Monday, July 12, 2010

Mangum & N. Buchanan

The false accuser Crystal Mangum recently gave an interview with the Tom Joyner Show. Her interviewer, Jacque Reid, wasn’t exactly hard-hitting: Reid never mentioned that AG Cooper had declared the player innocent based on a comprehensive inquiry. Instead, she reported that North Carolina authorities merely “said that they did not have enough evidence” to pursue charges.

In the interview, Mangum maintained her conspiracy theory about her recent domestic violence/arson arrest. She claimed that the “state took it upon itself to come after me” because she had falsely accused people in the past, and that once the Durham Police discovered who she was (Mangum, of course, had initially given to police a false name), they decided to blame the incident on her.

Mangum maintained that she was the “victim” in the incident. Her children, she asserted, had called 911 out of a desire to defend her (that 911 call apparently wasn’t recorded, since the 911 call that actually occurred painted a quite different tale); and that she had “bruises on my face” (which apparently did not appear in any contemporaneous photographs). The false accuser added that she couldn’t understand why anyone would consider her to be prone to violence, since she “didn’t have a prior record.” She’s apparently forgotten her guilty plea to charges stemming from an incident in which she stole a taxicab and then tried to run down a police officer.

The interview’s two most stunning lines, however, came in her discussion of the lacrosse case. First, this textbook example of a false accuser asserted, “I never falsely accused anyone.” Mangum’s approach is, apparently, that her accusations can’t be false as long as she believes them t be true.

Second, in a quite remarkable interpretation of the ethics charges against the disgraced Mike Nifong, Mangum asserted that Nifong lost his law license because defense attorneys said “I was not a credible witness.” Apparently Nifong’s withholding exculpatory evidence, lying to the court, and making unethical inflammatory statements didn’t count.

On another front, news from Durham this morning that Duke decided to tear down the house at 610 N. Buchanan.

This move reverses a 2009 decision by Duke, as reported by the Chronicle:

Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said the University contacted attorneys representing members of the 2005-2006 lacrosse team about tearing down the house to build a new residence as part of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, but the request was denied.

"610 N. Buchanan remains a piece of evidence, and so it can only be removed with the consent of all the parties," Trask said in an interview with The Chronicle in February. "The lawyers all have to agree that they don't need it. I think actually we might ask them again, but their argument was you have to actually stand in that bathroom to understand how preposterous the claims were, and the pictures just don't do it justice."

In an interview with WRAL, rising Duke senior Emily Fausch probably got at the reason why Duke decided to go forward: "It's a reminder of the past that some people don't want to be reminded of.” Indeed, I can see why the Brodhead administration and its allies among the Group of 88 would seek do everything they can not to be reminded of their 2006 behavior.

20 comments:

skwilli said...

I'm surprised they waited this long to tear down the house. I doubt that there is anyone who is unhappy that it is gone.

As for the Interviewer and Crystal, I am not sure who was more ill-prepared and ignorant, (and that says a lot about the interviewer!) Crystal has a well documented reason for her flawed thinking and reasoning, but not the Interviewer.

Jim in Greensboro said...

Gee. I sure hope "Dan", "Adam", "Matt" and "Brett" got out of there.

Anonymous said...

It's regrettable the public will never be able to stand inside that bathroom and see just how hard it would be to cram four people inside, close and lock the door, and then gang-rape someone while holding her suspended in mid-air.

I think that alone would be enough reason to preserve the house (to put to rest
any future doubts).

Curiously, this is the only time I have seen the media take absolutely no interest in photographing an alleged crime scene and showing the pictures of the locale to the public.

Anonymous said...

Durham has lost an important part of its history; this event was covered by international media and the house was even cited on Google maps.

An important case (perhaps one that will be shown to be of even more importance with the passing of time) was centered there.

One would have thought some public input might have been sought before bulldozing it.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Duke will pop for a historical marker designating 610 N. Buchanan as a place where nothing happened.

Anonymous said...

How did Duke receive the legal authority to destroy evidence in the class action lawsuits?

Anonymous said...

IF permission was required to tear 610 down and IF it was denied ... I wonder what has changed.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to read the Chronicle piece, written in April 09, and STILL see a quote included about how the house is/was "this awful site of gender and racial violence."

There'll always be strong support for the "something happened" crowd in Durham, and Duke should just get on with issuing a strong apology and plenty of cash to the remaining players rather than dragging the civil litigation out.

Anonymous said...

I listened to the interview and, frankly, laughed myself silly. It was like the salt-water taffy pull at the State Fair......CGM and the interviewer both stretching, twisting, and coloring "facts", clear into La-La land. Here we go, yet again, with Crystal "I am the victim". Isn't it interesting and FUN to listen to the roar of the silence from the 88, Jesse, Al, and the Panthers??!! CGM deserves fairness, due process, equal treatment, and certainly "innocent until" status.....which, of course, the three lacrosse players did NOT enjoy. (or, according to the pot banging bunch, deserve.....)
If it's OK for Tim Tyson to endorse people waving "castrate them" banners, then I guess we ought to expect him to endorse somebody picketing CGM's house with a banner that reads "Three is enough, get your tubes tied"...

Anonymous said...

The historical marker could read, “Site of Crystal’s Last Duke Dance Recital.”

Anonymous said...

From the N&O.com article: 'Duke Lacrosse House' demolished
http://tinyurl.com/2e98d2z

Excerpt: “Mangum, [the accuser] in the lacrosse case, is currently facing charges of attempted murder, arson, assault and battery, identity theft, injury to personal property, resisting a public officer and misdemeanor child abuse.”

That should read [false accuser,] and I would think something in that long list of charges would result in real jail time for Precious.

However, if she thinks in her addled mind she did nothing wrong, and she is innocent of the charges, then might she 'dance' away free, AGAIN? That absurdly was why they didn’t charge her with anything the first time around, if my memory serves me right?

Anonymous said...

I, too, am surprised that the house was torn down. Trinity Park is a historic district. Even if the house is not old enough to be a "contributing" structure on the basis of it's age, it certainly has played its part in the history of this case, and of Duke and Durham.

I agree with 4:59 that "it's regrettable the public will never be able to stand inside that bathroom and see just how hard it would be to cram four people inside, close and lock the door, and then gang-rape someone while holding her suspended in mid-air." On the other hand, it wouldn't be too hard to recreate the bathroom if that were to become necessary. Surely, that has to be one of the most-photographed, most-measured bathrooms in the country. About thirty years ago a man was accused of hostage-taking and murder in the compartment of an Amtrak sleeping car in Raleigh. The defense had the sleeping compartment recreated right in the courtroom so the jury could see what it was like to be holed up in there for several days.

Ken Duke
Durham, NC

Anonymous said...

Is Reid a Communist?

Anonymous said...

KC,

Great Blog and have followed this case for over 3 years. Always wanted to see the size of the bathroom where the alleged attacked took place. Can you help?
Photo's or room size? And what fixtures were in the bathroom: assume toilet, sink and bathtub? As 4:59 noted above - it would be interesting to see the size of the room where 4 large individuals had this alleged attack.

Anonymous said...

I visited the house during a recruiting trip to the Triangle in 2007. One view of the physical layout and the small footprint (the small bathroom was obvious from the outside) was all it took to start questioning the story of a brutal gang rape by three Division I athletes. It was way too small for the insane allegations Crystal was making. It was worth the thirty minutes of my life to view the house and figure out for myself that the allegations were nonsense.

I can't say I am surprised that Duke tore it down. Above all, the school wants to pretend it never happened, and to this day has never engaged in a moment of self-reflection or made any effort to figure out what it could or should have done better. -Haunches

Anonymous said...

A thesis . . . a paper comparing Mangum's responses with the acadenic crowd's at Duke response ought to be done. How, at this late date, anyone can discuss their response and attribute rational thought in any way but self-serving propaganda is beyond me. Duke's petty group of operatives got over . . . exactly the motive and what the "street" smart Mangam is doing . . . selfish, self-serving "what has truth" got to do with anything. It is bull put in front of people who are without power in the racial politics of the day or increditably naive or both, or if you will believe that, you will believe this attitude of a hustler. Look at who really got over in this whole sordid mess.

Anonymous said...

According to the N&O:

"Screaming was heard in the background as a 911 operator took an emergency call from Mangum's 9-year-old daughter at 11:55 p.m., according to a copy of the recording.

"This is an emergency. I'm at 2220 Lincoln Street," the little girl said. "Please hurry. My mom is going to die."

Anonymous said...

At the blog AWL, Nate Freeman, a Duke grad, writes: ‘House Where Duke Lacrosse Players Did Not Rape Woman Destroyed.’

It is interesting to read what a recent Duke grad thinks about the Lacrosse Scandal.
Excerpt: “…when we told people we were going to Duke, we would get shit from kids our age and disapproving tut-tuts from mothers. To many of us, the entire case is now a memory of these exchanges—nothing more than awkward moments, occurrences that, as high schoolers, we were all too accustomed to—and the house’s demise makes these exchanges even more distant.”
http://tinyurl.com/2vfaqjr

Anonymous said...

Are there any houses in the vicinity that were built on the same floorplan? If so, perhaps it would be a good idea to get footage from inside one while it's still possible.

Topher said...

Maybe a Duke Engineering student can model the house in Solidworks or something. I'm sure the blueprints are available.