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2007-06-17 -Lurid Crime Tales-

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Posted by Steve White 2007-06-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11125 views ] Top

#1 I hope Nifong ends up in a jail cell someplace as the sex slave of some guy he sent up a few years earlier. He richly deserves such a fate.

Posted by Mac 2007-06-17 03:35|| 2007-06-17 03:35|| Front Page Top

#2 No punishment for the fake victem?

Posted by Criling Fillmore7165 2007-06-17 06:19|| 2007-06-17 06:19|| Front Page Top

#3 Unfortunately, Mac, Nifong mostly did traffic court before he was appointed to fill in the DA's slot, broke what the governor says was an agreement not to run for election and then used the LAX team to lever his career.

Re: Magnum -- she won't be prosecuted and shouldn't be IMO. She is apparently seriously mentally ill, not violent and therefore not deemed a threat to herself or others so she is not institutionalized. But seriously mentally ill none the less and on heavy psychotropic medications -- and Nifong knew it.

What pisses me off royally here besides the hideous injustice to the LAX players, coach and families is what Nifong has done to future real rape victims. By pushing ahead with a case where a mentally ill woman changed her story often and where there was little solid evidence even that a rape had occurred, he's made it harder for women who ARE raped to be taken seriously. The SANE nurse was right to say that it's not uncommon for a raped person to be stunned and not consistent on small details. And even mentally ill women can be raped.

It was Nifong's job to seek out the truth here and make a judgement call. He not only refused to see evidence that was important, he decided to go with Magnum's shifting story and eventually to send Wilson in to adjust that story to fit the evidence he was eventually forced to acknowledge.

It's Sunday, so I won't use the language I want to when describing him. But as a once-upon-a-time rape crisis volunteer I am more livid not only at what he did, but at the trivial personal reasons for which he casually destroyed dozens of lives.

Posted by occasional observer 2007-06-17 06:46|| 2007-06-17 06:46|| Front Page Top

#4 "more THAN livid"

ie.

pissed, furious, enraged etc.

Posted by occasional observer 2007-06-17 06:59|| 2007-06-17 06:59|| Front Page Top

#5 So does the Group of 88 87 also get to use the mental illness defense?

Duke lacks any credibility as an institution of higher learning if they're allowed to bury that deep dark mark upon their demonstration of intellectual integrity. Hate speech for thee, not for me. Go back fifty years and reverse the race of the accuser and accused and you understand how bankrupt the soul of academia has become. It's not about free speech or thought or civil rights. It is all about power.

Posted by Procopius2k 2007-06-17 08:32|| 2007-06-17 08:32|| Front Page Top

#6 I initially read that as "Nifong Disemboweled."
Oh, well, it was nice while it lasted.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2007-06-17 08:59|| 2007-06-17 08:59|| Front Page Top

#7 Durham PD, Duke Faculty and the Potbangers all need to pay for their perfidy as well

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-06-17 09:19|| 2007-06-17 09:19|| Front Page Top

#8 Duke has become a piece of work altogether in recent years. This is, after all, the same school which so eagerly hosted a Palestinian-lovers' convention. The Dean who'd invited them justified this to me because his Jewish, Holocaust surviving father did not tell him it was a bad idea. And besides, my bright, beautiful, Jewish, Zionist daughters are going to find all good schools do such things, and we might as well accept it... and learn to stop fussing.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-06-17 09:30|| 2007-06-17 09:30|| Front Page Top

#9 It's idiots like that Duke bonehead, TW, that are the reason why most Americans, and all Jewish Americans, should a)own firearms, and b)defend their right to do so unto death. There's a lesson to be learned from the muzzy scumbags about the uses of violence. No one wants to offend them for fear of being hurt or killed. If the Paleo-loving lefty academics had the same concern about violent Jewish retaliation, they'd be a hell of a lot more circumspect about being partisan in this matter.

Posted by Mac 2007-06-17 11:55|| 2007-06-17 11:55|| Front Page Top

#10 OC nails it. I've dealt with rape victims in my medical career, and let me tell you, they are seriously traumatized. Now there's always going to be a doubt as to whether they're telling the truth and whether the DA is just trying to railroad that nice, clean defendant over there in the suit and tie.

Nifong did serious damage to the concept of justice, and he did it just to preserve his pension. He can't go to jail, but people should spit on him in public.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2007-06-17 12:13|| 2007-06-17 12:13|| Front Page Top

#11 No punishment for the fake victem [sic]?

If you read her background and what she's like now, she's being punished. Just not by the legal system.

Posted by Pappy 2007-06-17 12:16|| 2007-06-17 12:16|| Front Page Top

#12 The goobers did the right thing in disbarring him -- gotta give credit where it's due.

Posted by regular joe 2007-06-17 12:35|| 2007-06-17 12:35|| Front Page Top

#13 You know, I wasnt going to comment on this matter, but I see that there is such a profound misunderstanding of the Duke lacrosse team rape case that I feel I must. Nifong probably never thought that those boys were guilty of rape. Nor did he care. They are guilty of being the following four things, however: white, rich, Duke students, and outsiders. probably Yankee outsiders at that.

Why does this matter? Because Nifong is a smart politician with a profound understanding of his constituents.

As a very young man I lived in Durham, NC for two years, working as a dish washer, busboy, roofer, and what have you to make ends meet. I got to know the indigenous population of that town pretty well. They are mostly black, poor, and uneducated Southerners whose economic well-being is directly or indirectly dependent on a single institution: Duke University. Not that the minority white population of Durham is in a significantly different boat. Many of them resent the university too.

Biting the hand that feeds you. Its pretty stupid; but there are reasons for it, because in Durham the hand that feeds you is also sometimes the hand that slaps you. In my case, that slapping was literal. It came in the form of the worst beating Ive ever had in my life at the hands of you got it a bunch of drunken Duke athletes. I was bedridden for a week, while a buddy who tried to intervene spent some serious time in the hospital. What did we do to earn such a profound ass kicking? Simple. The Dukies (a local pejorative) were harassing a 14-year-old girl in the street and I stepped into the middle of it. Unintelligent, I know, but I was pretty young.

Man, I hated Dukies after that! And the Durham police. But age heals all wounds.

Anyhow, in Durham the Dukies are Somebody and the Townies are Nobody. Thats the way things worked down there and Nifongs constituents know it. When the Durham police showed up to see why paramedics were scraping poor Mike B. and I off of the sidewalk, there only comment was that next time we should stay out of the way presumably of gangs of drunken Duke jocks. Traditionally, Durhams police are not only corrupt, but completely and utterly owned by the needs of the University. Economically, it makes sense. Happy students make for happy parents. Happy parents make for tuition money. Tuition money makes for fat city coffers, which make for a well-funded police force. And so it goes.

Why do I say that the Durham police are corrupt? Well, I used to work for this guy named Fred L., who owned a bar and restaurant in Durham. Fred was not only an accomplish restaurateur, but an accomplished drug dealer as well. Naturally, most of his customers were Duke students, and he financed his operations by borrowing money from the local cops. In return for payback on their investments, they turned a blind eye to his activities; a nice, quiet setup that worked well for everyone until Fred skipped town one day. I found out a bit more about the situation when the local cops paid me a visit (they were looking for Fred) and got curious enough to talk with a few people. Id have never figured it out otherwise.

Anyhow, Dukes athletes are famous amongst the Townies for several things: winning games, throwing massive parties, running roughshod over the locals, and treating local women like garbage. Yep, thats right: Duke Universitys jocks are somewhat notorious for being. well, rapists is way to strong of a word, so lets just say sexually aggressive. It comes naturally enough to callous, incredibly intoxicated young men of any variety, and the traditional attitude of the Durham police toward the local population doesnt help matters any. Now, am I saying that the Duke LAX team was guilty of raping that woman? No I think that they are innocent. Am I saying that all Duke students are terrible people? No several of my best friends went to Duke. What I am saying is that Nifong is a good enough politician to know an opportunity when he sees one. To many people in Durham, those boys were guilty in a greater sense.

Posted by Secret Master 2007-06-17 15:38|| 2007-06-17 15:38|| Front Page Top

#14 I don't know when you were in Durham, SM, but I can well believe your story.

Two destructive things happened in Durham in the 80s that helped create the situation you describe. First, the tobacco mills became uneconomic to run. And second, the black middle class leadership in Durham was deliberately targetted by a series of actions that gutted that class.

That area where 15/501 swings north and especially east, joining I-85, was routed through the most prosperous black community in the region, I was told by lifelong (white) residents. Houses were eminent domained and streets that had been major conduits of business and social life suddenly were cut into two non-connecting segments by the thruway.

Re: the tobacco mills, I had the privilege of getting to know Jim Turner in the early 90s. Jim grew up in a blue collar family in NC, rose to be president of Liggett Myer in the 80s. As overseas competition pressed the tobacco industry hard, he worked closely with the unions to bring in the necessary automation to compete. I believe him when he said that he saved as many jobs as he could for the city, but the reality is that those jobs were going to go away, as did some textile and other un- and semi-skilled manufacturing.

Which left welfare and Duke. Professionals who moved in to support the Research Triangle Park technology firms tended not to purchase homes in Durham, by and large, unless they were biomedical people associated also with Duke. The newcomers settled in new suburbs like Cary (which the locals dubbed 'Concentrated Area of Relocated Yankees').

The home we purchased was in the western edge of the city in a new development. Most of our neighbors were either Duke alumni, faculty or similar professionals; there were a sprinkling of NC State types and we were the only Chapel Hill / UNC people on our street. It was an interesting experience .... ;-)

But yeah, Durham is pathological in several ways and Nifong attempted to lever the Magnum case into an elected position and a guaranteed pension. And you're right, he did not WANT TO KNOW if the young LAX players were guilty. He probably thought they probably weren't, but figured it was their job to prove it. And in the meanwhile he was sticking it to the university that refused him entrance as an undergrad.

Like KC Johnson says, Nifong's position is that they were guilty until proven innocent, and he was going to delay that proof as long as he could.

Scum.

Posted by occasional observer 2007-06-17 16:41|| 2007-06-17 16:41|| Front Page Top

#15 Yesterday questions came up about legal action against Nifong under the judge/case from before the AG took over. According to this story, Judge Smith retained control of the case which came to his court and can therefore sanction Nifong directly:

Nifong's decisions last week to step down as Durham County district attorney and surrender his law license will keep him from practicing as a lawyer for the next five years.

But that does not mean the prosecutor who bet his career on the Duke lacrosse case will not be back in a courtroom.

Defense lawyers said they plan to file a motion asking Judge W. Osmond Smith III to sanction Nifong for his actions in court.

This month, Smith issued a memorandum saying that he retains control over the lacrosse case and has the power to discipline Nifong as well.

In his memorandum, Smith, the Superior Court judge assigned to the lacrosse case, wrote that significant concerns about evidence arose during a Dec. 15 hearing.

At that hearing, Brian Meehan, director of the private lab that did DNA testing, testified that he and Nifong agreed to write a report that only included information about DNA matches. In crafting the report that way, the prosecutor and lab director excluded crucial information about the presence of DNA from unidentified men - evidence that could have helped the defense prove the innocence of their clients.

The families, who have spent more than $3 million, have contemplated civil suits and lobbied for the federal Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into civil rights violations.

"I would be surprised if the saga of Mike Nifong is over," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, one of the defense lawyers. "His continued efforts to smear the members of the Duke lacrosse team ... did not endear him to the players' families or anyone he hurt in this."

Posted by occasional observer 2007-06-17 17:17|| 2007-06-17 17:17|| Front Page Top

#16 I'm waiting for the apology from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for their contribution to the railroad job of the Duke lacrosse players.

Posted by JohnQC 2007-06-17 17:26|| 2007-06-17 17:26|| Front Page Top

#17 thanks OC and Secret Master..

"Duke rape case"
I know the basics but not much about the fine details.. but i heard this the other day...

failure of Nifong's whole office..

Not one other Durham County prosecuter confronted Nifong or came forward to call foul during the many months leading up to the trial..

Posted by Red Dawg">Red Dawg 2007-06-17 17:29|| 2007-06-17 17:29|| Front Page Top

#18 My only real knowledge of the Duke jock culture comes from the trash they talked before their 1989 All-American Bowl meeting with Texas Tech.

Tech overwhelmed the Blue Devils 49-21.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2007-06-17 18:32|| 2007-06-17 18:32|| Front Page Top

23:56 Zenster
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