Looking through some old Herald-Sun articles, I recently ran across an April 2, 2006 piece from Herald-Sun reporter John Stevenson, Mike Nifong’s de facto press secretary for most of the past year.
The article profiled Linwood Wilson; the title: “DA Says New Investigator ‘Amazing.’”
That would be one way of putting it.
Stevenson wrote that Wilson, “a former policeman and private eye with decades of experience,” would “find witnesses to crime, interview them and otherwise ferret out information that prosecutors need to build cases.”
Again, that would be one way of putting it.
Nifong praised
Again, that would be one way of putting it.
The article neglected to mention Wilson’s multiple run-ins with the agency that licenses PI’s, nor his decision to give up his PI’s license before the agency seemed likely to revoke it. Only N&O readers would learn this information.
And, as Wilson’s performance over the past year has become synonymous with impropriety, Stevenson hasn’t returned to the issue. Just another day in what Liestoppers refers to as the
20 comments:
When the Feds come to Durham, which they should, Linwood is one guy that should spend serious time in prison. His badgering of witnesses (like Elmostaffa) are ridiculous. However, the biggest crime he committed was his "straight from memory" report about his conversation with the false accuser last December. It is beyond obvious that the notes were manufactured and it is also beyond obvious that he SHOULD have taped the interview given the need for obvious testimony of these ridiculous claims that were very desperate on the part of Nifong.
Linwood is a criminal and had no problem railroading innocent young men. I do not care what gospel songs he sings, he doesn't back it up with action.
I agree that intimidating the witness (immigrant taxi cab driver) was incredible and surely a civil rights violation, among other things.
The quality of Herald-Sun reminds me of New York al-Times.
It would be nice to see a summary post about the worst people in this case and ideal/expected sentences:
For example:
Nifong: Disbarred from practising law, 5 years in jail
Linwood: 5 years in jail
Judge Stephens: Removed from office (by congress or state legislature)
Brodhead: Fired, civil lawsuits
Gang88 grade retaliator: Fired, publicly shamed, $100,000 civil liability for grade retaliation
Gang8/potbangers: civil lawsuits $50,000/per potbanger. Maybe criminal lawsuits as well (death threats, castrate signs, "burn this house")
New York Slimes, Herald-Sun etc: life as usual (circulation approaching zero), $5M defamation lawsuits
great article. Not all african-americans are al sharpton like racists.
The racism of campus 'diversity'
Many of our nation's colleges and universities have become cesspools of indoctrination, intolerance, academic dishonesty and the new racism. In a March 1991 speech, Yale President Benno Schmidt warned, "The most serious problems of freedom of expression in our society today exist on our campuses. ... The assumption seems to be that the purpose of education is to induce correct opinion rather than to search for wisdom and to liberate the mind."..
I'm afraid that this war will be lost. 2008 elections is probably the final battle and after that we'll see universal speech codes, mandatory diversitity indoctrination, and banning Fox News and blogs (using various "campaign finance reform" laws).
Maybe goverment can then mandate the subscription of New York Times so the indoctrination is just not up to katie courics and paula zahns.
JLS says...
re: Jamil Hussein
I was catching up last night and saw on the Judge Stephens thread various mentions of Congress acting against him. There is nothing Congress could do about him. I don't know the rules of NC, so maybe their legislature could remove him.
The only way the US Government could do anything to him is if Nifong flips on him and they find he committed a crime. The United States then could charge him with a crime, but that would not necessarily even remove him from office.
Congress can remove a judge (for example, florida judge Alcee Hastings was removed from office..he wasn't even convicted but house committee found him guilty of something). Of course, since then Hastings has moved on and was a Nancy Pelosi's pick to head house the intelligence committee.
Anyway, it may be that congress can remove only federal judges?
I would suppose that state judges can be removed as well by state legislature.
Thats one of the most common ways that bias in the press works; a reporter is predisposed to believe somethng they are told, and they repeat it on faith.
Stevenson wanted to believe Nifong was on top of things and had a crack investigator, so he never got off his ass and checked into Wilson's backround.
This is how bias and nonsense ends up in print without the reporter/editor even realizing it.
I agree wholeheartedly with Chicago and Jamil Hussein, and hope that the latter is a prophet with the headlines! Wilson is a criminal, period, and I have no problem saying that.
Before they shut down the email, I left a note on the gospel singer's site that said one should practice one's faith, not disgrace it with lies and lawbreaking. What an evil, evil person.
Linwood certainly has a "past" with the DPD and the Durham shadow government. Go read about his past and you may come to the conclusion that Durham has deep rooted, old growth corruption.
JLS says....
re: jamil hussein
Congress can remove a federal judge, like Alcee Hastings. Stephens is NC state judge not a federal judge nor a federal office holder of any kind. Thus Congress can NOT do anything to Stephens.
Thus the ONLY thing the federal government could do to Stephens in this is charge him with a crime, if he acdtually committed ond in this.
Nearly everyone has a strong tendency to gather and associate with those of like mind. Nifong is certainly no exception. Anyone with whom he associates, who continues to work with him or sympathize with him should be subjected to close scrutiny. People of strong moral character and a modicum of concern for the ethical practice of law should be well-distanced from the Fong by now, and there are no good excuses for continuing to wallow in the slime he has generated.
In the article announcing Wilson's hiring, in December 2005 I think, Nifong mentioned Linwood's great height and approvingly pointed out how he used his size to "intimidate" people. The signs of the ethical abyss within Nifong were present long before the Hoax began.
Another nostalgic-walk-down-memory-lane posting. Increasingly, the most interesting thing about K.C.'s recent posts is the dog that's not barking. There is no discussion of the case as it stands today. No analysis of why the AG's spokesperson is making public statements implying a pre-determined timetable on for a decision whether or not to prosecute. No mention of what the deadline is to for the prosecution to submit a written response to the defense motion to surpress the lineup. No analysis of what flexibility the AG has under the law to interview Nifong, Wilson, DPD et al under the pretext of learning about their prior work but with the actual goal of conducting a sting that catches them on the record in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. Increasingly, it seems that the insiders in this case know that the case will be dropped according to a specifict plan and a timetable (probanbly just before the due date for a written response to the lineup surpression motion). In the meantime, the defense team and those close to it are holding fire because they know that the purpose of letting the case ostensibly continue is to force a dilemma on Nifong and company. Either they continue their lies on the record to the AG and face criminal consequences, or they take the 5th and, in so doing, admit to the world their past criminal behavior in prosecuting the case. K.C. acknowledged having gotten to know the defense counsel who died recently, and in doing so, suggests a conclusion that he communicates regularly with the defense team and may know much of what they know or believe, but thinks it in the interest of the defendents to keep quiet.
What do others think?
I think that right now, we know what WILL happen to the charges, but do not know WHEN. The charges will be dropped; of that I have no doubt, and I think they will be dropped relatively soon. The AG's office is not going to try to take this to trial.
(Irving Joyner has insisted it is going to trial. Since he has batted 0.000 in this case, that is proof positive it is NOT going that route and we should pay no attention to his latest comments.)
Any "inside" information that K.C. has from the defense is just that: "inside information." It would be unethical for him to report it, and it would be unethical for him to put something out there that he received from the defense -- but that the defense and SPs do not want to be made public.
Now, let's go back to the photo of Crystal a week ago Saturday. (Yes, it is tough, but we have to do it.) K.C. is not a loose cannon, unlike Yours Truly. Joe Cheshire is not a loose cannon. That picture was released not only with "permission" from the defense, but also with "implicit permission" from the AG's office.
Why? To let us know that Crystal's charges were a fraud. The picture spoke for itself, and conveyed a message to everyone that she was not injured, no matter what was written in the Hurled-Scum.
So, we need to get something straight. The AG will drop the charges. I don't know when, just that they will. Thus, K.C. lays the table for going after some of the scum that kept this case going, such as Nifong, Wilson, and some very corrupt cops.
Carolyn says:
Anonymous at 3:43: What I think is that they're stupid.
Nifong, Judge Stephens, Gottlieb, Linwood, et al are stupid. Every single person prosecuting this stupid case is stupid and behaving with the bovine dumbness of the stupid. And like all stupid people, they are too dumb to do anything. They just hide evidence, scribble notes months after the event, frame innocent rich kids and then go on vacation - but it's all stupid. They're too stupid to have a plan, too stupid to have thought out what they should do because they can't even figure out what they already did. (For christ's sake, they're so stupid they even use the wrong cite in defending their stupidity.)
They're dumb, greedy, self-centered, stupid people whose only 'plan' is to wait until finally the lacrosse players and their families and especially people like KC, John in Carolina and LieStoppers go away and leave the stupid people alone to continue with the corruption and graft that worked so well in the past. (Or at least it did until that stupid black prostitute couldn't keep her lies straight.)
But as far as realizing what they should not have done and what they should be doing, nahh, they're too stupid for that.
But then, that's just what I think.
These pond frogs just can't accept that their backwater isn't the whole world and all theirs anymore. It used to be. But I'll bet at least one or two had a smart enough lawyer to make the sun shine on their dumb a** and they have sung already to the SPs.
Meehan had to have been one of them. He was stupid, but not uneducated. And he can fry at least a few of them from the meeting.
A little off topic, but what ever happened with the female prosecutors complaint of sexual harassment, while working for Nifong? I remember she quit the Durham, but was hired by another office, she had filed a complaint against another male DA that worked for Nifong.
The complaining prosecutor was Ashley Cannon, who brought the bogus case against Moez Elmostafa. She told a colleague that Nifong "made her lie," but won't go on the record.
Thus, whatever the sexual harassment issue she faced, I would hope that she faces a criminal probe for lying in court. She was part of the machine that brought false charges and lied and lied. May she get what she deserves.
to 343 from a non-lawyer/retired professor: I am operating under the assumption that the AG and SPs are complying quickly with discovery to the defense as they interview witnesses etc. It seems that from the outside we need infinite patience, but this "real" investigation of the hoax will only pave the way for future civil cases. And who knows, maybe it will lead not only to civil liability, but criminal liability for the leading actors and actresses in this hoax. Maybe I am being too optimistic and I too want quick resolution of the criminal charges. But if there is a "real" investigation, it can only be good news for these three young men. Just my humble opinion.
I always figured that the straight from memory notes were not meant for prosecuting the case but rather to cover Wilson's butt when the case imploded. After all, if somebody sued or accused Lyingwood down the road he could always say that's my story and I'm sticking to it, and it would be difficult to prove otherwise. Of course I could be giving him too much credit since he might actually believe that something he typed up months after the fact could actually help Nifong. So is Lyingwood cynical or just completely stupid?
1:03 jamil hussein said...
It would be nice to see a summary post about the worst people in this case and ideal/expected sentences
How do these headlines sound?
Nifong Canned: Fired, Disbarred, Imprisoned, Raped
Linwood: Nifong's Jailhouse Husband
Judge Stephens Committed: Alzheimers unit at DUMC
Brodhead Divorces Wife, Moves to San Francisco with Wahneema
Karla! Amazing Duke Prof Still Brain Dead Since 2005
Potbangers Opening Act for Michael Jackson Iraq 2007 Tour - Suicide Bombers Sour Note
NYT in Buyout Talks with Murdoch
Duke Three Out of Court Settlement: Durham Paper Now Hurled Scum
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