Pay Attention, Mary Lacy: Prosecutors are accountable for their actions

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,281018,00.html


Durham DA Nifong in Court Over Duke Lacrosse Rape Ethics Charges
Tuesday, June 12, 2007


Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong

DURHAM, N.C. — More than a year after shocking allegations emerged about Duke University's lacrosse team, prosecutor Mike Nifong is heading to trial — as a defendant.

The North Carolina State Bar has charged Nifong, the district attorney in Durham County, with several violations of the state's rules of professional conduct, all tied to his handling of the lacrosse case.

Among those expected to watch from the gallery of a packed North Carolina Court of Appeals courtroom are Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, two of the once-charged and now cleared players. Several defense attorneys and family members of the three players are also expected to attend.

Nifong is expected to testify at the trial.

*snip*

"Public opinion is not going to weigh in on how the proceeding develops and will not weigh in on the ultimate decision by the bar," Freedman said. "Our purpose is not to sway public opinion but to present his case to the State Bar."

If convicted, the veteran prosecutor could be disbarred.

Nifong won indictments against the three players — Seligmann, Finnerty and David Evans — last year, after a woman hired to perform as a stripper said she was raped at a March 2006 party thrown by Duke's highly ranked lacrosse team. He aggressively pursued the case, at one point calling the lacrosse team "a bunch of hooligans" in a newspaper interview.

That interview, along with several others made in the case's early days, formed the basis of the bar's initial complaint against Nifong, which said he made misleading and inflammatory comments to the media about the athletes. The bar would later add allegations that Nifong withheld evidence from defense attorneys, and lied to both to the court and bar investigators.

Worried the pending ethics charges might result in an unfair trial, Nifong asked the North Carolina Attorney General's office to take over the lacrosse prosecution in January. By then, most experts and legal observers had long since concluded the case could not be won.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper agreed in April and dropped all charges against the three players. In a stunning rebuke, Cooper said there was no rape or attack, calling the indicted players "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse."

 

The lesson she will learn from this is:

Take No Action At All.

After all, she cannot be disciplined for doing nothing. And there you have the current state of the Ramsey case in a nutshell. She cannot even be disciplined for neglecting the case, which she clearly is. Win-win for her.

 

True, that, but then what would be so different from what she's been doing besides offering lip service to the case and bringing in perverts better left in other countries?

 

I have followed this case as closely as I used to follow the Ramsey case. Nifong needs to be disbarred at the very least and I hope those lacrosse boys make a fortune off the lynching they have endured.

 

Nifong skates.

 

Nifong is an idiot.

 

He's evil. I love today's headline: "We're f@#cked!" Yeah Nifong--you sure are.

 

I just don't think he's evil. He's testifying now on Court TV.

 

Ruining 3 young men's lives just to get re-elected is not evil? OK then...

:burnedup:

 

It's like Einstein said,"Two things are infinite-the universe, and human stupidity...and I'm not sure about the universe."

 

I have never seen such a shockingly blatant attempt to frame three innocent men in my entire life--Nifong completely ignored the conflicting stories, DNA evidence, made racially inflammatory remarks in the news media, refused to even listen to the alibis of the boys (backed up by hard evidence, by the way), and on and on. That is evil in my book. Just the fact that consistently made comments to the media about how the lacrosse players were white and their"victim" was black showed me where Nifong's head was at (I have yet to hear any black on white rapes described in this manner and if they had, people'd be whining that the prosecutor was trying to drum up racial white on black hatred). The double standard is sick.

 

I totally agree. There is no defending this man. He should serve hard time, and three times the sentence since he had 3 victims.

 

You mean, he's lying right now on Court TV.

:rage:

 

I think he's going to resign.

 

Yes, he said it is his intent, no matter the outcome.

 

No, that's not what I meant.

 

yup. Good riddance. I cannot believe he is sniveling and acting like he's been victimized along with those boys. He is the perpetrator, not the victim.

I notice this stripper/liar remains virtually invisible and untouchable in all this. Why is that? This is just like Krebs--she can come in and attempt to destroy a man's life and just float away without any repercussions.

 

Today's the first I've heard that Evans' dna was on her fingernail.

 

Yes, it's because they are said to be crazy. Just like JMK was not charged with anything and Boulder County taxpayers were saddled with his costs, but at least he didn't take anyone down with him. It makes me furious that people can get away with this and as you say, just "float away.".

:rage:

 

You think he's telling the truth?