Thursday, June 28, 2007

Nifong Hearing

The Nifong dismissal hearing is now underway; Mike Nifong is not present in the court. It's live on WRAL.

The special prosecutor, Robert Zaytoun, said he had made "numerous attempts" to speak with Nifong--spoke to Nifong's wife, friends of Nifong. Zaytoun said there would be no hearing if Nifong submitted an immediate letter of resignation.

Nifong called him yesterday afternoon at 5.30pm; he said he knew the proceeding would occur today. Nifong said he was out of state and couldn't communicate in writing from wherever he was. Nifong stated that he would be back in the state this weekend and would prepare a letter of resignation for next Monday.

Nifong said that he did have notice of the hearing.

Zaytoun presented five exhibits: (1) amended complaint filed by Bar; (2) excerpts from the Bar transcript--findings of fact by the Disciplinary Hearing Committee; (3) remarks of David Freedman; (4) DHC order disbarring Nifong; (5) transcript of Nifong deposition to the Bar.

Process is not superfluous--legislative intent was very clear, a citizen should have the right to initiate a hearing. The process "deserves to have a legal closure."

Judge Hudson has just declared that he will recess proceedings until 11.00am Monday--in effect, giving Nifong time to submit a letter of resignation without his acting.

Beth Brewer's attorney, Betty Lawrence, is now addressing the court, asking Judge Hudson to make the findings himself, rather than allowing Nifong to resign. She notes that it is "one final insult to the citizens of Durham County" allowing Nifong to resign rather than to act on the petition.

Hudson: "There is no defense for Mr. Nifong to these proceedings."

Nifong goes out in style--claiming that he can't resign today because he's at an undisclosed location out of state, out of reach of a fax machine to send in his resignation letter, and so he should be able to set the day of his resignation, rather than have the court do so.

63 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like the judge took the easy way out, recessing until Monday.

I wonder what Nifong would have done if one of the lacrosse defendants had skipped a hearing?

Anonymous said...

Well art the very least it appears as though Hudson has now seen the light. He ended the session by saying, "There no defense for Mr. Nifong on this matter and it's no secret how this is going to turn out. It's going to turn out how it's supposed to turn out.

Anonymous said...

Judge OH is saying there needs to be a process... he has been sitting on this for far too long... he already avoided the proper process by not acting earlier... The only positive is this hangs over MN head alittle long and gives him time to write something stupid in his letter to the govern.

Anonymous said...

What a piece of garbage Nifong is. He continues to prove it, and to revel in his own filth.

He needs a prolonged prison sentence, commencing as soon as possible.

Anonymous said...

This is a clear case of Hudson pandering to the Durm AA community. To delay the hearing on failure of service is a monumental joke.

One more instance of Durm CAN NOT police itself. And ANYONE who thinks if this rape case had gone to trial the defendants would have received a fair trial just needs to look at who's controlling the Durm justice system.

Prosecution rests...........

Anonymous said...

Is there any way to ddiscipline Hudson for ignoring the law?

cathyf said...

And, of course, it keeps Nifong on the payroll through month-end.

Anyone want to bet that there is some significant monetary difference between resigning effective June 28 as opposed to July 2?

(My dad took an early retirement buyout from his company some years back. Right before they submitted the paperwork they realized that if he moved his resignation date back by one month he got like $25,000 extra severance pay.)

These things always have quirky dates -- maybe Nifong is doing it for the sure joy of being an a**hole until the bitter end, but if I were betting I'd put my money on Nifong having figured out some financial angle to hanging on until the month rolls over. Or perhaps June 30 is the end of the fiscal year -- "working" 2 days into the next fiscal year could have an even bigger payoff.

Anonymous said...

I bet nifong got some additional vacation time, by not resigning until July.

Nifong, its all about taking the everything he possible can.

Mad Hatter said...

RE: Comments Policy

I am pleased that DIW will be around a little while longer. This is the first blog I check in the am and the last one in the pm.

Anonymous said...

Anyone want to bet whether Nifong shows up for Monday?

I'm betting no, of course.

Anonymous said...

Does it matter anymore what his monthly income is? He's going to have to spend whatever he has on legal fees as he is sued over and over again. Any any property transferred within the last 3 years to Cy is still in play. Plus we have campaign finance fraud issues now which may sap Cy's resources if someone smart sues her for campaign violations. He ain't gonna get away from Rae!
"Every day for the rest of your life" Mikey.

Anonymous said...

Judge "potted plant" Hudson gets his wish - this ends without him having to do anything.

What would it take to get this bozo off the bench? Whoever's running aginst him next time should total up the cost to the taxpayer of his various inactions.

Anonymous said...

HA HA HA That's rich! Let's mobilize the AA Durham community against the AA potted plant judge who refused to further any action against "S.H.I.T." (Something Happened In There) Nifong who was protecting their AA victim Crystal against the rich whiteys. Bet we can get him thrown right of office by the bulk of the AA voters...

Anonymous said...

Hudson's got to go. He seems completely unwilling to take action against Nifong unless pushed. He should have put a fork in Nifong months ago.

I bet there is some benefit for Nifong to stay the extra few days -- accurrual on retirement or something - otherwise he would have just resigned.

Anonymous said...

KC has become a book-burner.

Anonymous said...

Why do you continue to waste breath thinking Hudson is going anywhere???? He hasn't broken any laws (like that matters) and he isn't EVER going to get voted out by blacks who are in the majority in Durham. Get OVER it!

wayne fontes said...

Did we really just have a public hearing complete with TV cameras without a Victoria Peterson outburst?

Thank God

Anonymous said...

This is Nifong's last hurrah.

Sure, maybe he gets a few days extra pay, or maybe it even rounds out to the next increment in his retirement. I have no idea if legal action could attach to his pension, and read yesterday about his other time served in NC as a social worker (or something), so perhaps this gets him to his 30 years. Who knows, who really cares.

He's controlling his last few steps to the executioner, but the end is known.

He's a chump, and a dead man walking. And what he's doing is no different than when the Democrats left Texas so they couldn't vote on redistricting.

Personally, I'd find a way to arrest him as a flight risk :) and hold him until such time as they can wrap up this mess and move on. Durham has enough problems without this jerk. Enough already.

Anonymous said...

This is what has been driving me insane for months now.

Everyone in Durham is mooning the law. Nobody will stop them.

Nifong is apparently vacationing somewhere in the 19th century before fax machines. He tells Hudson this and Hudson says he buys it. Nobody calls him on it.

Hudson said himself he didn't care what the people of Durham wanted. That would be OK if he were following the law and making an unpopular decision based on the letter of the law, but this ass is just making it up as he goes along -- just like Nifong -- and doing whatever he feels like doing. He sits on Beth Brewer's petition for five months and nobody says a word. He claims he needs time to review the document he has had since February to see whether or not a disbarred and disgraced lawyer facing a contempt hearing and has already been replaced ought to continue to draw salary while hiding out in the woods somewhere. Nobody is calling Hudson on this either.

You can bet resigning on Monday gets Nifong six months of service in 2007 and another year of credit to the pension he's been working to augment since March of last year. Hudson even mentioned Nifong's pension in the hearing -- as if that were an issue of law before the court.

Fire every judge and DA in Durham. Do it today. It's not like anyone's getting convicted of anything there anyway. Bring Monty Hall out of retirement and play "let's make a deal" with plea bargains. The result couldn't be any worse than the situation already is now. Durham, like David Simon's Baltimore, has become the home of the misdemeanor homicide. And Mikey's had the sole responsibility for a quadruple homicide for a year now? Guess when those families are going to see justice? Might as well let Monty let the defendants in that case choose which curtain they want to choose. Behind one you have two years (concurrent sentences) for four counts of involuntary manslaughter; behind another you have a $500 fine; behind the third there's a goat. Tell me that wouldn't be an improvement over the circus they're running now, and it would make better TV too.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mike,
What a lovely final gesture to show your son what manhood is all about. Run away. Leave town. Hide like a baby under the bed.
Scoot into the woods and leave your wife and child alone to face the enemy. Filthy COWARD. I'm more worried about what his son will do that Mike at this point.

Anonymous said...

"Fire every judge judge and DA in Durham. Do it today." Why do people like you, obviously intelligent, make such absurd statements? WHO exactly is going to fire every elected official in a county, and for what crime?

Anonymous said...

"Nifong said he was out of state ... Nifong stated that he would be back in the state this weekend ...."

And since Nifong said it, it probably *isn't* true. Post his picture at every airport and border crossing - he's gonna split.

Anonymous said...

Wayne, perhaps Victoria was tipped off as to the outcome. Would not want her to have to do a futile act.

Anonymous said...

He left his first wife and child. This is nothing new.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mike,

Kiss your pension goodbye anyway. If you are doing this to give the families an additional year of pension-money, then God bless your intention. But, somehow, I do not think this is the case. The world sees another depraved act of a greedy, filthy man.

- Somebody

Anonymous said...

Praise the Lord for wonderful Christian bloggers like KC.

Anonymous said...

"Why do people like you, obviously intelligent, make such absurd statements? "

Frustration.

I share the desire to tear it all down and start over, but Iraq has shown us how hard that can be to do. And while the governemnt we're trying to reform in Iraq was evil, corrupt and vicious, it was at least semicompetent.

I'm just gonna stay away from NC.

Anonymous said...

Dear Frustrated:
Good call. Stay away from here.
Wish I had 10 years ago.....

Anonymous said...

Is Hudson a Communist?

Anonymous said...

Mikey is not coming back. Remember he has experience in running away from military service (his earliest public act of cowardice.)He is an experienced coward. There is no way he will return and face more court humiliation and possible jail time. He's over the border already, bet on it. Cy and son will hang around long enough to sell the house and follow, but you'll never see Mikey in another NC courtroom...unless someone issues a warrant for failure to appear, federal marshals track him down, and they bring him back in cuffs. and that ain't NEVER going to happen. So sad his son is learning about supreme cowardice by watching his father. What a waste of a human being's body Nifong is.

Anonymous said...

To Whom It May Concern: I am willing, at my own expense, to travel to where ever Nifong is, collect his resignation and hand deliver it to every member of Durham city council, the Gov, Mayor, Santa Claus, Tinkerbell, whomever, just to get this A-hole off the payroll.

Although I may need to borrow somebody's time machine if he is in the land of no fax machines.

Anonymous said...

May be OT, but I just talked to my son (a Duke student) who is driving back from Durham to home, and cautioned him - if he sees a man with a Guitar walking on Rt 40 ..He interrupted me and assured me " No way ...I am not going to pick him up" :)

Anonymous said...

Could something be in the water in Durham, or does their Wonderbread contain ergotism??

It keeps getting weirder and weirder and weirder. Why can not they just fire him and be done with it....Why does this keep dragging on!!!

What are these Judges, etc. afraid of??? The dude is disbarred!!

Anonymous said...

What are these Judges, etc. afraid of???

Hudson and Nifong share some forbidden secrets.

Anonymous said...

Mike Nifong is a repulsive, contumacious fool who should be hunted down, handcuffed, and thrown in jail like the arrogant criminal that he is.

I am beginning to have such a special disgust for him and his entire wretched family of self-righteous parasites.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

The frustration is no longer an issue regarding Mike N (he is what he is); my frustration is with with the rest of the Durm community -- WHERE IS YOUR PRIDE?? How can the majority of the people of Durm just let their judges and city council members moon the NC justice system? How can the state judicial commission let OH moon the NC justice system?

I almost hyperventilated when Zaytoun agreed with OH. What was he thinking?....... Oh that's right, he was appointed by him.

And America thought the OJ trial was a farce; never let it be said NC takes second seat to Californis.

Anonymous said...

If anyone wants uncontested and unadulterated proof as to what brand of hellhole Durham, NC is, just witness this situation.

There should be no hesitation.

Find the fugitive and throw him in jail.

Orlando Hudson is just another crony of the Durham courthouse.....showing the professional incest that exists among the daily participants...doling out their self-serving brand of "justice".

Hudson also has one of the worst speaking voices I have ever heard. Keep this man off national television!

Debrah

Anonymous said...

Mikey is in a state from which he cannot communicate in writing???

What state would that be, exactly? The State of Denial? The State of Confusion? Certainly it's not one of the 50 states in our union, all of which have paper, ink, faxes, and computers.

Anonymous said...

"took his guitar and left"--that's rich. Maybe he headed for New Orleans to stand on a street corner and sing the Something Happened in Thar Blues.

Anonymous said...

Debrah,

I thought the only contumacious fool around here was Polanski. lol

He posted a whopper of a post last night, entitled "Dripping with Semen: What Panties Has Taught Us." It was an instant Polanski classic, but that loser ran into KC again.

I guess Polanski will never learn.

wayne fontes said...

TO DEBRAH

PLease stop it. I'm tired of going to the dictionary.

Anonymous said...

The NBBP questions are on paage 437 = starting line 6 from the 5/18 deposition.

Anonymous said...

Mr.Nifong knows the system well. He may not come back, he could be counting on family and friends to finish the move. The families will get nothing from him or his family.
Good thing we've all seen his picture though, he won't easily get hired for any job now. It's a continuing story with no apparent lack of twists and turns.
Excellent job KC as usual, thanks for cleaning up the blog and extending your stay.

mac said...

Nifey will likely try to hop
a boat to Aruba.
He'd fit right in.

Anonymous said...

TO 1:30PM--

I must have missed them. Haven't gotten around to skimming all the posts from yesterday yet.

Did Polanski make a visit to a strip club, or something? He can be very pornographic, no question about that. He seems to thoroughly enjoy it.


TO 1:46PM--

:>) LIS!!! LOL!!!


Debrah

Anonymous said...

TO "mac"--

Mikey is with Stella...trying to get his groove back.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

Everybody who really believes Mikey will be back in town by Monday, raise your hand.....He won't come back and no one in Durham County will issue a warrant, so get over it.

Anonymous said...

"Mikey is in a state from which he cannot communicate in writing???

What state would that be, exactly?"


----The State of Nifongola.

Anonymous said...

The old 'dog ate my fax machine' excuse.

Anonymous said...

Mikey wasn't out of town last night.... I guess he could have been in Virginia when Zaytoun talked to him but by mid evening he was home watchin' TV....

Anonymous said...

Then what was his reason for not coming to court today? How do I get to not show up for court?

Anonymous said...

Does being out of state help nifong with some legal loophole? I'd imagine it does. I figured you'd know. Thanks!

Gary Packwood said...

Anonymous 10:57 said...

...He left his first wife and child. This is nothing new.
::
Suppose Nifong is in New York taping a special for CBS on the life and times of a prosecutor in the good ole USA?

$1M paid to Nifong at the end of next week?
::
GP

Anonymous said...

The last I heard is that Hud & MN could have been intemate at one time...looks like it could be true..(sp intentional)

mac said...

How can Nifey get out of the country without getting stopped?

He can walk backwards over the
border - (such an old joke;
such a bad joke.)

Anonymous said...

Complain about Hudson :

Judicial Standards Commission
Post Office Box 1122,
Raleigh, NC 27602
(919) 733-2690

A copy of your complaint (noting that it was also sent to the Commission) can be sent to representive NC Senate and House members :

NC SENATE

Marc Basnight (President pro tem)
2007 Legislative Building,
Raleigh, NC 27601-2808

Judiciary Committee Chair:

Senator Fletcher L. Hartsell, Jr.
518 Legislative Office Building,
Raleigh, NC 27603-5925

NC HOUSE

House Judiciary Committee Chairs

Rep. Deborah Ross (Majority Whip)
2223 Legislative Building,
Raleigh, NC 27601-1096

Rep. Dan Blue (represents Wake County)
639 Legislative Office Building,
Raleigh, NC 27603-5925

ONE STEP HIGHER

Complain about corrupt judges to :

Public Integrity Section
Department of Justice
Criminal Division
950 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

Complain about corrupt cops and corruption in Durham in general:

John Pistole
Deputy Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Anna Mills S. Wagoner
United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina
P.O. Box 1858
Greensboro, NC 27402

Complain about the lack of federal interest in the lacrosse case and ask for explanations :

Tasia Scolinos
Department of Public Affairs
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

John Miller
Office of Public Affairs
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

(These two are the press and public relations offices; Miller was previously a correspondent and anchor for ABC News.)

Sarah Zeigler
Office of the Ombudsman
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Anonymous said...

What's this about-face with Hudson? I thought he was a Nifong enabler.

>"I'm not going to make a rush to judgment in a couple of days over Mr. Nifong. This case is going be resolved on Monday," Hudson said. "There is no defense for Mr. Nifong to these proceedings. So, you don't have to guess how this is going to turn out."<

No rush to judgment but needn't guess how this is going to turn out? Again?! Hudson should wait until the proceedings are over before announcing his expected verdict. I think that the supreme irony is to afford Nifong the due process that he denied the three students. It's more than irony, really, as anything short of this would be hypocritical.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, I think that Nifong has to be allowed to defend himself. How many times, I don't know, but that is why the judge delayed the hearing.

As an example, my brother managed to get an emergency hearing to get custody of his son when his ex was thrown in jail for a month or so. The judge awarded him temporary custody and the permanent custody hearing was put off for a month until the ex was served and allowed to be heard by the court. It doesn't always make sense, but that's the way things work.

Anonymous said...

Defiant to the end. Nifong is a control freak. I can't believe he was allowed to get away with thumbing his finger at the court yet again. Why should he be allowed to resign? What will the implications of resignation be as opposed to being forceable removed from office on his pension? Nifong does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Anonymous said...

To 9:07 pm. I appreciate and feel your frustration at the lack of Federal intervention, at the obscene corruption in the legal system from the judges to the police department. Corrupt judges and politicians is a tremendous problem in this country in every state. Lack of integrity and honor in the public office is overwhelming. Greed, political motivation and agendas come first now adays. We have a congressman who was caught with $90,000 cash in his freezer and he is applauded on the floor of Congress. We have the Clintons who are in scandal after scandal and they are still pushing forward for control. A senator is found with stolen papers shoved down his pants leg and he is let go on a technicality. It is the bloggers and the American people who work hard each day to survive who hold the integrity and honor. The public should demand more of their elected officials and those in power and not accept the corruption as the norm. I think that is why so many people want to see Nifong pay for his behavior.

Anonymous said...

I assume you are referring to Sandy Berger who got caught with stolen papers shoved down his pants. He was not a senator; he was Bill Clinton's National Security Advisor.

Anonymous said...

Even worse, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

I want to know what will have changed?! It has been over 2 years since my brother was murdered in Durham! "WE" as family of unsolved murder cases that have been ignored due to Nifong's charade have suffered and waited too long for "JUSTICE!"
What about them?!?!
Rhonda Fleming
Cleveland, Ohio