Thursday, September 06, 2007

N&O: Saacks as Interim DA

Anne Blythe breaks the news.

Given the names that had been floated, Saacks was a surprisingly good choice.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since he lives out of county, the Gov. probably wanted to appoint someone who absolutely can NOT run for office as oppose to someone like Nifong who promised not to run if appointed but ran anyway.

Anonymous said...

KC, I am glad you think so because I do too. Congratulations, Mr. Saacks, and thanks for stepping up to the plate yet again.

Anonymous said...

Q: What do Cash Michaels and David Saacks have in common?

A: Neither the Town Crier or the District Attorney live in the City of Durham or even in Durham County.

Q: What's up with that?

Anonymous said...

Let's be serious here. What kind of idiot would even *want* such a turd job in a cesspool of corruption? By definition, anyone who accepts is defective in some material way.

Anonymous said...

Isn't this the guy who signed the NTO just to help out another ADA?

If there is ever a real investigation he'll be front and center.

Debrah said...

Yeah, Saacks was the least of the evils.

Gary Packwood said...

Another Durham professional who does not live in Durham or even Durham County.

What's up with not living in Durham?

Durham have 'cooties' or something?
::
GP

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

1. I would guess Saacks could establish residency in Durham County and run in 3 years if he wanted.

2. Based only on his testimony at the recent Nifong contempt hearing, Saaks seems like a reasonable choice to me.

Anonymous said...

Saacks was in the middle of the lacrosse case. He signed UNDER OATH the Application for Nontestimonial Identification Order asking for: mug shots photographs, upper torso photographs AND DNA samples of 46 lacrosse players. Saacks' Affidavit asserts that "All of the parties named in this application with the exception of the last five were named by the three residents of 610 N. Buchanan as being present at the party. ...all of the white male Duke Lacrosse Team Members were listed since they were all of the party and could have been present." This is contrary to clear North Carolina law which allows nontestimonial ID orders when there is "reasonable grounds to suspect that the person named or described above committed the offense." Read Saacks' sworn statement that the last five named were not present at the party.
Why did Easley name him with this baggage?

Anonymous said...

KC,

I'm afraid you don't know what you're talking about. Saacks signed off on the illegal NTO. And since he was chief ADA, it can be assumed he knew what Nifong was up to yet did absolutely nothing to stop him. Saacks IS PART OF THE COURTHOUSE CROWD.

Walter Abbott

Anonymous said...

Let's see, the "best" choice is someone who ordered the NTO that was a fishing expedition based solely on race. In other words, Durham now has a "new" prosecutor who helped to create a hoax, eviscerated constitutional rights, and bears a lot of responsibility for what happened.

Furthermore, where was Saacks when his boss and the police were breaking the law? Oh, he was supporting the lawbreakers.

Saacks belongs in jail, not in an office where he can send people to jail. I understand K.C.'s point, given the dregs that washed up on the governor's list, but once again we see that when it comes to supporting criminality, no one outdoes the State of North Carolina.

Now, if Saacks had been willing to obey the law, I might be thinking a bit differently.

Anonymous said...

If there's ever a need for a NTO for the entire Group of 88, Durham's got the right man.

justice4all

Anonymous said...

Ummmmmmmm . . . isn't he one of the ADA's suspect in the Lacrosse case?

Unknown said...

Saacks is tainted with Nifong residue. His fingerprints are all over this case. He is a rotten choice, but exactly what we have come to expect from a rotten governor.

Anonymous said...

Southern justice. Quite a concept.

Anonymous said...

I was joking around the other day when I said "Now the only thing missing is his praise of one of Durham's spineless ADA's." on this blog. Now I am beginning to wonder what has happened to KC. This is truly Durham in Wonderland.

Anonymous said...

Debrah said...
Yeah, Saacks was the least of the evils.
9/6/07 5:13 PM

If one works hard enough to whittle down the number of candidates eligible, I guess you can qualify anyone as a surprisingly good choice.

Anonymous said...

Nobody that was in the Durhams DA's Office is a good choice. It is shameful!

I suspect everyone in that office.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how many days (approx.)former chief of police, Chalmers has worked in 2006?
If the city is sued, what is his liability?
Just asking...

Anonymous said...

Can't they find someone without Nifong's doo-doo on their feet to run that office?

duke2009mom

Anonymous said...

Saacks was also involved in the Cannon sexual harrassment charges against Couch, wasn't he? As 2nd in command he dealt with personnel matters, and it was his failure to do anything that led to Cannon approaching Nifong (who also did nothing).

Anonymous said...

Professor,

Has your publicist contacted the Howard Stern radio show? Stern's a good interviewer, and I'd imagine he has an interest in the case.

Topher said...

Howard Stern? Hell, how about Tom Leykis?

I think Leykis was the guy who first named Mangum. He named the Kobe Bryant accuser.

Anonymous said...

There is just no way that anyone who ever had anything to do with the DPD or DA's office should be appointed dog catcher much less interim DA. That's like leaving John Couey in charge of day care. Alone. The poison that was and is Durm law enforcement is a joke. Who in their right mind believes them to be anything but crooked.
As I read earlier, Durm will clean their own house when all the little devils are ice skating.....

Anonymous said...

KC-- please stay away from Howard Stern. The wrong venue for this book. Plays right into the group of 88s hands.

mac said...

Professor Coleman would make a better choice for DA - or for President of Duke University.

Anonymous said...

The NTO was a reasonable thing for a prosecutor to do. It would be the fastest way for the suspects to be cleared if the results and investigation had been handled by anyone except Mike Nifong. Mr. Nifong, the Chief DA, responsible for hiring and firing all employees of the DA's office took over the Lacrosse investigation after the NTO. If my son had been under the cloud of suspicion, I would have wanted his DNA tested.

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking about this a lot; while I don't want to minimize any of the actions that led to the full flowering of the Hoax, the only thing that I know of that Saacks did wrong was really not that significant.

If you disagree, then please ask yourself the question that I asked myself: "How did Saacks' NTO work against the course of justice?" As far as I can see -- it didn't. It was probably unnecessary and it was probably unconstitutional, but unless I'm very much mistaken the only effect a non-testimonial order has, is to shorten the process of getting legal authority to back up a demand for evidence if that demand is refused. In other words, since none of the players showed any sign of not wanting to give the police the evidence they asked for, there is no sign that the NTO had any practical effect whatsoever.