Friday, June 15, 2007

Mangum and the Case

Always was somebody else present when he met with Crystal Mangum--but never discussed the facts of the case with her.

Met her for first time on April 11--she seemed to be "somewhat traumatized still." She had a way of sitting in a chair of shrinking. (This, of course, was one week after she identified multiple suspects.)

Had seen similar things from "other sexual assault victims."

[Of course, Crystal Mangum was not a "sexual assault victim."]

"My impression was that something really bad had happened to her and she wasn't ready to deal with it."

Second meeting: Mangum was having difficulty getting around in Durham--the DA's office makes sure that she gets into a place in another county. Talked with her about her job prospects.

Complains about "significant additional discovery requests" from defense. [Impression, again, is that DA's office was overburdened.]

As Nifong is detailing his meetings with Mangum, wife Cy Gurney is rubbing the bac of their son--who has, unfortunately, been in attendance all week.]

Problem was that Mangum was pregnant, and having a high-risk pregnancy.

Decided that it would be a good time to have Linwood Wilson interview her for a trial--nobody from the DA's office had ever spoken to her to find out what her "version of the facts."

Nifong is again describing Mangum as a victim--and is now suggesting that previous versions of events that she had given had been inaccurately transcribed.

[This is an astonishing line of argument by Nifong--effectively suggesting that he proceeded for months on a case based on "inaccurate" or "inconsistent" statements provided by police, some of which had been "mistranscribed."]

Tells Linwood Wilson to sit down with her to determine basic facts of statements. OK to send Wilson alone, because the goal was to prepare Mangum for the 2-7-07 suppression hearing.

"As far as I knew, all he was going to do was to talk to her about her supposed statements in the past."

"We were trying to get a version . . ."

Knew that Linwood Wilson was taking photos of the players' party photos to get her information about where during the course of the event the photos occurred. Didn't realize Wilson was going to be taking with him the 4-4 lineup photos.

Williamson: Why didn't Wilson record his interview with Mangum?
Nifong: I can't tell you the reason.

W'mson: Did you give him any direction in terms of memorializing this conversation?
Nifong: Told him to take notes as he would for any other witness.

W'son: Does Linwood Wilson take other witness interviews?
Nifong: He has, on occasion, in the past. We're not using him in that fashion any more.

W'son: When did you stop?
Nifong: 2007.

Williamson is looking utterly incredulous at this stage.

Nifong has just stated that he's unaware whether Linwood Wilson has a PI's license at the current time. The N&O, of course, showed that he had no license.

Nifong: "He did very few interviews for us."
Wm'son: Why'd you ask him to do it? A pretty critical interview, if it wasn't his primary function. Why wouldn't you interview her yourself?
Nifong: Probably a mistake.

Wm'son: Why couldn't you rely on her earlier statements to police?
Nifong: I could have done that. I probably made a mistake in not doing that.

Nifong asks that his attorney be allowed to resume his questioning.

Nifong has now claimed that he didn't know Linwood Wilson was going to be showing Mangum the 4-4 lineup photos until Jim Cooney asked the DA about it.

Wm'son: Did Wilson call this a lineup?
Nifong: I don't know what you would call it.

"Our feeling all along was that Matt, Adam, and Brett were not only made-up names but they were using the names interchangeably." Nifong never made such a claim at any point before 12-21.

Williamson is expressing incredulity that Nifong could have dismissed the rape charge and not the sexual assault charge, given the enormity of her change of story.

Q: What was your assessment of Ms. Mangum's credibility at the time you dismissed the rape charge?
Nifong: I had no direct assessment of her credibility at that point.

116 comments:

Anonymous said...

he's lying again. He knew Mangum and her family through a case involving them a couple of years before. This meeting was not the first time they had met.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, maybe a 10 man gang rape with condoms that happened about a week before she went to the Lacrosse party.

Anonymous said...

Fong is leaving out the fact he knew her and her family because he worked with her parents on a previous case.

Anonymous said...

Not that, probably ... but I wonder if there isn't something fishy about Magnum's relationship with the police or the DA's office.

Anonymous said...

Job prospects?? how about dancing on the laps of the entire DPD and DA's office??

Anonymous said...

Crystal sufferred from emotional and psychiatric conditions, had had run-ins with the cops, etc. . . . and he expected her to sit up straight, be outgoping and personable with the DA and exude confidence? When she didn't it, he assumed it could only be because she had been raped weeks earlier? This guys is the wacko.

Anonymous said...

This is all horseshit and stall. Williamson should intervene.

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

So she had trouble turning tricks with the press following her?

Anonymous said...

JLS says....

re: anon 3:00

I am just out of my second class is this still direct?

Anonymous said...

Part of me says Nifong had a sexual encounter with her and wanted to hide the fact his DNA was in her or could have been in her.

He just grabbed the case and ran with it with such disregard for how to handle this kind of case trying to shift the focus from something that he didnt want coming out.

mac said...

Nifey's defense attorney should
be sanctioned if he keeps
wasting the court's time.

Anonymous said...

She was video taped in a bar dancing less than 2 weeks are her alledged rape!
This is all BS!

Anonymous said...

WTF??!!

Anonymous said...

So the DA had no idea what happened. Solution - indict some kids.

Anonymous said...

That skank has had a kid since all of this?
With the drug, alcohol and renting out all orifaces on her body problem, she just gave birth to a child?

I am sure he will be a great contributor to society.

Anonymous said...

Traumatized = "Looked smaller"

What garbage.

Just how fragile was this hooker?

Her demeanor was most likely whereever she was in the cycle of her dope us.

Nifong in social worker mode.

He's an idiot

Anonymous said...

Now he saying he thought she had given several different versions because those hearing the versions heard them in different ways and misunderstood her!

mac said...

3:02
Who would waste the tape?
(It probably would get a case
of fleas, at a minimum.)

Anonymous said...

She didnt have much of a problem sitting up or standing when she was swinging from a pole at a strip joint 2 weeks after claiming she was brutally raped.

mac said...

Nifong was busy sharing delusions
with his girl-witness.

Anonymous said...

He should have sent her to DETOX. He seems so worried about the news media following her around. She had her 15 mins. of fame when she stole a taxi and went on a multi-county chase.

Anonymous said...

What does any of this signify? How is any of this relevant? The bottom line is that cases need evidence, not some feeling by a DA that "something happened".

Anonymous said...

He's claiming her statements were mistranscribed?! I heard that, right? I'm not hallucinating?

Dianna

Anonymous said...

She didn't have any difficulty when she was getting pregnant two weeks after the alleged attacks!

Anonymous said...

What a piece of work, now he blames his own guys for her statements.

Its funny, though, that the Ag's office found the same thing..she continued to change her story when confronted with the facts.

Just like he does.

Anonymous said...

Dianna,

You see, he's smarter than the police AND other members of the Bar.

Once you realize that you realize he HAD to take charge of things.

Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Nifong is a lying machine! He thinks he is very good at it. This guy has been lying his entire life!

Anonymous said...

JLS says....

The prosecution needs to beat this bum into a bloody pulp. We need hour after hour of rebutting this smearing these poor guys again.

Anonymous said...

Maybe if he wrote stuff down, he could keep his facts straight ...

The meetings with the whore were to try to tell her what to say and "remember" to cover his tracks. He's known his goose was cooked for a long long time.

String him up. They should put her on the seat and demonstrate what a whack job they've been dealing with. Bring in the people who told the cops she was an actual prostitute/psycho drug addict too ...

Dan Weber said...

I feel like I'm listening to the Bob Newhart show.

Anonymous said...

Her "supposed statements"?

This must be sooo insulting to any lawyer that either tried a rape case.

What the complaining witness says is critical, ANY inconsitencies, no matter how slight or irrelevant are cause for concern.

20 guys, 5 guys, 4 guys, 3 guys.

Ejaculation in the mouth/no condom rape/no rape at all.

Pulled into the room/dressed by Kim/Kim a victim/rapists assited by Kim.

Who his he kidding?

Anonymous said...

"We were trying to get a version...(PAUSE - let me think about what I am saying)" What a complete loser.

Anonymous said...

Aha - at last asking about notes (though Wilson's) practice.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 3:08

I guess. (!)

Ye gads, I have to laugh.

Anonymous said...

i've lost confidence in Williamson> he should not allow this ridiculous line of thought to continue> she isn't a victim if no crime occured.

Also, why hasn't someone tied in the motivation for all of his crazy processing > it has everything to do with getting elected with this case and the free publicity. That is what it was about.

This slow southern meander is typical. It's all insulting and infuritating, which I'm sure is his purpose.

Anonymous said...

Williamson does not intend to let this case be lost on appeal.

This isn't slow southern meander -- it's nailing shut every single legal bolthole for the rats.

Anonymous said...

Nifong is hanging himself, the more he talks the better.

Anonymous said...

HUM THE HUM THE HUM!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Holy shit, Williamson is is beginning to push back big time.

Anonymous said...

I think he wants to be crossed examined on Saturday

Anonymous said...

Wow! Another mistake Mikey made. He sent Wilson to interview Crystal and he did not do it himself? Isn't he admitting to too many mistakes?

Anonymous said...

Does Lifong have something in his eye? He surely wouldn't make a good poker player. That blink rate is a dead giveaway. Wilson was told not to record or otherwise memorialize his conversation with CGM....

Anonymous said...

Any LE officer investigating a rape knows that it is vital to get a statement as soon as possible after the incident. Who is Nifong shitting? I know Williamson and the other panel members aren't falling for his BS.

Anonymous said...

He let Wilson do it so that he could claim clean hands in the affair.

Pfeh.

Anonymous said...

I don't think bar proceedings are appealable.

Anonymous said...

Nifong asks that his attorney be allowed to resume his questioning.

I'll bet he does. LOL

Anonymous said...

I believe the witness is starting to get a bit testy.

Anonymous said...

I agree...Nifong specifcally told Wilson NOT to record the interview. The whole thing was their plan to get out of the case without fall out. Too little too late Mikey boy. YOU LIAR.

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

Whopper after whopper etc.

Anonymous said...

If Nifong expects Wilson to take notes like "... he would for any other witness" , then why didn't Nifong take notes at any of his meetings with Meehan? Wouldn't he have expected his crack DNA guy to be a witness? Remember, Nifong did not get what he wanted from the State Lab! Perhaps he started taking notes, but when he did not hear what he wanted to hear from Meehan, he decided that this guy better not be called as a witness and scrapped the notes. All Meehan would have talked about was the multiple DNA hits, none of which matched any of the lax players, and certainly not the ones he wanted to indict. NOTES WOULD BE DISCOVERABLE!

Anonymous said...

Is it just me or does it seem a bit odd to be trying to determine the victim's story after indicting people.

Anonymous said...

Nifong has just opened the door to criminal conspiracy, obstruction, etc.

Anonymous said...

So my father just walked into the room where I have Court TV on. He's familiar with the case and an attorney himself. He just assumed that this was the cross. I advised it was the direct and we just started to laugh. I can't wait till cross.

Anonymous said...

Blinkey Blinkey Blink Blink

Anonymous said...

Then he says he could have relied upon her earlier statements?!

What happened to the "mistranscriptions"?

Anonymous said...

Nifong is telling us what was in the skanks mind.
Also a mind reader..He is good.

Anonymous said...

"We were trying to get a version...."

More likely assisting her in crafting a better version.

This whole Wilson story is so toxic.

Anonymous said...

My goodness. Nifong did everything he could to keep the truth about what really (didn't) happen from coming out. And trying to throw Wilson under the bus in the process: "we don't use him in that capacity any more" as if to say that it was a revelation that Wilson didn't know how to properly conduct an interview.

This man should be serving time.

Anonymous said...

He sent Wilson to do it because even Gottlieb might have balked at coaching a witness to change her testimony this late in the game.

Wilson was sent, by himself, with no tape recorder and no cop, with the photos to shore up the whores ability to ID them and to tell her what to say about the timeline and the DNA evidence.

There is no other reason for it.

Anonymous said...

God, I hope you are right. I could never be lawyer, but I'm glad there are people like Brad Brannon, Osborn, Cheshire and the rest to fight the amoral, malpractice of a Nifong.

It still makes me very concerned.

Anonymous said...

He asks Linwood to take notes, but he never takes notes????

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

re: anon 3:20

Exactly this is a complete pack of lies. Wilson did exactly as instructed by Nifong including freshing her memory as to which pictures she was to pick.

Anonymous said...

Jun 15, 2007 3:20:00 PM your comments are right on.

Anonymous said...

No need do cross examine this liar....williamson is cooking him

Anonymous said...

Oh my GOD, he is lying like no one I have ever heard...

Anonymous said...

Williamson is serving up some fried Fong. He is seriously cooked.

Anonymous said...

They could adjourn now and do what needs to be done. It's only going to get worse from here on out.

Anonymous said...

CREDIBLE witness ... how could mangum have ever been considered as such?

Anonymous said...

... now he says he couldn't call her that, ever, so how could he bring the charges?

Anonymous said...

I think Williamson is tired of all this and ready to get to the crux of the matter.

Anonymous said...

I wondered for so long why he did it. How it could have gone so far. Now watching him lie I see he has no conscience. He seems to me only mildly nervious and considering the situation he is in, he ought to be near tears. Only someone completely disconnected from others could be this calm. He is torturing his own lies. He is a frightening man and it is astounding that he is the DA. Collin's parents are right not to want to send him back to Durham.

Anonymous said...

Whoa--he brought charges without knowing her credibility????????????????

GaryB said...

"The [man Nifong] protests too much, methinks." Hamlet (III, ii, 239)

Ever notice how if you had a simple theory: "Nifong railroaded these kids for political gains", that all his actions fall into place.

Whereas if you have an unlikely theory: "Nifong was just trying to do the best he could, regardless of politics", that you need days of testimony just trying to patch up what was done, why it was done, when it was done.

Anonymous said...

He says: "I had no direct assessment..."

Next question: WTF NOT???

Anonymous said...

Deep Fried Turkey. Complete BS.

Anonymous said...

Please Mr. chairman, save some for the cross examination.
This guy is killing nifong.

Anonymous said...

Kathy Seligmann looks like she is going to pass out listening to him. He is pure evil.

Anonymous said...

JLS says....,

Nifong: "the case couldn't have occurred?"

Gee Mike the standard is beyoung a resonable doubt not could it have occurred.

Anonymous said...

Bingo 3:25:00 PM.

Anonymous said...

He had no direct assessment of his primary witnesses credibility AFTER TEN MONTHS??????????????????

Borat could do a better job here.

Anonymous said...

In retrospect..in hindsight..looking back..on second thought...if I were to do it again..blah blah blah

This guy is such a mendacious scumb&g

Anonymous said...

This is embarassing for Durham and North Carolina, please let them remove him from office!

Anonymous said...

he ought to be near tears

Zoloft is a wonderful drug.

Anonymous said...

Wow Nifang just said Officer Himan lied on the witness stand!! He also just said that Himan testified to something other then what he testified to!!!


Tom E.

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

We are all being assaulted by a penis and his name is Mike Nifong.

Anonymous said...

I give kudos to the questioner for not slipping up and saying "You've got to be F'ing kiddin' me" ... the flipside is that she was 'sure" until them with absolutely NOT evidence. Yes there was semen, but NONE that matched these guys.

Anonymous said...

Lordy, lordy, lordy.

What next?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Williamson has taken over the questioning.

Anonymous said...

He has said that you can proceed with a sexual assault case, and only a sexual assault case, if you have a credible witness and no other evidence. But then he says that he had not direct assessment of her credibility! And yup, Himan must have been lying as well, because absolutely everybody else believed her.

Anonymous said...

I really feel for these families. To hear him speak is not satisfying--it is chilling. He is totally detached from reality. He probably has something in common with certain Duke profs in that regard.

Anonymous said...

"We are all being assaulted by a penis and his name is Mike Nifong."

This is a classic and oh so true!

Anonymous said...

Sure penetrated, 5-10 'samples' ... so he can't recall anything (conveniently) but he doesn't believe and didn't believe he needed to write stuff down to remember it, while bringing serious charges against three innocent men. Hmmmmm...

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure he could put this crap over on a bunch of high school students, WHY are his lawyers letting him say this?

They have to know these blatant falsehoods are totally screwing him with Williamson.

At this point, its probably all Williamson can do not to call him a liar and a disgrace to the legal profession and slap him in the head.

Anonymous said...

His lawyers have to represent him, but they don't have to like it. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hehehe...Mikey finds that life's a bitch when your logic actually gets some scrutiny from somebody other than a pot banger.

Anonymous said...

Miramar,

Exactly.

All you need in a rape case is a credible witness, but after 10 months, I had no feeling on whether this witness was credible, yet I was still planning to take the case to trial.

That is NifongThink at its best, irrational babbling nonsense.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe people who say that cases like this one happen all the time. That would be shocking. This guy is not not not just stupid or in over his head. I only now realize that this was purely deliberate. He does not give a crap.

Anonymous said...

can anybody create a Nifong dictionary which has all the new words created by Nifong?

Anonymous said...

Nifong is the most dangerous kind of person given any power...one who makes up the rules as he goes along to fit with whatever he believes at the time.

He decided to believe her becuase it suited his purposes and so ignored, rationalized, lied about, suppressed the mountain of evidence that proved she was lying.

He would have done quite well in Soviet Russia.

Anonymous said...

Nifong knows he's going to lose his job and be disbarred. From there, he probably also knows that it's likely he's not personally liable and Durham may be, so he doesn't give two sh$ts. He's so f'd all he can hope to do is posture that he acted appropriately until he had a reason to think she was a liar. Of course, all that DNA from pre-indictment stands in the face of that "good faith".

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

re: 3:36

And Nifong wants to smear the lacrosse players one last time because they did not just sit back and accept what was best for Nifong.

Anonymous said...

He makes me sick.

Anonymous said...

Now we'll get the tears, ala Jimmy Swagert: I have sinned.

Anonymous said...

No sir, the allegations that you are a liar are completely supported by everything you've said in the past hour.

Anonymous said...

Waaah Waaah ! Poor me! I'm being picked on unfairly!!

Aah, the poor psychopath!

Anonymous said...

Boohoohoo. Stick a fork in him, he's done.

Anonymous said...

Meltdown time. Son, don't grow up like your dad.

Anonymous said...

You don't have to resign fool, they'll take care of that for you.

Anonymous said...

He's resigning!? A year too late, dirtbag. But thanks for trying

Anonymous said...

Why isn't the lying underclass whore testifying?

Anonymous said...

I have a new definition:

coon-thug syndrome (CTS): what Mangum really suffers from--low IQ, sociopathic personality, viciousness.

And you wonder why whites and Asians segregate themselves from blacks.

Anonymous said...

The made up names was a false story by the police, why isn't someone rebutting these statements>
It's great that he resigned, but he needs to be disbarred, sued, and put in prison.

He is such a textbook narcissist, nothing will stop him from trying to save himself. Quitting means nothing other than a move to save his license, pension and future employment. Also, to play to the decency he sees in the families for sympathy so maybe they don't sue. I hope no one falls for it.

Anonymous said...

"I can't believe people who say that cases like this one happen all the time. That would be shocking."

This guy worked as a prosecutor for how many years? You think he became a sociopath just last year? You think the police and fellow DAs didn't know what he was - yet the system let him continue for how long?

I have no trouble believing it.

Anonymous said...

Please, doen't anyone care about poor "Baby Duke" spending nine months dodging whatever was poking mom from time to time or all the time it would seem. Who is "Baby Duke's" daddy? So much DNA, so few daddies and so many to choose from. I have seen numbers of DNA contributers from two to nine or ten or fourteen. Is it true that Jesse J. is the daddy? Someone said it, but I don't think its true. Just pick a daddy. It is almost father's day. Isn't that how its done into day's deconstructed world? Ir's the immaculate misconception, and no, none of this makes any sense. It isn't meant to make any sense. It is metaphor or part of waiting for Godot. It is Durham-in-Wonderland.

Anonymous said...

Is duke a state school?