Perhaps trying to smooth the way for a Nifong resignation to cover its own shameful editorial record, the Herald-Sun calls for the embattled DA to resign.
City Councilman Eugene Brown blasts David Addison's stunning letter accusing the DPD's critics of slander. "Our job as a city council is to try to get to the truth, as painful as that may be,” Brown said. “This was definitely overboard and I was shocked.”
And, as usual, Aaron Beard has a comprehensive overview of events, in which longtime Nifong enabler Woody Vann laments, "Nobody knows anything about the previous 28 years. The cases he's tried and won, and the cases he's tried well and won."
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147 comments:
Suddenly, the Huled Scum doesn't want a trial in this case?
I'm shocked!
Literal shit is poised to hit the proverbial fan in Durham, folks. And the H-S (among many, many others) is going to get messed, big time. The next few events will uncork some nasty sludge. And I, for one, can't wait. Let the Show begin!
As events this week rightly draw attention to those who criminally conspired to frame known innocents, bear in mind the big picture:
Press = Distortion: Consider how this whole affair has been portrayed, how some things are news whilst others are virtually unreported, how "facts" are reported and sources selected -- then consider that most people's worldviews are shaped by this same filter on reality.
Professional Victims = Fraud: Consider how legions of angry enablers leapt onto this in great haste, what was said and done, and what has been said and done since -- this has been a display of the height of hypocrisy, exceeding the ridiculous.
KC
Respectfully, I think you inadvertently omitted the reference to Woody Vann as the long time Nifong enabler. As written, the enabler may seem to some to be Aaron Beard.
The Beard article begins:
"Mike Nifong spent nearly three decades building a reputation as an honest prosecutor."
Why do I have the suspicion that, if and when the whole truth comes out, it will be more along the lines of this?
"Mike Nifong managed to conceal the massive ethical violations he committed as a prosecutor for nearly three decades."
It's been claimed by some who wish to think well of Nifong that this case is the first one where he entered the spotlight of the media and he simply got swept away.
Somehow I doubt that an "honest prosecutor" only starts inventing imaginary evidence and hiding real evidence that doesn't fit his theories when there's someone watching.
Anonymous 10:27 said...
...Suddenly, the Huled Scum doesn't want a trial in this case?
...I'm shocked!
::
That's funny. So true.
You suppose the H/S achieves will succumb to a massive computer malfunction and fire sometime around Friday noon?
Hooboy!
They no doubt have filed and cross referenced all of the smoking guns.
::
GP
I certainly hope that this drama plays out the way it should this week.
More along the lines of Pacino's "Scarface" than the disappointing Sopranos finale--(what a monumental letdown that was!).
I mean, some degree of bloodletting is due those who have endured the corruption that is Mike Nifong, the Durham Police Department, The Herald-Sun, and the many countless fools and authentic "hooligans" who make up Durham, NC.
Debrah
Now soon perhaps, maybe at long last someone (other than an innocent Mike Pressler) might actually lose their job over this mess. It seems that Durham is truly bizarro world when it comes to getting canned from your job for negligence.
David Addison- lies over and over in writing and in verbal statements
Steve Chalmers- continually absent then issues a report that is a complete whitewash of the real facts
Patrick Baker- where to begin?
Kim Curtis- her actions result in a lawsuit against her employer that confirm she committed the worst kind of ethical violation
ALL OF THESE PEOPLE ARE STILL HAPPILY EMPLOYED AND WORKING IN DURHAM. What exactly does someone need to do in order to loes their job in that town?
JLS says....,
re: anon 10:27 and Gary Packwood
I fear the Durham paper is getting out in front of the story it knows is coming and Nifong will resign as DA this afternoon or tommorrow morning. I really prefer to see him in the docket.
If he does resign then the demands for a criminal investigation need to become louder and louder.
The only person who lost his job over this scandal was perhaps the most steadfast and honest person of the bunch: Mike Pressler.
Durham seems to me to be as K.C. has put it: Wonderland. In Durham, the truth is counted as a lie, and a lie is the truth. The victimizers are the "true victims" there, and working for the government means you don't have to obey the law.
While I hate to admit that the Hurled-Scum is right about anything, I think that Boob Ashley and Company are correct when saying that even if the Bar "convicts" Nifong this week, he will appeal and appeal. The man has nothing else and nowhere to go, and given his narcissistic personality, that is the only course of action he will take.
So, prepare yourselves for many more months -- or even years -- of Fongfest.
Does anyone know if KC is in Raleigh now?
I might need to drive over and check him out--(LIS!).....although, the better view of these things is always on cable.
Debrah
JLS says....,
How pathetic is Woody Vann. Until Vann admits that this case was not too big for Nifong but that Nifong used this case rather than honorably lose the primary election, quoting Vann is a complete waste of time.
Vann sheds no light on the situation and might confuse people who might really believe it is a mystery how we got to here. And it is pretty clear that Nifong has always been corrupt. Mabye on a smaller scale with smaller cases, but as someone said, if one were to look back over Nifong's career I am sure lots and lots of petty corruption would be found.
why will the Fong resign within the next 24 hours? he gains nothing by doing so this late.
Let the Fongfest begin!
Anyone know how long the bar proceedings were supposed to last? At one time I thought I heard it was scheduled for four days.
Space Puppy
Bill Anderson said: "Durham seems to me to be as K.C. has put it: Wonderland. In Durham, the truth is counted as a lie, and a lie is the truth. The victimizers are the "true victims" there, and working for the government means you don't have to obey the law."
I believe that in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts' rule is "First the verdict and then the trial! Off with their heads!"
Seems very appropriate to me.
A Nifong resignation now would be an admission of guilt.
Also, it would not hamstring the Bar, assuming the Bar is not seeking relief (from Nifong). In which case discounting a referral back to AG Cooper seems in order.
I hope Woody Vann is wrong when he says nobody is going to remember all of the cases Nifong has tried and won over the last 28 years. Somebody needs to go back and see how many innocent people have been wrongly tried and convicted in Durham.
-RD
What cable channel will be covering this?
Bill Anderson said;
” While I hate to admit that the Hurled-Scum is right about anything,”
Bill you left your conspiracy theory hat off this morning. If The Herald Sun budges a little bit into the land that Nifang is wrong, it can only mean one of two things;
1.They now know that a massive amount of crap will be revealed about both The Herald and the Fong.
Or
2.There are finally enough Minnesotan’s in Hell to change the temperature
Warning Bill you may have a hole in your tinfoil LOL
Tom E.
TO 11:58PM--
My guess is that Court TV will cover it.....at least partially. In the Triangle, Time Warner Cable has Court TV on channel 44.
Since Dan Abrams now manages MSNBC, no doubt he will assign some time to Nifong's trial as well. MSNBC is on channel 45.
Debrah
11:15
Just hope that KC doesn't get stuck again in an elevator with Victoria Peterson.
Goodness!! I KNEW there was something wrong with my hat.
As for Nifong and "honesty," while there certainly is no evidence he took bribes or engaged in that kind of "corruption," his "on the fly" manner in trying cases almost certainly would lead to abuses.
Here is someone in a position of real power, yet he did not care enough about the situation to look at the particulars. He just loved the prospect of bullying people.
Given his narcissistic personality and his sloppiness, I would say there definitely would have been wrongful convictions on his watch.
And his "I don't shake hands with interns" tells me what I need to know about this POS.
what time is the hearing
can't wait to see mike nifong questioned by a group of lawyers who didnt make their bones in traffic court
On an issue related only by the fact that justice sometimes still prevails at long last, a Georgia judge threw out the 10-year sentence against Generalow Wilson for consensual sodomy today.
"His colleagues at the courthouse in Durham remain at a loss to explain how it happened."
He got caught.
Now, let's go back and re-open all those county cases and discover the REAL Mike Nifong and Company.
JLS says....,
What Nifong would get from resigning today is:
1. short circuiting a hearing that would provide an on the record under oath road map for criminal investigations and civil littigation against him.
2. avoiding addtional crimes in this hearing such as lying under oath.
3. avoiding a public rehashing of his wrong doings. There would be summary rehashings if he resigned, but not the detailed rehashing this hearing will be.
4. avoiding being in the docket which is not a fun situation and he has to know he is losing his license either way.
Now Nifong is stupid and stuborn so maybe he will again not do what is in his best interest. But like dropping the charges last June when he could have and won the election and maybe avoided getting more than a slap on the wrist, resigning before this hearing is in his best interest.
I think the "real" Mike Nifong is out in the open and has been for quite some time, he's the kind of guy who sticks it to an out of town speeder because he can, who refuses to shake hands with someone he deems beneath him, who is known around town as a pompous arrogant jerk who enjoys browbeating people.
In another testament to Durham's fundamental corruption is the fact that is guy who was always CLEARLY and OPENING a total ass/jerk/rude/power hungry individual didn't come out until well after the case had crumbled and Nifong's career was over.
Where were all these anecdotes about Nifong and interns in 2006??????????
JLS,
Mike Nifong is in the George Bush double down and go for broke mode.
He isn't going to resign, and I believe he WILL lie under oath, he is that deluded about his own abilities. A person who isn't dangerously delusional or arrogant or both would have found a pretense to drop the charges last fall, NOT gotten his henchman to come up with yet another story that involved no vaginal 'rape' at all.
I say you can count on Mike Nifong making a total fool of himself tomorrow, and more than likely, further perjuring himself.
JLS says....,
re: Bill Anderson
As for Nifong and "honesty," while there certainly is no evidence he took bribes or engaged in that kind of "corruption," his "on the fly" manner in trying cases almost certainly would lead to abuses.
Actually it has been pretty widely suggested that while Nifong was in charge of traffic tickets that hiring the "right" attorney including one Woody Vann got one a much better deal. Now whether Nifong got more than insincere friendship out of this situation, I can not say.
JLS says....,
re: anon 1:00
Wow you compared the greatest US president at least since Linclon to Nifong? Are you out of your mind?
Are you not old enough to know that Reagan was equally savaged as president? Do you know so little of history that you don't know how low Truman's poll numbers dropped? Both are viewed very well by history.
Yet you compare a sitting great president with a criminal DA? Wow?
George Bush is not a great president, sorry to break it to you but he's going down in history as the most destructive president this history has ever seen, having presided over the destruction of the military, American soft power, the environment and the middle class.
He is the same kind of arrogant nut who will never admit defeat no matter what...Bush thinks we're winning in Iraq and Mike Nifong thought he was going to get a conviction for a rape that never happened.
Same same.
Herald Suns belated conversion on the road to Damascus is simply fear that other enablers of Nifong share that the Trial will reach out and touch them - so it would be better if Nifong just resigns to spare them embarassment.
So they hammer the theme: Hey, it's basically over. The 3 accused. though they were engaged in deplorable degrading racist behavior they should be sorry for - have been found innocent. The DA is the only person at fault because he slightly overstepped his authority.
Can't we all get along, put it in the past, move on, heal, achieve closure....avoid more strife that lawsuits and trials involve??? ...errr...unlike the trial of the Lacrosse players we all demanded happen.....
No. I personally have my fingers crossed than Nifong will be compelled by his pride and sense that others set him up to go for the full trial. And payback. If people set him up, lets' hope that Mikey does some real ankle-grabbing on Gottlieb, Good Nurse Tara, Meehan, the NAACP that told him his election depended on getting the white boys, Patrick Baker, feminist groups that abandoned him, ADAs complicit with him, David Addison, any private contact he had with Duke professors or Administrators egging him on.
The more Nifong exposes, the better the lawsuit exposure of other parties.
Be nice if he opines on how "always believing the rape victim" helped lead him on the road to perdition.
I'd go to heaven if Mikey reveals he got a series of legal advice letters from Wendy Murphy praising his tactics and urging him to do more against the "lacrosse rapist scum"....I'd go to heaven..
1:08
You're so damned stupid that it's unreal. Obviously, just a half educated louse who would somehow like to shed the stench that Mike Nifong has brought to his Democratic Party and the crazy fringe who lavished him with praise until you guys were caught with your pants down railroading some young boys for personal gain.
You are one ill-informed buck passer to ever equate Bush with Mike Nifong. One was deliberate and purposeful in his aim for the destruction of three individuals. The other one was fed faulty intelligence that the whole world also thought was fact. Like a Democrat pundit said the other day, this is as much a Democrat war as it is a Bush war. Democrats sat back and read the same information and gladly signed on to war. And they scream a lot now, but still offer no solutions.
People like you actually vote? No wonder Mike Nifong got away with so much for so long.
I agree with 1 06. G Bush is a great president though it is now clear that the Democrats have succeeded in causing the war to fail.
He has kept America safe so that we can enjoy the Nifong spectacle rather than nukes at the CDC.
There you go again . . . comparing George Bush to Nifong. We now have a hurricane blamed on Bush and a war blamed on Bush, why not say he is Nifong . . . have you ever seen Nifong and Bush at the same time? Micael Jackson is his own sister (not Nifong's sister). Let's not get all excited and confused. Not to worry, tomorrow is another big even bigger day in Wonderland.
The FONG will ROCK all of you!!! Do not hate the FONG. Love the FONG. Bow to the FONG! Give the FONG your money.
Cult of FONG!!!!!
More proof that the education system has produced a country full of morons.
The rest of the world told us invading Iraq was a fool's errand, but Bush, like Nifong, knew better...the experts said Iraq would blow up like a firecracker, but Bush knew better...
This is not and never was a Democratic war, this is George Bush and the neocon cabal's war, always was, always will be.
OMG, the Democrats have caused the war to fail? Give me a break. Bush has had 4 years, longer than it took us to beat Germany in WWII and he still can't pacify a bunch of illiterate people living in shacks. He's a loser and a demagogue, just like Mikey.
Why are we supposed to assume that Nifong was an honest prosecutor until March 2006? Because he's never been caught doing anything devious before?
What qualifies Woody Vann to present a case that Nifong had an outstanding record as a prosecutor until he became Crystal's white knight? Because he's known Nifong for 28 years?
We're talking Durham here. What constitutes an honest prosecutor in Durham would likely not pass that test in the average jurisdiction. Durham's public sector has shown itself to be sub-standard across the board.
My guess is Nifong wasn't a paragon of virtue until the LAX case and he, just this once, fell off the wagon. It is more likely that he cut corners in the past, but being this in Durham, who was going to catch him? Finally, with the stakes so high (winning the election, more pension money), he was willing to take a huge leap into completely unethical behavior.
1:43 Scott-
Then one must also closely examine the judges and police. They either condone Mike Nifong and others like him, or they are incompetent and therefore dangerous. Turn the torch lights on.
No inquiry will ever reach the judges, look how hard it has been to get any straight information from the police? At least one of the people running for new police chief thinks the DPD did a fine job in the Duke case.
If it wasn't for the money of the 3 boys nothing would have happened to Mike Nifong either, he would have gone on to either lose or win the case in court and that would be that, no ethics inquiry, no nothing, as it has been in Durham for probably 50 years.
"More proof that the education system has produced a country full of morons."
"Neocon cabal??"
Not a (also) Democratic war?
You, sir/maam are a revisionist and one of the morons/demagogues about which you speak.
Get off Bush on a blog about the LAX case - go to Moveon.org if you must talk with intellectual dishonesty about US Presidents.
1:43 and 1:51-
Durham has always been a revolving door of crime. We saw the huge amount of bail the lacrosse players had to come up with.
They assign much lesser sums to those accused of murder. Just look at the ongoing crime that is rampant around NCCU. Never is it played up in the media, but they made a big deal about college guys urinating in the grass somewhere.
Durham is a high crime zone to all who live in this area.
No doubt, Nifong and company have been getting by with just about anything they wanted to do, as long as he and his cronies catered to blacks who live in the town.
Bush?
Stop drinking the kool-aid.
One of the reasons I stopped posting here for the most part, sadly, the vast majority of readers here are ultra conservatives, who likely are interested in the case more because it allows them to bash femiists, rape victims, Democrats, and political correctness.
The reason I raised the Bush parallel was because I believe there IS a strong parallel, just as I believe that our society is degenerating into a place where expediency and ideology are more important than facts in evidence, and that goes both for liberals and conservatives.
Pro choice and pro life groups are equally passionate about the choice or right to life for the 12 year old rape victim and the affluent twenty something who simply doesnt want a baby. Neither side is willing to concede any fundamental difference here.
Mike Nifong decided in advance that he had a racially based gang rape on his hands and he either ignored or supressed any evidence to the contrary, just as George Bush decided in advance that Iraq needed invading and ignored or supressed any evidence to the contrary.
The reason I brought up Bush wasn't to bash him, though he deserves it but to point up the danger of resorting to convenient stereotypes instead of facts, and that goes for all stereotypes and all narravtives, whether its 'we have to fight them over there instead of over here' or 'women never lie about rape'
The real crux of the Duke story is how so many people freely ignored the facts all along the road and how easy it was for them to do it. The Duke case while egregious, isn't an anomally, this tunnel vision/ideology over logic is happening everywhere.
Sadly, those of you on this blog only see one side of it: the femiminists, blacks, Democrats, academics, you won't admit it occurs among the conservative brethren just as frequently.
But, since my thoughts on this case aren't wanted because I dont' support George Bush, bye bye now.
2:09 PM
Excellent post, well articulated. Don't be put off by the occasional ideologue.
2:17, is poster 2:09 really well articulated? Is he/she really not just someone who posted what they did to purposefully cause discord, and then backtrack when his/her ass was handed to them?
Anyone can use gross analogies to disrupt a forum, but only a greasy and dishonest liberal apologist can come back with such banality to try to clean up the mess.
The fact that poster @ 2:09 would even come here throwing down with inciteful comments about George Bush overshadows the possibility that he/she is not really a worthless troublemaking idiot.
Bush did what he thought was right to protect you and I. There is no way of knowing how current history would have evolved if a different course was taken. Obviously so far the results have not been great. We hire presidents to make tough decisions.
Nifong did what he knew was wrong. He did it for his own venal purposes and to hell to the 3 boys he would put away for (most of) life.
Quite a difference I would think.
2:09 - I think I understand your parallel. But here is the problem: you try to justify your position and plea for understanding while at the same time you lob insults and make condescending remarks.
How can you honestly believe anyone you are speaking to is going to objectively listen to you when you establish that you dislike the President, believe he deserves to be bashed, and (miraculously) believe he is some kind of mastermind that "ignored or supressed" evidence? If you wish to make intellectual parallels and have a high-minded discussion that crosses party lines, you may wish to re-think your strategy of playing the aloof, holier-than-thou Bush-hater.
I didn't even vote for the man, but please stop with the ridiculous rhetoric that you were just trying to make an innocent comparison. Please...your real point was pretty obvious.
Anonymous 11:08 said: "What exactly does someone need to do in order to loes their job in that town?"
Um, the right thing?
2:09PM
Don't stop posting. You're not the only one here who has found themselves amongst very strange bedfellows.
I never thought I would see the day that I was tuning into Fox regularly but this case cut across party divides. Anyone willing to take a look at the facts of the case could clearly see the travesty of justice unfolding before their eyes.
Aw come on ya'll....There is a little FONG in all of us!!!
2:32
Very well said.
I have never seen this as a left vs. right issue - it's a basic issue of justice, which both sides claim to espouse.
I'd prefer the politicizing be left out of this thread and those that are concerned go to another molre relevant web site.
Space Puppy
What makes 2:09 think anyone gives a **** if he comes here or not? What a worthless wuss.
He makes a big deal about ideology trumping everything else, and then he prodeeds to use the same kind of gross ideology and insults.
A typical one-sided Durham, NC Nifong enabler and loser. Can't or won't see the forest for the trees.
Can someone--anyone--*please* copy in the text of the letter from Pressler's eloquent daughter to Brodhead? I promise I'll buy the book. I just can't get to a copy at the moment and have heard legendary stories about the Letter. Thanks.
This was my original post:
Mike Nifong is in the George Bush double down and go for broke mode.
He isn't going to resign, and I believe he WILL lie under oath, he is that deluded about his own abilities. A person who isn't dangerously delusional or arrogant or both would have found a pretense to drop the charges last fall, NOT gotten his henchman to come up with yet another story that involved no vaginal 'rape' at all.
I say you can count on Mike Nifong making a total fool of himself tomorrow, and more than likely, further perjuring himself.
-------------------------
Nothing close to an 'attack' on Bush. It should be clear to even supporters of the war that Bush IS IN 'double down and go for broke mode' since he chose the 'surge' as a way out of the Iraq quagmire rather than a timetable or benchmarks.
But, whatever.
Thanks for the positive words to those other posters, but this blog has pretty much always been dominated by conservative idealogues, that fact was masked during much of the case chronology because Nifong's behavior and the case facts were still central, as the case itself fell away, the other conservative agendas overtook the quest to prove the boys innocent.
I didn't make any condescending remarks until I was called stupid, until I was told that Bush is the best president since Lincoln [really, even the poster can't believe that], that I was a 'louse' and an ill informed buck passer.
Judge frees Genarlow Wilson. I need to read the story but it appears that judges can break through the crap that prosecutors employ to add notches to their gun belts.
udge Wilson agreed the 10-year prison sentence "would be viewed by society as 'cruel and unusual' in the Constitutional sense of disproportionality."
"The fact that Genarlow Wilson has spent two years in prison for what is now classified as a misdemeanor... and will spend eight more years in prison is a grave miscarriage of justice," Wilson wrote in his order, which was released this morning.
"If any case fits into the definitive limits of a miscarriage of justice, surely this case does."
Wilson added, "If this court, or any court, cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal our judicial system has always strived to accomplish... Justice being served in a fair and equal matter."
Attorney General Thurbert Baker's office filed a notice to appeal the judge's order this afternoon, saying Wilson has "absolutely no authority to change the judgment of the trial court, in this case the Superior Court of Douglas County."
The attorney general's office disclosed that as recently as this past weekend Douglas County offered Wilson's attorneys a plea deal that would have allowed Wilson to avoid a criminal record and inclusion on the sex offender registry once his sentence had been completed. The plea deal would have also allowed Wilson to serve a "substantially shorter" prison sentence, possibly leading to his "release based upon time already served."
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2007/06/11/0611wilson.html
Kudos to the judge. I hope he has the authority to do this. The prosecutor seems like another Nifong.
I found the end of the Aaron Beard article interesting:
"It's how he's going to be remembered," [Woody] Vann said. "Nobody knows anything about the previous 28 years. The cases he's tried and won, and the cases he's tried well and won. They're just not (going to be remembered)."
Does anyone remember when Nifong was overheard saying that there were two words he never wanted to hear again, Duke and lacrosse?
re: 2:55
Hopefully there's a crowd of people at the courthouse chanting Duke Lacrosse. The semester is over so that probably won't happen but it would make a nice mindscape.
As far as I am concerned Wilson should have been convicted of gang raping the 17 year old girl who he and his buddies were videotaped having sex with while she was semi conscious.
But the nice jury must have figured since the girl got herself drunk and went to a hotel room with the boys that she wanted all of them to have sex with her while she was barely conscious.
This kid is no hero.
"One of the reasons I stopped posting here for the most part, sadly, the vast majority of readers here are ultra conservatives, who likely are interested in the case more because it allows them to bash femiists, rape victims, Democrats, and political correctness."
Stereotyping (vast majority), and assigning motives (it allows them to bash...)...
Kewl, but inacurate and irrelevant.
Here's a Bushism for you: Read my lips, this is about the LAX case, not your political persuasion. (BTW, I thought you had left). Hmmm..
2:52pm-
All that is well and it is good. Feel free to be you. Wasn't that a sickly Marlo Thomas book once upon a time--"Free To be Me"?
No one really is concerned here whether you or I support Bush or the war, or we don't. Like someone said, go to another blog.
I'll just leave you with this one undeniable fact. With the exception of KC Johnson and a few others--very few--your side of the political coin was nowhere to be found in this case. Even when evidence was clear the boys were innocent.
Maybe you need to go back to your friends and those of like mind and figure out why that happened. Then we might have something political to talk about.
It would also be my guess that a few of the Duke lacrosse players are rethinking their politics as well.
I would be very surprised if Nifong does not resign today or tomorrow morning. I think he hung in there to get a last paycheck.
3:11 PM
"your side of the political coin was nowhere to be found in this case"
This case was lit by the exploitation of the political coin. It has gotten to where it is by the critical thinking and efforts of people from all political backgrounds. No one political side of any coin can take credit. Individuals counted here.
Last time I checked Joe Cheshire was a liberal Democrat and so were most of the rest of the defense lawyers.
Hilarious!! Ultra-Conservatives posting on a Democrat's Blog??!! Only the LAX case has been able to create this kind of reversal and irony on ALL levels. There is hope after all, but to tell you the truth, Demos and Repubs both suck!!
Free your mind from their talking points, and you might be able to come to a rational, well-thought, fact-based decision on all subjects large and small instead of falling into meaningless circular agruments created and manipulated by others.
3:33
Then you don't know Joe Cheshire.
But, whatever. Lawyers are apolitical when advocating for a client. Or they are supposed to be.
'"His colleagues at the courthouse in Durham remain at a loss to explain how it happened."
He got caught.'
And now they're terrified it could happen to them.
"No one side of any political coin can take credit."
What?
Please go to a large library or spend a day on the computer googling this case and how and by whom it was covered for the last 15 months.
Then tell us about who did what.
Now that many have been shamed by undeniable facts, there are lots of "Daddies" to the Duke case.
Woody Vann is one cretin from Durham who has tried to play it both ways. Surely he and his colleagues had some indication of what kind of person Nifong was and is.
Greta always had Vann on her show and he was an awful guest. Said absolutely nothing of substance. Just flapped his lips.
I think it was Woody Vann who had represented Crystal Mangum in the past as a court appointed attorney I'm sure and had knowledge of her record. He actually said on some show early on that she was a truthful and decent person. And you know they knew what she was.
Vann always said what all the pro prosecution people said " He must have something, Mike Nifong has a good reputation [ha we know that was a lie all along].
I feel even more disgusted now that the truth about Nifong's character is coming out.
Everyone always knew he was a bully who liked to demean people.
And that means his actions, attitude and behavior on THIS case, that was so shocking to the public, was par for the course inside Durham, he did it all the time.
All that crap about Nifong being an ethical prosecutor with a good reputation as fair was total crap, more of Durhamites circling the wagons and protecting their own.
Poster @ 4:25
What choice did he have but to say positive things about a black female accuser?
If he wanted to go outside and still have the hubcaps on his car and it remain in operating condition, in Durham he hads to play the game.
No dissin' those who run the place.
4:16 PM
Ummmmmmmmmmm.....KC Johnson, Bill Anderson, Michael Gaynor.
4:27
Like that big gal named Kerry Sutton who at first was assisting with the defense. She came out praising Nifong during his election campaign.
Joe Cheshire blasted her good about her transparent attempt to stay in good with Nifong as the prosecutor beause people like her knew the racists in Durham would re-elect him and she wanted to stay friends with the prosecutor who would hear her cases.
Sutton was in the CYA mode. For her, that was a BIG cover.
anonymous said...
Jun 11, 2007 2:09:00 PM
One of the reasons I stopped posting here for the most part, sadly, the vast majority of readers here are ultra conservatives, who likely are interested in the case more because it allows them to bash femiists, rape victims, Democrats, and political correctness.
There are those who can't see the three fingers pointing back to them when they point to Nifong and the G88. If you want lack of respect for due process, lack of respect or even consideration of evidence and fact, running at the mouth when he should have been running through th e data, you can see the EXACT same in Bush and his Justice department as you can here.
Indeed, I believe there's a whole bunch of us on on the political spectrum who would get along just fine and have no problem arguing rationally and together would make up a fine country and system but for the extremes of right, left and religion. Those extremes are made up of people whose personality is much the same, they just happen to be Communist, Fascist, Fundamentalist and other "Angry" types. They are the same people, they all make a mess of things, and they need a lot of push back by those who are more middle, more rational, less ideology driven.
2:09
The reason I brought up Bush wasn't to bash him, though he deserves it but to point up the danger of resorting to convenient stereotypes instead of facts, and that goes for all stereotypes and all narravtives, whether its 'we have to fight them over there instead of over here' or 'women never lie about rape'
I'm so happy that you come not to bury Ceasar but to praise him.
Do you even believe this tripe yourself? Did you write it with a straight face? Are you educated, or is your capacity for critical thought solely the result of an intellect at the back of the bell curve?
4:35 is yet another Bush-bashing son-of-a-bitch who sneaks in his ideology like silently breaking wind, thinking that his words won't leave the very same stench he so arrogantly decries.
Hey, buddy, can we buy you a George Bush dart board? Will that cool your jets a while?
4:35pm--Please tell us also about Sandy Berger. I'd appreciate your grand and objective analysis on that case.
Yep, George Bush is the worst president that this country has ever had for all of the reasons stated by the other blogger. And, yes, very strange bedfellows, here on Durham in Wonderland. While GB may not be a bully a la Nifong, I think Dick Cheney and Karl Rove certainly are.
But, back to Nifong. One hopes that the networks will give his case the same degree of coverage they gave his accusations...
Bush's justice system is about as corrupt as Nyfong's. You don't do what we want? Let's fire you.
D'you think he's gonna pardon Scooter?
4:59
Go suck egg, you phony clueless cretin. You wouldn't know one full day without mendacity. Your inability to comprehend your silliness is hilarious.
"now back to Nifong...."
God, what a turd.
The worthless strays who have found their way back here now that Nifong's trial is going down and they have no one else to lie to, are the very same brand of Durham voters who followed Nifong off the cliff.
Now they are back to just being "Democrats for truth".
Hahahahahahahahaha!
The saddest thing is these guys don't get the irony of calling anyone who disagrees with them names. They don't get that calling posters who don't support George Bush all kinds of names and casting aspersions on their character is no different that Mike Nifong calling the boys hooligans with rich daddies. It is all part and parcel of the same destructive dynamic: destroy your 'enemy' by whatever means is at your disposal, if truth and the facts won't do, then inuendo will suffice, if that doesn't get it done, then lies are next and the perverse notion taking root that an 'enemy' is anyone that doens't agree with ones viewpoint, about George Bush, rape, Mike Nifong, global warming, sports, OJ Simpson, you name it.
"George Bush", "Religionists", "the vast majority of posters (stereotyping), etc. etc. was started by the "non" conservative - most other comments have been in reaction to the buffoon who could not help himself/herself by interjecting their political cliches ("neo-cons") on a blog about injustice to the LAX players. You keep using the words "sadly" and saddest". The saddest thing is that you can't stay on subject. You said bye-bye earlier. Keep your word.
Can't we all just get along?
Jun 11, 2007 5:05:00 PM
Who cares? This site is about Nifong. Stop drinking the kool-aid.
5:24 PM
tu quoque
5:24pm--That's a good one!
Hahahahahaha! These Demo partisans can't keep their word.
This site is about LAX; the posting about Nifong. Nifong seems to look to everyone else/anyone else rather than himself for his problems. I don't suppose it is a surprise that Nifong behaves as he does given how some in the Justice Department behave. This not a Democratic or Republican issue; it's an issue of abuse of power and office.
This is a serious matter and name calling isn't a very useful way to think about it. In fact, it's juvenile and destructive.
Does anyone know which channels are covering the trial?
"Does anyone know which channels are covering the trial?"
----------
WRAL.com will webcast it live, starting at 10 AM tomorrow.
Wish I could make popcorn here at work! Woo-hoo!
Poster @ 6:00
Wow, do I agree with you. Wonder why they come here to bash the president? Any guesses? Could it be they're doing the work of--SATAN!
The church lady thinks so.
The beauty of DIW is that people of very different political persuations came together to fight for justice. I am a moderate Democrat and have always thought the blog was to liberal. Goes to show, one man's paradise is another man's hell. This is over in three weeks - I will miss KCm his essais and and the bloggers. Maybe succes is hard to deal with.
When Bush declared the WOT he said it could take up to 10 years. That's 10 years... or 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 years.
That was back when it was PC to support the WOT. You all remember that last attack on American civilians when people were jumping out of windows over 180 stories up? It was easy to suppoert the WOT then wasn't it. What a bunch of jellyfish.
Would any of you Bush haters like to remind everyone how many ROP attcks we've had here post WOT?
Oh... and one last thing.. remember back when all of you "geniuses" kept telling us "it's the econonmy stupid"... where are you now???
DM...
Carolyn says:
2:51 - "Can someone--anyone--*please* copy in the text of the letter from Pressler's eloquent daughter to Brodhead?"
Sorry, hon. Pressler needs every dime from those book sales to pay for Janet's college in 3 years. You won't regret it if you buy the book. Not only will you get Janet's awesome letter at the back of it - but on page 88, you'll get something else. Don't want to spoil what Yaeger describes on that page but trust me, it's - christ, it's something! (Hint: Don't start to read it with your mouth full.)
6:22--I agree with you. I'm a moderate also, but in all honesty I don't know where the people are coming from who say this place is taken over by conservatives. Simply untrue.
Some are not accepting of any opposing views, and I suspect there's a bit of insecurity over Mike Nifong being such a highly visible liberal. They bring up things like "neocon" as a defense mechanism.
All in all, this place has been interesting.
Can we get away from the subject of George Bush? Or, at a minimum, if y'all are going to rant, at least put your names on it.
4:16 PM
Ummmmmmmmmmm.....KC Johnson, Bill Anderson, Michael Gaynor.
Jun 11, 2007 4:31:00 PM
Let's see, K.C. is a liberal Democrat, Michael Gaynor is a conservative Republican, and I am a pretty hardcore libertarian. So, the three of us are not necessarily political allies, but we do understand the necessity of things like due process and adherence to the fundamentals of the rule of law. You would find the three of us in lockstep agreement on those points.
For example, I attended a conference last week in which Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame was one of the speakers. You can bet that things like the CIA's "rendition program" and the prison at Guantanamo Bay were not exactly praised.
The reason that so many people of different viewpoints have come together here is that this case was transparently dishonest from the start, and it quickly separated the hardcore feminist/racialist ideologues from the rest of us who want fair play. Those divisions still stand.
Hear, hear, Prof. Anderson!
Back to more profound issues. I, for one, will miss KC's place.....more than I entertained a thought that I would.
I'm beginning to have feelings of abandonment already. It's like the time when I couldn't find a jar of my emollient-to-the-max (Morning Pearl Creme with Caviar Extract). It is the best moisterizer on the planet and keeps me "diva-ready". LOL!
Well......I had become so addicted to using this luscious concoction everyday that I had to put forth my most histrionic display in order to get the company to bring back the original formulation....(just goes to show what persistence can do!).
No doubt, I will have the same gut-wrenching feelings of abandonment when KC closes the door to Wonderland.
Sigh.......
Though we can't bring back the hour of splendor in the grass.....glory in the flower......we will grieve not......rather find strength in what is left behind.
Impassioned sigh.......trailing off.......:>)
Debrah
What time and where is Nifong's trial? I want to go.
debrah, you should be writing for a sitcom. Not bad.
Reminds me of a Goldie Hawn scene in Private Benjamin.
Lest we believe Nifong is a "rogue," or even particularly unusual:
Prosecutors appeal ruling to throw out Genarlow Wilson's sentence
• Judge voided Wilson's 10-year prison term
• Wilson in prison for consensual oral sex at age 17 with 15-year-old girl
• He will remain in prison until appeal is decided
(via DRUDGE)
Nifong enabler Woody Vann laments, "Nobody knows anything about the previous 28 years. The cases he's tried and won, and the cases he's tried well and won."
Interesting words there that Vann shares. Notice the difference between "tried and won" versus "tried well and won".
Is the implication of the former that some cases were won, yet not tried well? Does not tried well mean more examples of a "rogue prosecutor"?
I won't miss KC.
He never wanted to address the stinking Panties issue that is at the heart of the case.
Good riddance, Professor.
Polanski
A leopard doesn't change his stripes.
Does a leopard have stripes?
"the stinking Panties issue that is at the heart of the case."
That stink could be one explanation of why all the photos of the boys at the party showed bored faces.
re: 7:58
Personally I think the judge should get the Attorney General in his court and then throw him in jail for contempt.
Regarding Wilson's 10-year sentence for oral sodomy of a minor:
First, I agree that's too stiff a sentence for the crime committed. I understand that it was not the intent of the Legislature to keep oral sodomy of a minor a felony sentence when it lowered to a misdemeanor other forms of sex with a minor.
HOWEVER, I do not agree with the propensity in this country for judges to get involved with everything. There is ALREADY a mechanism for reducing Wilson's punishment: It's called "clemency" and it's a tool of the executive (either the governor himself or some executive branch commission).
Therefore, believe it or not, I'm on the AG's side of this one: It's not in the judge's jurisdiction to "change the result" rendered in the trial court. Instead, we should all urge the governor to grant clemency or a pardon.
Btw, I'm going to miss Debrah's comments. :~(
Debrah rocks. If she looks as good as she writes, we all would be in for a treat of eye candy...
If she weighs 300 lbs., no doubt she would still be fun to be around, for her spunky personality would do the trick.
does Polanski sh!t in the woods?
rrhamilton@8:45--I'll miss her comments too.
8:49--If she is the one in Chapel Hill she's a looker.
When I first saw the name of this post, Forthcoming, I thought it was about Wahneema's work as a Duke88.
Woody Vann is a spineless punk!
rrhamilton-
There is also the long-standing mechanism called "prosecutorial discretion." The AG doesn't undo any perceived wrong by the judge by refusing to rationally use his discretion to walk away. This kid is in his third year of a ten year term for an offence that is currently a misdimeanor -- i.e., punishable by no more than one year.
It is easy to stand on principal when your butt is not sitting in a jail cell.
re: rrhamilton
Given the way things went in the Lacrosse case, I think that you try every means possible to get your justice. The system seems plain broken in NC. Do you think that Easley would have pardoned the 3 if they were convicted?
Go back to the Fells Acre Day Care center, several governors had the opportunity to pardon him and they passed on it. They had to look tough on crime you know. Even if there was no crime.
There should be a reunion for the DIW crew. Planned in the city of agreed upon choice. It'd be interesting.
TO "hamilton"--
Thanks. I will miss you guys as well.
TO 8:49PM--
Very funny. :>)
Debrah
Al Sharpton was on O'Reilly. He's injected himself into the Paris Hilton goofy nightmare.
If there is a camera 3000 miles away, Sharpton will find it.
Debrah
I was disappointed that O'Reilly didn't do follow-up segments with Duke's Stephen Miller throughout the progression of the Nifong case.
After all, his show is where we got Mikey in his bathrobe and a view of some of the 88 doofuses as they were caught by surprise.
Debrah
TO 7:48PM--
Ha! That's an idea; however, I'd rather be in one.
(Speaking of drama/comedy/tragedy......how many made-for-TV films does anyone think will come out of the Duke lacrosse case?)
Debrah
To anonymous at 9:25 and michael at 9:25:
Points well taken. I still think the judge is wrong, but I agree with anonymous that the AG should probably just step away from this one. I also agree with michael that governor's have been too stingy overall with their pardon powers lately. (I won't say a word about Clinton!) :)
Regarding the Wilson Case:
For you guys; can any of you imagine turning down a sincere, heartfelt, enthusiastic BJ when you were 17 yrs old? I did not think so.
Therefore, the imprisonment of this kid - on the premise that his actions define him as a criminal type person - is entirely bogus, if not insane..
The prohibition era is actually quite difficult to explain nowadays to an alert, intelligent young person. They tend to ask awkward questions. Like, "But anyone/everyone does that. No one, in fact, is an actual complete tea-totaler/ I have never been touched - type virgin. Why call it a felony??" What is the point???
Why indeed?
Well lets just say a 17 yr old video taping himself having sex with a 15 is not very smart.
If you you do it, its called child pornography.
Don't forget the drinking at the new year eve party. She was drunk. Underage and drinking.
re: 10:48
There was a case in California I think about a lady crying gang rape whereas they said it was consensual. They had videotape proof and got off.
Life is a lot simpler if you just focus on your studies, sports, etc.
So what?
Well Wilson is not a poster child, giving drinks to a 15 year old minor, sex with a 15 yr old minor and video taping a 15 yr old minor having sex. If you did that, you would be in jail for decades also.
All said, a few years in jail seem just for the crime considering his and hers age at the time, the video tape shows it wasn't rape. Just really stupid all around.
When I was 17, we all knew what "jail bait" was, and stayed away from it.
The day for righteous corrective justice draws near. And we are here.
Nifong... you will regret what you have done, all the remaining days of your life.
re: 11:00 PM
Yes, he's been in jail for 28 months.
My recommendations: be a virgin until you get married and make sure that your spouse is one as well. Of course finding a partner with those qualifications these days is likely to be tough.
hman said...
For you guys; can any of you imagine turning down a sincere, heartfelt, enthusiastic BJ when you were 17 yrs old? I did not think so.
If you every have young daughters, I guess your cool with any 17 year olds guys getting them drunk, and video taping them having sex.
Get real.
re: 11:10
One can have a set of personal and family standards and realize when others are wronged by the legal standards even though their behaviour doesn't meet said standards.
Michael
What age is it ok to give a minor a drink?
What age is ok to have sex with a minor?
What age is ok to film minors having sex?
At 17 he knew that the all the above was wrong.
The next question would be is it ok if he's 18, 19, 20. 30. 40?
It gets hard to draw a line. But I woul;d let him out after a few years, to let others know it was wrong, 10 years or more seems overkill in this situation.
TO 11:09PM--
You're kidding, right?
Be a virgin until you marry?
Debrah
"If you every have young daughters, I guess your cool with any 17 year olds guys getting them drunk, and video taping them having sex."
If I have a 15 y/o daughter that is allowed to be in a position of getting drunk and giving her classmates BJs then it's more my fault than it is the 17 y/o recipient.
Get real...
DM....
DM
I guess you have not met many teenagers, they sometimes do stupid things like drinking. Once fed with booze, they do even dumber things.
You can not keep an eye on them all the time.
To me, the key fact is that it was clearly not the intent of the Legislature for this to remain a felony (with a 10-year mandatory sentence) while other forms of sex with minors were being reduced to misdemeanors. That's the source of the "injustice" in this case.
Don't get fixated on other facts, especially the ages of the victim and the convicted. Yes, they were 15 and 17, but the law also has to anticipate the possibility that they could be 12 and 35.
Michael - Well put, Sir. I am actually surprised in this day and age of 100$ fatal diseases associated with free sex so much is going on.
I met a lot of teenagers when my own were growing up - yesm most of them got away with it, but some did not and paid with their lives. Condoning alcohol is not healthy.
Panties T shirts for sale at polanski.com
$20, 100% cotton
Version A: Big, fat black crotch with oodles of semen dripping out
Version B: close-up of Panties face, with headline: "Honor Student."
Version C: huge black phallus in Panties ass--headline: "The Perfect Victim"
get 'em while deys hotz
"I guess you have not met many teenagers, they sometimes do stupid things like drinking. Once fed with booze, they do even dumber things.
You can not keep an eye on them all the time. "
I've had scores of teenagers in my house and around my kids when they grew up. Most of those that got into trouble had parents with the "I can't watch them 24/7" attitudes.
It didn't take me long to learn that being a parent is very hard and keeping track of teenagers and their friends and their parents is even harder.
But.... it was worth it...
DM....
Crystal Mangum wears blue contact lenses. Compare her high school portrait with recent mugshot
Poor kid (I mean Wilson). His only real crime is recording the whole scene - though stupidity is a serious offense, or should be. He should have been yelled at, and even called an idiot. But prison! And what is wrong about having a drink at 15? Sex is a bit more serious, but then who did not, at 17?
I am surprised that nobody in a position to help the kid has the decency and courage to do so.
Re: "Yes, they were 15 and 17, but the law also has to anticipate the possibility that they could be 12 and 35." - rrHamilton
The prosecutor is not pursuing a "what if" scenario, but a then 17-year-old from whom society needed no special protection.
Discarding his personal motives, the prosecutor in this sham case is a man of limited mental resources - thus a fully fledged member in the league of unintended consequences.
The legislature would be well advised to revisit the specifics of the prosecutor's defiance in order to issue a bill of contempt. Or, like Nifong, ask the Georgia Bar to suspend his law license for a time equal to the 17-year-old’s original sentence.
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