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ASSOCIATED PRESS – December 29, 2006 via Overlawyered.com:
The North Carolina bar filed the ethics charges Thursday, accusing District Attorney Mike Nifong of violating four rules of professional conduct by making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion.
The bar cited 41 quotations and eight paraphrased statements made to newspaper and TV reporters, saying many of them amounted to ”improper commentary about the character, credibility and reputation of the accused.”
Among them:
— Referring to the lacrosse players as ”a bunch of hooligans.”
— ”I am convinced there was a rape, yes, sir.”
— ”One would wonder why one needs an attorney if one was not charged and had not done anything wrong.”
Nifong also is charged with breaking a rule against ”dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation.” The bar said that when DNA testing failed to find any evidence a lacrosse player raped the accuser, Nifong told a reporter the players might have used condoms.
According to the bar, Nifong knew that assertion was misleading, because he had received a report from an emergency room nurse in which the accuser said her attackers did not use condoms.
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The revenge of the rich white people, watch out!!!!!!
Hooligans? I was thinking Rascals.
This guy was bad news from the outset. He was a loser expecting to run for higher office thinking black voters would flock to him if he pushed this case. He’s the worst kind of politico and should not only be disbarred but sued for wrongful prosecution.
It is about time!
too bad you need to have money to get justice in Durham. If these were ignorant blacks, they’d be picking dance partners for the prison prom.
#4 put it best.
You would like to think that there are enough checks and balances in the our justice system to prevent abuse of power. Unfortunately #5 has it right.
I just wish this happened sooner rather later.
Told you so. This case is over, all charges will be dropped in the coming month.
Noval way for the defense to finally get the DA removed from the case. Money and connections are all it takes. The DA is the victim.
Sharon, you are an ignorant ass.
#9: You are a crude person for your language.
Apart from that, Sharon is right, as is #5. If it wasn’t for the money these families have Nifong would never have been in the fight he is.
Money buys justice. As #5 put it, if they were black would all these Republicans have slammed him. As I have always said, let due process take place before condemning the process. Frankly, I now believe that they should be let go, but AFTER seeing the lack of evidence that, when all the accusations that Nifong didn’t have a case, were not in yet.
The process works.
The DA is the victim? hahahaha Thanks for the laugh, the best joke I’ve heard all day.
It was apparent to anyone with a functioning brain stem that this guy had more interest in his winning a re-election bid than actually delivering any sort of ‘justice’. Would someone interested in actually pursuing a case go on national tv and say ‘yes a rape was committed’ before ANY evidence had been gathered? Wouldn’t someone more interested in prosecuting a case have kept his mouth shut instead of being more visible than anyone else involved in the case?
John nailed it best – he was bad news from the beginning.
The true victims here are the players who have been through a year of hell of false accusations, and these accusations will stick with them for the rest of their lives. These types of things don’t go away quietly, nor do they ever go away at all. There will always be hushed whispers about them, wherever they go. If I were the players accused, I’d be filing monetary lawsuits against the DA and the state and cleaning them out. Maybe make the next case prosecuted more genuinely.
Oh stop it. The DA only tried to prosecute a case and didn’t realize what would happen when he tampered with Duke U and the rich white power in Durham. No wonder the African Americans feel disenfranchised there.
Right from the start the defense and the Dukie power boys went after the DA.
Sharon do you even know the facts in the case? Or are you just doing a typical knee-jerk reaction when you hear little bits like “Duke University” “Black Community” and “rich white kids”?
Does it matter at all that these guys are innocent to you? Did it occur to you that the “Dukie power boys” went after the DA because the DA was an idiot that didn’t have a case to begin with? Does it bother you at all that the DA didn’t even question the “victim” until like a week ago? Yes, only a week ago. No no…not at all. It’s all about the rich white kids getting the charges dropped because they’re so powerful.
Give me a break.
Also, if you think I’m making it up that the DA didn’t question the victim until last week, look here at a story my buddy SN posted:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=8776
OK, Sharon, you ignorant ass! I’m not going to let you rewrite history( a favorite tactic of you liberals). Nifong was only trying to prosecute a case, huh…without any evidence to support it. He didn’t realize he was tampering with the powerful Duke U…only that Duke U threw these boys under the bus before they were even indicted. They had no support from the university. So that leaves the rich, white power of Durham. What rich, white power of Durham? Nifong? I’m not sorry that this case has exposed the race, class and sexism hustlers for what they really are. It must have also been a big blow to your worldview…I mean, wow, what a shock! Black people do lie. Just like whitey. In fact, just like any other human being. But, I know, “something happened in that house” that night. Yeah, two dirtbag hustlers tried to rip-off 40 young, dumb and full-of-cum white boys. Truth hurts, don’t it?
They were accused. Due process, the right of the defedant to question the charges against them is going on. A charge was thrown out by due process. They are presumed innocent BY THE CONSTITUTION, and that is protected by the judges, not the DA. This is the way court cases work, with very similar points happening everyday in courts around the country. It is just that this one is under such scrutiny. The only reason the bar is out to get him is because of the influence of the money behind these families.
Too bad a poor person cannot have the same justice. That is the crime, and everyone who defends the rich kids is guilty of racism by placing them above a poor black (or white, or red) defendant who wouldn’t have the money to get this defense OR the connections to put the pressure on the DA, OR the connections to have FOX News be their battering ram.
Proof money makes right: O.J. He was found not guilty becuase he had the money to buy an awesome “dream team.” Any other black man… he’d be in jail rotting now.
And let me ask you, if these kids are so “innocent” why did they put themselves into a position to be accused. Maybe they are innocent, maybe not. However, they are stupid. And if they blocked her from leaving, even to ask her to have sex or whatever, that’s kidnapping.
We will see the outcome as due process continues. And if you think that that their year was lost because of the DA, I assume they waved the right to a speedy trial- if they were so obviously innocent as so many insist, why didn’t they just go to trial and let their obvious innocence come out in court far before the November elections?
#14 Writes: “Does it bother you at all that the DA didn’t even question the “victim” until like a week ago? Yes, only a week ago.”
No really. She was interviewed and gave her statements to the police. Just as the Michael Jackson prosecutor was villified for acting like an investigator Nifong is being villified for not going into the field to be an investigastor. The DA’s job is to take what the investigation has uncovered, weigh if it has enough merit to file charges and do that. He is not a field detective taking statements and interviews until he feels he needs to. So, unlike your assertion makes it sound (no one had questioned her), fact is she was questioned and asserted she was a victim of an attack.
Duh!
Nobody “blocked” her from leaving. In fact, Crystal Gail Mangum tried to go back in the house because “there’s more money to be made.”
They did want a speedy trial but your hero, DA Nifong, said no and scheduled it for this spring.
The charges were not thrown out by due process. If Nifong wasn’t facing the heat for his misdealings, these boys would still be facing rape charges. His case is crumbling and so are your beliefs.
That is when it happened. She went was taken back in side by Kim and a player. She did not want to go inside again. Kim wanted to back inside and it happened. Get your timelines straight.
No, you get your “timeline” straight. According to Kim Roberts, Crystal Gail Mangum wanted to go back into the house to make more money. This was already after they had left the first time. Already after she had stated she was “raped”. They were out in the car (after the big, bad white Dukies helped her to the car because she was intoxicated or feigning intoxication). According to the report, she claims she was “raped” between 12 and 12:30 AM. It was 1:15 AM when she was trying to get back into the house. The boys wouldn’t let her back in. So, if she was brutally attacked, why would she want to go back into the house. Simple, she wasn’t “raped”. She lied. Crystal Gail Mangum made it up. Probably so she would not have to spend time in the drunk tank. Sorry to burst your bubble, Sharon, you ignorant ass.
Why is it so hard for any of you to believe that this was all just a big bullshit story? You know there are people out there that will do this from time to time. You know, wreck other peoples lives for selfish reasons and not care what the consequences are. This whole thing is so “Bonfire Of The Vanities”. Which by the way, Sharon, is a good book you should check out.
Well, “Common”man, let me tell you a thing or two. The Dukies did nothing to help this girl.
You are exactly what Kim called the Dukies. Limp Dick white boy.
I see I proved my point, you ignorant ass. You just can’t accept the fact that your precious “victim”, one Crystal Gail Mangum, is just a worthless liar. This dirtbag has made a life out of doing this sort of thing before. This wasn’t the first time she’s accused men of gang-raping her…and let’s not forget the time she stole a patrons car when she was working in a strip club and then tried to run over a cop. What about 5 different men’s ( none of them the Duke players) DNA winding up inside this woman? So go ahead Sharon, put all your faith into a dirtbag like this one. She’ll only let you down. Again and again.
sharon-
You need to stop, open your eyes, and quit feeding yourself the anti-wealth hate.
“Right from the start the defense and the Dukie power boys went after the DA. ”
Really? The ‘power boys’ forced the DA to make those ridiculous claims (“I know a rape has been commited”), to continue to press a case even after DNA evidence showed NO cause, to do everything they tell you NOT to do as a DA and become a distraction in the case.
…and before you go off with any more “limp-dick white boy” bullshit, to me this thing wasn’t about race until DA Nifong made it about race. I firmly believe in the DNA evidence (and that the story just doesn’t add up). If DNA evidence is good enough to get people off of death row, why is it not good enough to exonerate these guys? This is about justice. If the DNA came back and showed that these guys were guilty, I’d say fry them…or better yet, let them share a cell with Bubba for the next 30 years and let them know what it’s like to be raped. But face it, this story is crap. Always was. Now people are realizing just how much bullshit this case was. You got lied to, by Crystal Gail mangum and DA Mike Nifong. Deal with it.
Looks like sharon’s argument has deterioated to the point to where she’s left with nothing but insults.
Look – the DA took this case and tried to make a national name out of himself. That’s all.
Now go back and do some research before you post here again, ok?
When I looked up the definition of “knee-jerk liberal” in ye olde Funk and Wagnall’s, what should I find but Sharon’s picture!
Let’s get things nice and perfectly clear.
The baggy-lipped smutbucket better known as Nifong was not elected, he was appointed to finish out the term of the last DA. He developed a taste for the money and power and soon decided he would do anything to keep the job. So he played the race card in order to reap the votes of gullible white liberals and racist ‘professional victim’ blacks. Looks like it worked.
Nifong clearly, consciously and deliberately violated his oath of office as well as NC and Federal statute law. He swore an oath to not prosecute innocent parties. He bribed, with leniency on a pending VOP charge, the other “escort” to change her story. He deliberately and knowingly withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense. He deliberately and knowingly made public statements regarding the accused which were proscribed, inflammatory, prejudicial and intended to deprive the accused of a fair trial. He deliberately and knowingly disregarded the accuser’s history of substance abuse, her occupation as an “escort” and her history of having previously made similar false allegations of “rape.” He deliberately and knowingly ignored the fact that the accuser’s story changed time and again.
The bit about there being none of the defs semen in her is not recent news; I myself mentioned it right here two months ago: ttp://tinyurl.com/wqk2k. For those who don’t care to go look, I said in part:
“…the DNA tests and the “victim”s testimony that she screwed three different guys that day, and that testing showed THEIR DNA, and none from the accused players.
Three different guys. Can you say “2-bit whore”? Better yet, can you say “Tawana Brawley II”?”
The overeducated, underintelligent asshats (ears turning red yet, Sharon?) who buy into Nifong’s transparently racist attempts to railroad innocents are drawn from the same pool of credulous, brainwashed clowns who went to bat for Tawana and OJ. They know one thng and one thing only: Everything bad is done by white men; no member of a minority is capable of doing wrong, they’re all “victims” of “racism.”
Bozos. In case you haven’t checked lately, the police, the judges and the juries in modern-day America are made up of whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, gays, lesbians, TGs, the disabled, etc, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. You need to hang that “racist justice system” shit up, girlfriend. The reason blacks are disproportionately represented in prison is because they commit disproportionately more violent crimes, despite what Ed Asner and Al Sharpton want to hoodwink you into believing. And screaming “racism!” every time a minority member does wrong and gets caught does not help fix the problem.
Fixing minority overrepresentation in the justice system requires finding out the cause of their committing far more than their share of crime and then taking intelligent, rational measures to correct that cause, whatever it may turn out to be.
And for those who are not personally knowledgeable about North Carolina, as a Charlottean for nearly a decade, I’m here to tell you that in Carolina, racial strife is not part of normal, everyday life. Black folks, white folks, Asian folks all get along pretty damn well – in fact, peoplebillet-doux to your hero Nifong, why don’t you go catch up with OJ on the back nine at Doral and offer to help him find the ‘Real Killers’?
So Wondereth The Ghoti
My last para there got mangled somehow… it should read:
…
And for those who are not personally knowledgeable about North Carolina, as a Charlottean for nearly a decade, I’m here to tell you that in Carolina, racial strife is not part of normal, everyday life. Black folks, white folks, Asian folks all get along pretty damn well – in fact, people get along well in Carolina.
Tell you what, Sharon. after you post your next billet-doux to you hero Nifong, why don’t you go catch up with OJ on the back nine at Doral and offer to help him find the ‘Real Killers’?
Syntax Error: mismatched tag ”
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Look Ghoti-
your ridiculous “You’re a liberal!” rants hold no more water than Sharon’s ridiculous assertions that the DA was in the right in bringing these charges and pressing this case.
Why don’t you leave that crapola for the Billo website that I am sure you have set up as your homepage, ok?
Brian, my old friend. Do you really want me to open a family-size can of STFU?
People who read more into other peoples’ statements than what’s actually there make unfounded (or poorly-founded) assumptions; I don’t need to tell you what they say happens when you assume, do I?
I despise extremists and I’m highly amused by those sheep who toe the party line on the whole gamut of issues, be those issues right- or left-wing in origin.
American conservatives, i.e. most of the GOP + a few bent Dems, are full of shit on many if not most issues. But that in no way changes the fact that American liberals, i.e. most Dems + a few bent Repugs, are no more and no less full of shit – again, on many if not most issues.
So when I slam PC idiocies, I am automatically assumed to be a Repug or conservative – OTOH, when I lambaste a GOPer for theoplutocratic tendencies, the swiftest comeback invariably features an imputation of naïve, unrealistic, capital-L ‘Liberal’ism to Yrs Trly.
You, like so many others, only see what you’re looking for, whether it’s there or not. I happen to be 80% small-L ‘liberal’ – but I’m not PC, and I’m not above criticizing the home team when they’re fucking up.
The right has no monopoly on malevolence or stupidity. PC is every bit as anti-American and socially destructive as Republican corporatism, PC is the #1 cause of Dems defecting to the GOP.
.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: please bite my crank.
#16 & 17……Your right, the girl gave her story to the police, in fact, she gave them 6 different stories on 6 different occasions. Guess she thought it might be a multible choice trial. Plus, she gave the Nurse at the hospital another story, and the taxi driver a different story.
I find it interesting that the girl insisted she was raped by at least three guys in that house, until the DNA evidence came back and there wasn’t any, except for her(not 3) 5 previous sex partners. And of course we don’t want to forget the guy who told police(verified) that he had sex with her the next day, after the rape. So after the DNA evidence was made public, she gave Nifong her latest and best story…..she isn’t sure she was penetrated, so thats why no DNA evidence. Funny, because in one of her previous 6 stories to the police, she said she was forced to give oral sex to the guys, she had oral cavity swabs done and no DNA there either, at least from any of the Duke guys.
Any DA worth his salt, would have walked away from this case after she switched her story the second time, especially with no collaborating evidence. He would have just said, there isn’t any evidence of this crime or not enough evidence to go to court and closed the book.
This case was held up, not by the defense, but the DA….he isisted he needed more time, so it was laid over until spring. He did not want it resolved before the election, it was his ticket to re-election.
The only point I will agree with you on is that our justice system favors those with the money to pay for good lawyers. This is nothing new, or novel. And even then, we still have by far and away the most fair system in the world.
As to those who defend the **rich, white kids** being racists…..you need to grow up dude. If your innocent, you deserve to be defended, no matter if your rich, poor, black, white, brown or mahagony. When we stop defending the innocent based solely on their color or bank account…..we are deep shit.
Oh, and Fox News was just 1 of 40 news networks that have been on this case almost from day 1. It was news, because it was kids from a very well known, upper tier university….