Mangum and the Case

Always was somebody else present when he met with Crystal Mangum--but never discussed the facts of the case with her.

Met her for first time on April 11--she seemed to be "somewhat traumatized still." She had a way of sitting in a chair of shrinking. (This, of course, was one week after she identified multiple suspects.)

Had seen similar things from "other sexual assault victims."

[Of course, Crystal Mangum was not a "sexual assault victim."]

"My impression was that something really bad had happened to her and she wasn't ready to deal with it."

Second meeting: Mangum was having difficulty getting around in Durham--the DA's office makes sure that she gets into a place in another county. Talked with her about her job prospects.

Complains about "significant additional discovery requests" from defense. [Impression, again, is that DA's office was overburdened.]

As Nifong is detailing his meetings with Mangum, wife Cy Gurney is rubbing the bac of their son--who has, unfortunately, been in attendance all week.]

Problem was that Mangum was pregnant, and having a high-risk pregnancy.

Decided that it would be a good time to have Linwood Wilson interview her for a trial--nobody from the DA's office had ever spoken to her to find out what her "version of the facts."

Nifong is again describing Mangum as a victim--and is now suggesting that previous versions of events that she had given had been inaccurately transcribed.

[This is an astonishing line of argument by Nifong--effectively suggesting that he proceeded for months on a case based on "inaccurate" or "inconsistent" statements provided by police, some of which had been "mistranscribed."]

Tells Linwood Wilson to sit down with her to determine basic facts of statements. OK to send Wilson alone, because the goal was to prepare Mangum for the 2-7-07 suppression hearing.

"As far as I knew, all he was going to do was to talk to her about her supposed statements in the past."

"We were trying to get a version . . ."

Knew that Linwood Wilson was taking photos of the players' party photos to get her information about where during the course of the event the photos occurred. Didn't realize Wilson was going to be taking with him the 4-4 lineup photos.

Williamson: Why didn't Wilson record his interview with Mangum?
Nifong: I can't tell you the reason.

W'mson: Did you give him any direction in terms of memorializing this conversation?
Nifong: Told him to take notes as he would for any other witness.

W'son: Does Linwood Wilson take other witness interviews?
Nifong: He has, on occasion, in the past. We're not using him in that fashion any more.

W'son: When did you stop?
Nifong: 2007.

Williamson is looking utterly incredulous at this stage.

Nifong has just stated that he's unaware whether Linwood Wilson has a PI's license at the current time. The N&O, of course, showed that he had no license.

Nifong: "He did very few interviews for us."
Wm'son: Why'd you ask him to do it? A pretty critical interview, if it wasn't his primary function. Why wouldn't you interview her yourself?
Nifong: Probably a mistake.

Wm'son: Why couldn't you rely on her earlier statements to police?
Nifong: I could have done that. I probably made a mistake in not doing that.

Nifong asks that his attorney be allowed to resume his questioning.

Nifong has now claimed that he didn't know Linwood Wilson was going to be showing Mangum the 4-4 lineup photos until Jim Cooney asked the DA about it.

Wm'son: Did Wilson call this a lineup?
Nifong: I don't know what you would call it.

"Our feeling all along was that Matt, Adam, and Brett were not only made-up names but they were using the names interchangeably." Nifong never made such a claim at any point before 12-21.

Williamson is expressing incredulity that Nifong could have dismissed the rape charge and not the sexual assault charge, given the enormity of her change of story.

Q: What was your assessment of Ms. Mangum's credibility at the time you dismissed the rape charge?
Nifong: I had no direct assessment of her credibility at that point.