Best of the Case, V

Today’s post, the fifth installment of “best of the case,” highlights the most perceptive pieces to have appeared since mid-November. The post is divided into three categories: the Duke Chronicle; Liestoppers; and everything else.

Duke Chronicle

Since mid-November, those desiring first-class newspaper opinion commentary on the case needed look no further than Duke’s student newspaper. They also wouldn’t find such commentary anywhere else in the print media.

Kristin Butler, “Uncle Moneybags,” examined money, politics, and the unhealthy Duke/Durham relationship. Her previous column, “Tyranny of the Minority,” took to task those Duke students who failed to vote in the November 7 election—thus implicitly accepting the “separate-but-equal” system of justice Mike Nifong has imposed upon them.

Meanwhile, David Kleban, in “Innocence and ‘Innocence’,” offered a penetrating look at how the desire for symbolic justice among some in the Duke community has run counter to American legal traditions.

Liestoppers

Three remarkable posts over the past few weeks:

“Facts, History, and Presumptions: A Retrospective” traced how, and why, too many observers of this case have desperately wanted not to see the truth.

“Indicators of False Accusations” undertook the kind of analytic work a Nifong-led investigation might have performed had the “minister of justice” been interested in justice rather than securing indictments before the primary; the piece found that the accuser has exhibited 24 of the 29 recognized characteristics of a false claim.

“A Durham Solution?” focused on the plea-bargain—stoutly defended by the same Herald-Sun that has denounced defendants in the lacrosse case—in which an NCCU student received probation after initially being charged with murder.

Others

Two perceptive analyses, from differing perspectives, of the Duke trustees’ poor performance:

• “Carnival of the Bureaucrats,” Purple Motes
• “Pictures, and Thousands of Words,” Blog of Convenience

In two posts, I looked at the Duke administration’s early missteps, through the prism of recent but misleading claims that the administration acted to uphold the presumption of innocence.

And see also:

• William L. Anderson, “Why I Write on the Duke Lacrosse Case,” lewrockwell.com, for a personal reflection on writing about the case.
• “Good Signs from NAACP’s McSurely,” John in Carolina, for background to the highly unfortunate relationship between Mike Nifong and an organization formerly associated with protecting civil liberties and rights of the accused.
• “Asymmetrical Justice in Durham,” Johnsville News, on how Nifong enablers have attempted to depersonalize the defendants.