Duke LAX case discussion continued.....;)

Parent Cafe
1261

<p>This law professor has some interesting ideas about pre-trial process that have only started gaining traction after the Duke case.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647456,00.html[/url]”>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647456,00.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>(Btw…Chapel Hill is just beautiful…but what’s this I hear about a ‘heat wave’? I’m not looking forward to THAT during dorm move-in week! lol!)</p>

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<p>ldmom: Our weather here for the last few days has been around 101; heat index today is 108. This is, by far, the worst heat wave I have ever seen here (and I grew up in NC). The humidity and air are very very bad. I hear a cold front is coming in on Saturday, though-- supposed to be 91. ;)</p>

<p>Agree about Chapel Hill; although I like Durham, for many reasons, I’d never choose to live there-- way too much crime. Gangs, drive-by shootings on the news every single night, it seems, murder, mayhem-- you name it. A year or so ago, I was downtown and driving back from Durham-- on a Sunday, around 6 pm, so still light, and just before I was driving over the railroad tracks, some man (drunk) was swaying on the tracks just as the Amtrak roared by–well, on top of him. Two other people were in the car with me, and we were so accustomed to weird stuff happening in Durham, it almost seemed like business as usual. Just so surreal.</p>

<p>Of the 3 cities surrounding RTP (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill), Durham is the most interesting in many ways–but also has the most problems; Chapel Hill is by far the nicest–really lovely town originally built around the University, so the University and town are fully integrated and seem to have pretty good relations; Raleigh is also very nice (the capitol city and home to NC State Univ), experiencing way too much growth (which Chapel Hill seems to be able to control much better), but–unfortunately–the most conservative, probably because it’s the gov’t seat. Chapel Hill is the most expensive to live in, with Raleigh catching up fast, then Durham. My 2 cents.</p>

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<p>1s - I’m pretty sure the Money mag’s “average” for property crimes/1000 is totally screwed up… No way the average is over 200 per thousand for the best places to live! Last year the average property crime rates were posted per 100,000 and it was 3105 (or 31 per 1000) so…yeah… Also, the summary pages for 2006 listed crime per thousand, but the individual pages had the SAME number, but claimed it was per 100,000. Methinks somebody screwed up the database somewhere.</p>

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<p>Good grief jack…that sounds like South Texas weather! We’ve had a freakish summer here in Houston as well. Rained daily for almost two months, temps rarely out of the 80s. My two normally sun-kissed swimmers are pretty pasty-looking…lol!</p>

<p>I’m rootin’ for that ‘cold front’.</p>

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<p>IDMOM - move-in weekend in NC is ALWAYS sweltering - take your mister bottle LOL</p>

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<p>JeepMom - I knew it was too good to last…lol! Last year, during move-in, it was unseasonably cool and dry and just beautiful in CH. And in May, during move-out, it was overcast and cool…looked as though it was going to rain at any minute, but never did. Both weekends were a piece of cake (except for the broken elevator and 3.5 flights of stairs with which to contend…). So I guess we are due for the hot, sweltering dorm move experience. Darn it.</p>

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<p><a href=“Long Island News | Nassau & Suffolk - Newsday”>Long Island News | Nassau & Suffolk - Newsday;

<p>It gets better. His dog ate his license ! :D</p>

<p>"In the letter, Nifong said he was attaching his law license and apologized for damage caused to it by “a puppy in her chewing stages.” He said he was unable to comply with an order to also turn in his state bar membership card because “I have never been sent one.”</p>

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<p>Just hear on the radio that Nifong has been disbarred…</p>

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<p>Earlier this summer, in a provocative piece in Slate titled “One-Off Offing: Why You Won’t See A Disbarment Like Mike Nifong’s Again,” a law professor (and former NYC public defender) offered this rather bleak assessment of Nifong’s disbarment:</p>

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</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.slate.com/id/2168680[/url]”>http://www.slate.com/id/2168680&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>

epistrophy, are you ready to change your above view in light of a professor’s statement:</p>

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<p>If the reverend Al and Jesse had had their ears to the ground they would have sensed which way this thing was headed and used it to their advantage. They should have pointed out (once it became clear that the accuser was making this up) that only the upper and upper middle classes have the resources to fight prosecutorial misconduct. That point would have aided their respective organizations. In stead, I believe, they have damaged their credibility.</p>

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<p>razorsharp:</p>

<p>While the words of mine that you quote here sounded familiar, I could not recall their context off the top of my head. I then did a search and found that they came from post 1152 of this thread, which was written back in June in the wake of the settlement reached between the three defendants in this criminal case and Duke (that post is copied below in case anyone other than razorsharp should have any interest in the question that he raises). </p>

<p>In answer to your question whether the professor’s statement that you quote changes the “hunch[es]” that I expressed in that earlier post, the answer is no.</p>

<p>Here, if anyone is interested, is the entirety of my post 1152 (quoted by razorsharp above):</p>

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</p>

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<p>Maybe one of the reasons we won’t see such a disbarment again is that what he did was actually egregrious, and also that he was more stupid than most prosecutors. This leftist twist on the outcome of the case then, is to argue that it shows only the well off can get justice. GIve me a break. </p>

<p>All the kids did was present the facts as they had them. The lawyers didn’t “buy” or command any special access to anything. All the attention they needed to make their clients case was already assembled in the form of the lynch mob of media, and activists and other interlopers anxious to condemn and convict these guys because of their race, gender, and family income.</p>

<p>As a former public defender, the author may well have a gripe that its hard for him to get acquitals and to deal with prosecutors, but please spare us the whining that ignores the fact that the “case” against the kids fell apart because there wasn’t one…not because of their race and income. </p>

<p>Doesn’t anyone get weary of this incessant drum beat?</p>

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</p>

<p>I question whether it is accurate to characterize (dismiss?) as “leftist” a critique of the criminal-justice system that focuses on the class of the defendants as highly relevant to how well the system works in a particular case.</p>

<p>Columnist George Will could hardly be characterized as “leftist.” In his extremely favorable review of the book Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted, “a catalog of appalling miscarriages of justice” (all [or virtually all] of which involved indigent defendants), he wrote:</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will040600.asp[/url]”>http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will040600.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>dadx, your assumption that what Nifong did was significantly more egregious than what other prosecutors have been proven to have done many times in very recent history is simply wrong. Nifong’s “stupidity” was, indeed, in doing it to people who had the means to defend themselves against it effectively. It’s not true that “only the well off can get justice” – but the well off are far more likely to avoid injustice than are the poor.</p>

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<p><a href=“Nifong Guilty of Criminal Contempt; Sentenced to 1 Day in Jail”>Nifong Guilty of Criminal Contempt; Sentenced to 1 Day in Jail;

<p>Nifong to spend a day in jail for contempt
<a href=“http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/duke_lacrosse/nifong/story/688232.html[/url]”>http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/duke_lacrosse/nifong/story/688232.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>AP (08/31/07 – DURHAM) - A judge has sentenced disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong to one day in jail for lying to a judge . . .<a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=5621847[/url]”>http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=5621847&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Judge Finds Duke Prosecutor in Contempt - Newsday
<a href=“Newsday | Long Island's & NYC's News Source - Newsday”>Newsday | Long Island's & NYC's News Source - Newsday;

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<p>For those who still haven’t gotten their fill of this whole sorry saga, there’s this new book by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20546335/site/newsweek/page/0/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20546335/site/newsweek/page/0/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Looks like the interim DA has been named… Interesting, since Mr. Saacks (the aforementioned possibly named interim DA) is the person who signed the non-testimonial order to get 46 of 47 players to submit to DNA testing which would immediately rule out the innocent…</p>

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<p>why is this still being talked about?! no one cares anymore…i feel bad for the accused 3 players…but i mean come on enough</p>

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<p>Wnekid99, IMO the reason that this continues to be a fascinating topic has less to do with the three players than the lack of any apology from some of the more notable individuals who assumed the players’ guilt from the outset. If some of the more outspoken had apologized and had pointed out the parallels between members of their constituency being falsely accused and the LAX players’ situation and had pointed out the dangers of lynch-mob justice, this would not be nearly so interesting.</p>