Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Durham "Justice"

An explosive story in today's N&O, suggesting that the familiar patterns--concealment of evidence, lax ethics in the police and prosecutor's office--remain firmly in place in Durham. In this case, the behavior had a deeply unfortunate consequence: for the second time in nine months, a murder charge was dismissed on procedural grounds. Judge Orlando Hudson found "that the state and/or its agents have destroyed the evidence," violating the terms of the Brady decision.

Read the entire story, by J. Andrew Curliss, here.

A few noteworthy items:

--Durham County's "minister of justice," the ethically-challenged Tracey Cline, declined to comment, or offer any explanation to the public as to how her office has repeatedly run afoul of basic procedural guidelines.

--Hudson has promised "a very interesting order" outlining his findings.

--Cline couldn't even manage to get the small lies correct, as seen in this vignette regarding the victim's sister, Latifah White. From Curliss' article:
White had been testifying while wearing sunglasses, an accommodation allowed because Cline said she was legally blind. But in the midst of her testimony, the sister told the judge she was removing her glasses.

"Dorman is looking at me," [the supposedly blind White] said. She removed the glasses and stared at Dorman from the witness box.
Can anyone really be surprised that DA Cline isn't overseeing an ethically pristine office?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Dorman was at first charged with concealing bones."

Wow, concealing bones? I'm guilty of that every morning.

Anonymous said...

From the N&O story - quoting Doman's attorney:

"The Durham police department is a prosecutorial arm of the Durham County District Attorney's office."

They are?

Seriously, I aways thought PDs were separate investigative agencies.... separate from the DA's office by design to avoid the type of collusion we saw with the CGM case.

No?

skwilli said...

In Durham it's Just Us, not justice. Or so it seems.

Chris Halkides said...


From Mr. Corliss's story
, "An autopsy had indicated the death was by homicide, but the state medical examiner, [Deborah] Radisch, acknowledged Tuesday that her office cannot conclusively determine the cause of death. The finding, she said, was based on the police theory of the case." That is the same Dr. Radisch who worked on the Michael Peterson case, if I am not mistaken.

William L. Anderson said...

K.C., you just cannot make up this stuff. When people lose contact with reality -- as seems to be endemic in Durham -- this kind of nonsense goes on.

I wish this were limited only to Durham, but from what I can see, both the state and federal apparatus of "justice" seems gripped with trying to present lies as the truth. There is no realistic method of accountability because the courts have spread the immunity blankets as wide as possible. People who have immunity will lie when they know there are no consequences. And no matter how much Cline lies, she will be re-elected by Durham voters.

Anonymous said...

"The surprise email

An important development in the hearing was the disclosure of an email message that made clear that a police detective's approval had triggered the release of the remains.

The message only surfaced under questioning by Dorman's lawyer, though the medical examiner's office had been issued a subpoena to produce all email messages about the case in June. Testimony also showed that Cline had reviewed the file that held the email message.

...

Boxley's family was not told they did not receive all of the remains."

________________


The above was quoted from the linked article. Her is Cline having her public Nifong-like outing: "Testimony also showed that Cline had reviewed the file that held the email message."

Hiding evidence and then covering up is a Durham specialty, if the reports are to be believed. Cline, however, deserves her day in court to speak in defense of these charges. And, on another note, how do you tell a family that they didn't get all the remains of their loved one? How far do you have to go in the cover up? MOO! Gregory

Anonymous said...

@Chris H ... one and the same Dr Ranisch. I hope you're not a supporter of the owl theory. KP was beaten, lay dying in that stairway for a MINIMUM of one hour (more likely two hours) then beaten again before she died. The red neurons present in her brain was proof, undisputed by the defense. The only question in my mind is whether the son, Todd, was involved in the actual murder.

Anonymous said...

Judicial failures happens all the time in Detroit. They finally closed down the "crime lab". So yes, it seems that our justice system doesn't provide justice anymore. The dumbest kids I graduated HS with became cops. The dumbest kids who went to college became "educators".
P.S. Please consider retiring the word "explosive".
NoD

Chris Halkides said...

Anonymous at 10:16,

I am not wedded to any theory. However, Radisch should not have been the one to perform the autopsy, on the basis of the problem of investigator bias. Radley Balko and Roger Koppl, alone and in combination, have several good articles that touch upon this subject. A quick Google search on the question of red neurons indicates that Dr. Leestma testified that they could develop within 30 minutes.

Anonymous said...

@Chris - Even 30 minutes... (which was not the testimony I recall) traumatic injury, delay of 30 minutes then another traumatic injury causing death. Look at, and try to explain, the HUGE volume of blood on the walls. Defense explanation (Henry Lee) -- she coughed up blood. Only problem? No blood in her throat or lungs. And Lee provided no evidence to support his "expert" opinion (e.g. saliva mixed with blood on the wall) - "not his job". MP is guilty whether Duane Deaver's is an idiot or Radisch followed the PD's lead in another case or not.