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.
I was aware of the story, just waiting for the evidence to come out. but have not followed the details that closely. I am glad that there was no rape. Is there a good time line you would recommend?
Bar complaints are typically handled confidentially at first. ANYONE can file a complaint about ANYTHING and there's no sense in tarnishing an attorney's record if the complaint is unfounded. If there is something there the case becomes public.
The delay in this complaint becoming public knowledge is not unusual and does not, in and of itself, signal corruption.
Naturally, the men (they are not boys) should not be wrongfully accused. Naturally, Nifong should be disbarred, sued, and charged with a crime if NC statutes allow.
But I find the impassioned defense of the "boys" on this board to be a little disturbing.
My grandma taught me long before I was old enough to be hiring cheap strippers that if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
People, even Duke University students, are responsible for what they do. These men acted like pigs, and wound up covered with sh*t.
That lesson may be worth more than all the tuition they paid to Duke. I hope so.
I think disbarrment is the only possible remedy. The man has gone off the deep end and his hiding evidence that clears the accused it downright criminal.
LOL! I'm figuring either that or a catfight.
Wonder if she is MILFBoy's type?
Do you think there is a fraternity house in this country that has never had strippers come in and perform?
No, I don't.
Being a pig is fine with me, as long as the sh*t on your clothes doesn't bother you.
THIS complaint was obvious, since all the charges against Nifong were posted here and elsewhere back in March and April.
The corruption lies in the way the laws in North Caroline allow a DA to LIE or misrepresent facts to a Grand Jury, and bring false charges against an innocent person. Do you actually believe Nifong is the only DA to ever do this?
Sigh...I guess the only right thing to do is to step aside, shut up and allow Nifong to sent these young men to state prison for a crime they did not commit for what could be the rest of their lives (Rich, white elite would be targeted from the get-go)
I must have the only boys* in the nation (besides the Duke lacrosse team) that have made judgement calls, not to mention who would not walk away from a strip show.
Do I excuse underaged drinking? No
Have I taught my boys women are not objects? Yes
Would I approve or excuse them going to a strip bar, hiring strippers, etc No
Would I read them the riot act for putting themselves in this situation? Damned straight. I am their worst nightmare.
What does that have to do with defending them against nifong's actions?
*I say "boys" because I refer to my sons as boys (29, 25 and 15). Why just this Christmas when all were here I did not say "Men you are cleaning the kitchen." I said "Boys, you are cleaning the kitchen" And the boys cleaned the kitchen. But that is neither nere nor there
I would bet a month's salary that MILFBoy prefers blonde, blue-eyed white girls.
You rock!
Nothing, and, if you read my post, you will see that I agree with you.
Nifong should be castrated.
Obvious or not, I was simply pointing out that complaints are intially handled in a confidential fashion. Why shouldn't these go through the same process?
Prosecutorial immunity provisions are hardly corrupt. Do you really want a defendant who might have received a "not guilty" verdict to have carte blanche to sue a prosecutor? You do realize "not guilty" does not equal "innocent" right??? (c.f. OJ Simpson)
I'm not siding with Nifong at all--this case is a travesty. But to make blanket assertions about corruption shows a great deal of ignorance. There are bad cops, bad prosecutors, bad defense attorneys and bad judges. But there are also many, many more bad criminals and our justice system, with it's flaws, is designed to catch and lock up as many bad guys as possible. Bad people with misguided intentions populate every profession around. Political motivations often do corrupt. Clearly, Nifong jumped on these charges to win re-election and curry favor with the Black community. This case stunk to high heaven from the start.
Even with immunity, there should be grounds for a malicious prosecution charge, ethics complaints, disbarrment, etc....There ARE protections but the wheels of justice, even against Nifong in this case, do indeed turn slowly. That's the way it should be to protect against UNFOUNDED charges in other cases.
I just find it amazing that some posters come here and always take the obligatory shot at the boys. Nifong is scum....BUT. There is always a but.
I guess I am missing the point.
You are right. This certainly is one of many lesson to be learned from this case. Getting involved with strippers is sleazy and stupid and can lead to bad trouble considering that many strippers reportedly have serious mental issues and are linked to criminals such as the Russian Mafia.
Certainly the hearing would be a time for the judge to make this all go away, but it would be a very very very poor time. Nifong's case is dead. There is no reason in the world to allow this to drag into another Duke term. Mangum is pregnant and due in early Feb, so Nifong could likely get a continuance on that hearing anyway.
Thus he is being squeezed to drop these charges now. Certainly he has every reason to do so now. Him dropping the charges gives the illusion that he is still in charge. The time frame of the first bar hearing is set so dragging things out further no longer helps him.
I know someone who personally experienced a similar false charge, and it took a year to get through the criminal portion, then another 5 years to get through the civil portion. After spending thousands of dollars, it was tossed out -- but not after a financial disaster. Turns out the person who originally claimed the false charge had a friend on the Wake County DA's staff. It was a personal vendetta that the DA helped perpetrate. The same Assistant DA "fixed" cases for people as well.
Several DA's offices here in North Carolina have been found running "ticket fixing" scams for personal profit. It is done here all the time.
The point is that inviting crack whores into your home carries a very high probabililty of bad consequences, and that doing so is both stupid and ungentlemanly.
The social trends which glorify stupidity and which deride gentlemanliness are bad, and harmful, and should be spoken out against whenever they manifest themselves.
The Duke lacrosse players should have the same liberty we all do, which includes liberty from false arrest and liberty from arbitrary or fraudulent prosecution.
They should not have the liberty of being immune from being called pigs when they act like pigs.
With all due respect, you don't think we know that? I am not arguing, but it is as if we are being told the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
They should not have the liberty of being immune from being called pigs when they act like pigs.
This isn't the pig thread...
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