Patterico's Pontifications

4/10/2007

Report: Duke Lacrosse Charges to Be Dropped

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:10 pm



The Duke lacrosse charges are reportedly going to be dropped — all of them.

Thanks to DRJ.

14 Responses to “Report: Duke Lacrosse Charges to Be Dropped”

  1. I’ve seen a lot of defenses to rape.

    There’s consent; that’s pretty common.

    There’s “Some other dude did it.” That’s sometimes used.

    “I have a video tape of me at a bank at the time the rape occurred,” is less common.

    Or: “I have the statements of the victim’s friend, an eyewitness who says it absolutely did not happen as reported.” That’s really, really uncommon. Mainly because those cases don’t get issued.

    I think some of the criticism of Nifong has been unfair, and some of it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the system. But those were small beer compared to Nifong’s fundamental contempt of the system; the lineups have no competent and innocent explanation; the DNA thing has no innocent explanation. These were not screw-ups; screw-ups are bad, but they happen. This was bad action by Nifong. Good for the state of North Carolina for getting it right.

    I hope the blowback on Nifong isn’t finished. I’ll be pleased if he’s suspended from the bar for a year.

    –JRM

    JRM (355c21)

  2. Suspended for a year?!?!? How about something similar to what a MD would get for malpractice! Like $500,000 each for pain and suffering, court costs and any financial losses due to interruption of education? Why won’t we hold these professionals to the same standard we hold Doctors? Yeeeesh how typical.

    paul from fl (ae01cb)

  3. Duke Lacrosse Rape Case Dropped…

    Looks like the wheels of justice turn pretty slow in Durham:The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to…

    The Sandbox (72c8fd)

  4. What Nifong did was rank professional malpractice… he should suffer the penalty.

    Disbarment would be a nice start… followed by civil suits from the young men he so flagrantly wronged. He misused the resources of the state to smear those young players, steal a year of their lives, and cost them 3,000,000 in legal costs for the defense.

    NO immunity should be able to protect something this egregious. He cost his victims plenty, and needs to be held to account.

    TheNewGuy (114368)

  5. […] Looks like the wheels of justice turn pretty slow in Durham:The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources … – More – […]

    Lacrosse » Blog Archives » Decision may come in Duke lacrosse case (UPI) (da05be)

  6. I don’t believe that no one is trying to hold accountable the 88 Duke professors who took it upon themselves to damage the scholastic careers of each and every Duke Lacrosse player in their classes. There is no review of these professors’ misconduct, no apology for their kangaroo court, and no redress of the players’ grievances againt the professors for their public jihad and personal vendettas.

    I don’t think I’ve ever heard Hugh Hewitt “Smart Guy” Erwin Chemerinsky ever questioned about the Duke Professors, or even Erwin’s own actions at Duke. What is being hidden? Is there more than public embarassment and a public disclosure of hypocrisy on Chemerinsky’s part?

    Care to comment Patterico? Hugh has certainly been silent.

    Dan Mehlhorn (fb35bc)

  7. Durham in Wonderland

    By far the ultimate best source for info on the hoax. As well as lieStoppers.

    So far oe of the 88 has a civil suit against her for failing a LAX student for what appears nothing more than he was on the team! Aside from that minor blemish, most of the 88 are enjoying promotions, special appts to more worthless tax consuming feel good programs and further being the waste they have proven themselves worthy of.

    The deafening silence from Duke U. is beyond sad, has been since day one. First they throw them to the wolves, remove all fences so the wolves have full access, ignore them, basically disband the team and fire one of the best coaches in the country! Broadhead is a spineless idiot! Personally I’d flush a GIANT toilet at the uni, then find some REAL educators for students to learn REAL skills from. But I’m not the one with such decisions to make.

    I’m sure Duke U. has managed to make many other errors which leave them wide open to litigation in the future as well. They might serve themselves best by just paying the 3-4 mill$ for the defense of the boys and STFU!

    Nifong? Disbarment for life is just a start! Prision, in general pop for 10 yrs per charge would be another step in the right direction! Loss of all retirement benies from the govt job!
    Complete audit of his cases for the last 10 yrs and add time if more are found.

    Nifong needs to be made an EXAMPLE of!!!!!! Judges love to use that term in sentencing don’t they?

    AG Cooper Said, “Innocent”!

    TC (b48fdd)

  8. The deliberate attempt to misuse the justice system by maliciously witholding exculpatory DNA test results in an attempt to knowingly wrongfully convict someone for a crime for which they were innocent should be a class B felony, period, full stop, end of paragraph.

    The AG said they were innocent, not that they were not-guilty. He used the I word, and I think he did that deliberately and for reason.

    Dwilkers (4f4ebf)

  9. The lone voice of sanity for many months in Duke is the Law Professor Coleman. Way back in June of 06, he was brave enough to call for Nifong’s removal from the case.

    BigFire (71927b)

  10. Since Don Imus has made apologies to Al sharpton, will Ms Magnum be on ‘The O’Rielly Factor’ to make her apologies? Just a thought….

    paul from fl (ae01cb)

  11. JRM that was a priceless commentary you wrote–but Nifong suspended for a year?

    If you have ever been in the unmittigating, blindsiding hell of a prosecutor and a troubled person (s) finding each other for mutual and benefical pay off, then you would know that a year much less only disbarment is a far cry from what should happen to mr Nifong. Nifong’s no babe in the woods, and like all bullies who have buttressed themselves of their invinciableness and worth-you’ll find upon examination–it has more to do with their needs than any public or victim pretense of protection. -Heck, these guys and their family hav been ina situation where everything ie not only affected, but probably come close to be murdered for all intensive purposes. I know where of I speak, and daily it takes everything I have to keep fighting against my own Nifong. These kind of prosecutors have never met a case they cannot twist change fabricate and otherwise run over every Constitutional RIght that all of us have.DUKE LAX was created and fabricated by a very political (unsuccessful in own right) ADA and his stoge police. Notice you do not even have to say incompetent. And, what I would alert the public too–it can be you, and most practically you will not know how to fight it, and finding zealous, effective, competent defense lawyers who will take on those in their back yard……well you know that probabilty. You have to find the one in a million defense attorney.

    All the rest of us have to live by the rules and would loose our jobs and professional licences? But, then again most of us would not mind or be worried by having to attest to our motives on our work cases either singularly or in toto.

    You ever wondered why lawyers don’t have any checks on them? Ever wondered why it is so hard to prove ineffective counsel? You ever wondered why you better be a brain surgeon and be awake during the surgery, because you can be on your way to death, and that surgeon has left the building.
    No recourse No rewind!! No one to care? Media? NOPE !
    Recourse–keep fighting the rush to judgement, and keep making people document when they do not care if there is a problem. If one more person wrings hands and shruggs shoulders about what can you do?…..
    Winston Chrchill said it best, “Sometimes it is not enough to do your best. Sometimes you must do what is required!”

    In my home state of NC, we were raised with the adage, ” if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the PROBLEM!”

    Kids and lawyers alike would be wise to remember Sign every day of your life with an authentic signature of ownership! For basically, 400 days a few people did, and most did not. Shame on you–There is no excuse. Transparency gets it every time.

    Parents try living your life as if you kids were watching and if that matters to you do.

    that is how it all started and it is how it is going to end…
    God Bless the strenght that a few found not to compromise.

    "No To Quo" Warrior (b9f0c9)

  12. Just for clarity:

    I think Nifong *should* be disbarred, and shouldn’t be eligible for reinstatement for a very long time.

    If there are laws to do it, I think a short stay in jail would be appropriate.

    But as I’ve said from the outset, I don’t think that will happen. If he gets suspended for a year, that’ll screw up his ability to practice and enable the county to fire him. No other prosecutors’ office will hire him, I bet.

    My concern is that Nifong will escape with a stern warning. That would be bad.

    The AG’s courage in calling the students innocent is terrific, so maybe my fear of light or no punishment is misguided. Believe me, I’ll have no sad feelings for Nifong whatever happens to him; he’s been a wretch throughout this thing.

    –JRM

    JRM (355c21)

  13. I’d like to point anyone near Duke, towards a much bigger fish, than Mr. Nofang. This fish may not be the two strippers employer, but he’s hiding out near there. The complainant did some other male dudes before the Lacrosse gig. Was there a conspiracy hatched up by these guys to keep their own identity and their prima facie involvement in prostitution quiet?? If so, then so far they’re batting a thousand. What, if any, involvement, did the agency pimping out the two girls, have with either of the two colleges, or local law enforcement?? There are so many questions that have never been in the press out here. If I was associated with the three players, I would darn well want to know if there was a backdoor connection, between the Law and the agency. Was someone twisting Nifong’s arm at the start of this mess? The strange DNA samples would seem to be a group donantion, rather than the private dancer route. Untill we know what that day’s dance card read; we’re really still in the dark.

    Dave Trainmore (a84394)

  14. Rush to judgment is a key issue in our society today! Please let me introduce myself; my name is Barry Porter and I am the Director of Marketing, Adult Publishing Group at Simon & Schuster.

    I don’t know if you are aware but Pocket Book/Threshold Editions is about to publish It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the Lives It Shattered by Don Yaeger, with Mike Pressler. I have attached the cover image and the press release of our upcoming publication. I would love to send you copies of the book when it becomes available; I just finished it and still cannot believe what I have read! There is so much more to this case then has been released, that is covered in this book.

    At this time our pub date for It’s Not About the Truth is 6/12. All marketing, online, and publicity efforts will kick off that week. I just thought you would like a “heads up” about our publication. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me back.

    Regards,

    Barry

    Barry Porter (f556ad)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0939 secs.