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Comments and analysis about the Duke/Nifong case (2006-2014).
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18 comments:
It should be foreseeable to any educated person (including one with a University), that any penetrating chest stab-wound is so potentially lethal that it requires immediate medical evaluation, in an Emergency Room, probably admission to Hospital, probably admission to Intensive Care, and often to the Operating Room, for open-chest surgery, and not uncommonly open-heart surgery.
It would almost require a miracle for Seven such stab-wounds in-a-row not to do so.
Air-embolism [air in the cardiovascular system], as has already been pointed-out, is certainly on the list of possibilities, especially if the Right Atrium or Right Ventricle are perforated. Depending on the affected heart chamber/blood-vessel(s), multiple-organ damage, including, to the brain, the kidneys, and to the heart itself (coronary artery air-embolism) may occur. Death and stroke are quite possible in cardiovascular air-embolism. I have seen many such cases, including death from pulmonary artery air embolism alone
Depending where the chest was penetrated, wounds admitting air into the space between the chest wall and the lungs - Pneumothorax - which causes collapse of the lung on the side of that wound are common - bilateral Pneumothorax if both sides are affected.
All of the above require prompt medical attention.
It is not surprising that the victim of seven stab-wounds, including stab-wounds to the chest, died - in spite-of skilled medical-care.
First-Degree Murder sounds right to me.
Vincent Clark is already saying that Mangum realizes that she is mentally ill. The past few years have been spent trying to excape the notoriety of the Lacrosse Case and the death of the boyfriend is part of her failing health.
Might we already see the outlines of her defense?
If the legal system had administered justice to Mangum all along rather than looking the other way in false mercy, the outcome could have been so much better for her, her dead boyfriend, her children, the Lacrosse players, Duke and Durham.
Has anyone tried to contact Nifong for comment? What could he say?
But you know she's going to claim self defence...
Mangum's greed cost her. If she hadn't taken the poor guy's money, she likely wouldn't be facing First Degree Murder charges.
She had dreams of defrauding Duke out of millions of dollars and living the high life, but she ended up stealing a couple hundred bucks of rent money from a house painter.
Again, my question: Will the Durham District Attorney even mention the death penalty? Will the media raise the issue?
A final note about "crazy" Crystal Mangum. I've always felt that Mangum had severe personality disorders, but I've never believed her to be insane under the special rules that apply to criminal defendants. Far from it, I think the personality disorders that she has has made her more cold-blooded and more calculating than anything else. (This is especially true given the historic amount of enabling she has received.). Also, being "high" or drinking alcohol or off-label usage of prescription medications are NOT defenses to criminal activity. These are only my opinions, and I'm not a medical doctor. I'm a Doctor of Jurisprudence. MOO! Gregory
Anonymous @ 4/18/11 7:56 PM
I do not know if Mr. Nifong has been asked to comment. I did read somewhere that Nancy Grace was asked to comment and did not do so.
"What does a social disaster sound like?" Indeed. Wow -- this story just keeps becoming more tragic with every passing day. Very sad news. I don't suppose Mangum will ever get the psychological/medical help she needs; at least now she will no longer be in a position to hurt those around her.
@ 10:36 pm, Mangum may claim self defense, but what will the jury think of 7 stab wounds? (If the reporting is correct). We will eventually know if Daye had other defensive wounds, and we were able to see Mangum's mugshot, and there didn't appear to be any remarkable bruising or wounding, at least to her face and neck, although if she was smart, when she got to her neighbor's apartment, she told her friend to hit her and mark her up.
I think this is the North Carolina Murder, First Degree statute:
"A murder which shall be perpetrated by ... any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any ... robbery, ... or other felony committed or attempted with the use of a deadly weapon shall be deemed to be murder in the first degree, a Class A felony, and any person who commits such murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment in the State's prison for life without parole as the court shall determine pursuant to G.S. 15A‑2000...."
As you can see, Mangum may have cooked her goose by allegedly stealing the money. There appears to be no premeditation or willful requirement if another felony is committed at the same time. See how the lawmakers used the word "or" above. The death penalty statute quoted in the statute above, North Carolina G.S. 15A-2000, reads (in part):
§ 15A‑2000. Sentence of death or life imprisonment for capital felonies; further proceedings to determine sentence.
(a) Separate Proceedings on Issue of Penalty. –
(1) Except as provided in G.S. 15A‑2004, upon conviction or adjudication of guilt of a defendant of a capital felony in which the State has given notice of its intent to seek the death penalty, the court shall conduct a separate sentencing proceeding to determine whether the defendant should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. A capital felony is one which may be punishable by death.
(2) The proceeding shall be conducted by the trial judge before the trial jury as soon as practicable after the guilty verdict is returned.... If the defendant pleads guilty, the sentencing proceeding shall be conducted before a jury impaneled for that purpose. A jury selected for the purpose of determining punishment in a capital case shall be selected in the same manner as juries are selected for the trial of capital cases.
(3) In the proceeding there shall not be any requirement to resubmit evidence presented during the guilt determination phase of the case, unless a new jury is impaneled, but all such evidence is competent for the jury's consideration in passing on punishment. Evidence may be presented as to any matter that the court deems relevant to sentence, and may include matters relating to any of the aggravating or mitigating circumstances enumerated in subsections (e) and (f) of this section. Any evidence which the court deems to have probative value may be received.
(4) The State and the defendant or his counsel shall be permitted to present argument for or against sentence of death. The defendant or defendant's counsel shall have the right to the last argument."
The most likely scenario in my mind? The state eventually offers Mangum 10 years on a plea to voluntary manslaughter (after starting out at 2nd degree murder). If Mangum accepts the plea, game over. If not, they announce they're going forward to trial on first degree murder charges and do not announce that they're seeking the death penalty. Too divisive a political move for Cline, even though it is the proper play in the prosecutor's gamebook to elicit "cooperation" from the defendant. MOO! Gregory
I'm going to scream if I hear one more MSM talking head tell me about "Magnum's" indictment! If they can't get the name correct, I suppose there is no way to get any of the rest of it correct. Hence, race, class, gender perpetuates itself.
Anonymous 4/19/11 :: 11:03 AM said...
...I don't suppose Mangum will ever get the psychological/medical help she needs; at least now she will no longer be in a position to hurt those around her.
::
I realize that we are living in a time where even the slightest behavioral deviation demands consultation from a physician and/or mental health worker with months/years of therapy at $90 per hour. Yet the patient has to cooperate and demonstrate a desire to improve before any of these services make even the slightest bit of difference.
There are people who don't cooperate for a variety of reasons and we have two options for those people. Either drug them so they spend their days in bed or lock 'em up. Both options insure they won't hurt anyone.
There is absolutely no evidence I've seen or read that suggest that Crystal participated - appropriately - in her own treatment. And she has been in trouble long before the Duke lacrosse rape hoax case became headline news.
As this case makes it way through the court system in Durham we'll learn more about people who have been harmed by Mangum but are afraid to come forward. Then we will realize how fortunate one or more members of the Duke lacrosse team was not killed or maimed.
If Mangum had been locked up immediately following the wild police chasing ride in the Taxi she stole, none of this would have happened in the first place.
The young man who said T.H.E. Crystal Mangum knew exactly what he was talking about and it had nothing to do with the Duke lacrosse rape hoax.
They all know Crystal and if she was searching through Dave's shaving kit for something sharp ...I'm sure the townies are not the least bit surprised.
::
GP
I suppose indicting the Group of 88 as accesories is out of the question?
Moo Gregory,
10:36 Here. My comment was more about how this again wasn't her fault and how she is being judged from the Lacrosse case, and not the dead body laying in front of her.
I'm with you. There was nothing defensive about this. Already we're seeing the likes of Jackie Wagstaff and other Mangum supporters justifying the attack. We can expect them to continue ramping up their defence of poor innocent Crystal.
I agree she's at the end of the rope. She's not walking from this but 10 years just doesn't seem long enough...
@ 10:36 pm (now 4:09 pm)!
We are in agreement that the focus should be on Daye and the evidence and not on the metanarrative. (If there is any secondary issue, it should be Mangum's children and how best to keep her away from them.). I would like to believe that Durham is sick and tired of the Potbanger Madonna, but the local media are doing what you've suggested: Using the Crystal Cult to spin lies about Mangum becoming unstable AFTER her attempt to defraud Duke and lynch 3 innocent boys and using rank speculation to frame the issue about what caused Daye's death. (It couldn't have been the stab wounds in Mr. Daye's torso!).
I also agree that 10 years is not nearly long enough. It is one dot -- representing one possible outcome -- on a long spectrum of possibilities, but I think it is the most likely outcome. Unfortunately. MOO! Gregory
If Ms. Mangum's attorney argued that Ms. Mangum's actions were secondary to ptsd induced by the rape case, would that open the door to evidence that Ms. Mangum fabricated her rape allegation?
4:55 - Given that Ms Mangum claimed to have been raped by three men when she was much younger (though she did not report it to the authorities), if her attorney decides to use the ptsd defense it would seem that her entire life would then be open for discussion - that would also mean her stealing the keys of a taxi driver while she was giving him a lap dance and then driving off with the cab leading the police on a several mile chase and then trying to run over one of the arresting officers.
I would think that Ms. Mangum's defense lawyer would have to hope that any jury selected would have suspended all common sense. Given that she was arrested with nary a mark on her while the man she killed was knifed numerous times, it is very hard to see how he could have been the aggressor - her cult of followers claims to the contrary.
cks
Do we actually care if Mangum gets the so called help she needs? Does she really deserve it at this point? How can you care about a trashy human being willing to put three innocent boys behind bars, tried to set fire to a boyfriend's apartment and now has succeeded in killing another boyfriend. Just why do I need to give a damn whether she gets help. That's the same old social do goodism that brought us here in the first place. It's time for Mangum to pay for her crimes.
@ 8:57 PM. It depends on the type of society we want to have. Do we want to punish people who, by no fault of their own, are incapable of understanding that their actions are wrong, or are unable to refrain from committing a crime?
If Mangum is truly mentally ill, and can't tell that her actions are wrong as a result of her mental illness, then I oppose punishing her, i.e. sending her to prison or executing her. Instead, she should be confined to a mental institution until she has been restored to sanity, and the public can rest assured that she poses no further threat. The same is true if her mental illness leaves her unable to refrain from committing crimes. Think command hallucinations.
That being said, if she's sane, only has a personality disorder, or her actions are unrelated to her mental illness, lock her up and throw away the key.
Others have expressed this sentiment but I will repeat it.
One of the grossest pieces of hypocrisy emanating from the cult of Mangum is that Ms. Mangum has suffered from being stigmatized by the Duke rape hoax.
It was obvious to any one of sound mind that Ms. Mangum fabricated her charges of rape.
Why has Ms. Mangum not moved on from the rape hoax? Because her enablers, her cult have told her not to move on, to keep claiming that she had been raped. Her cult members are the people who have given her this baggage to carry.
I am reminded of Marley's Ghost's statement in A Christmas Carol, I carry the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, yard by yard and of my own free will I bore it.
I don't know if this is an accurate quote, but it conveys the meaning.
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