Duke's Tenured Vigilantes (DukeLax)

The Weekly Standard ^ | Jan 20, 2007 | Charlotte Allen

[Alia]

Thank you, xoxoxox.

Upon hearing the groundskeeper's description of the woman and her vehicle, Jackson-Stroud told investigators he knew a woman who drove such a vehicle and that she had been " 'stalking' him for a while" warrants said. He told investigators Crawley had seen Smith before and would know who she was.

[Locomotive Breath]

Ethics of Nifong's detective at issue
Panel investigated, never charged him

DURHAM - With the North Carolina attorney general reviewing the Duke lacrosse case, the new prosecutors must weigh evidence gathered by Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong's chief investigator, whose private detective career was marked by ethics complaints.
Nifong hired Linwood E. Wilson, a gospel singer with limited experience working criminal cases, less than four months before the March 13 lacrosse team party at which an escort service dancer said she was raped, beaten and robbed.

[snip]

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/535608.html

---

After reading this, I'm a little unclear on Wilson's role. So he's not an actual cop but a Private Investigator hired by the DA? I hadn't really realized that. So he's in a different category from Gottlieb and Himan? Jez - can you help?

[Locomotive Breath]

Bar may give Nifong more time

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/535345.html

[Crawdad]

Is there a way to get an online live feed of the Nifong hearing this morning on WRAL?

[Crawdad]

From WRAL:
Additional Charges
The State Bar amended its complaint against Durham DA Mike Nifong, alleging he withheld DNA evidence.

[gopheraj]

mark

[xoxoxox]

Nifong faces additional ethics charges [Breaking....news...

By Joseph Neff and Ben Niolet, Staff Writers, N&O, Jan 24, 2007 09:58 AM

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong withheld DNA evidence in the Duke lacrosse case and then lied about it to judges and the North Carolina State Bar, according to a complaint filed today by the bar, which licenses and regulates lawyers.

Today's complaint ratchets up the legal troubles facing Nifong; in December the bar had charged Nifong with making inflammatory public statements to the media and misrepresenting the facts in the case.

In April, Nifong sought and received a judge's permission to go to a private laboratory for additional DNA testing in the case, saying "the DNA evidence requested will immediately rule out any innocent persons."

The test results from DNA Security of Burlington found DNA from at least four unidentified men in and on the accuser and excluded the entire lacrosse team as the source. The bar's complaint said Nifong hid these results from defense lawyers, who repeatedly asked for all DNA test results. Nifong then lied to the court, either on paper or in direct comments to a judge, on five occasions, the complaint said.

When the State Bar notified Nifong on Dec. 20 that the organization was investigating the withheld evidence and false statements, Nifong acknowledged that he knew of the DNA results in April and May, the complaint said. Nifong told the bar that he withheld the results out of concerns for the players' privacy concerns.

That response was false, the bar said, because the DNA Security report listed the names of all the people tested, including the 46 lacrosse players.

The three players charged - Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty - have denied the charges and declared their innocence. Earlier this month, Nifong handed the case over to the Attorney General's office because of the pending bar charges.

Nifong is scheduled to make his first appearance this morning at the bar. Depending on the outcome, he could lose his license to practice law.

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/535642.html

[xoxoxox]

Amended complaint---

http://www.wral.com/news/local/flash/1177454/

[xoxoxox]

THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA BAR,

Plaintiff,

v.

MICHAEL B. NIFONG, Attorney

Defendant.


33 pages and 291 paragraphs-- Wow !!!!

filed--- January 24, 2007.

[AnnaZ]

What a thorough, and thoroughly well-written, piece. Thanks for posting it.

[luv2ski]

'Thought you might be interested in this:
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/01/regular_decision.html
Applicant Pool to Duke is Second Largest in School History.

[Jezebelle]

Well, after reading the N&O article, it isn't perfectly clear whether he's actually a sworn peace officer or not, but it is clear that he works for the DA's office as an investigator. According to the article, Wilson would have been a certified peace officer at least in the 70s when he worked as a public safety officer for six years. If he arrested Mostafa on the outstanding warrant himself, then he must be sworn, which would mean that through whatever mechanism in NC peace officer standards is specified, he managed to keep his peace officer's training certificate current. Some DA's offices hire non-sworn investigative personnel along with sworn personnel, but such a person would not be able to serve an out-of-custody arrest warrant. I don't remember now if Wilson served the warrant or if one of the DPD officers served it, but that would be a way to know if he's an investigator with full police powers. I suspect he's sworn, but I can't say for sure based on the skeletal information provided in the story. From what I've seen of NC law and procedures and the prevailing laxity there, I doubt that it would be difficult to meet the standards or to be reinstated if a prosecutor signed the right papers to make it happen.

What's amazing to me is that Wilson is the only investigator on the DA's payroll. For a county that size and the number of ADAs in the office, it's bizarre.

Another thing, since Nifong gave him the job, hiring him out of mothballs as he did, Wilson is likely to be extremely loyal to Nifong and will do what he can to protect him. It would also be interesting to know if Wilson and Nifong had a personal relationship before Nifong hired him, or if Wilson is one of those kinds of local guys with a lot of street cred in the legal community for getting the job done or, more likely, being the go-to guy to get something done under the radar.

[Locomotive Breath]

Thx.

[Alia]

Just an observation.

From the NC NAACP "People's Agenda":

12. Protect the rights of our neighbors from Latin America and other Nations. Extend North Carolina’s arms in welcome to our brothers and sisters and make them feel at home.

And then there's the reality: Nearly half of robbery victims in Durham are Hispanic, January 7, 2007

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

The other reality is the racist attitude many blacks have towards "our neighbors from latin America."

[Jezebelle]

One other thought - if Nifong loses his job, whomever comes into the job after he vacates is going to fire Wilson, most likely. The new DA will want to purge the organization of any stink lingering from the case, and that would of course include Wilson big time.

Wilson no doubt realizes this and thus understands that his and Nifong's fates are entwined, so look for Wilson to cover for Nifong as best he can.

[Political Junkie Too]

Mike Nifong's handling of the case was clearly outrageous. But he would probably not have gone so far, indeed would not have dared to go so far, had he not been egged on by two other groups that rushed just as quickly to judge the three accused young men guilty of gross and racially motivated carnal violence. Despite the repeated attempts by the three to clear themselves, a substantial and vocal percentage--about one-fifth--of the Duke University arts and sciences faculty and nearly all of the mainstream print media in America quickly organized themselves into a hanging party.

Can there be another Richard Jewell type lawsuit against the MSM print media, the way that Jewell won a settlement from the TV networks after being accused of being the Olympic bomber?

-PJ

[abb]

Link to active thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1772825/posts?page=130

[Eva]

This case should be the beginning of the end for these ethnic studies classes at all the universities.

[Eva]

There was a fascinating irony in this. Postmodern theorists pride themselves in discerning what they call "metanarratives." They argue that such concepts as, say, Christianity or patriotism or the American legal system are no more than socially constructed tall tales that the postmodernists can then "deconstruct" to unmask the real purpose behind them, which is (say the postmodernists) to prop up societal structures of--yes, you guessed it--race, gender, class, and white male privilege

I think that this might be the theory behind what O'Reilly called "judicial restoration" in Vermont. It may be what was behind the Lacrosse prosecution as well. It seems that these people think that they can bend the judicial system to right what they see as social wrongs.