Nifong conduct rebuked early (DukeLax DA was warned)

Raleigh News & Observer ^ | Jan 15, 2007 | Joe Neff

[Carolinamom]

This case has revealed so many flaws in the North Carolina legal system that the legislature had better get busy correcting them ASAP.

[Clifford The Big Red Dog]

Geez, I just read your home page. Durham sounds like a political Peyton Place, hehehe.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I do not want to fall into a trap of making precious a victim. She is what she is. If she indeed is bi-polar, she had a responsibility to continue medication. (Oh for the days when heavy duty psychiatric patients had no choice)

This does not absolve her, it does make nifong more of an evil villan than he already is.

That being said, for Nifong to use a person who has a psychiatric (speculated) diagnosis is, well I have no words.

He may try the "a bi-polar person can be raped" line, but if he was aware of her (speculated) diagnosis, it would have been in her best interest to investigate it further.

I don't know what the word is for attorneys, but in the medical profession it would fall under negligence or malpractice.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Was Nifong a willing accomplice in the rape of Duke or was it rape by proxy.

I would like to know who Melissa and Tammy Rose are. Do they have a license to do business in Durm. Is it on file somewhere?

[Ohioan from Florida]

I have tried to find a link to this article, but to no avail. Do you have one?

[maggief]

No, it is probably not on line. I pulled from an archived data base.

[JLS]

Mangum is who she is. She is as the DPD knew from the start a lying hooker gaming the system. Should she be punished for he false cry of rape. In theory yes, but in fact the police encounter people like her every day and ignor them without bringing charges or even sending an informtion to the DA to decide.

What caused this problem is Mike Nifong. He grabbed hold of this accusation that nobody believe and used it to win an election. Or as a parent put it last night [Mrs. Evans?], he needed a silver bullet or he was going to lose the election, his job, his pension and the cash he plowed into his campaign and he found a silver bullet and shot it at the three defendants. He cynically believed he could do whatever he wanted. He deserves to be severely punished for what he did.

The question is does Mangum deserve more punishment for what she did than she would have received had Nifong not done with it what he did? What Mangum did would have caused no one any problem. She was never going to name or ID anyone. She accused an amorphus team of rape. [I guess some academic might have and of course still will included in a bogus study of the violence of players of helmented sports?]

Now I guess this is like going on a hold up and having your side kick shoot and kill the cashier. You end up liable for a murder you neither committed nor possibly intended to happen. But a dead cashier is hardly a surprising outcome of an armed robbery. Is what Nifong did in charging three guys with no evidence to win an election a forseeable outcome of crying rape when you know you are a lying hooker and in general no one believes you? I go back and forth on this.

Mangum probably at times during this saw dollar signs and being a con artist was "gung ho." [No pun intended, well ok pun intended some.] I wonder if her family is telling the truth that at times she wanted out and Nifong would not let her. I could believe that of Nifong, but I could also believe that this is a ploy by her to hedge her bets on how this situation is resolve, ie it wasn't me I wanted to recant again.

So I always end up that certainly Mangum is culpable. But she is a lying hooker and Nifong is a DA. We should expect much much more from a DA than a lying hooker. Thus Nifong deserves by far the greater condemnation and sanctions than Mangum.

[JLS]

Maggief is correct. The Durham paper does not leave things up very long at all. That is why people on these thread always copy the whole thing to the thread to perserve a record.

[maggief]

Do you ever wonder how much involvement, if any, her father had in all of this?

Travis knew of at least some of the AV's medical/psychiatric issues.

He had to be familiar with Jarriel Johnson, as JJ had been at the parent's home and was familiar with the AV's children.

He drove the AV to Brian Taylor's home that evening.

The AV called her father later that evening seeking directions to 610 N. Buchanan.

At 2:12 AM Shelton requests an officer to drive to Charles Street to check on the "young 'uns."

[Ohioan from Florida]

Ok, thanks for letting me know. That "~snip" at the end of the post made me think there might have been more to it than was posted.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

The nut does not fall far from the tree...(okay, bad choice of words).

Travis is a liar.
Jakki is a liar.

Did Travis know Matt? Then why would he take baby girl to BT's house. And why would she call him to ask for directions?

How did Jakki, the drag queen become involved as the spokesperson? Is she family on travis' side? Have we ever seem baby girl's brother? (Just kidding) Meet my cousin, Jakki. Pay no attention to the thing between her legs.

I think about Jakki. She is the one who floated the 2mil story..

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I want to rephrase my question.

Was Nifong a willing accomplice in the rape of Duke or is he is a tool of the Cabal?

[JLS]

Was Nifong a willing accomplice in the rape of Duke or is he is a tool of the Cabal?

Occum's razor says there is no cabal or conspiracy:

1. Mangum was trying to avoid involuntary commitment and maybe going home and telling her pimp she had lost his money after Roberts [aka Pittman] possibly stole it from her. She may also have seen dollar signs when Nifong ran with her false cry of rape.

2. Nifong was trying to save his job, his pension, his personal money he dumped in his campaign, his face by winning his first election and as the case went on his hide from jail and law suits. Nifong also spent his entire life where the DA seemed like a god who answered to nobody. When he got the job, he assumed he was bullet proof.

Were there a cabal, they would not do something like this. Duke is a cow for such a cabal to milk. You don't mistreat your farm animals or your capital. You milk or use them for cash.

[Mad-Margaret]

I think these latest revelations substantially reduce the possibility of a light sanction, such as a mere public reprimand. While it was possible before that the severity of the discipline Nifong received would depend more on the degree to which The Powers That Be decided to make him an object lesson than the actual evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, which is quite substantial, disbarment is clearly now in play.

The threat of disbarment may be clearly in play, but I don't believe for a second that disbarment will be the sanction imposed by the bar. I hope I'm wrong because certainly Nifong deserves to be stripped of his ticket.

But how can the bar impose disbarment against Nifong when only a few years ago it imposed only reprimands against the two special prosecutors from the AG's office who had withheld evidence in the Gell case? As a result of their misconduct, Gell was on death row for a decade. The three Duke defendants have gone through hell, but they will never be convicted.

It took the threat of disbarment to get Nifong off this case. Now he is off it and now he has experienced counsel who will help him craft a defense of plausible deniability and negotiate a resolution that will make this misconduct matter go away as quickly as possible.

And don't forget, Nifong still has very strong, long time friends in the NC power structure. Nifong has been a player in the structure. He is going to be protected.

[El Gran Salseron]

"like the crazy aunt who is locked in the basement"

Hmmm.....I thought it was "crazy uncle locked in the attic." :-)

[El Gran Salseron]

Question:

Let's assume that the state bar suspends Nifong or whatever the terminology. Since the office is named "District Attorney then doesn't that mean that he could no longer be DA?

( I'm not a lawyer nor do I reside in NC. )

[Ken H]

Essay from Joan Foster:

http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/2007/01/they-look-at-mother.html

[snip]

Nifong's magic bullet has ricocheted. We pledge that we will not be content until we've discovered everyone who helped supply his ammunition. Wherever that may lead.

[xoxoxox]

Occam's razor says there is no cabal or conspiracy:

Durham' s machete thinks there is.

[Bitter Bierce]

"The threat of disbarment may be clearly in play, but I don't believe for a second that disbarment will be the sanction imposed by the bar. I hope I'm wrong because certainly Nifong deserves to be stripped of his ticket."

I hope you're wrong, too, Mad-Margaret. My point was that these latest developments make disbarment more of a possibility than it was before.

"But how can the bar impose disbarment against Nifong when only a few years ago it imposed only reprimands against the two special prosecutors from the AG's office who had withheld evidence in the Gell case? As a result of their misconduct, Gell was on death row for a decade. The three Duke defendants have gone through hell, but they will never be convicted."

The answer to that question is that even though withholding exculpatory evidence is a major ethical breach, Nifong did *much more* (and is alleged to have done more) than that. And while Gell was entitled to a new trial due to the special prosecutors' Brady violations, such a remedy is unavailable to the Duke students, who have not been wrongly convicted (as of yet, anyway), but, as you acknowledge, have nevertheless "gone through hell."

"It took the threat of disbarment to get Nifong off this case. Now he is off it and now he has experienced counsel who will help him craft a defense of plausible deniability and negotiate a resolution that will make this misconduct matter go away as quickly as possible."

I cannot agree, because by their very nature, the latest revelations present a very serious obstacle to any successful claim, by Nifong, of plausible deniability. Indeed, this new evidence cuts directly against any such claim.

"And don't forget, Nifong still has very strong, long time friends in the NC power structure. Nifong has been a player in the structure. He is going to be protected."

This is what worries me the most. I suppose we can only hope that The Powers That Be decide to make Nifong an object lesson to all prosecutors on the theory that his many years as an active player in the North Carolina power structure make his ethical failures *more* reprehensible, and that he abused not only the rights of the accused, but also those of the accuser. After all, we have already seen leopards change their spots with regard to media coverage of the case, right?

[abb]

Occam's razor says there is no cabal or conspiracy: Durham' s machete thinks there is.

I can't get past the fact of the First Ten Days. From the time of the alleged crime to the NandO's first front page piece. Lots of time for CGM, Cousin It, VP, etc, etc to plot out a humdinger of an extortion.