<p>Imus apologized and got fired.</p>
<p>Do you think the same will happen to Nifong?</p>
<p>“Do you think the same will happen to Nifong?”</p>
<p>He’s gone with or without apology. Imus is and was a jerk who crossed the line one too many times. Nifong was willing to imprison three kids without creditble evidence to bolster his career and re election goals. He was williing to destroy three innocent people to keep his job. He should face more than a firing.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard or read the transcript of the Nifong apology, but, I am going to guess that it’s nothing more than Nifong laying the groundwork to get the bar association or whoever it is that will decide his fate in June to give him a break. Whatever it is he said by way of apology, it’s probably all for self-serving purposes. I can just hear his attorney now “well, he went on record and apologized; he’s already admitted blah blah blah” and so on.</p>
<p>^^ and it’s the blah blah blah that will get him in more hot water too LOL</p>
<p>VeryHappy</p>
<p>I can’t for the life of me figure out what word fits in the place of those 5 stars. Hmmmmm</p>
<p>Maybe we can get some Carolina blue in Durham if we can get enough people together to hold their collective breaths waiting for Sharpton to apoplogize for his statements.</p>
<p>"Duke DA Apologizes to Players
By AARON BEARD
Associated Press Writer</p>
<p>Posted: 4:00pm ET (April 12, 2007)</p>
<p>DURHAM, N.C. The local prosecutor who charged three Duke lacrosse players with raping a stripper apologized to the athletes Thursday, a day after North Carolina’s attorney general dropped the entire case.</p>
<p>“To the extent that I made judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect, I apologize to the three students that were wrongly accused,” Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong said in a statement.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Attorney General Roy Cooper not only dropped all remaining charges against the players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, but pronounced them innocent and said they were the victims of Nifong’s “tragic rush to accuse.” Cooper branded Nifong a “rogue” prosecutor who was guilty of “overreaching.”</p>
<p>“I also understand that whenever someone has been wrongly accused, the harm caused by the accusations might not be immediately undone merely by dismissing them,” Nifong said. “It is my sincere desire that the actions of Attorney General Cooper will serve to remedy any remaining injury that has resulted from these cases.”</p>
<p>Nifong refused to answer any questions after handing the statement to an Associated Press reporter outside his office in Durham.</p>
<p>Seligmann’s attorney, Jim Cooney, responded bitterly to the apology.</p>
<p>“You can accept an apology from someone who knows all the facts and simply makes an error,” Cooney said. “If a person refuses to know all the facts and then makes a judgment, that’s far worse - particularly when that judgment destroys lives.”</p>
<p>The text of Nifong’s “apology” from the N & O:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/563312.html[/url]”>http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/563312.html</a></p>
<p>He basically says that he made a judgement call, and that no system is perfect. This is pathetic, and the man is evil! He knew when the DNA came back that they had not done this. He completedly ignored their attorneys’ pleas to look at their alibi info, as well as other exculpatory evidence, etc. etc. I won’t go on and on, as we all know too well that he railroaded these boys, and would still be doing it if not for the DNA testimony in December!!</p>
<p>OOO - just love the words…‘‘to the extent’’ - must be the blah blah blah part - uugh - can’t the man do anything right?</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the other link, 1sokkermom! :)</p>
<p>I especially loved the “no system is perfect” line. You see, Mikey, if you’d used the system that is in place, it could have worked perfectly. But you chose the system of prosecutorial abuse!! </p>
<p>We’ll be anxious to see your motion to dismiss the Bar Charges fail miserably tomorrow–how perfect that it is on Friday the 13th!</p>
<p>WOW - just announced that Imus has been fired from CBS as well - out of a job completely now - payback is a b…h - ok - now Nifongs turn - uuummmmm :D</p>
<p>This is a copy of the full Media Release put out (and signed by) Nifong from the WRAL website. The link is within the online article. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1270348[/url]”>http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1270348</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s because if the actions of the Attorney General provide a remedy, then there’s no basis for being successfully sued by the lacrosse players. He’s not hoping this remedies any remaining injury out of the goodness of his heart.</p>
<p>Nifong’s statement in its entirety makes me wanna gag! It comes across as a letter where he carefully worded things to give himself excuses to help with his own legal predicament now. Further, he insinuates that the AG was privy to more information than Nifong had gathered over the past year and his judgements were made only on what he had gathered thus far. Right. Gag. He is even patting himself on the back for turning things over to the AG office rather than dismissing the case himself! LOL…at that point, he HAD to turn it over. And why didn’t he dismiss it based on everything he had (or didn’t have as the case may be) before it ever got to that juncture? His hand was forced when he turned over the case! He had been exposed with the whole DNA cover up and more. He doesn’t appear to apologize or admit to any wrongdoing on his own end. Figures.</p>
<p>^ Yup. Can you say C-Y-A ???</p>
<p>“Wanna gag” some more? I have not kept up with all of these posts, but I did hear someone on the radio speak about this article and I pulled it up. I find it interesting reading in retrospect:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/190uejex.asp?pg=1[/url]”>http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/190uejex.asp?pg=1</a></p>
<p>This really summarizes what happened to these young men, and it was written on 1/29/07!</p>
<p>I have a hard time seeing Nifong spending even an hour in jail - it is just recently that white collar crime ala Enron has resulted in prison sentences. It seems pretty unlikely that prosecutorial abuse would be punished this way.</p>
<p>Also, I would assume that he is covered under an insurance policy through the DA’s office or protected by statute such that I doubt if he can be sued either (I am NAL). </p>
<p>Since he was about to retire before this all started, it seems like he gets away scot free. </p>
<p>The protections that we extend to good DA’s also protecting this bad one.</p>
<p>Well if nothing else - he will leave that office in disgrace - and disbarred - and probably loose his pension in the process. I doubt he gets away with this scott free - for a man who had a great record prior to this case - and seemingly what he considers his pride - gag - not much to be very proud of for him or his family.</p>
<p>Nifong is trying to save his license – he knows that with the AG’s report, he is toast in front of the bar association – however, there are a number of options in a bar discipline hearing, ranging from a reprimand to short-term-suspension to permanent disbarment. It’s one of those forums where it helps to be really, truly, sorry and apologize profusely… so that’s what Nifong’s bar attorney has told him he needs to do.</p>
<p>Apology to Duke lacrosse players not enough</p>
<p>By Jemele Hill
Page 2</p>
<p>I never wrote it, but I felt it – which is just as bad. I said it in private discussions with friends, some of whom tried to get me to see the whole picture, not just the picture I wanted to see.</p>
<p>My being a black woman, my knowing too many athletes who treat women like items to be purchased in a vending machine, and my witnessing enough athlete rape trials where accusers are overwhelmed by their fame and fortune – it all tainted my perception and made me doubt your innocence.</p>
<p>I feel stupid now.</p>
<p>Will the media spend as much time clearing the names of Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann as it did publicizing the crimes they were accused of committing?</p>
<p>I could blame Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, but that would be too easy. Oh, he’s a lout, no doubt. He played upon the emotions of a community and its long-held hostilities, and put his reelection bid above morality and common sense. He played all of us and should be punished with nothing less than disbarment.</p>
<p>I could blame Jesse Jackson, who I have hoped for years would disappear to a faraway land where CNN wouldn’t follow. As usual, Jesse showed up and showed out. He incited the masses and then left everyone else to sort out the wreckage. And if Jesse wants to gain an ounce of the credibility he no longer has, he would find the nearest camera – and we know he’s good at that – and express sorrow with all the sincerity he can muster. But the day Jesse apologizes for causing a scene is the day Rosie O’Donnell wears a muzzle.</p>
<p>But if there is anything to be learned from Don Imus’ fall, it’s that real apologies are never accompanied by rationalizations.</p>
<p>So to Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, the three Duke lacrosse players whose lives were mangled by an unsupported rape accusation, I say two of the hardest words in the English language:</p>
<p>I’m sorry.</p>
<p>It’s not enough, and I won’t pretend that it is. For the last year, your lives and those of your families have been more difficult than any of us can possibly imagine. I’ll never know what it was like walking around normal society labeled a rapist. I’ll never know what it’s like to lose everything – your school, your program and your life – because of one unproven accusation.</p>
<p>You deserve all of that back and then some, but unfortunately, you won’t get it. You have every right to not trust anyone and think less of people. Duke University abandoned you. An overzealous prosecutor tormented you. A community, a nation, didn’t believe you. Journalists everywhere, sensing ratings and salivating over the salaciousness of black strippers and white athletes, chose to keep you under attack.</p>
<p>Not that this is a contest to see who was wronged the most, but the Rutgers women’s basketball team at least received justice, because Imus was suspended and dropped by MSNBC, which simulcasts his morning show. Plenty of people are outraged on their behalf.</p>
<p>But who is outraged on your behalf? What justice will you receive? Will the same networks that willingly aided in destroying your reputations now give you airtime to vent your frustrations? Will Jesse Jackson now offer the three of you a free scholarship like he did the “victim,” since he helped assist in your battered reputation?</p>
<p>Maybe the only modicum of fairness you have received is that the News & Observer in Raleigh decided to print the name of your accuser. I don’t normally advocate that the names of alleged victims be printed, but it feels right in this instance.</p>
<p>I know I’d certainly like to ask your accuser a few questions, even though she stood by her story as North Carolina’s attorney general vehemently proclaimed your innocence. Does she understand she has tanked not only her credibility, but that of other women, too? Does she understand the next time a woman comes forward with an allegation this serious, all of our minds will scroll back to this case, and we will be less inclined to believe her? Does she know women with legitimate sexual-assault complaints will look at this furor and decide silence is best?</p>
<p>I can’t deny that your race, gender and class have everything to do with how you were treated then and how you are treated now. Some people believe white men are exempt from sympathy and incapable of being maligned, so they will not swallow their pride and offer you the decency you should have received in the first place. Yes, you made an unwise decision to entertain strippers at a residence, but that just makes you guilty of being like 90 percent of college males.</p>
<p>There will be a lot of finger-pointing in the coming days and weeks about whose fault all of this was. The media will analyze each other. Civil-rights leaders who claim to be against all injustice will stay silent. Hopefully, you will be able to regain a fraction of the life you once had.</p>
<p>I’m glad the story of your innocence and the Rutgers situation unfolded the same week. If anyone felt a sense of victory over Imus’ rebuke, they should look at what happened to you and know it will be a long time before we can truly celebrate.</p>
<p>Jemele Hill, a Page 2 columnist and writer for ESPN The Magazine, can be reached at <a href="mailto:jemeleespn@gmail.com">jemeleespn@gmail.com</a>.</p>