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Nifong trial focuses on DNA report
News & Observer ^ | Jun 13, 2007 03:04 PM | Benjamin Niolet

Posted on 06/13/2007 12:30:09 PM PDT by ricks_place

RALEIGH - The Durham District Attorney never asked the director of a DNA lab to produce a report of all test results in the Duke University lacrosse case. And as a result, defense lawyers for three indicted lacrosse players had to discover for themselves test results that were favorable to the players.

In a disciplinary case against Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, lawyers for the State Bar want to prove that the prosecutor tried to keep lawyers for the players from learning of the complete test results.

The tests turned up genetic material from unknown men, but this information was not in a report given to the players' lawyers.

Today's testimony from Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security in Burlington, would suggest that Nifong planned to turn over the full test results at some point. But under questioning from prosecutor Douglas Brocker, Meehan said Nifong didn't follow through.

"Prior to Jan. 12, 2007, which is when Mr. Nifong recused himself...did you ever issue a final report with all the results and examinations?" Brocker asked.

"No we did not."

"Why not?"

"Well we weren't asked," Meehan said. "We were in a holding pattern. We were waiting for someone in Mr. Nifong's office to call and tell us to do that."

The tests found DNA from unknown men on the body and underwear of escort service dancer Crystal Gail Mangum, who claimed she had been raped at an off-campus team party in March 2006.

Lawyers for the accused players did not learn that the test had excluded their clients until more than six months after Meehan discussed the finding with Nifong. A defense lawyer had to labor over nearly 2,000 pages that a judge ordered turned over to the defense teams.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: dukelax; nifong
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To: ricks_place

Nifong’s mistake was of the heart, not the mind. He did what he did with malice, and personal gain in mind. IMHO any public official who uses his office for personal gain AND harms another while doing so should be shot.


21 posted on 06/13/2007 2:23:08 PM PDT by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: Dante3

Let me clue you in. All you need in order to get through law school is time and money. Brains are not a requirement. I’ll give you a little more info. Most prosecutors and judges are lawyers who couldn’t make a living as lawyers. They weren’t good enough.
I know this after having spent 30 years in LE and having to deal with some of the most stupid people in the world, and I’m not talking about criminals.


22 posted on 06/13/2007 2:27:43 PM PDT by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: Continental Soldier

I heard Nifong’s mouthpiece say that there was no political motive, as he had never held elected political office!

True, but he was running for one at the time!

Lying by omission. Which is exactly what Nifong did. Why am I not surprised?


23 posted on 06/13/2007 2:29:28 PM PDT by trimom
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To: hdstmf

Keep in mind that not everyone hired through Affirmative Action is a knucklehead! Giving folks a hand-up is not a bad thing...a hand-out is a whole nother story!


24 posted on 06/13/2007 2:31:16 PM PDT by ricks_place
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To: ricks_place

This POS should be locked up with his friends for a long long time.

Hopefully he will also be indicted civilly. Make him pay for his lying PC!


25 posted on 06/13/2007 4:13:26 PM PDT by eleni121 ((+ En Touto Nika! By this sign conquer! + Constantine the Great)
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To: ricks_place

The FBI raced to nearby Guilford College in North Carolina when there was a claim of a hate crime against some Palestinians (later shown to be false). They interviewed the ‘victims’ even before the local police did.

But the FBI would not go to Durham after members of a uniformed racist hate group threatened defendants INSIDE A COURTROOM with death; after some investigators for the DA in that Duke case got involved in the racially involved beating of a black cook (”Rodney King South”); nor after all the other violations of the rights of the defendants (no speedy trial, no right to confront their accuser, no right to have full discovery, etc.)

The FBI has kept as far away from the Durham mess as possible; which has helped allow the DA and the judges there to act as they have, without restraint. Meaning, that the FBI is as much guilty of denying equal protection of the laws as anyone else.


26 posted on 06/13/2007 4:16:01 PM PDT by CondorFlight (I)
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To: NorthFlaRebel; Dante3; henkster
...and that black woman who is a former prosecutor named Sunny something I believe.

I didn't see the show, but it sounds like you might be referring to Georgia Goslee. What a vile piece of work she is.

27 posted on 06/13/2007 4:57:22 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: henkster
Anyway, I thought there was a "smoking gun" out there somewhere, where the DNA lab director stated Nifong told him he deliberately DIDN'T want to see the results in writing, having been VERBALLY told what they were. Or I am making this up?

You are correct. Nifong is well and truly hosed on this point:

http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2007/06/meehan-cross-examination.html

Note - The linked blog post was typed in real time by KC Johnson from his laptop while he attended the trial.

28 posted on 06/13/2007 5:31:19 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: NorthFlaRebel
“the boys aren’t angels, they hired a stripper”

Yeah, those boys should have known better. How many times have they seen the PSA on that new NC law: "Hire a stripper, go to jail for rape." Serves 'em right.
I thought that Fox had more credibility than to hire bimbos as "legal scholars".

29 posted on 06/14/2007 5:27:34 AM PDT by Nevermore
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To: CondorFlight; All

Yes, and TO THIS DAY all I have to show for my inquiry to the DOJ about the uniformed racists’ open courtroom threats is a system-generated email stating, “Thank you for your email...blah...it will be read in the order in which it was received...blah...The Department of Justice...BLAH BLAH!”

Well come to think of it, there very well might have been a file opened with my name on it. Gotta ‘harass-tigate’ the rabble-rousers, you know...


30 posted on 06/14/2007 5:55:35 AM PDT by Guilty by Association (Don't wander in here without first acquiring a clue.)
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To: Ken H

No, but she is on the same level as Georgia Goslee.


31 posted on 06/14/2007 5:58:24 AM PDT by NorthFlaRebel
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To: NorthFlaRebel

OK, I know you’re in there! So what’s the deal with the Gibson references?


32 posted on 06/14/2007 6:11:07 AM PDT by Guilty by Association (Don't wander in here without first acquiring a clue.)
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To: Guilty by Association

I could swear this occurred on John Gibsons show in the late afternoon, not O’Reilly. Maybe I am confused, or maybe O’Reilly had Megan and Sunny on as well. Did you see them make a bet on O’Reilly?


33 posted on 06/14/2007 8:53:40 AM PDT by NorthFlaRebel
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To: NorthFlaRebel

Sure did. Maybe they were on both, but I only saw O’Reilly.


34 posted on 06/14/2007 8:57:22 AM PDT by Guilty by Association (Don't wander in here without first acquiring a clue.)
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To: ricks_place

35 posted on 06/14/2007 9:02:24 AM PDT by steve-b (It's hard to be religious when certain people don't get struck by lightning.)
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To: NorthFlaRebel
I saw it on Gibson.

BTW, Two Albany football players, Lorenzo Ashbourne and Julius Harris, admitted to raping a female student in a campus dorm last fall. They will receive 6 months and 10 years probation. Talk about a sweetheart deal. And no national uproar, no Rev. Jesse Jackson, no Black Panthers or whatever those funny guys were who made silly faces and met with Nifong and Brodback.

Nifong should end up in jail.

36 posted on 06/14/2007 12:49:26 PM PDT by Jane Austen
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To: steve-b

They might want to add some “Jerk Chicken” to that menu! :-)


37 posted on 06/15/2007 11:35:10 AM PDT by NoBullZone
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To: steve-b

They might want to add some “Jerk Chicken” to that menu! :-)


38 posted on 06/15/2007 11:35:14 AM PDT by NoBullZone
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