An astonishing statement from the state AG, a complete vindication of the players.
The highlights:
(1) The players are innocent--not victims of a case with insufficient evidence, but innocent. This statement should leave no doubt as to whether a crime occurred.
(2) Nifong might be guilty of criminal misconduct.
(3) Nifong is a "rogue prosecutor."
(4) Lots of people owe the three players an apology, and a rush to judgment took place.
(5) The accuser has serious mental problems (hinted, very strongly, by the AG).
(6) North Carolina needs to change its laws to deal with rogue prosecutors in the future.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
144 comments:
Finally!!!! Curious that Nancy Grace isn't on her own show today...
My god, Hillary was right.
This was VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY.
I watched a live feed. I don't think the defense attorneys themselves could have scripted a better or stronger statement than the one delivered by Cooper
Keep up the good work.
I thought that the statements were much stronger than what I had anticipated. But it also was a good political move on his part. Nifong has no more support, period.
I predicted last week that this would be one of the worst weeks of his life. Part I is over, and he will receive even more bad news on Friday in Part II.
Woke up to watch this (4.30 am Sydney time). It was so worth it!
Hallelujah! Justice at last.
He basically said, "Man, the b!tch is nuts."
I certainly appreciate the candor.
The AG stepped up. Not just dismiss but a statement of innocence.
I wonder if Judge Orlando might look at that motion to remove Nifong from office?
The one question I'm disappointed that wasn't asked is whether the AG is investigating potential criminal misconduct by members of the DPD or DA's office other than Nifong.
Carolyn says:
KC, God bless you.
This is so much a result of your doing. God bless you again.
most interesting thing to me of the presser was the AG's plans to publish the factual inconsistencies next week. Sounds like a 'friend of the formerly accused' brief for the Nifong civil suit if nothing else.
Hurray for Cooper! At last a NC politician who does the right thing!
Congratulations to KC, Bill Anderson, John in Carolina, LieStoppers, and all the other bloggers and commenters who refused to let this injustice stand.
KC, you deserve a lot of the credit here, you should have been up on the podium.
Crongrats to Bill Anderson, looks like the AG did read your "open letters" to him. Just saw Georgia Goslee on MSNBC, even after the statement by the AG, she still thinks "something happened" is she a loser or what?
God Bless you all who saved these boys!
to GS the AG left the door open for criminal charges against Nifong. He stated his office will look into charges after the NC Bar finishes with Nifong.
When do the boys (men, certainly after all of this shit) speak? Press conference at what time?
On FoxNews, just before the live coverage, one former prosecuter was "certain" that the word "innocent" would not be used and the defense attorney commentator agreed. Hah!
A lot of silly people look even sillier.
This is metaphysical certitude that the loony brigade was dead wrong.
So freaking awesome!!!!
Justice is indeed sweet.
I want to see some apologies.
Hot Air just posted the transcript while the video uploads.
All I can say is, Wow!
Dianna
Some Duke Profs still do not get it.
Since we haven't gone through a normal legal process, we don't know what really happened," said Duke biology professor Sheryl Broverman. "The fact the charges were dropped doesn't mean nothing happened. It just means information wasn't collected appropriately enough to go forward."
In AM newyork site
It is sad that no one expected Cooper to come out and tell the actual truth: the boys are innocent and the accuser is not credible.
Mike Nifong is done. The Attorney General of his own state has publicly called him a rogue prosecutor and has said he wants a new law passed to help prevent prosecutorial misconduct in the future. It doesn't get any better than that.
It's also great that he's going to release a written report that will fully document all of the accusers inconsistencies and all the rest of it so that NO ONE in their right mind can continue to say that any crime occured in that house.
Serious Mental Problems?
Bullshit, total bullshit!
We're to believe that she believes her own lies?
Precious Panties is a lying sociopath who deserves to go to prison for 15 years.
Polanski
No credible evidence
Link to am ny story
KC,
Your work on this case will hopefully profoundly change the legal system everywhere for the better. Thank you for your tireless effort to find the truth. It has saved lives. Also, your work reflects admirably on the new medium of blogging.
Will you continue to cover the civil suits and other legal wranglings that are bound to come up now?
I believe she is mentally ill. We already know she was put in the hosptial for several days, that she has some kind of drug problem history, is bipolar and this is all stuff that has been out in the public domain. Whatever else there is in her medical records must be even more compelling.
All that info. of course was available and known to Mike Nifong the entire time, for almost a year, when as late as JANUARY of this year he was still attempting to send those boys to prison for a crime he knew never occured.
Sure she has mental problems, but I believe she knew what she was doing when she made up her Big Lie.
In one of her statements, she recounts how, on the night of the alleged incident, the police came, said she was too drunk, and that they were going to take her to a "24 hours lockup."
It's obvious enough that she concocted the story to avoid being taken to the lockup.
GS 3:16
Duke does not get it?
::
Duke Needs a Legal Defense Fund
Only Shakespeare could have conjured up a plot whereby dozens of faculty members apparently formed an informal and shadowy organization to harass white male athletes on the campus and then their group publishes an on-line letter of condemnation of three white male students who were charged with a crime that appeared to be a hoax from the beginning.
Most of these professors were on Duke's payroll and associated with the various Anger Studies department on campus.
Now the students have been found innocent by the Attorney General of the State of North Carolina and all charges have been dismissed.
The parents of the three students would like for Duke to pay their legal bills associated with defending their sons.
Duke is concerned about spending dollars for purposes that are not clearly directed to the mission of the university.
Creating a hostile environment on campus is an expensive proposition, Duke!
Forming that legal defense fund to back up such hostile environmental harassment on campus is going to be a hard sell to donors... or the IRS, I would think.
Just thinking about the words one would need to use for selling a legal defense fund idea... is mind numbing.
Where is Shakespeare when you need him?
GP
Speaking of inconsistencies, anyone notice how Crystal said they didnt use condoms, but in her interview with Wilson in December, she claims she cant say for sure she was raped because she didnt see their penises.
If she didnt see their penises, how does she know they didnt use condoms?
The reputation of Brooklyn College should be enhanced when one of its faculty receives a well-deserved Pulitzer.
excellent blog over on the Washington Post about Nifong:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/?pid=topnews
I think it strange that the Jessie Jackson Camp, as well as the Al Sharpton Camp are so quiet now!!! Where is the Justice here? Jessie Jackson is actually offering for the Rainbow Coalition to pay her college tuition! Who is going to pay these boys back for a year of their lives, attorney's bills, defamation of charactor? I guess they are too busy trying to get a white guy fired for saying something that black singers/rappers, and comedians say everyday! If the racism in this country is going to stop. Then lets stop it. Racism is a two way street. Why is is acceptable for blacks to be racist, but unacceptable for whites! It is all wrong! We are all brothers and sisters, and we all should be treated with respect. We should demand it! But this reteric, and finger pointing doesn't solve anything! I think that Imus thought he was acting "Cool" when he said that STUPID remark, but I would never call him RACIST! But this crap in North Carolina is ridiculous! These boys are owed apologies from that school, black leaders, Nifong, the media and more for everyones rush to RACIAL JUDGEMENT!
I'm really disgusted by the Duke professors statement.
The AG has said they are INNOCENT, he has said they are not filing charges against the false accuser basically because she is mentally ill, he has said Nifong is a ROGUE prosecutor.
To continue on with this 'we don't know what really happened, we don't know all the facts' is despicable, really, really despicable and inexecusable.
It goes to show that some people simply don't care about facts and evidence. They believe what is convenient to believe and whatever reinforces their worldview. But let's not forget, that type of person isn't limited to the left, they exist on the right as well.
New York al-Times:
Mr. Cooper, a Democrat running for re-election next year
wink wink (Cooper for Governer!)
The district attorney, Michael B. Nifong, became the focus of that
As usual, the word democrat is never mentioned with Nifong or other activists. You know, Nifong is probably republican (as far as NYT is going to tell). He probably knew second cousin of KARL ROVE.
Sorry for the bad link, I'll try again:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/
benchconference/?pid=topnews
JLS says....,
The one concern I have is that an NC Supreme Court made up of Judges who came up through the NC Court system would be by training and habit too deferential to DAs who set their schedules in their younger days.
So while giving the NC Supreme Court the power to remove a case from a DA is a step, NC will not have a decent criminal justice system until Judges are made completely independent of the DA. They scheduling power must be reigned in or NC Judges will never be legitimately the neutral court presiding over trials.
The reporter asked if he should apologize and Cooper said that there should be apologies. I thought it strange that he didn't apologize on behalf of the state and then realized that it wasn't his department that tried to do the frams.
The only thing I would have liked him to add is if he named the parties one by one.
A great day.
I'm looking forward to the comments by the lawyers, family and players at 4:00.
JLS says....,
re: PubliusCorneliusScipio (Africanus)
How sad that an AG stating the obvious facts is "astonishing." Doing the right thing is so rare in politics that when the right thing is done, it IS astonishing.
You are so right and it is so so sad.
In my view what Nifong did was worse than murder.
Looking forward to the report -- Kim Roberts "Crock" comment and statement that the accuser was only out of her sight for 5 min. really does make it hard to maintain anything happened, but having an independent, authoratative report that lists some of the many inconsistencies should make it really hard for the delusional to maintain "something happened".
Anon 3:23
The officially declared "false accuser" goes into detail of being forced to give oral sex and spitting it out. hence she would know about condoms.
Transcript here: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=5200238
Here's another Mangumism that struck me as incredible:
I can't say 100% that it was a penis that was used because I couldn't see it. They had me bent over and my face pushed down to the floor so I couldn't see what they were using but I believe it was their penis.
Crystal is 5'4". The boys look to be at least 6' tall. Is it really credible that a man of such height could have intercourse with a woman in that position?
I can't imagine it.
I haven't commented before but read your blog every day. Congratulations for such a wonderful result. Keep the pressure on (even though the main stream media I have seen so far hasn't given bloggers any credit). More needs to come out in the main stream about the huge role Duke and the victimology departments played in this debacle.
Fox cable news s identifying the accuser now on tv
Wouldn't it be nice if the house on Buchanan wakes up tomorrow with a stack of pots and pans on the front lawn laid forth in apology.
That'd be nice.
This Cooper guy seems really interesting. Here is a quote from his bio:
***After practicing law with his family's law firm for a number of years, Cooper was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1986 and named to the North Carolina Senate in 1991. In 1997, he was elected Democratic Majority Leader of the state Senate.***
What an interesting guy! God bless you sir!
Finally! But, you know what?
The "I know SOMETHING happened in that house" crowd are STILL going to say:
"She wanted it to go to trial and they wouldn't let her. They know she's right, that's why they wouldn't let it get to court! It's a conspiracy!"
How ironic that the only people still maintaining that "something happened" are Duke faculty members. Most of all this case has been a damning indictment of a particular mind-set in the so-called elite academia.
A great day for justice and the human race - and a very bad day for Crystal Mangum, Mike Nifong, Richard Brodhead, Duff Wilson, the Gang of 88, the Durham Police Department, The NC NAACP, Nancy Grace, to name a few of the very worst.
May Nifong be disbarred, stripped of his pension and imprisoned.
Let a thousand lawsuits bloom.
Sheryl Broverman should be made to copy over by handwriting the transcript of Cooper's statement 100 times.
I've been doing some reading on cognitive dissonance and that phenomenon is often repeated in this case. It is human nature when having a firm belief that new facts which might contradict that belief are often interpeted in a way to continue supporting that belief. An example the book gives is a group of folks who were certain aliens would come to destroy the earth on a day certain except for their small group. When the day came and went the group believed that their efforts to inform the world and beliefs were sufficient to convince the aliens to spare us.
Finality is a beautiful thing. I'm sure it comes as quite a blow to the G88 types who live a world of mushy relativism where there is no finality and one cause begets another. The facts are settled. There is no larger issue save remedying the actions of a rouge prosecutor.
3:34...
Nice try, there is NO WAY this guy was a Democrat. Not a chance. Good try though.
GS, IIRC she claimed only one of them forced her to have oral sex. That doesnt explain how she knew no one used a condom if she didnt see the penises of any of them.
"the ho is nuts", cooper said, which may offend the Ohio State fans.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4706128.html
Text of Cooper's statement
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect AG Roy Cooper to go as far as he did and to speak so clearly, and I am delighted that he did. To understand how important these statements are, all we have to do is consider that (as noted in a previous post) Georgia Goslee still insisted on MSNBC that "something" happened that night. And she actually has a law degree! Just imagine what people would be saying if he had simply dropped the charges by citing some vague inconsistencies. This represents a total vindication for Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligman, and a public spanking for Mike Nifong. I am certainly no fan of Crystal Mangum, but it is significant that Cooper diplomatically questioned her sanity, which is what you can expect from someone with bipolar disorder who takes Flexeril. Bipolar disorder by itself can lead to delusions, and Flexeril by itself can produce confusion and even delusions in rare cases. Since she apparently combined the two with alcohol, I can understand why she would actually believe multiple and mutually-contradictory versions of events.
Thank god this is finally over for these young men. Now here is hoping they can get on with their lives without this hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives.
I do wonder how the Group of 88/87 will spin this to their view.
She said Seligman, who was not even in the house at the time forced her to perform oral sex on him, that he then EJACULATED in her mouth, that she spit the ejaculate onto the floor and that her breath smelled bad because of this.
It is as far as I know IMPOSSIBLE to have someone ejaculate in your mouth and not have any DNA show up when you are tested a mere 3 or 4 hours later.
Then her story changed to Reade never touched her because he was getting married.
It was OBVIOUS my guess would be within the first 6 weeks that Crytal was a nut job who was not raped, attacked or touched by anyone at the party.
Of course the false accuser is mentally ill. So are most of the other people involved in this scam as enablers, from "police officers " to "journalists" to "faculty". Much of this mental illness is in the form of social pathology. When you consider what they were and are still willing to do, I'd call the remainder psychopaths. So leave them all alone to do whatever they want, because nobody is accountable for their behavior, let alone their crimes.
Thank you KC, BA, LS, JiC and the rest very, very much.
Jim is right, of course. A textbook is probably already being written, which uses this as a classic case of how rich white males get away with gang rape.
"I believe she is mentally ill."
I thought she had custody of her children? How mentally ill can she be?
Thank God for Attorney General Cooper that he had the courage to speak clearly to the innocence of Dave, Collin and Reade.
Anonymous 3:39 PM asked:
"I do wonder how the Group of 88/87 will spin this to their view."
Hey, didn't you know that the listening statement had nothing to do with the lacrosse case? Get with the program, ha ha!
I just finished watching MSNBC with Dan Abrams, Susan Filan, Yale Galanter and our friend Georgia Goslee. Ms. Goslee still contends that something awful happened inside that little house last March. And Dan responded, Yeah, a horrible accusation against three innocent young men was launched. (not a verbatim quote.)
Hip Hip Hooray for all the Innocents concerned.
Thats the big difference between a Dem like Nifong and a solid Republican like Coop!
maybe dems decided that by doing this right, Cooper will be elected as governor. New York Times and other dem outlets are certainly going to tout this.
He will lose the votes of black racists, but he might get conservative votes and beat the conservative candidate in 2008.
It's always about politics in NC.
Cooper's a Dem.
cf : http://www.ncdoj.com/about/about_ag_bio.jsp
(fwiw, I'm a conservative and lean strongly Republican.)
I go to the same church as Cooper. I plan to congratulate him the next time I see him. His statements were more courageous & honest than I could have dreamed of getting from such a high-profile politician.
Rumor has it he wants run for Gov.
He'd win in a landslide if the election were today. He'd probably get my vote.
Screw Dan Abrams, he is just given a token, low-level job there to make it look like they are a balanced network. Want to prove something MSNBC? Give Dan Abrams a management. Its a challenge!
Otherwise, you're just a part of the MSM, you know... "main stream media", you know, the non-Fox News news channels.
re "mental illness"
read "black privilege" for mental illness
Precious Panties has to be held accountable, regardless of her sociopath/low IQ/sleazy black privilege
Polanski
M... I don't buy it. No way Cooper is a Dem. Nifong was a Dem, and so are the G88.
Plus, if he was a Dem, the MSM would have him as President already.
Where is Shakespeare when you need him?
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
Act I, scene iii of Hamlet, Polonius to Laertes.
-- William Shakespeare
Mr. Cooper's announcement literally took my breathe away. I have to say that I've always had faith in the criminal justice system, until this case. (Civil law- well, I'm a doctor. I have my doubts.). This announcement is going to go a long way towards that faith being restored.
Yet, I remain quite concerned about the damage that's been done to these men and their families, and I wonder about all the other innocent people who've been imprisoned by "overreaching" prosecutors. It's clear that these students were railroaded due to discrimination based upon race, sex and social standing. Yet, how often has this gone on in the past, and society has ignored it because the defendents weren't the "right" race or socio-economic class? I'd like to say I'll be sleeping better tonight, but I won't be.
I am grateful that Mr. Cooper has taken the first steps toward institutionalizing more checks and balances, however.
As the mother of a college-bound boy, a Catholic, and a graduate of a Catholic university, I expect Duke to rise to the occasion and issue an apology to these men, their families, the current students and alumni. Anything less is not acceptable to the tradition of justice toward which all Catholic institutions profess a strict adherence.
And finally, to KC- thank you. I've been reading this blog since about September, and it's been like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You've been a critical force in the near-miraculous replacement of the train back on its tracks.
Now that all charges have been dropped and it's unequivocably clear that all of the former defendants are innocent, can everyone stop referring to them as "boys" or "kids"? They are clearly adults and they may all indeed be individuals of inspiring character who've never sinned a day in their lives. But the attempt by the defense to portray them as babes incapable of any degree harm was transparent from the beginning.
from the NC Dem's website:
http://www.ncdp.org/officials
I am so glad for those guys, and very much look forward to what they have to say. As for the Group of 88, don't hold your breath waiting for any statements of change of heart (or mind, to use the term loosely).
This post from today's NRO Phi Beta Cons captures it very well:
Here is [Cathy Davidson's] explanation of why the Duke story became so big:
The lacrosse incident became one of the top news stories of 2006 because Americans saw the case as symbolic of many of their deepest social concerns. Race, gender, sexuality, class, athletics, the South, poverty, privilege, the younger generation: those are some features of the brew that captured the world's attention and fed its moral voyeurism.
Professors like to find "symbolic" meaning in things, but in this case their search for symbolism overcame the patent facts, namely, that the Duke case lived on and on long past the triggering event not because of the "social concerns" of Americans—including "the South"?—but because of the simmering race-based resentment, White guilt, empathic posturing, impatient judgment, and outright rage of pampered, biased, conceited professors.
Don't expect the lacrosse case to do anything to puncture the grandiose self-image of the professors. They talk only to each other, they act and think in a closed society, and they have little outside accountability. If anything, the public response to the professors will likely only harden their own feelings, and we can include martyrdom in the mix.
HEY POLANSKI:
Remember when you said you read excerpts from Barak Obama's "Audacity of Hope" at parties?
Can you invite me to one of your so-called "parties"? Sounds like a killer time you loser!
KC, your work had been outstanding, so my only suggestion would be to change the title of the book from "Until Proven Innocent" to "Fantastic Lies." I think the second title is more appropriate, plus it has a certain ring to it. Not to mention that it harkens back to the moment when Dave Evans called out Mike Nifong in an incredibly courageous act by a 22 year old.
Roy Cooper is THE MAN!!!!
Shame on all of us (including myself) who thought or feared that he might find it politically expedient to "let the jury speak", when he knew there was no lawful basis for conviction.
This is a great day for justice.
Weren't Reade and Colin FRESHMEN? That would make them 18 or 19, technically TEENAGERS when this debacle occured.
3:36 anom used the term "finality".
Finality? What finality? These boys lives are wrecked forever. There is no finality for them. Even if they get big bucks in a settlement of some sort.
None for the false accuser either. Does she deserve sympathy or finality? I say yes if she has a mental defect.
Finalaty will be harder to achive for any future legitimate victim of sexual assualt that is going to have to scale a higher wall now. The false accuser and the DA and the Durham PD are responsible for this.
Please don't take this as me getting on your case. I am glad that this portion is over too, but the ramifications of this debacle are just profound.
This is the end of the "no-brainer" phase. The boys stated that they knew all along that they were innocent. The facts that KC published made it clear to me.
The fallout only starts now.
Joe K
What a relief! This has been long in the coming.
Does anyone know if there is a complete webcast or transcript od Cooper's press conference on the web? If so, I would appreciate a link. If so, I would appreciate a link. Thank you.
This is wonderful news!
On what the 88 and others of that ilk will be saying:
"What LAX case? Imus, that's what we're talking about!"
In other words, the answer is always to be a moving target, flaming and accusing and posturing, and then to keep moving on before the facts get in the way of message.
Remember was allowed to happened because:
The Grand jury was not told about the DNA, where is that judge.
A judge gave them $400,000 bail and won't review the evidence
A judge sat in a court room while a witness admitted Nifong withheld the DNA.
A judge stayed the remove Nifong order.
The DPD rigged a lineup.
DPD help cover up DNA.
DPD wrote up notes months later that confirmed the FA story.
Time to clean house
"Some Duke Profs still do not get it.
Since we haven't gone through a normal legal process, we don't know what really happened," said Duke biology professor Sheryl Broverman. "The fact the charges were dropped doesn't mean nothing happened. It just means information wasn't collected appropriately enough to go forward."
In AM newyork site "
Apr 11, 2007 3:16:00 PM
Can someone from the Linguistics or English Departments please help this logic-challenged biology professor understand that the statement says that the 3 students are innocent. They didn't do it. They were not found not guilty, they were declared to be innocent by the prosecuting attorney. No equivocation, no legal speak. Just INNOCENT.
This is not a good day for the Duke Gang of 88.
While 18- and 19-year-olds are teenagers, they are not boys. In most states in the U.S. (including North Carolina), an 18-year is considered an adult, due all of the rights and responsibilities that adulthood entails. An 18-year-old is not a child.
Duff Wilson in today's New York Times....
http://tinyurl.com/2ewhsn
"The decision brings to an end a 13-month ordeal for the young men, two of whom were dismissed from Duke because of the charges."
"Increasingly, the case came to be seen by many — especially among the players’ supporters and on the Internet — as a morality play of justice run off the rails by political correctness and the political ambitions of the district attorney of Durham County, N.C. The district attorney, Michael B. Nifong, became the focus of that rising anger and eventually, facing charges of prosecutorial misconduct from the North Carolina state bar, turned the case over the attorney general."
I salute K. C. Johnson for the amazing political judo of taking on the Perfect PC Case. He found 3 'men of un-color', beset under overwhelming odds by their University, the local police department, the District Attorney, the Black Panthers and potbangers and most of the goodthinkers of the national media. By exhaustive pursuit of facts and chronology, he overturned those odds to demonstrate that it was the accusers who should have been in the dock all along. In these days of NYT and MSM dominance of the 'news', and the PC crowd's dominance of the academy, that's a breathtaking feat.
His glory is not exclusive - the bloggers in his company did invaluable work - Liestoppers, J in C, Bill Anderson and all the others I'm too dim to see.
Now, when will the counterattacks from academy and media begin? It's not over yet. But what a score to set beside the exposure of Dan Rather.
On the one hand I feel relief that justice was served. On the other I'm still concerned that identity politics has too strong a hold in the U.S. Hopefully this will be one small step toward a more sane society, and, as another post mentioned, cognitive dissonance will slowly erode...
Link to transcript of the press conference?!?!?! I can't get to a TV.
Come on KC, if you don't provide the Duke Lax coverage I've come to expect, I will go to Amanda Marcotte or Nancy Grace for information. I'm sure that they'll be watching these developments closely [yeah right!].
This is great news, but in a way it sucks. Now where are we going to go to vent about minorities in general "through the prism" of an unrelated case where 3 white men are falsely accused of a crime?
Look, I like minority bashing as much as the next guy... its just a lot easier to do it under the guise of a case I have no connection to (other than, you know). I can talk about how much I care about Due Process (even though I've never expressed it before in other contexts).
KC,
You have been superb throughout this long ordeal! I look forward to staying tuned in to your blog as the tables are turned on Nifong and Crystal Mangum. It's truly frightening to think how easy the Duke Three could have been imprisoned for a large chunk of their lives, only to live as registered sex offenders upon their release. The evil that Nifong tried to perpetrate is truly breathtaking. Thank God for the Bloggers. Shame on the liberal mainstream media.
I don't buy the AG's assertion that the woman believes her lies. It's a convenient way for him to avoid the political risk of prosecuting her. She isn't crazy, she's a destructive liar. He also didn't recommend that the victims and their families have their legal fees reimbursed.
This sends a bad message to women. You can get away with making a false rape accusation.
The real story is how a lot of people with their own agendas hopped on the bandwagon of what should have been an obvious fabrication or delusion.
The second stripper and the policeman who discovered the accuser knew immediately that the story made no sense. Most of us have encountered people with mental problems who are clearly not in touch with reality.
In this case we have a politically ambitious DA, a post-modern faculty looking for validation for their claims of racial and gender oppression, a spineless college administration, a sensationalistic media, a collection of politicized male bashing feminist commentators, an elite media that is wallowing in white/male guilt, and a bunch of self-promoting black community activists, all combined in a perfect storm to create a fiction based on the delusional accusations of a clearly disturbed women.
YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP.
Thank to the persistence of bloggers like KC a terrible injustice has been stopped. What remains, particularly for academics, is to began to restore a modicum of sanity to college faculties so this kind of insanity does not continue.
The sad truth is that most universities have an influential group of faculty and administrators who every day are putting out their own version of the CCI memo, creating speech codes, writing anti-free speech guidelines and inserting a variety of politically correct stupidities into the general education requirements.
Every day FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) comes up with yet another example of political correctness trampling on the rights and consciences of students and professors who run afoul of the politically correct police.
Getting things right on college campuses is going to be a long and difficult struggle. The Duke Lax case has been a great victory in what is going to be a very long war.
"Anonymous 3:34:00 PM said...
Wouldn't it be nice if the house on Buchanan wakes up tomorrow with a stack of pots and pans on the front lawn laid forth in apology."
What would be even nicer would be a pot banging brigade marching to the homes of Brodhead, Waheema, Paula, Burness, and whole sordid lot.
Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho
Brodhead has got to go
Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho
Waheema's got to go
Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho
Justice at last! As a retired police officer with much experience with rape investigations I do not understand not prosecuting the accuser. She did devastating damage to the innocent young men, race relations, the judicial system and her own race with her lying accusations. Until real prosecutors start charging and prosecuting people who use the system to destroy, this type of thing will continue to happen.
KC,
You have absolutely owned the case over the last year (to steal a phrase from Overlawyered). It has been a pleasure to read some truly excellent journalism. You have turned on its head the paradigm of solid, fact-based coverage from mainstream news outlets, while blogs sloppily report anything that comes their way.
Through strong and clear prose, careful attention to evidence, the ability to marshal that evidence to support your arguments, and most importantly, your willingness to admit mistakes, you represent everything that those in the "Angry Studies" departments are not. You have shown that facts and evidence do matter, and that justice is worth fighting for.
-Matt
P.S. Will you be signing books?
On March 12, 2007 I sent the following email to Duke's now-notorious professor Claudia Koonz:
Dr. Koonz,
While I'm not an academic, Nazi Germany and anti-semitism are subjects which interest me and about which I frequently read. So, I was pleased to discover The Nazi Conscience the other day, and was rewarded by reading it. So, I decided to search for more information about it's author online.
How utterly dispiriting it was to discover that you interjected yourself into the Lacrosse scandal in such a disgraceful way. One would have hoped
that you would be wise and careful enough to let the evidence accumulate before attaching your name to a wrong-headed public statement, but one is often disappointed. Maybe you will have your own moment of infamy memorialized when someone, as will surely be done, writes The Duke
Conscience.
She sent back this feeble response:
Dear Nicholas,
Like my colleagues I differentiate between a deplorable culture of racism that is all too common here and elsewhere and the individual guilt of the players. If you read the ad, it was the former that aroused our concern. And, actually, I am pleased to have several lacrosse players (men and women) in my classes and enjoy their contributions to class... plus, I pleased at how well they are playing.
Best wishes, Claudia Koonz
I don't suppose she will now be leading the faculty in their denunciation of this infamous injustice.
3:24 One should not "demand respect", rather one should earn it.
I think she is definitely mentally unbalanced. Her stories are so far off base, so completely out of the realm of possibility and mutually contradictory that it hardly seems possible a sane person would lie so poorly.
There is also a lot of evidence of mental health problems, bipolar disorder, passing out, having a mental breakdown, a long history of crazy exaggerated accusations. That doesn't mean she isn't also a lying prostitute.
Cooper didnt' have to say they were innocent. He didn't have to call Nifong a rogue prosecutor. His statement didn't bow down to the PC police so I see no reason to disbeleve him when he says that shey may believe all of her own stories.
Crazy people say crazy things all the time, the fault lies with Mike Nifong and the cop hooligan henchment he used to try and railroad these BOYS on false charges.
Full statement:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?
section=triangle&id=5200238
Local updates on:
www.newsobserver.com
www.charlotte.com
www.wtvd.com
Thank God.
The worst part about this case was watching how willing a DA was to abuse his enormous power, how brazenly he did it, and how easy it was for him to get away with it for so long.
Now the tables have turned 180 degrees. The boys are innocent, and Nifong is a defendant in heaps of trouble.
I wonder if he has time to read "fiction" now?
As for the enablers, we won't forget. There can be no damage control, Duff.
Good thread to the families started by NDLax84 (Crystal Mess) going on over at LS:
Dear Dave, Colin, Reade and families, Add your own messages of joy!
Part of my contribution:
I would ask only one thing of y'all - before the adrenaline wears off today, please call KC, Joan, Bill Anderson, Jason, Mike Mc, Mike Gaynor, John in Carolina, etc. Not necessarily just to thank them, but to share your tears of joy with them. That's all the thanks they want.
Did CNN just mute the audio when Cheshire named the accuser?
As for the accuser- she was angry, extremely shortsighted and self-centered, at minimum. At maximum, she may be clinically delusional. No matter what her problems are, there are huge numbers of people like her out there. It is the job of more educated and responsible people, including the police, doctors and ultimately, the DA, to evaluate her claims based on the evidence. In the end, it was the DA who used her for his own political goals. Quite frankly, she's just your average loser. The DA is supposed to know better.
No, there are much better cases to pursue in terms of pressing charges of false accusations. This is not the one. There's simply too much other slime clouding the waters.
I have a feeling Easley told Cooper that he had a green light to bury Nifong so deeply that it would take the Gang of 88, shoveling 24 / 7 for the rest of their lives, to let him see the light of day.
That's payback for Nifong reneging on the deal not to run for re-election after Easley appointed him.
That same green light will carry over to the NC Bar. Any Dems involved in the Nifong review will score no points by trying to cut him slack.
NIFONG IS TOAST !!!!!
Nicolas said:
She sent back this feeble response:
Dear Nicholas,
Like my colleagues I differentiate between a deplorable culture of racism that is all too common here and elsewhere and the individual guilt of the players. If you read the ad, it was the former that aroused our concern. And, actually, I am pleased to have several lacrosse players (men and women) in my classes and enjoy their contributions to class... plus, I pleased at how well they are playing.
Best wishes, Claudia Koonz
Nicolas, by Group of 88 standards, this was in no way a feeble response. Perhaps because you buttered her up first by complimenting her book, she actually 1) responded to email 2) answered your criticism in a thoughtful manner, 3) did not immediately categorize you as hateful blogger, and 4) claims to appreciate her student athletes.
These are all rare traits in the G88.
Granted the accuser should be charged. However, a larger issue is the Buddy System that Nifong relied on for just another routine railroading. Two out of three judges did not bat an eye. Hello, AG. Justice would be more universal if Rogue Judges were not encouraged.
***Justice would be more universal if Rogue Judges were not encouraged.***
Seriously. Maybe one day the white man can get a fair shake in the criminal justice system, and even more importantly in society in general!
"Look, I like minority bashing as much as the next guy... its just a lot easier to do it under the guise of a case I have no connection to (other than, you know). I can talk about how much I care about Due Process (even though I've never expressed it before in other contexts).
Apr 11, 2007 3:59:00 PM"
Yup, that's the ticket. From now on no one anywhere is allowed to comment on any situation they have no connection to. In fact, that means the caterwauling racists from the group of 88 have to resign their posts, they can no longer comment on any circumstance they are not personally involved in. No legal expert can ever comment on a case they are not involved in. No sportswriter can ever write another column, they have no connection. From now on you can only comment on situations that involve you, not others. Thank you Stalin.
Rumor has it he wants run for Gov.
He'd win in a landslide if the election were today. He'd probably get my vote
Dropping politically motivated fake charges after several months is hardly a major achievement (well, maybe in Durham it is).
He was part of the same democratic party establishment that Nifong etc.
"Seriously. Maybe one day the white man can get a fair shake in the criminal justice system, and even more importantly in society in general!
Apr 11, 2007 4:22:00 PM "
Yup, whitey deserves jail, no matter the facts, no matter the situation. Put whitey in jail, for past transgressions against black folks must be accounted for. As that intellectual giant at NCCU stated, they deserve to be guilty to make up for the past. Woohoo, the geniuses are crawling out of the woodwork now. Kill whitey!
KC, Reade just thanked you by name. That just shows how much your scrutiny of this hoax meant to the truth!
Al and Jessie, where are you now??
Are YOU big enough to admit when you are wrong??
Are you HUMAN rights activists or just MINORITY rights activists??
Long time reader, first time poster.
KC, your blog has been an invaluable source of information and commentary on this case and I want to thank you for it. I can't help but believe that you helped make this day possible by your relentless pursuit of the truth.
Well done!
I, a Duke alum and Duke parent, thank you for your part in getting these boys cleared!
It is indeed a great day for Lady Justice and for the three men at the center of this.
And congrats to KC for showing us all the light of the truth and the power of the internet to shine it.
3:48--trying to bait me to talk about Obama? not gonna happen, but I always enjoy being labeled a loser--I thought I was the only person who thought that
to the wiseguy saying that posters here used the case to blackbash:
Sorry, bud, but minority bad behavior was an important aspect of this case:
1. Durham black community
2. AAAS-based G88
3. black MSM
4. NAACP
5. ourheartsworld
6. affirmative action
7. black racism
Polanski
Roy Cooper may have high ambitions - as with today's announcement, we have to wait and see what happens. This was a surprisingly strong statement he made today. I am amazed that a democrat could actually do the right thing, and pleased, I might add.
As for poor Crazy Crystal, AG Cooper or someone in his office has spoken to her, so they have a much better idea of just how crazy she is. We can sit at a remove, say she behaved in a crazy manner, but they actually had to sit in a room and listen to her. Not sure they could have paid me enough for that job. But that is just speculation - I am looking forward to the actual document being released - that should be good reading for those of us who, unlike the reality based community, actually care about reality. And the non-negotiable interface therewith.
Finally! And KC, excellent work--are you going to write a book about this?
4:58--Precious Panties did not act in an irrational manner--as a sociopath, what she tried to do was quite rational
why are whites so fast to forgive black sociopaths? don't you realize that if Precious Panties go notsa punished, that she be comin to lies bouts yous chilren?
Polanski
If this had been written as a work of fiction, would anyone have believed it could possibly have happened?
Kudos to KC and the other folks who kept the fires lit and attention focused on this injustice, and to AG Cooper and his folks for doing the right thing and putting the blame where it needed to be, on the false accuser.
Any bets on how long it will take the NCNAACP to trot out the old refrain about how a poor Black single woman can't obtain justice in backward, racist, North Carolina?
Georgia Goslee shows some
serious signs of her own -
delusion, that is.
There is an epidemic of mental
illness in the AA community - including, but not limited to,
schizophrenia, bipolar disorder
and others. Maybe Goslee
has her own issues, and like
Precious, should also get
help.
Thanks, KC, for keeping the
truth first and foremost.
Mac
DUFF WILSON AND THE NY TIMES:
YOU OWE THESE FAMILIES AND MEN A HUGE, VERY FRONT PAGE APOLOGY.
So does Essence magazine and Cosmopolitan magazine and countless others.
Mac, all criminals need help. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be punished, does it?
Coddling Negroes has to stop.
I wonder what Waneema Lubiano looks like right about now? Houston Baker as well? And that idiot, the Father at the Catholic church on campus
From a comment on the Newsday site (http://www.topix.net/forum/source/newsday/TI965Q0KJOOK88R0B) about this case:
Question: "While Imus may have apologized, I am wondering whether the rabble rousers will be offering an apology to the boys, their families, and the Duke lacrosse team?"
Answer: No, Imus has a lot more of a conscience than members of the Group of 88.
Howard Stern was right about Imus--Imus made a fool of himself by subjecting himself to Sharpton's BS.
The reason blacks hate Imus is because his sidekick loves to satirize overrated black heroes like Maya Angelou.
Why won't the AG pursue the ugly lying whore?
What's he afraid of?
7:21
Not sure what you mean,
mostly because I would be
the first to say that
criminals - of any race -
shouldn't be "coddled."
What makes the mental health
issues in the AA community
more tragic is that some of
that is preventable:
sexual abuse of pre-teens
tends to interfere with
or limit cognitive abilities
(one wonders if Georgia Goslee
was thusly impaired?) in
females; neglect has the
same effect upon male children,
regardless of race.
In other words, if your mother
is a drunk, cracked-up whore,
your chances of being mentally
disturbed and/or retarded are
significantly increased.
That doesn't change the fact
that we have to live with
the offspring, no matter how
they have been emotionally/
mentally maimed.
Better to sequester them
from the rest of society -
with whichever means you
need to make that happen,
through jails or institutions
or novel solutions.
I just don't share your view
that it's a one-race issue.
I would also argue that it's
a spiritual issue, and certain
so-called "reverends" are
more inclined to sit on their
rear-ends than to address the
real problems -(right Jesse?)
Mac
Wow. Just...wow. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Cooper would get in front of the cameras and say, in plain English (anyone not hearing it has their fingers in their ears), that not only are the Duke 3 innocent, there was no crime. "No credible evidence." Music to my ears. I can only imagine how relieved the LAX players, and their parents and supporters and loved ones, must feel.
KC, take a bow. You've earned it.
Al Sharpton and the NAACP should be getting down on their knees and thanking God for Don Imus. If it weren't for that incident taking the headlines, Sharpton and the NAACP would be forced to respond to comments about their blind support of Mangum and Nifong rather than their take on the Imus fiasco.
Wahneema Lubiano Update
I sent her an email today suggesting she give up her welfare-sucking position at Duke. I also suggested that she become a diarrhea hunter in sub-Saharan Africa. Boy, was she mad. It's a wonderful thing to elicit an angry response from 1 of the biggest pigs of the hoax.
Cooper is a bitch: he should indict the lying whore.
Polanski
I'm a lawyer and I think y'all are giving Roy Cooper farrrrrrrrr too much credit. You credit him for saying the boys were "innocent". Well, weren't they? You credit him for not saying "There's insufficient evidence"; in this case there was no evidence.
Cooper did the bare minimum in his statement and deserves no praise for that.
amen, brother
Polanski
Nicolas, thank you for sharing Gang of 88 member Claudia Koonz's response, which I reprint from your 4:06 PM posting here:
Dear Nicholas,
Like my colleagues I differentiate between a deplorable culture of racism that is all too common here and elsewhere and the individual guilt of the players. If you read the ad, it was the former that aroused our concern. And, actually, I am pleased to have several lacrosse players (men and women) in my classes and enjoy their contributions to class... plus, I pleased at how well they are playing.
Best wishes, Claudia Koonz
A very astute observer compared this case to The Dreyfus Affair. If a similar denuciatory publication had been made by Capt. Dreyfus' military superiors at start of that affair, its authors -- like Prof. Koonz -- would later claim that they were not making any claims about the Dreyfus' individual guilt, but were simply seizing the opportunity of his arrest to decry the disloyal nature of Jews in general.
Someone should introduce Prof. Koonz to the concept of sine qua non ("without this, nothing happens"). Without the Duke faculty greenlighting the prosecution of three of their students, Nifong never would've done what he did.
There was, so to speak, pools of gasoline around this case from the beginning -- race, sex, crime, class, etc. Prof. Koonz and her colleagues chose to throw a match into this atmosphere, and it was by the light of the resulting fires that Nifong saw his course.
One of Prof. Koonz' colleagues has stated that in this case, "White innocence means black guilt." Even if we can agree that goes too far, the statement that "Lacrosse defendants' innocence means Gang of 88 guilt" does not.
I don't expect that Prof. Koonz can understand any of this. I really think that, like the dancer, there is a "mental illness" affecting most of Duke faculty which prevents them from seeing reality the way everyone else sees it.
Don Imus is losing his job for a thoughtless, spur-of-the-moment, bantering-with-a-colleague comment. Don Imus didn't owe his targets any duty of care, like professors owe their students. Don Imus didn't create an atmosphere for innocent people to face threats of sexual mutilation and other assaults. Don Imus didn't create an atmosphere that nurtured hatred of his targets by their fellow students. Don Imus didn't refuse to apologize for what he did.
The professors should think about that, but I think their minds are too intoxicated by the fumes of the gasoline pools for them to think straight about very much.
12:18
Imus's comment was not "spur of the moment." He loves to poke fun of losers like Maya Angelou.
I enjoy black bashing, provided it's warranted. Imus picked on the innocent, and he should pay the price. Can't defend him on this one.
Anon. said:
"Without the Duke faculty greenlighting the prosecution of three of their students, Nifong never would've done what he did.
"There [were], so to speak, pools of gasoline around this case from the beginning -- race, sex, crime, class, etc. Prof. Koonz and her colleagues chose to throw a match into this atmosphere, and it was by the light of the resulting fires that Nifong saw his course."
That is a true and brilliant comment. I would add the Gang of 88 types are akin to drug pushers and drug abuse enablers.
Finally, this was the most brilliant comment of all (and why not e-mail this to the Koonz and see what it says in reply?):
"A very astute observer compared this case to The Dreyfus Affair. If a similar denuciatory publication had been made by Capt. Dreyfus' military superiors at start of that affair, its authors -- like Prof. Koonz -- would later claim that they were not making any claims about [...] Dreyfus' individual guilt, but were simply seizing the opportunity of his arrest to decry the disloyal nature of Jews in general."
Im waiting for the NC NAACP,NCCU to apologize to the three boys.
9:32AM - That would be a quote from an Anne Coulter writing. She has been in support of these boys since the beginning - Can she write or what? Brillant
Cooper's a Dem. I knew the Republican that ran against him for AG. But NC is a conservative state and much more Dem at the local level than the national level.
http://firesherylbroverman.blogspot.com/
Roy Cooper is a democrat as is the current governor. Nifong is also a democrat.
Post a Comment