexual assault and kidnapping case. With a complete absence of DNA evidence needed to prove the elements required for first-degree forcible rape, along with the reported uncertainty of the Black female accuser, scuttling the charges just made sense, say many legal experts."
More here:
http://wilmingtonjournal.blackpressusa.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=75096&sID=34
I haven't seen this posted. It's a video tour of Durham by native Mary Katherine Ham titled "HamNation: Tour of Things That Did Not Happen in Durham".
http://townhall.com/blog/g/e9ac3639-fd74-4bfe-bd55-506db5efc826
Aside from being a hoot it actually will give the out of towners a visual on the scene of many events.
HT: John in Carolina
That is a pretty amusing little video.
Good question but overlooked in the aftermath.
On a previous post I asked if we knew who hired the strippers and what was the "act" to include. i.e. full nudity, simulated sex acts?
Also commented that the players probably were not behaving as choir boys. But, alas, the fallout from the evening has had unintended consequences for 3 students that will last for the rest of their lives.
Perhaps this is a warning to all would be party animals?
We are rat controlled. That is why. I think Jersey would be first but then again we have a lot of Jersey transplants.
We know who hired the strippers. We know they took all their clothes of and were covorting on the floor with each other. You would have to go back to look up all these details, but they have been discussed in detail on FR.
LOL. The walls are closing in!
Or for CNN.
mark
Disgraceful Nifong should depart | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC
Mike Nifong has demonstrated that he is not ethically or professionally fit to prosecute a littering case, much less the sexual assault case involving three Duke lacrosse players.
We know the players are guilty of hiring two strippers for a party. Whether they are guilty of anything worse is something we may never know.
The woman who accused them turns out to be about as credible as the Durham district attorney who sought publicity – during his campaign for re-election – by rushing to prosecute and publicly denounce the kids she picked from of a lineup of player photos.
Nifong dropped the rape charges last week after his chief witness changed her story once again. Yet he refused to drop other charges, some of which carry the same penalties.
If these lacrosse louts broke any laws, they probably will get away with it. No jury in its right mind would believe anything the accuser or Nifong said.
Last week, the director of a lab testified that Nifong talked him into withholding evidence that might help the defense. And there was such evidence. Withholding it broke the law.
Nor was that a surprise. Documents and statements reveal, according to The News & Observer, that “Nifong has repeatedly misrepresented his actions in filings and in face-to-face dealings with judges.”
Hiding behind paper hung over the windows of his office, Nifong issues written statements and refuses to talk with North Carolina reporters. Yet Thursday he gave a three-hour interview to The New York Times.
Nifong doesn’t owe an explanation to the readers of a national newspaper. He owes an explanation to the people who elected him. He owes it to the people of this state.
But he owes them more: his resignation.
Forgive me if this has been posted.
Credit to Liestoppers (I think that is where I saw it)
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