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Dennis Draughon
Freelance Dec 30, 2006 |
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.
LOL! We sure can.
Do the math. 46 players x $20 was enough to hire her. It's the rare college student who can't scare up a $20 for a team party.
Washington Post: Drop the Charges
...in a stunning editorial in today's paper, the Post demands that Nifong drop all charges and accuses him of prosecutorial misconduct.
[snip]
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/12/washington-post-drop-charges.html
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Dennis Draughon
Freelance Dec 30, 2006 |
FWIW, I accepted John in Carolina's commission to write a Duke lacrosse song to the theme of "Auld lang syne". You can find the result in the third comment.
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2006/12/put-it-here-lb.html
"I am unable to agree with the above premise. Neither cops nor prosecutors prevent crime. All either does is clean up after the fact. Mr. Browning, Mr. Colt, Mr. Ruger, and all their illustrious fellow firearm manufacturers do far more every day to prevent or stop crime than all the cops and all the prosecutors put together."
If a DA decides not to prosecute because of an immunity issue, and that suspect offends again, there is a new victim. This would more particularly happen in white-collar crimes, such as fraud, embezzlement, etc..
"When was the last time you heard of a cop arriving in time to stop or prevent a crime? ;-)"
Today (well, yesterday now).
As for violent crime, I agree with you about Mr. Browning, Mr. Colt, etc., although I prefer the company of Mr. Glock.
Sure $900 for the beer and subs, leaving $20 for their dancing girl. :)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-skube31dec31,0,3894576.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary
Duke's recovery from a rush to judgment
What you read and hear about Duke University's out-of-control athletes and parties is far from the truth.
By Michael Skube, MICHAEL SKUBE, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, teaches journalism at Elon University in North Carolina.
December 31, 2006
NINE MONTHS later, the vigilante posters have come down, the candlelight vigils have gone dark and little has been heard from the New Black Panther Party or the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Even among the aspiring activists who banged pots and pans last spring in solidarity with the alleged victim, there is the disquieting sense that maybe she wasn't one after all — that this time the story might not be reducible to the all-purpose epistemology of race, gender and class.
(snip)
"an incident that happened on the 4th floor between you and another employee of the District Attorney's Office..."
What might that "incident" have been? Some sort of DNA transfer, perhaps?
Then a few are I suppose?
I would think that generally they have/had a good reputation. Hiring a dancing whore did them no favors. Nifong took advantage of this poor decision, to play racial politics, and he is being slapped down.
None, whatsoever. It has to be done somewhere. She must be "interviewed" or "cross-examined" somewhere in a public forum -- not just the media.
I don't know how old you are but I am assuming you are middle aged or older. Times have changed. College students have no need to hire anyone for sex. These are smart, good-looking athletes. As the DNA has shown they wouldn't touch someone with the 'social' history Crystal has.
So Crystal is the name of the Dancing Whore? Nice.
Wonder if she could do "the crab"?
These fine young men should of found a "nice white girl" to dance for them.
Grow up.
Methinks, I smell a troll.
Naw, I would not stoop to your level.
Like I said I'm glad Nifong is being shut down. The prosecution was jaded.
I'm just not believing that these were innocent children.
More discretion and class from these guys, would of saved everyone alot of trouble.
You're right about that.
Precious and Nikki both have long police records. Nikki embezzled more than $20,000. Precious - don't you just love that name - previously tried to run down a policeman with a stolen car, got thrown out of the Navy,claimed gang rape before, and had DNA from five guys in her.
The big mistake the boys made was to even let these losers into the house.
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