LIVELY DEBATE IN THE COMMENTS…Back to the TOP O’ The BLOG
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.
Comments closed due to spam and fake personas. Move Debate to here
Sharon – I’d like to ax that you keep me out of this.
Well, it seems everyone has a different opinion of what happened that night, different ideas of the timeline (depending on which source you listen to). Again, let due process work. I hate that so many of the trials are fought in the media where half truths become truths. DNA has gotten one charge dropped.
Let the process work. The problem with conservatives is they hate due process, and have been trying to get rid of it for years. Look at Bush’s attempts to deny prisioners counsel, and how the conservatives applauded it all.
If they are innocent they will be found out as the process goes on. I hope that if you accuse someone of a crime you get your da in court and not let the mob tell you you have no rights.
And Nifong is not my hero. The Constitution is.
#18 writes: “His case is crumbling and so are your beliefs.”
As I said above, my belief is not if they are guilty or not, but that they should recieve due process as everyone should. However, money and contacts can be awfully powerful.
The problem with you all is that you fail to realize there are two charges remaining against the rapists. Those two counts are every bit as serious as the dropped charge. Much easier to prove since DNA is out of the trial now. LOL
That was a noval way of removing this DA from the case. I have never seen the likes of it. Other DAs have run their yaps much more than this DA, but politics wasn’t involved.
The rich white upper crust of the Duke U alumni has tried in every way to get rid of this DA. A republican congressman even stuck his nose in this where it does not belong. He would do better to keep naming foods than doing such a stupid request to the USSA. I hope the voters get rid of him at the next election.
This is the perfect example of money, republicans, and limp dicks.
The victim deserves a chance to sit on that stand and testify. Why is the defense so afraid of a trial?
Hey, guess who is the head of CBS, the station that put on that 60 minutes one sided joke program.
A DUKE ALUMNI, SURPRISE SURPRISE. Oh wait, I forgot your hero, Dan Abrams, A DUKE ALUMNI.
Fox is a republican run and operated station. They are the only station that is running the Dukie 3 story on a regular basis.
By the way, let us not forget, the only object for DUKE U, is to get their reputation back. To stop their registrations from declining as they are, and to stop any civil suits against them by the victim.
If the rapists did not attend Duke they would be on their own and sitting in jail waiting for trial.
Stop throwing the victim under the bus as you have no idea what happened in that bathroom. Got it!
The ethics committe is questionable here also. Google the lawyers that signed it and catch the connections. LOL
I am amazed that it appears the ethics committee, who are defense and corporate attorneys, are now trying to dictate which crimes are prosecuted and which crimes are not prosecuted. Something smells here. They should not have filed charges of any kind while that case was in progress. They are ignorant asses.
#38,
I am amazed that it appears the ethics committee, who are defense and corporate attorneys, are now trying to dictate which crimes are prosecuted and which crimes are not prosecuted. Something smells here. They should not have filed charges of any kind while that case was in progress. They are ignorant asses.
Comment by Sharon — 12/30/2006 @ 7:35 am
Any lawyer is subject to discipline at any time by the Bar. That includes defense, plaintiff, and prosecuting attorneys. The Bar is a self regulating association made up of all lawyers. Actions like this are not done lightly and it is very rare a prosecutor is ever disciplined.
There has not been any professional action against any prosecutor, police officer, or even Judge because of the wrongful death sentence convictions in Illinois. Repeatedly it was shown the prosecutors with held evidence or knew the evidence was false or tainted. Yet not one was ever disciplined.
I for one want bad lawyers, police, physicians, judges, politicians, and well drillers disciplined for misdeeds. That shouldn’t mean open season, just justice.
E-phil and joshua, well made arguments.
I agree to a certain extent. Ethics committee’s don’t get involved lightly or without a good push politically, or with complaints. The mere fact, as you pointed out, DAs have not been disciplined for much worse actions, just makes my argument stronger .
If the PR wheel of the defense working with Duke U alumni weren’t pulling in some markers to trash that DA, this ethics committee would have not even gotten involved with something as stupid as talking to the media. History shows this to be a transparent joke. The food naming congressman had a meeting at Duke with Dukies one week before his confusing letter went out. That is a good ole boy paying his marker for donations to his campaign.
Even if the committee does nothing to the DA, he will probably be removed from the case, which is the goal here.
Removal from the case and a special prosecutor approved who will drop the case no matter what.
By the way, I have heard through the grapevine now, the judge knows he had better be careful with his rulings.
We shall see with the line up decision. I have read NC laws on line ups and it should stay.
Let us get a little somein somein straight here. Without national publicity in this case brought about with the defense and Duke U, and the money and political pull, the ethics committee would not have acted. Now they need to show that NC is not some cump state with a poor justice system, which their backward laws make them. Talk about a money grubbing corrupt system. They do not want the feds in there investigating anything.
If anyone thinks the DA has anything to do with this, you are out of your minds. It appears he is the only one in this mess that is NOT corrupt.
The only thing this whole joke shows is a DA better not enforce the law when it involves rapists whose daddy can by them expensive lawyers, and whose lawyers can by them charges being dropped.
I myself have heard DAs falling all over themselves in front of the medial sharks when opening their yaps. NOTHING IS EVER DONE.
If those men don’t go to trial in front of a jury and win acquittal, there are very few people who won’t think they did something in that bathroom.
Let us get a little somein somein straight here. Without national publicity in this case brought about with the defense and Duke U, and the money and political pull, the ethics committee would not have acted. Now they need to show that NC is not some cump state with a poor justice system, which their backward laws make them. Talk about a money grubbing corrupt system. They do not want the feds in there investigating anything.
If anyone thinks the DA has anything to do with this, you are out of your minds. It appears he is the only one in this mess that is NOT corrupt.
The only thing this whole joke shows is a DA better not enforce the law when it involves rapists whose daddy can by them expensive lawyers, and whose lawyers can by them charges being dropped.
I myself have heard DAs falling all over themselves in front of the medial sharks when opening their yaps. NOTHING IS EVER DONE.
If those men don’t go to trial in front of a jury and win acquittal, there are very few people who won’t think they did something in that bathroom.
TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
Sharon-
it’s painfully obvious from the tone in your posts you hold those with wealth in contempt for your lot in life. Whether its jealousy or whatever your deal is, you need to take a step back and ask yourself why you despise those with money so much.
Why you would take sides with someone as corrupt as the ‘victim’ in this case knowing that (a) she’s pressed similar charges before (with the same result – charges dropped); (b) she discussed at length with the media her plans to make money from this case; and (c) her going back into the house after supposedly being raped.
She’s a liar, she’s a scammer, she has absolutely no credibility and yet you are more than willing to take up for her because you hate those with wealth?
Disgusting.
I meant whose daddy can BUY them expensive lawyers and whose lawyers can GET them political connections.
Sorry.
Oh yea, and #30 You can bite my crank too.
j, noname, gquaglia, Commonman, Brian, Scott Gant, joshua, and, of course, John C:
Notice how Sharon cannot respond to a single one of my points? She just goes babbling on with irrelevancies, utterly oblivious to the gaping holes and inconsistencies in her so-called “arguments” – really nothing but ad hominem attacks on the defs, their parents, Duke U, the NC justice system – with not a subatomic particle of substance. Incapable of addressing even one point raised which contradicts her verdict.
Sharon has already decided, and is sticking with it no matter where the actual facts lead, that they’re guilty because they’re white, plus they committed the additional sin of (allegedly) coming from families who are not on welfare.
Where I come from that is known as pre-judging, aka prejudice.
Tell me, Sharon, just how you “know” these guys daddies are wealthy and politically connected. All I hear from you is childish resentment of someone else’s alleged “wealth” and doctrinaire ideological contempt for the defs because of the color of their skins. You are a bigot, period. And your bullshit about Duke pulling strings is pathetically wrong – but you wouldn’t’ve noticed that since you obviously have no desire to read anything about the case that doesn’t reinforce your gullible, knee-jerk
bigotry.
North Carolina doesn’t get much play in the news since it’s really a pretty low-key peaceful state without much in the way of scandal, corruption, racial friction, etc. The Ethics Commission stepped in because of the collective outrage of both the public and other lawyers. Nifong went waaaay over the line and people both intellectually and morally superior to your bigoted ass want to see a lawbreaker in law-enforcement clothing punished for shitting on the Constitution.
Bigoted clowns like you are traitors to the liberal cause and the best allies the Repugs could hope for. The rest of this story will play out the same way. The nonexistent “case” will continue to self-destruct and – just like after the Tawana fiasco – you and your ilk will eventually quietly skulk away with your collective tails between your legs. And you won’t, as time has proven over and over, have learned one Goddamned thing from it.
I can bite your crank, you say? You know, they now have ways of correcting that by surgery – check with your right-wing counterpart Ann Coulter’s sexual-reassignment doctors, they can work wonders, look what they did for him, i mean HER…
So Adviseth The Ghoti
It would be nice to have the charges dismissed out right. Sharon makes an interesting point though. They should have their day in court. If these were three second string football players from a third rank college, there is no way even these charges would have been dropped. But, as others have correctly pointed out, one more wrong being committed doesn’t excuse those that have happened before.
OJ beat his charges because his lawyers showed the science and evidence was bad. Yet the majority of white people won’t accept that as a final outcome. Why should the black community accept that anyone charged with serious crimes against a black woman get different treatment then they would have received.
While I don’t agree that race should be a factor in our justice system, it is. Blacks are arrested and convicted of far more serious crimes then are whites even though the incidence between the two groups is similar. Blacks may expect higher bail, more onerous bail conditions, and shorter trials. They can expect higher sentences too.
BUT, again, one wrong shouldn’t excuse a second wrong. The aim should be to remove the wrongs instead. And I fully support the discipline of any prosecutor shown to indifferently jail an innocent person.
Twana Brawley ? So one fraudulent charge should negate every other charge? This wasn’t the first time this has happened and won’t be the last. Mind you it wasn’t too many years ago that the very accusation of rape was enough to get a black lynched even before the arrest. How many white girls have fraudulently cried rape?
Look Lauren the Ghoti, or which ever snake is coming out of your head right now, I would like to know what the hell you are really talking about?
BWAhahahahahahahaha, & cetera, & cetera.
Wow, Sharon, that certainly was a stinging rebuke! I am astounded with the depth of your logic. You comprehensively addressed all the points I and others have raised, deftly refuting them with unassailable facts and sound reasoning. Is my face red!
Give it up, gf. Every one of your posts is lamer than the last. You;ve proven, certainly to my satisfaction, that you bring nothing to the table but tired cliched racist drivel.
You and your white-hating comrades just keep repeating the same old horseshit about the “racist system.” Ignore the reality of black / Asian / Hispanic / female / gay police / judges / jurors / DAs and so on, since it utterly destroys the professional-victim excuses that race-baiting demagogues like Jesse, Rev Al – and you – keep pushing. Keep pushing your idiotic claim that all of modern multicultural America in 2006 is no different from some Klan-dominated whistle stop in Mississippi, 1955.
The true racists are extremely grateful for your assistance in making the entire civil-rights cause look like a bunch of dain-bramaged assholes. David Duke says you deserve recognition for your efforts to prevent any genuine progress in race relations. He says your plaque is in the mail.
And all of your inane babbling has something to do with this case? Well, anyway, thanks for being extremely grateful for my assistance.
By the way, if I bring nothing to the table, why are you so upset? It’s ok, no really, it is ok. I don’t mind. I understand it helps to get it out there. Now, take you medication and relax.
Sharon is not an idiot. She a close personal friend and only wants what’s right! Crystal, our other friend, the stripper/whore who had sex with a vaginal sex toy for money, and two men to get a ride to the duke party, she’s saving up liposuction.
Anyways Crystal, Sharon, and I were just laughing how when Crystal was going to get arrested, all she had to do was claim rape and she immediately became the victim! The Duke boys are soooo hot, so she blamed them.
The DA was such a joke, he didn’t even talk to Crystal, but she’s staying at a fancy five star hotel on tax payers expense so no one can talk to her. So naturally she got pregnant by all the sex she’s been selling at the hotel. I heard some of the men and a few women, have a broom closet dedicated to Crystal.
Strange! Crystal has this huge suite to business in, but she still prefers her usual truck-stop-bathroom sex. I really don’t know how she gets that urinal smell out of her hair. Anyways, Sharon is all pissed off because she was suppose to do that party that night, and if she did, she would have had big bucks by now because Sharon is way more devious and manipulative that Crystal.
Sharon cried rape tons of times and is now driving a Mercedes. You know how the saying goes… lay down with black whores and wake up with a black whore on your ass.
The DA has been brought up on ethics charges for talking to the media.
OH my, do you really believe other DAs haven’t stepped on their dicks many times. They have never been charged like this in the middle of a case. Anything else you are referring to about him is total speculation.
Since this has never happened to another DA for doing worse things by far, it is apparent what is going on here. THE DEFENSE WANTS THIS CASE DROPPED SO THEY DON’T HAVE TO GO TO TRIAL AND THEY ARE DOING ANY UNDERHANDED THING THEY CAN TO GET THE JOB DONE.
Now if you do not believe this is money and politics at work in a very dirty way than I feel sorry for you.
This girl deserves to be able to testify in court as to what happened to her and your lack of concern for her is disgusting.
Cheshire should be up on ethical charges for calling the victim a “false
accuser” on the courthouse steps.
This reeks of the 40s and 50s type of justice in the south.
The way the defense is slimming their clients out of this won’t help their futures one bit. They will be known as the Lax Rapists the same way others will always be known, such as OJ.
These men stand accused and to the public it looks like they don’t have to answer in court like others who can’t afford this sleazy political sham.
Justice58
If you had a brain you would be dangerous. LOL
#51 said: “…[I was] just laughing how when Crystal was going to get arrested, all she had to do was claim rape and she immediately became the victim! The Duke boys are soooo hot, so she blamed them.”
Justice58, take off the white robe for a minute and reread your racist tirade. That comment is a racist as blaming a black for stealing something just because he is black. The assumption from the beginning, when the details hadn’t even been barely brought out, was that she is lying. You think the prosecution said something wrong, the defense had her pegged as a prostitute, released her name in violation of rape shield laws, FOX continued to broadcast her name.
If a white girl claimed rape you would believe her, but to you all, those blacks women are a bunch of sluts who screw for cash then lie about a rape. It seems that she may have been lying about it, but you all assumed FROM THE BEGINNING she was lying because a bunch of rich schoolboys would never do such a thing.
Racists.
#49 says… “David Duke says you deserve recognition for your efforts to prevent any genuine progress in race relations.”
Kind of proves that there are a bunch of racists here. David Duke, the ex-clan leader who recently went to Iran to speak against the Jews, is not the best of references to quote.
BTW: How do you know Sharon is black. i happen to know what she is, and it may surprise you. But as a racist you would assume she is black because of the side she took.
#54 – Let’s take a moment here to examine what you claim.
“The assumption from the beginning, when the details hadn’t even been barely brought out, was that she is lying. ”
The impression from the beginning – when enough details were available for any objective observer to suspect that her story was inconsistent – was that her story was inconsistent and highly unlikely. Later information has reinforced that initial impression to the point where the probability that she is telling the truth is too small to merit consideration.
“You think the prosecution said something wrong…”
So does everyone else. The law is clear. The DA’s Oath of Office is clear. He is not permitted, and he knows he’s not permitted, to make public statements about the defendants’ character, credibility, &c. But he didn’t make one measly little slip of the tongue – he made 49, count ’em, FORTY-NINE such prohibited statements. Apparently you can’t read. He was grandstanding. He was playing the corrupt, cynical, dishonest, immoral race card, for his personal benefit, smearing the defendants, in violation of every principle of American justice.
AND, if he thought it so Goddamn important to publicly attack the defs in this particular case, to spend so much time and effort to sabotage the defs presumption of innocence, that gives the lie to his claim that he didn’t have time to personally interview the accuser. Nifong slammed these guys before he even listened to the accuser’s story with his own ears! This is highly indicative of someone who has already decided on prosecuting them regardless of the plausibility of the charge or the person making the charge. And THAT means that he couldn’t give less of a shit about justice, fairness or the US Constitution.
“The defense had her pegged as a prostitute…” Well, that might be because she was, and is, a prostitute – or to be more accurate, a common whore. She fucked three different men that same day. She is a whore.
She is also a substance abuser. When you add those facts together, you have a complainant with credibioity issues. Whores are less credible than, say, accountants. Or doctors. Or college athletes.
You and your racist clown friends just can’t grasp this: YOU are the racists. YOU are the ones bringing in the irrelevant facts of the races of the players in this fiasco. It makes not one bit of difference. Were she a white whore and the defs black, she would still be a whore with an inconsistent, ridiculous story which is not supported by the known facts!
She has no evidence to back up her version. On the contrary, every fact that emerges casts even MORE doubt on her story and adds MORE support to the defs stories – which have not changed, unlike hers. THAT’s a credibility issue.
Nifong DID give leniency to the other “escort” on her pending probation violation. And when he did so, SHE CHANGED HER STORY. Only a flaming moron could believe for one second that that’s a coïncidence!
“It seems that she may have been lying about it…”
Ya. Idiot. I guess it “seems” that the sun rises in the East and that water is wet, too.
It was assumed from the beginning that she was lying, not because she’s black – but BECAUSE SHE WAS LYING!
And Nifong knew it, and that’s why his sorry, corrupt, lying ass is in a sling. I hope to Christ that he’s wearing a Federal prison uniform this time next year.
Oh. and BTW, Nifong is a Democrat. He’s white. He’s male. Have you noticed that hasn’t stopped any of us white, male Democrat “racists” from condemning him?
Try posting again when your brain cell flickers on, however briefly.
Bringing race into this proves that you’re exactly the kind of deluded, easily bullshitted sucker that Nifong was depending on to help him stay in office. Injustice is OK in your book, as long as it’s whites on the receiving end, right? Get it straight: She isn’t a lying whore because she’s black – it’s because she’s (a) a liar, and (b) a whore. The lacrosse players aren’t innocent because they’re white – it’s because they DIDN’T RAPE HER.
You are truly something other than else. The New American Racist. You and your fellow bigot Sharon are the ones should be wearing fucking white sheets.
So Righteously Declareth The Ghoti
Can’t we all just get a bong?
Let’s lighten it up a bit folks:
What is the Spanish word for Rodney King? Pinata
Why can’t little black kids play in the sand box? Cats cover them up.
What’s black and comes in little white cans? Michael Jackson.
I’ll be here all week…
#49: You are correct, however, being sanctioned because of making inappropriate comments is a far cry from being indicted for all the crimes the pundits blame Nifong for. In fact, the title of this article is misleading: no charges have been filed. The Bar is basically a licensing organization, much like my wife has to be licensed to do manicuring.
However, this is being treated as if he is being charged with some kind of felony. I agree, he should not make those kind of statements. Period.
Being a prostitute (which has not been proven) or a whore or a drug user does not take away your rights as a human being, as you seem to think it does. If a hooker refuses to give a blow job and then she is raped when she didn’t want to IT IS STILL RAPE and should not have bearing on the case, much as previous arrests are generally not introduced into evidence against a defendant.
But as I said, this is why we have due process. As these facts are coming out a charge has been dropped, judges will review the facts, and this is how it works. An old saying is “the wheels of justice turn slowly.” Unfortunately this is what happens when you are accused, but it seems like they are riding it out.
I am not for either side. I am for the truth to come out. If the Duke boys are guilty they should be punished. If they are not guilty they should be let go into the good graces of society again after due process flows to a decision.
Due process is a cornerstone to our system of law, not mob opinion as you would like it to be, and it seems to be working in this case just fine.
Er… that last message was actually addessed to #57, not #49. Sorry
Let’s move this to a better place to argue: the Cage Match!
Here is the thread: http://cagematch.dvorak.org/index.php/topic,766.msg4902.html#msg4902
To sum up: The Duke boys are innocent, the DA is guilty of criminal misconduct, and sharon is an idiot.
Sharon, in comment #53, you stated, “This reeks of the 40s and 50s type justice in the south”. Could you explain exactly what you meant by that comment, and give some examples. I have a reason for asking. Thanks 🙂 I’ll check back here later…
So many comments. I am a white male who grew up middle class and am married to a black women who made it out of the ghetto through education. So much about race here it makes me sick. I do not really even know where to start. I will keep it simple. When any women claims to have been raped and was not it dilutes the claims of real victims. That is what is really important. The only people who should be going to jail here is the prosecutor because he lied to keep his job and the women who falsely claimed she was raped. By now it is clear she lied just to get money which is really the only color I see here that is important. Yes I am a moderate democrat. Race or Politics have nothing to do with my decision here
#57,
“The defense had her pegged as a prostitute…” Well, that might be because she was, and is, a prostitute – or to be more accurate, a common whore. She fucked three different men that same day. She is a whore.
So that does not mean she can’t be raped. It does mean that someone is trying to smear her in the publics eye.
She is also a substance abuser. When you add those facts together, you have a complainant with credibioity issues. Whores are less credible than, say, accountants. Or doctors. Or college athletes.
You’re prejudice is showing. A person’s occupation should NEVER be held as an example of there truthiness. Accountants lie, Doctors lie, and even assholes like you lie.
You and your racist clown friends just can’t grasp this: YOU are the racists. YOU are the ones bringing in the irrelevant facts of the races of the players in this fiasco.
And what are you doing? Just reread the two quotes above. You are more prejudiced then Sharon. This is the kettle calling the pot black.