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The following prosecutor withheld vital DNA evidence in this case for 6-months - evidence which could have exonerated said players from the stemming rape charges - because he wanted another win under his belt. He was willing to sentence innocent men to earn another "win." It says he 'could' face up to 30-days in jail and a $500 fine. Is this even remotely justice? These men were facing 20-years+ each for this rape charge; imagine if they hadn't been able to afford a good lawyer and were convicted? Imagine the other innocent people this prosecutor undoubtedly convicted to garner another "win?" Is 30-days in jail and a $500-dollar fine even remotely equivalent to justice? Now the city has to foot the bill for this moron as the athletes are suing the city, of course.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/news/20.../nifong_jailed/
Quote:Duke Prosecutor Jailed, Settlement Talks Underway
Posted on Friday, 7 of September , 2007 at 6:07 pm
DURHAM, NCâAs attorneys for the three exonerated athletes in the Duke lacrosse rape case reportedly met with Durham city officials in an attempt to hammer out a settlement, the disgraced and now convicted prosecutor in the case reported to the Durham County Jail Friday to serve a 24-hour sentence for contempt of court.
Former Durham district attorney Mike Nifong reported to jail at 9 a.m. Friday and was expected to be held in solitary confinement for his own protection.
It has been reported that the attorneys for the three athletes are seeking $30 millionâ$10 million for each to be paid over five yearsâas well as legal reforms.
The Associated Press is reporting that the attorneys are want an ombudsman to be created to review complaints of misconduct concerning North Carolina prosecutors. They are want Durham city officials to lobby for certain legal changes that would require state legislative action.
Last month, Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III found that Nifong had willfully made false statements to the court last September in the rape case when he said he had given defense attorneys all the results from DNA testing. The DNA evidence withheld by Nifong from defense attorneys would have immediately exonerated the three Duke athletes.
Nifong, who has been disbarred and forced to resign from office, could have been sentenced to serve up to 30 days in jail and fined $500.
The judge found that Nifong had given the defense a report on the DNA testing that he knew was incomplete and omitted results which indicated that despite the DNA of multiple men being on the stripper at a team party who claimed she had been raped by the trio, none of the DNA matched any of the lacrosse players.
In July, for the first time Nifong had admitted that there was âno credible evidenceâ that the three Duke lacrosse players had committed any of the crimes he had accused them of in relation to the alleged rape of an African-American stripper at a team party in March 2006.
Attorneys for three athletes, Colin Finnerty, David Evans and Reade Seligmann sought to have Nifong found in contempt for lying about the DNA evidence.
Despite an iron-clad alibi from at least one of the players and a DNA test which showed no genetic material from any of the three men could be linked to the stripper, Nifong had refused to drop the charges. The DNA testing showed material on the stripper from several other men not charged. Nifong waited months to tell the defense about thisâwhile all the while insisting publicly they were guilty.
The North Carolina Bar found the veteran prosecutor had made misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion, withholding potentially exculpatory DNA evidence from the defense, and lying both to the court and bar investigators. Nifong was forced to drop the rape charges last December when the woman changed her story but he unwisely forged ahead with charges of sexual assault and kidnapping.
It was only after the Bar accused Nifong of violating the rules of professional conduct that he finally turned the case over to state prosecutors who dropped all charges in April, who said that the three players were âinnocentâ victims of a rogue prosecutorâs âtragic rush to accuse.
Following a trial in June, the bar association unanimously found that Nifong had engaged in âdishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentationâ. He was disbarred for his prosecutorial misconduct emanating from the malicious prosecution. 9-7-07
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin
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Quote:Is 30-days in jail and a $500-dollar fine even remotely equivalent to justice?
... and being disbarred, losing your job, and your life's profession for which you've spent perhaps 15 years and over two hundred thousand dollars building toward. Plus, he will always wear that scarlet letter as the guy who tried to railroad some Duke players to further his political ambitions. So, he will be thinking about his bad choices for a long time as he delivers pizza's or washes cars for a living. Or, who knows? Maybe he will write a book and make millions.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
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09-09-2007, 12:30 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2007, 12:41 AM by Hammerskjold.)
Quote:... and being disbarred, losing your job, and your life's profession for which you've spent perhaps 15 years and over two hundred thousand dollars building toward. Plus, he will always wear that scarlet letter as the guy who tried to railroad some Duke players to further his political ambitions. So, he will be thinking about his bad choices for a long time as he delivers pizza's or washes cars for a living. Or, who knows? Maybe he will write a book and make millions.
*edited due to tech glitch.
I hope if he does deliver pizzas and washes cars, he'd be thinking about the job at hand. Like delivering the right pizza orders to the right addresses. And not concentrating on delivering pies willy nilly just to boost up his stats.
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Quote:And not concentrating on delivering pies willy nilly just to boost up his stats.
That image is too hilarious. I love it.
-Jester
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09-09-2007, 12:53 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2007, 12:55 AM by Taem.)
I don't get it. So he looses his high profile job and takes up waiting on tables for $20-$30 an hour with tips or even something better netting 40k or more annually, enough to live comfortably above the poverty line. The innocent people he may have sent away (imagine it was you) did not have this luxury; they are sitting in a prison somewhere, surrounded by evil doers and rapists for a crime they did not commit. This is based on the assumption that this is not the first time he has attempted or gone through with incarcerating innocent people. As for the lacrosse players, thank god they didn't get wrongfully convicted; these three men could have all potentially received 20+ years in prison because of this liar, so I fail to see how a 30-day jail sentence (which will probably get reduced to half) and a $500 fine equates to JUSTICE when the prosecutors actions are clearly criminal with the potential to ruin innocent peoples lives.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin
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Quote:... and being disbarred, losing your job, and your life's profession for which you've spent perhaps 15 years and over two hundred thousand dollars building toward. Plus, he will always wear that scarlet letter as the guy who tried to railroad some Duke players to further his political ambitions. So, he will be thinking about his bad choices for a long time as he delivers pizza's or washes cars for a living. Or, who knows? Maybe he will write a book and make millions.
And the athletes would have lost all of that, and gotten 20 years in prison... and they'd be branded as rapists.
The sentence was under no circumstances fair, but I cannot see how it could be made fairer. It was a pretty serious crime, but I don't know how long withholding vital information in a rape investigation can give you.
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Quote:... and being disbarred, losing your job, and your life's profession for which you've spent perhaps 15 years and over two hundred thousand dollars building toward. Plus, he will always wear that scarlet letter as the guy who tried to railroad some Duke players to further his political ambitions. So, he will be thinking about his bad choices for a long time as he delivers pizza's or washes cars for a living. Or, who knows? Maybe he will write a book and make millions.
OMG Nancy Grace is on our forum!!!
Yes, oh how sad sad sad his life will be now. But don't forget the worst part:
He will never, ever, be a member of the Country Club again!!!
(not because of anything he did, he just can't pay the dues any more)
-V
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Prophecy of Deimos
âThe world doesnât end with water, fire, or cold. Iâve divined the coming apocalypse. It ends with tentacles!â
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09-09-2007, 02:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2007, 02:59 PM by kandrathe.)
Quote:Yes, oh how sad sad sad his life will be now. But don't forget the worst part:
He will never, ever, be a member of the Country Club again!!!
(not because of anything he did, he just can't pay the dues any more)
-V
Karmic Retribution Cashier
The Forsaken Inn
"Tired of Bree? Try us instead!"
Oh, I don't know... I think Phi Beta Kappa is going to kick him out as well.
P.S. To the original post; I don't understand most sentencing these days. Justice is not only blind, but also demented and a whore for sale to the wealthy. You can get 30 years for possessing controlled chemicals, but serve only a few years for murder or the rape of a child. Or, as in this case, a day in jail for prosecutorial misconduct.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
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Quote:Oh, I don't know... I think Phi Beta Kappa is going to kick him out as well.
P.S. To the original post; I don't understand most sentencing these days. Justice is not only blind, but also demented and a whore for sale to the wealthy. You can get 30 years for possessing controlled chemicals, but serve only a few years for murder or the rape of a child. Or, as in this case, a day in jail for prosecutorial misconduct.
The appropriate Bob Dylan lyric comes from the Desire album, the Story of Hurricane:
In such a land
Where justice is a game
Occhi
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
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