“I cannot tell you the amount of pain that family is in. the only comparison I could make is a comparison to a family with a child who, God forbid, had a fatal disease.”
Talk about heroes and cowards
1) “magnificent Professor Jim Coleman”—one of the few professors to stand up and say that we have procedures for a reason
2) Moez Elmostafa—cab ridge was the lynchpin for alibi—behaved exactly as we expect a citizen of this country to do—what did that get him? tried on old bogus charges
3) Phil and Kathy Seligmann—“imagine facing a district attorney who wants to put your child in jail for 30 years. I kept explaining that in
4) Reade—“always regretted we didn’t have a son . . . If I had had a son, I would want him to be like Reade Seligmann.” Honor roll student—semester with Nifong trying to put him in jail and mobs putting him in the streets—had a 3.5 GPA. “one of the bravest people I have ever met.”
Cowards:
We’re delighted the justice system worked, but the system didn’t work—“people were afraid to speak truth to power,”—Herald-Sun—to this day, hasn’t written a single editorial critical of Nifong; instead published editorials claiming that the lacrosse players would have to prove their innocence; “if they had done what journal
“number of people in
“One wonders if the newspapers had stood up for proper processes and the teachers had stood up for proper processes, whether this would have slowed down the last coward” (Nifong)
Won’t criticize—but for Nifong, a message:
Prov. Chap 11, verse 29: “he that troubles his own house shall inherit the wind, and a fool shall be a servant to the bravehearted”
26 comments:
minor glitch
KC- Thank you for all your hard work.... I wish I could take a class taught by you- I guess I'll hafta settle for the book. -KFinn
Mike Pressler in RI speaking on ABC11TV. He's talking too fast for
me to type it in.
Very short by forceful presentation.
Would the arrest and trial of the cab driver on bogus charges be witness tampering? And could Gottliebs apparently false report, if earlier introduced into grand jury testimony, be considered perjury? Wouldn't Victoria Petersons incitement to arson be a chargabale offense?
Sit back, ladies and gents, get a nice cold drink, and prepare for a couple of broadside salvos from the U.S.S. North Carolina Defense Bar.
NC Lawyer
Where might I be able to read this statement in its entirety?
The Herald Sun has a video stating that the case still divides Durham. They show two students from Duke, and two from NCCU - some things never change.
I would put Mike Nifong on suicide watch! No more critical commentary could be made!!
Where's Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson at now. Shouldn't they be apologizing through the magaphones to the crowds gathered to linch the lying stripper that caused this situation to start with. Her and Nifong both deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I was stunned by the biblical quote made famous by the movie, "Inherit the Wind."
Although I'm no bible scholar, I raised this quote myself, early on, with reference to Nifong. The man is (to depart from the elegance of biblical language) truly nothing but garbage.
On the N&O site, they have quotes from a few people, concerning this outcome. The following quote is from Barber. You'll notice he still things that the boys are FAR from innocent.
""We respect the integrity of the Attorney General’s investigation and supported the involvement of special prosecutors. If his office believes the state lacks sufficient evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that all the elements of each crime took place, then it is the state’s constitutional duty to dismiss the charges. ... Now, as we have repeatedly said, comes the hard part. How do we proceed toward the healing places in our communities and our hearts?"
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/562932.html
I have seen several quotes from different people commenting on the case, but not ONE WORD from any Duke administrator, from Brodhead on down. Not even in Duke Chronicle. Anyone else seen any?
""We respect the integrity of the Attorney General’s investigation and supported the involvement of special prosecutors. If his office believes the state lacks sufficient evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that all the elements of each crime took place, then it is the state’s constitutional duty to dismiss the charges. ... Now, as we have repeatedly said, comes the hard part. How do we proceed toward the healing places in our communities and our hearts?"
A lot of people involved in the case have taken the pithy saying "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" far too seriously.
It's one thing if a cursory search and questioning turns up no firm evidence that the lacrosse players committed the crime of which they were accused. It's another thing entirely if a year-long investigation turns up no firm evidence supporting the accusations along with firm evidence that runs contrary to the accusations.
The AG didn't say there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute. The AG said the boys were innocent and he said that the accuser's STORIES, his word, were not consistant with the evidence, that she contradicted herself and that there was NO evidence an attack occured. He strongly hinted that she was mentally ill to the point of being delusional.
This was a historic day for American jurisprudence. All praise to the defense attorneys and the Duke Three, their families and their legion of supporters. Among their achievements was exposure of the academic dryrot at Duke, more advanced than many of us with ties to the university thought.
But as Wellington said about Waterloo, this was a damned close-run thing. Without the doggedness of the attorneys, KC Johnson, Liestoppers and John in Carolina, this travesty could have gone in other direction.
Take this from an old newspaper type: The mainstream media did not shower themselves with glory here. Attorney Cooney's fierce denunciation of my old paper, The Herald-Sun, was spot-on. I only wish he had included The News & Observer's enabling coverage of the hoax in its first weeks.
Now, the deluge!
Barber is a viscious, lying charlatan. He can call himself a "reverend" if he wants to. I'll call him what I see -- a divisive, racist piece of human filth. If he wants to know how to proceed with the healing process, he should start by looking in a mirror to see the source of the problem.
Memo to Barber --
Cooper did not say "his office believes the state lacks sufficient evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that all the elements of each crime took place." He declared the 3 LAX players "innocent", a word that is virtually unheard in legal circles where the best news a defendant typically can get is to be found "not guilty." Either you are as delusional as Mangum or simply rotten to the core for trying to spin what Cooper actually said to suggest that "whitey" pulled a fast one again.
Brodhead has a statement on Duke University website regarding the AG's dropping of the charges.
All sounds good until he says, "...while not reliving the past year, we won't be afraid to go back and learn what we can from this difficult experience."
First,the "most difficult experience" Brodhead speaks of has not been his,nor anyone else's to claim except Dave's, Colin's and Reade's. They own that "difficult experience"
(nightmare comes to mind as a better description) and nothing else that has come out of this(including thugnigga nonsense and the need for campus culture initiatives)can ever be considered as difficult in comparison.
It would seem that Brodhead's biggest lesson from this "difficult experience" would be from his own mistakes of having pressured the LAX coach into resigning and suspended the LAX season, clearly implying the LAX players guilt above their innocence.
Brodhead was more concerned with being being politically correct than whether or not his students were innocent. Brodhead allowed Colin, Reade and Dave to be thrown to the lions because he was not brave enough to risk inflaming the black community, but he's now "...not afraid to go back and learn..." How big of him.
Shame on Brodhead, and this is who parents entrust their children to? Why?
Commenter Bob Wilson also deserves a nod. He produced some excellent commentary on the John in Carolina site concerning newspaper performance. Attorneys considering libel suits against the News & Observer and the Herald-Sun should bring him in as a consultant. He is/was an excellent newspaper editor.
Regarding Bob Wilson: As a Durham resident, I can say that when Wilson was Herald/Sun editor, it was a first class newspaper. The best one in North Carolina, by far. When the Herald/Sun was sold and new managment took over, the newspaper went to hell in a handbasket. Bob, we miss you!
Where are the potbangers? The 88? The race-industrialists? The professional victims? The N&O? The crazy, irrelevant left? The opportunists on t.v.?
Keith Olberman, clearly an idiot of the highest order, ran an entire broadcast last night and did not mention the Dook case. Not once. Instead, he spent almost the entire time on the firing of Don Imus, based on three words said to a group of women. None of those words were with the "full power of the State", none of them were the word "indictment" and none of which a fair person would even place in the parking lot of the same ball park of what happened to these innocent boys. One more coward to add to the list!
Hello Everyone.
The I Want Justice! Webring joins members who have been wrongfully convicted or who have experienced corrupt activities in the courts. Please find the navigation bar near the bottom of my webpage at www.informapauperis.net/index.html .
I believe that one of the greater problems with our legal system is the presumption of knowledge of the law. Perhaps I would feel different if Westlaw were free, or my elementary school classes started teaching me logic or basic contract writing. But, since access to knowledge of the ever-changing laws, and the ever-changing effect of politics on those laws, does not exist and is not easily attainable, simple fairness must decree better than just saying that everyone is presumed to know the law.
I am very sorry to know about the sufferings of these college students. I wish it was the first and only time I came to know about such sufferings. But we live in a society that supposes things will be worked out in an adversarial system, regardless of whether or not the playing field is fair, or equal, or such that can be of equal footing for real meetings of the mind, before proceedings must be compelled.
Lastly, something better than a good luck wish should be provided pro se in forma pauperis litigants; especially since such wishing is not sincere and intended only to be sarcastic. I dont know if a Legal Aid Society is the right approach, because I have no idea what that group does instead of doing what they have been mandated to do. But something should exist for the litigants, and I think simple forms that extract the elements of a cause of action are a start. After all, judges help attorneys develop their cases, so why not help the pro se in forma pauperis litigant as well?
Hope this helps.
alan joseph samson
sallykish@aol.com
www.informapauperis.net/index.html
I Want Justice! Webring - Ringmaster
How can I get in touch with Mr. Cooney's Firm???
Nifong was unlucky! Had HIS victims been from less well to do families he would have been quite successful, and the "perpetrators" would have months ago been "put away where they belong". Nifong would have been hailed as a hero, just beginning a long lucrative career.
My son is going through virtually the same thing in Eugene, Oregon. He has been charged with Sodomy. He has passed two polygraph tests and is still being charged. Based on a 14 year old girl’s word, that was drunk, in and out of consciousness. She didn't bother to tell the police that her female cousin was taking pictures of her as she gave two other boys BJs. The police found out and the cousin was not charge. Hell, our son wasn't even there until later. He made the fatal error of telling the boys that they couldn't leave her laying in her own vomit. There is no physical evidence, just a sluts word.
So our son was arrested. Her word is worth $250,000.00. He is not allowed to finish his senior year in high school, he cannot see his 15 year old sister, he cannot come home, he doesn’t get to go to his senior prom or graduation party, he was actually released to the Mission for the homeless here, he cannot continue his charity work, he cannot even go to church as he is not allowed to be around anyone under 18.
So much for innocent until proven guilty.
I am so proud of you Dave, Reade, and Collin, how you stood up, how you looked, you were great. And how much all your families went through with you, heart breaking for the families. You 3 young men are ones to be proud of, and I would be proud to meet you and know you. (I have 13 grandchildren in colleges at this time). Marj Mattoon/Takapu
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