Friday, October 24, 2008

Crystal's Many Enemies

The Mangum Opus is an oddly structured book. After introducing her invented reminisces of the party—drawn, seemingly willy-nilly, from her April 6, 2006 and December 20, 2006 stories—Mangum then provides a long section in which she criticizes her father, her mother (who was admitted to hospital for psychiatric problems), and her brother, while providing page after page of jealousy toward her sister. She also goes after one other family member, in the process rebuffing once and for all the Cash Michaels/Wendy Murphy claim that she was offered a $2 million bribe to drop all charges. The allegation—which was investigated and debunked during the case itself—was made by her “Cousin Jakki,” the sometimes car salesman, sometimes “performer” otherwise known as Clyde Yancey, who became something of a media sensation. Writes Mangum, “Even more disturbing was when some of my other relatives started to appear on television. People like my brother and my cousin Jackie. Even though most of the time they talked positively about me, they never once talked to me about the case.”

I emailed Murphy to ask if she would retract her (oft-made) claim based on Mangum’s denial. The adjunct law professor did not respond.

Mangum returns to the scene of the hoax by presenting a theory of the “attack” that most resembles her March 14/March 16 stories. During the “attack,” she contends, “the third attacker said, ‘I don’t want to. I love my fiancé and we are going to get married.’ The other two attackers coaxed him into taking his turn. When he finally did, each thrust hurt and it felt like my insiders were being ripped out.”

Of course, no lacrosse player was engaged to be married—as Mangum, who has admitted that she followed media reports on the case, is well aware. Perhaps that explains why she modified her story from her original version, in which she had claimed that the third “attacker” was getting married the following day. Now he is only “going to get married” at some indefinite point in the future.

Mangum then added a new twist, contending that her second attacker “decided to penetrate me again. This time anally and painfully. He removed himself just before he had an orgasm and ejaculated on the floor.”

This item wasn’t described in that fashion in any of her (myriad) stories—but its inclusion in the memoir allows her to suggest a grand conspiracy to conceal evidence that somehow corroborates her story. She writes,

I also believe the police found one other DNA sample that has rarely been mentioned in any news accounts. That sample was found near the sink in the bathroom. From what I was told, it was semen from one of the individuals who had been at the party. Again, we will never know unless the case file is made public.

Of course, this information (including the name of the unindicted player, someone Mangum twice failed to recognize when shown his photo) has been public since at least May 2006. The passage represents nothing more than an attempt by Mangum to make unsubstantiated allegations against lacrosse players she didn’t manage to target the first time around.

Having alternatively portrayed Kim Roberts as a co-conspirator in the rape (3-14-06), neutral bystander (3-16-06), and fellow victim of rape (4-6-06), Mangum has now returned to her March 14 storyline, to wit:

The guys wiped me off quickly and attempted to straighten my clothes. Nikki entered the bathroom and helped them finish fixing my clothes. I wanted to run out of there, and I tried.

Mangum can scarcely conceal her hatred for the defense attorneys whose work exposed her attempted hoax. “It did not help,” she fumes, “that the attorneys for the lacrosse players called press conferences and appeared on cable talk shows more than anyone else. In their zeal to serve their clients, it seems as though they were calling as much attention to the case as possible.”

Of course, the attorneys went public only because Mike Nifong had elected to try the case in public, thereby tainting any potential jury pool. Mangum doesn’t seem to see a problem in Nifong’s ethically improper statements, however. “People can criticize how the district attorney handled the case,” she concedes, “but I am not sure he knew what to do either. The truth is I had very little contact with him over the course of the media spectacle. I did not sit down with him for an extensive interview until December 2006.”

(A Mangum-Nifong “extensive interview” in December 2006 has never been even hinted at before publication of the Mangum book.)

Mangum also lashes out at Ed Bradley and the 60 Minutes team, which uncovered the tape of Mangum dancing—in a most limber fashion—at the Platinum Pleasures Club eleven days after the “attack,” at a time when she was claiming massive injuries. Her assertion? “The alleged videotape of me dancing at the club was from several months before the incident at 610 North Buchanan.”

Her evidence for her claim? None. We should, according to Mangum, simply accept her word for it.

Having challenged 60 Minutes, Mangum then offers wild theories about the DNA evidence. “I have seen reports implying that I had multiple sex partners in the days or maybe hours before the incident. This was not proven in the DNA samples that were taken at the hospital. If the DNA confirms that none of the people charged left DNA on me, then the test performed their function. I cannot and will not argue with that. Nevertheless, I believe there are DNA tests in the case file that may tell a different story. Unfortunately, with the case file not being public record, we can only go on what the defense attorneys want to release to the public.”

Mangum offers no indication of what “secret” DNA evidence she’s talking about. Since the story of the entire DNA evidence was highly public—indeed, it formed the basis of the Dec. 15 Meehan hearing—her assertion is nothing short of bizarre.

But Mangum saves most of her venom for the lacrosse players whose lives she tried to ruin. Channeling the peculiar legal theories of Group of 88 member Grant Farred, she muses, “Would people feel different about things if they realized that a hate crime was committed against me? If nothing else, there is ample enough evidence to prove that racial slurs were used during my time in that house.

There is, of course, absolutely no evidence “that racial slurs were used during [Mangum’s] time in that house.”

Mangum also darkly hints that unnamed players destroyed evidence or otherwise obstructed justice:

It is dismaying to know the police did not go into the house until two days after the party. People would have plenty of time to clean the house of evidence. There was also time to contaminate evidence as well . . . With the records from the case being sealed, the only people who have any real knowledge about what truly happened in those two days are the people at the party.

Of course, all the “evidence” was still in the house.

In her race to the bottom, Mangum does manage to throw the Group of 88 under the bus. She writes,

It was always strange to see that people such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, professors at Duke, and many others who either spoke on television or went to the house at 610 North Buchanan to make statements. I really started to worry when none of them actually came to my house to talk to me and offer assistance. If they were so concerned, why had I never met any of them?

Mangum does praise two people—former SANE nurse-in-training Tara Levicy, and Mike Nifong.

Regarding Levicy, she writes, “I am convinced that the hospital staff that night did their jobs. I have not spoken to any of them since that night, but I assure you they were not manufacturing the injuries they reported finding on me.”

Of course, the point is that Levicy didn’t find injuries on Mangum—apart from non-bleeding scratches on her knee and ankle.

Regarding Nifong, she suggests, “I know now that the entire identification process was questionable, but I believed then and now that Mike Nifong was not directing anyone to harm anyone else. He was always kind and polite.”

The “kind and polite” Mike Nifong and the serial fabricator Crystal Mangum. A perfect match.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is bizarre that Mangum believes that she can continue fabricating stories... and that she will be believed.

Unfortunately, there are some members of the Durham community, and some members of the Duke faculty, who decide whether to believe a story, not on the basis of the evidence, but rather on the skin-color of the storyteller.

But what about it Nifong? What about your "extensive discussion" with Crystal in December 2006. It never did seem credible that Linwood Wilson would conduct that interview all by his lonesome. Wilson needs to be "cracked" under threat of perjury to reveal Nifong's role in the December 2006 meeting with CGM.

Debrah said...

This is quite preverted.

You have this Ed Clark who thinks he's a former journalist taking up Mangum's cause.

And it's obvious that the quotes from Mangum were structured and embroidered by Clark or someone like Shird.

Does anyone really believe that Mangum verbally characterizes sexual acts the way they appear in that nutty book?

What's sadly revealing is that both Ed Clark and Myra Shird could use a few classes in English themselves.

I'm going to say something that needs to be said.

I don't care what all the professional feminist publicity hounds assert.

Unless a man is mentally ill and is someone for whom sexual acts with anyone or anything will do, the attractiveness and the hygiene of the woman (so-called "victim") are a factor.

And this should begin to be a courtroom defense in some cases.

Let me be blunt.

None of these lacrosse players, IMO, would have even become aroused by Mangum and even entertained the thought of "rape".

This is a fact and should be acknowledged.

Mangum has shown to a be a destructive and diabolical opportunist and a liar....continually trying to harm other people.

No mercy should be shown.

Anonymous said...

Even they . . . you know . . . them . . .don't believer her . . . me . . . you callin' me a liar? What a constipation . . . .

Anonymous said...

If any of this were true . . . the entire lacrosse team present or not would have been jammed . . . lynched by the very people who argue against lynching except when it suits them or not or when they can particpate in the mob. These people would have filled the streets of Paris with drool hanging from their faces. These bigoted horse's asses just couldn't do the lynching not because they didn't want to or had morals or knew better or thought the better of it and themselves. They were unable to do it or to do the bloody deed because they didn't have one single damned piece of evidence other than their damned lies! Lies . . . and once commited to his lies Nifong could only manipulate the lie and the law not merely to save his election but to save his ass . . . . As Nifong said, "We are fucked." So they were and so he has been and so should they be still, the brutish DukeGroup88. In this, it is too bad that the DukeGroup88 didn't get their justified and deserved ends . . . what a fraudulant group of trash.

Gary Packwood said...

PEOPLE AND THEIR MEMORIES:

I don't see any of this posturing from Magnum, Clark, Shird or their G88 friends having anything to do with selling a book.

Someone, probably Clark is trying to create a new organization funded by the Violence Against Women Act funds with their target market being professionals who are paid by funds from Violence Against Women grants and friends of Women of Color who have been victims of hate crimes.

The Violence Against Violence legislation is up for re-authorization soon and a conference for memoirists is just so politically perfect.

Crystal's little book is just grease for the skids needed to build a fundable organization for Women of Color with one annual conference and several regional conferences across the USA.

Imagine G88 members as speakers for the plenary session, of course...Kickoff at Duke University, naturally.

And we have a model to study and think about. Actually a whole NETWORK model.

Now comes The Story Circle Network. A national not-for-profit membership organization made up of women who want to explore their lives and their souls by exploring their personal stories. Storytelling is healing, don't you know. http://storycircle.org/

The largest group of women of color who have been harmed will probably be the mothers, daughters and wives of men of color who were jailed without cause and then eventually freed with the help of the Innocence Project. Those ladies could tell their 'stories' for decades...in Church Hats!

At least they have truth on their side.

Clark's story about meeting Crystal is just too slick for any publication except a national conference flyer introducing women of color who will be telling their stories to the already converted and lest we forget, Women Studies students.

The attorneys need to demand that Crystal's little book include language that recognizes The North Carolina AG conflicting ruling concerning events she described in her silly little book.

People must have their memories ~~ it keeps the wolf of insignificance from the door.
::
GP

Anonymous said...

The quotations in this post from the book end the notion perpetuated earlier by Mr. Clark that the book would not address what happened in March of 2006.

Had the author(s) managed to do what they had previously claimed they would do, namely explore Ms. Mangum's life prior to March 13 and assess how she came to her line of work for the purpose of dissuading other teens similarly inclined, they could have redeemed Ms. Mangum's reputation somewhat and saved themselves considerable trouble and liability.

Now, an order to cease and desist publication of this book, a motion for which is already (possibly) in the works according to LS, seems entirely appropriate and necessary.

Ms. Mangum remains a deeply disturbed person with a significant history of psychiatric illness from a family with a significant history of psychiatric illness and apparent dysfunction. Regardless of this very sad context, the damage Ms. Mangum and her enablers have inflicted and continue to inflict on the Duke LAX team and their families is just extraordinary.

Observer

Anonymous said...

KC:

Can the NC AG reopen the criminal case against fabricator Crystal? If so, is there the slightest likelihood that would ever happen?

Shouldn't the Durham DA's office consider prosecuting Magnum for making false accusations and for filing a false police statement? Isn't that illegal? It was one thing to let the matter fade away but now that Magnum has publicly and vocally reasserted her false claims, the authorities in Durham need to address this deliberate attempt to continue to destroy the lives of three innocent young men.

Anonymous said...

Mangum questions the DNA. Who has the files on the actual DNA from multiple males that WAS found on her person and clothing?

Perhaps it is time for those files to be OPENED. Perhaps we could find a way for that EVIDENCE to be presented in court. That might actually cause more heart attacks among certain Durham residents than the current economic meltdown.

And thanks Deborah... for calling it like it is. I can not even fathom RCD being the slightest bit aroused by this slutty woman (It doesn't matter whether she was black or white... a slut is still a slut). The organizers of that party have repeatedly acknowledged that they had a serious lapse in good judgment in having the party. But there is a vast difference between that acknowledgment and actually personally engaging with a filthy drunken dopey slut. If she or her "handlers" have so little sense as to know that these young men did not have to go chasing the likes of her if they wanted sex, they seriously delude themselves. Oh, wow... just look what I said!!

All I can say is that Crystal is not only a liar, she vastly flatters herself if she thinks that one of those young men would even want to TOUCH her, let alone risk some serious SIDS with her!!!

Anonymous said...

Mangum then added a new twist, contending that her second attacker “decided to penetrate me again. This time anally and painfully. He removed himself just before he had an orgasm and ejaculated on the floor.”

That is quite interesting. Is anyone aware of the kinds of injuries that occur when someone is "penetrated" with an object like a broomstick? Abner Louima, who was sodomized in a New York City police station comes to mind. His injuries were horrific.

I talked to a SANE at length about this and the SANE told me that there was no way -- no way -- given the medical report that Crystal was violated in that way. It is amazing how she and her co-authors (and I guarantee you there was more than one) take whatever they can find and try to put it into their latest account.

This is not just Crystal or even Ed Clark at work. This is Al McSurely and much of the "civil rights" establishment of North Carolina trying to re-establish the case, which was great for them, at least in the early stages. The dishonesty here is breathtaking, but Crystal is not the main force; it is McSurely, William Barber, and people like that.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh officials say they will charge a mentally unbalanced woman for falsely reporting that she was attacked by a large black man who beat her and carved a "B" into her face because she supported McCain. Mangum's lies are likewise with intent to deceive -- not symptoms of psychosis -- and so she must also be punished. Otherwise, other liars will follow her path.

Anonymous said...

No more excuses. No more excuses for either CGM or her handlers. A new suit, modest hairdo and well-rehersed remarks do not mask the evil intent of this woman who has caused incalculable harm to Dave, Reade and Colin, their families, Duke's reputation, whatever trust there was left in our legal system and the expenditure of millions of dollarss in legal fees and settlements. She lost any stmpathy for her "condition" by continuing to lie. It is time to sue her newly suited behind.

Anonymous said...

I hope the families of the three laccrosse players realize now what a huge mistake it was to not prosecute the "serial fabricator." Perhaps it is not too late. Take this evil and hateful liar to court and don't let up. No more free passes for any silly politically correct non-sensical reasons. People are suffering. Do the right thing.

Anonymous said...

"Nikki entered the bathroom" --- now there are FIVE people in the bathroom??? What are the dimensions of this bathroom? Steve in New Mexico

Anonymous said...

debrah:
"None of these lacrosse players, IMO, would have even become aroused by Mangum and even entertained the thought of "rape".

Thst was my FIRST thought when I heard the rumor of the rape allegations and some of the facts.



Then I lost track of that deduction and followed the evidence of innocence. That opinion is an obvious defense that I have never heard made from a legal perspective but yet is very intuitive. I guess it is not PC but is the absolute truth here. NO WAY IN THE WORLD ANYONE IN THAT ROOM - would ever want to touch CGM- she should have a BIOHAZARD and a 5150 tattoo on her.