Posted on 06/16/2007 1:28:45 PM PDT by stinkerpot65
Edited on 06/16/2007 4:05:02 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Nifong Accepts Disbarment David Freedman, Mike Nifong's attorney, has just announced that Nifong has accepted that disbarment is an "appropriate" penalty, and has accepted both disbarment and waived the right to appeal.
(AP) RALEIGH, N.C. District Attorney Mike Nifong will be disbarred for his disastrous prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, a disciplinary committee decided Saturday. Even the veteran prosecutor said the punishment was appropriate.
"This matter has been a fiasco. There's no doubt about it," said committee chairman F. Lane Williamson.
Nifong sat motionless, one hand resting over his mouth, as Williamson recounted how he engaged in dishonest and deceitful conduct. He said Nifong's early comments about the case — which included a confident proclamation that he wouldn't allow Durham to become known for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl" — were purposefully designed to boost his campaign for district attorney.
"At the time he was facing a primary, and yes, he was politically naive," Williamson said. "But we can draw no other conclusion that those initial statements he made were to further his political ambitions."
Nifong will not appeal the punishment, his lawyer said.
"He hopes this helps restore some of the confidence in the criminal justice system of North Carolina," said attorney David Freedman.
"On one hand, it's very devastating. On the other hand, he's been going through this process for a long time, so you always have some semblance of relief when the process is over with regardless of the outcome."
The North Carolina State Bar charged Nifong with breaking several rules of professional conduct, including lying to both the court and bar investigators and withholding critical DNA test results from the players' defense attorneys.
The committee, after deliberating for a little more than an hour on Saturday, unanimously agreed with the bar on almost every charge — including the most serious allegations — that Nifong's actions involved "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation."
State Bar prosecutor Douglas Brocker told the committee that as Nifong investigated the allegations that a stripper was raped and beaten at a March 2006 party thrown by Duke's lacrosse team, he charged "forward toward condemnation and injustice," weaving a "web of deception that has continued up through this hearing."
"Mr. Nifong did not act as a minister of justice, but as a minister of injustice," Brocker said.
The verdicts and the punishment did not appear to surprise Nifong, who acknowledged during sometimes tearful testimony Friday that he would likely be punished for getting "carried away a little bit" when talking about the case.
During Saturday's closing arguments, Williamson repeatedly interrupted Nifong's attorney, Dudley Witt, as he discussed the DNA testing.
Williamson questioned why it took several months for the defense to get DNA test results that found genetic material from several men in the accuser's underwear and body, but none from any lacrosse player.
"It wasn't just one little oversight," Williamson said later. "This was conduct over an extended period in a very high-profile case."
Aware of those test results, Nifong pressed ahead with the case anyway and won indictments against Dave Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty. State prosecutors later concluded the three players were "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse."
Nifong made "multiple, egregious mistakes" as he pursued the charges, but not intentionally, his attorney said in closing statements.
"It didn't click," Witt said as he tried to explain one of his client's errors. "His mind is just his mind. That's the way it works. It just didn't click."
Brocker said Nifong had to have known he was making improper comments to reporters. Nifong said he regretted some of his statements, including a confident proclamation that he wouldn't allow Durham to become known for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl."
He also focused on when Nifong learned about the full extent of the DNA test results and when he shared that information with the defense.
Nifong gave defense attorneys an initial report on the DNA testing in May 2006 that said private lab DNA Security Inc. had been unable to find a conclusive match between the accuser and any lacrosse players.
But lab director Brian Meehan testified this week that he told Nifong as early as April 10, 2006 — a week before Seligmann and Finnerty were indicted — about the more detailed test results.
Nifong testified that when he gave the defense the initial report, he "believed at the time that I had given them everything."
The disciplinary hearing committee had the choice of suspending Nifong's law license or taking it away entirely.
Nifong told the panel hearing the case Friday that he would resign from his post as Durham County district attorney over his handling of the rape charges.
The players' attorneys have pledged to seek criminal contempt charges next week in Durham.
She’s not even close to what the boys at the party requested. But have you ever seen COPS? Some of the skankiest ugliest women in the world are caught in the prostitution stings.
Pressler already has & there’s been a settlement.
Fonger’s a long way from that.
Can the boys now sue PravdABDNC for their declaration of guilt when the charges were made? Can they get their lives back?
Pray for W and Our Troops
Be aware that as Nifong “criminalized” the white skin color, he did it by “de-criminalizing” the black skin color, as one goes hand in glove with another. It amazes me that people like Nifong even exist. It is a measure of how careless and craven we’ve become that opportunists like this ever get into influential positions. It would be great if he could be executed, just to be made an example of, considering that more than a few innocents have been executed, for the same reason./
LOL, you've got that right!! I still don't understand why she is getting away with making false accusations and costing these men and their families so much.......this is outrageous.........
“...he did it by ‘decriminalizing’ the black skin color...”
“victims” are saints. (very scary indeed.)
“this despicable cretin violated the public trust in the name of his insatiable lust for power and would have had NO TROUBLE putting those boys in prison for 20 years or more for crimes he knew they were not guilty of.”
it certainly is beyond outrageous, isn’t it? it has the stink of 1930’s europe but more than half of the “electorate” probably feel sympathy for his totally psychotic and adolescent behaviour. (thank goodness the sun still shines on the activities of left wing psychos.)
Supreme Doctrine,
While some people may be satisfied that light was shone on the feminist cockroaches in this case, the feminists are laughing over their victory with the socalled “Violence Against Women Act” or VAWA. Our Republican politicians, except Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul, just rolled over for that one.
But there are still men left in the US. Check out http://www.mediaradar.org to a group that at least stopped the United Nations from “welcoming” Kofi Annan’s bogus report on “Violence Against Women”.
This RADAR group is politically active and they are determined to stop all Republican politicians who vote with the feminists.
So far, we are NOT winning this battle.
When was the last time you heard a Republican politician even mention the word “feminism”, much less condemn it?
When was the last time you contributed cash to a Men’s Rights Organization?
Unfortunately, most people here could not even NAME a Men’s Rights Organization.
This Duke Case might be where some men wake up, but I doubt it.
Read http://www.glennsacks.com and maybe also
http://thenononsenseman.mensnewsdaily.com/index.php
Misandry is deeply entrenched in both political parties in the US. The leftists call all men rapists and the religious right call all men perverts (except themselves of course).
A tradition of “chivalry” is such that men are raised in the US to instinctively side with any woman over any man, or at least with women in general over men in general.
Meanwhile, Republican officials have made the temporary mistake of trusting “anti-feminist” organizations in the hands of women like Michelle Bernard of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) who might be against abortion, but is not anti-feminist.
The Heritage Foundation, a supposedly conservative think tank, has feminist gatekeepers.
The job of “legislative aide” in Congress has been farmed out to “professionals” who all come from Wellesley and Smith, regardless of whether they serve Republican or Democrat Congresspeople.
In the judicial branch, court clerks are all former sorority sisters, regardless of which judge they are assigned to.
In Congress, the socalled “Bipartisan Women’s Caucus” is anything but bipartisan.
I can go on...
You have heard of billionaire women dying and leaving hundreds of millions of $ to “women’s shelters”.
But how many billionaire men die and leave hundreds of millions of $ to organizations that will fight feminism?
None. Zero. Zilch.
In fact, conservative billionaires will die and leave all their money to their soon-to-be-lefty wife. Or they will leave hundreds of millions to a stripper.
She will then donate all the money to feminist organizations when she dies.
Don’t believe this hasn’t been happening slowly but surely over the past 30 years since victim-feminism gained power?
Look no further than Theresa Heinz-Kerry who was married to a conservative billionaire who left her the money.
If he is now rolling in his grave, it was his own fault. He needed to have rewritten his will a bit.
Note that Heather McCartney is pledging millions of her divorce settlement to women’s organizations that fight “domestic violence”. Will a portion of Beatles music sales now go via Heather into feminist organizations?
Rich old men: You might want to rewrite your last will and testament, and specificy specific men’s rights organizations and individuals who could use money to fight.
I am not following your reasoning: wasn’t Nifong the prosecutor? Why is this case indicative of another bad trend, namely, as you’re suggesting, something that spurs defense attorneys to jump on the “anti-prosecutor” bandwagon/ Pardon me, but I guess I missed this, if I haven’t followed it as closely as you have/ And IF there is a bandwagon inspired by sleaze like Nifong, who wouldn’t want to jump on it, and why wouldn’t they be justified in doing so? REGARDLESS/ It’s garden variety creeps like Nifong that do piecemeal what every dictator does as national “policy”-—why shouldn’t he be stopped?
You misunderstood or I was not clear enough. Sorry.
Nifong should be strung up, in my opinion. He’s a disgrace to both the legal profession and honest prosecutors. And no I’m not a prosecutor.
My point was/is, FNC and other networks were asking opinions of defense attorneys, concerning the verdict. In too many cases these lawyers were bashing prosecutors across the board and some talking about how they have clients who were mistreated. My point was opinions from defense attorneys are too often no more unbiased than Democrats defending Bill Clinton.
“hundreds and millions of dollars... to organizations that will fight feminism...”
has a certain ring to it. (but, should be called “anti-castration” movements or “mountain oyster revolts”.)
I suggested nowhere that you were a prosecutor< I was just trying to clarify your points about defense vs. Prosecutors. I never picked up on any of those rhetorical skirmishes regarding this case that you report on. But if there IS an unfair backlash against prosecutors, that’s another thing you can blame on clowns like Nifong. Those were “unintended consequences” of the worse kind, because the smeared victims of the LaCrosse team were considered as nothing but devices serving Nifong’s quest to buff up his career and image as friend of the oppressed. The “intended” consequences were to destroy them. And if there is a backlash against REAL victims of rape or sexual abuse, blame both the lying party girl whose name I don’t remember, and once again , Nifong, for abusing her by allowing her participation in the special “joint project” they both conspired to pull off.
I want to know who the attorney was for the players.
Can anyone give me contact information?
I want to go after the entire “Violence Against Women Act” in federal court.
I am dead serious. So are a few Iraq War vets who want to be plaintiffs and/or expert witnesses on how the new federal law turns men into second class citizens. This law makes the Duke case look like a minor media sensation in comparison.
Also, what district is best for a challenge that will permanently put feminism in its place?
The 9th is the worst of course, except for Judge Kazinski. Heck, there is a female 9th Circuit federal judge on the board of directors for several “women’s shelters” that lobby for new laws in Washington.
The 7th has got Posner and Easterbrook, which makes better odds.
The DC Circuit?
What federal circuit is North Carolina? This Duke case was not federal I understand, but it is in the federal courts where the real fight is going to be.
Regarding Alito and Roberts of the Supremes...are they aware of the definition of feminism as being always claiming “men are violent and need to be regulated”?
Or, like some other Republican federal judges...do they just condemn feminism on the issue of abortion while helping the fems “crack down on bad men”?
How do the other Supremes line up on feminism?
Lawyers reading this: Please provide resources.
Comment: I DO NOT believe the lack of interest in prosecuting the prostitute that filed false rape charges against the Duke Lacross players is due to Her "personal hardships", but to silence the truth.
Question: With possible prior knowledge to a Duke Lacross event, did Nifong exploit this opportunity to hire a prostitute(s) to make the false rape charges and create the racial tensions needed to gain the black vote in his election?
nifong?
BYE fong.........
seeya mikey wouldn’t wanna BE ya mikey.
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