Monday, July 26, 2010

Linwood Fights the Law

Linwood Wilson—the man specially hired to the DA’s office by Mike Nifong, and the “investigator” who then allegedly pressured witnesses to confirm to the disgraced ex-DA’s version of events—is in more trouble with the law.

Yesterday, a warrant was served on the man who once boasted that “he owned Durham (and) lawyers and judges would do anything he said.” Wilson’s case, fortunately, has been taken out of the hands of the DPD and the Durham DA’s office, which is now headed by Nifong protégé Tracey Cline. In soliciting the warrant, a Durham County Sheriff’s deputy affirmed, "I believe that it has been demonstrated that Mr. Wilson is unpredictable and may harm others.”

Wilson has been charged with cyberstalking his estranged wife, but documents released pertaining to the warrant suggested that the ex-investigator’s aberrant behavior extended to his wife's boss, who told police that he received a June 29, 2010 letter asking him, “Do you really think a small charge will stop me from getting what I want? You lock yourselves behind locked gates and doors and try to hide yourselves. You forget that while you all may hide you leave other members of your family out in the open.”

(For those following the timeline of the case, that letter was sent after a Durham judge and Wilson crony lowered Wilson’s bail, based on an ex parte phone call from the former Nifong henchman.)

According to WRAL, “Authorities seized a booklet labeled ‘Barbara Wilson portfolio,’ 21 pictures of Barbara Wilson, three cell phones, a shotgun and shotgun shells, laptop desktop computers, a mini-disc player, a .38 Special handgun, rifle rounds, VHS tapes and a digital camera.”

This, again, is the man hired by Durham County’s “minister of justice” to serve as his primary investigator.

In addition to his cyberstalking charges, Wilson is also a defendant in the lacrosse case civil suits, for which he has distinguished himself for his fantastical court filings while serving as his own attorney.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

That Linwood is a few cards shy of a full deck should be obvious to anyone following this case. That Nifong relied upon him as his point man raises once again serious questions about Nifong - of course, that is stating the obvious.
cks

Anonymous said...

A little music ...

Linwood fought the law, and the law won.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBeT4ptY9sY

Anonymous said...

I do hope Mr. Wilson is not a Communist, as that might adversely affect his Gospel music career.

Anonymous said...

"...that letter was sent after a Durham judge and Wilson crony lowered Wilson’s bail, based on an ex parte phone call from the former Nifong henchman.)"

Isn't that kind of conduct--which casts a shadow on the work of judges--a matter which the NC Judicial Standards board should look into?

(Especially after allegations that Wilson "owned" the judges in Durham, and that they would do anything he said)?

Anonymous said...

http://bigjournalism.com/klarrey/2010/07/26/the-duke-lacrosse-hoax-the-new-black-panthers-story-and-newsweeks-boy-reporter-david-a-graham/

david graham is back

Anonymous said...

I still follow this case on a daily basis. We all knew the civil cases would take awhile but this is amazing. The referenced court filing by LW in response to the civil suit was made OVER two and a half years ago! I just reread the link provided by KC and it's dated January 2008. By my admittiedly legally unsophisticated observation- we still seem to be in the initial phase of the proceedings- not even into 'discovery' yet. When and if it ever gets to that stage, how long does that take as a proportional part of the case?????
And heaven forbid a trial date ever gets set, and then that would take how much longer?

I'm thinking I could probably enter and finish law school by that time. That way I won't have to come here to try to get a handle on this situation.

Ah, justice.

RL alum '75

skwilli said...

Mr. Wilson continues to not disappoint those watching for bizarre happenings in Durham! Let's hope something is definitively done about this before someone gets hurt, (or worse). My "Spidey-sense" is off the Richter Scale when reading these things.

Anonymous said...

Is Linwood a Communist?

Kilgore said...

Just as in the LAX case, it is always best to hear both sides prior to making any judgment. You know, that thing called "innocent until proven guilty" and all that....

Remember how the anger and disdain of the group of 88 flowed towards the three players? They had yet, and never were willing to hear both sides. Let's not mimic their ignorance. Even people we don't like or think are scum deserve to have their side presented. Then when both sides are heard, let the hammer fall.

Anonymous said...

I hope somebody remembers to protect his wife and her family. Nothing scarier than a self-inflated nut job with access to weapons. Maybe Rev Jesse will pay for Linwood to finish school when Mr. Wilson gets out of the pokey.

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget that Wilson lost his license over complaints from clients:

News and Observer, Feb. 8, 2007

The 1997 censure sprung from a complaint filed by Sarah Beddingfield, a Durham woman whose divorce attorney recommended she hire Wilson to follow her husband. . . She says she fired Wilson a little more than a month later because he didn't appear to be making any progress.

(snip)

When she refused to pay [additional charges], Wilson billed for more charges and took her to small claims court. At the hearing, she says, Wilson produced documentation that he had surveilled her husband at a boarding house that no longer existed when the investigator said he was there.

Still, a Durham magistrate found in Wilson's favor.

(snip)

"I am the person whose case caused him to quit," Beddingfield said in an interview last month. "He is rotten to the core."


Perhaps it is no surprise that a Durham magistrate found in Wilson's favor?

Anonymous said...

Another gem from the N&O (date uncertain, no longer online; probably from around 2007) :

http://www.newsobserver.com/215/story/535608.html

Missing papers

Wilson's 2-inch-thick file, housed at the State Archives, appears to be missing key documents. Any action the state board took after the second investigation is not included. Six months later Wilson's license was renewed.


Perhaps someone should investigate how Wilson appears to receive favorable treatment from the system; and why Nifong would hire him in the first place?

Anonymous said...

To 12:54 AM:

The credibility of the Group of 88 is rivaled by Andrew Breitbart’s Big Journalism.

Jim in San Diego said...

RL alum 75:

I have never seen nor heard of a case, during more than 20 years practicing law, where it took more than a year and a half to hear one preliminary motion.

Something is seriously wrong with the process of justice in this case. If the judge handling the civil case is too busy, then he should seek and be given assistance.

Admittedly, the case is more complex than the average case, in terms of the issues and number of parties. However, our courts hear complex cases all the time, and have means to deal with those complexities, in some human time scale.

Here, as everywhere, justice delayed is justice denied, and this new chapter has become nearly as ridiculous as the pre-Nifong disbarment chapter.

Jim Peterson

Anonymous said...

Is the civil suit the reincarnation of Jarndyce and Jarndyce from Bleak House? That's a question for any Dickensian Hinduists out there. You know who you are. The plaintiffs will be 35 years old before a deposition is taken.

As for Linwood Wilson, how could any woman resist his charms, good looks and deep, sultry voice, is what he probably tells himself. MOO! Gregory

Anonymous said...

Is the civil suit the reincarnation of Jarndyce and Jarndyce from Bleak House?

Is it possible today for an ordinary citizen to sue members of the nomenklatura (Steel, Duke, etc.) and ever have their cause heard before a jury?

Anonymous said...

Barbara Wilson says after the Duke Lacrosse case, Wilson's behavior, "changed for the worse."

Anonymous said...

To Jim in San Diego, who said:

"I have never seen nor heard of a case, during more than 20 years practicing law, where it took more than a year and a half to hear one preliminary motion."

I feel your pain. But, as a lawyer you can probably appreciate the real truth behind this:

That while there are always delays inherent in any lawsuit; and

while there may be some foot-dragging superimposed on that, by judicial awareness that this lawsuit threatens the whole tax structure of the County and/or State which indeed pays their salaries;

not to mention the other implications of (possible) political upheaval at stake,

I would also be cynical enough to suggest that this is hardly the biggest priority on the agenda of the plaintiffs' lawfirm.

This is not to slight nor slander them -- I am talking about business reality. The whole lawsuit is some combination of pro bono-style statement of principle, and, well...publicity stunt.

And I am glad that they are pursuing the lawsuit, if only because it has the potential to expose the hideous facts of what the defendants did. But I suspect there is no gigantic pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, which is one reason why the suit is perhaps not being pushed as aggressively as possible.

But I hope I am wrong, and that the defendants will ultimately have to pay up, big-time -- even though I am a Durham taxpayer. (I actually don't mind paying some "Nifong Tax" if it is explicitly labeled as such!)

But I think that what's at stake is more a matter of excruciating embarrassment to politicians and academics, than hard cash. Let's not forget, this lawsuit is brought by the players who were NOT prosecuted, which takes a lot of the outrage factor out of the verdict.

Still, politicians (and Duke admins) presumably would push for a certain amount of money to be paid, to prevent revelations of what complete jackasses, hypocrites, idiots and liars they are. This (rather than real "damages" to themselves) is the plaintiffs' strongest playing card here.

hetherfly said...

Wonderland indeed. There is no other word to describe a place where these incidents and people actually exist in our society today. Frightening, really.

sceptical said...

The N&O announces that Ruth Sheehan will be leaving the newspaper to go to law school. Sheehan promoted the hysteria against the lacrosse team in March and April, 2006 but later apologized.

Deklan Singh said...

KC, you should take a look at an interesting recent Rolling Stones' profile of "Big Boi" of OutKast fame. He's certainly one of the most prominent crossover artists in the hip-hop community over the last decade, and, you know, black. Anyway, when he goes bowling with his kids, they call themselves "The Water Buffaloes".

It's the little things that make the difference.

cheshire solicitors said...

Wonderland seems an adequate word to use when describing this.