Nifong was stupid

[Horse with no Name]

Because of his quest for fame, he botched the Duke case.
He needed to let justice be served...all evidence be heard...and these boys judged by a jury of their peers.
I believe that SOMETHING happened. However, these boys walk away and the victim is painted in a less than flattering light.
All for an agenda.

[Nye Bevan]

1. You are right. Something *did* happen

What happened was that a cynical mendacious DA who was desperate to win re-election seized upon the false allegations of a delusional or lying troubled young women named Crystal Mangum to win some votes, at the cost of ruining the lives of several innocent young men.

[Missy M]

2. I also believe something happened...

and those boys are getting away with it. This incident is a perfect example for trials to be held in the courtroom, not the press.

[Nye Bevan]

3. Actually, Crystal Mangum is the one "getting away with it"

instead of being prosecuted for her completely false allegations. According to the state attorney general they are not prosecuting her because they think that she may actually believe her delusions.

[sasquatch]

7. She should be institutionalized then

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Many should.

Probably more than either of us know.

On edit: I suspect that the young woman in question was not unknown to the authorities. I suspect a colorful and unstable past.

[michaz]

30. No, she should be charged and let the system decided if she is guilty.

[Horse with no Name]

4. It also shines light on the fact that partial prosecutors can sway a case

in whatever way they want.
If those had been poor kids, there would be no apology, no press conference, no rich lawyers.

[Nye Bevan]

5. It's actually kind of scary

I wonder if there are any innocent poor people languishing in jail because Nifong railroaded them and they couldn't afford good lawyers.

Perhaps someone should go back and review *all* of his cases.

[Horse with no Name]

9. I wasn't speaking of Nifong necessarily in that comment

WHICH IS WHY I specifically said "partial prosecutors".
Language interpretation must not be your strong skill, eh?

[sasquatch]

6. Ok

The evidence says they didn't do it, the "victim" changing her story more than most people change underwear implies that she's more unreliable than a rusted out dodge and Nifong withholding evidence, lying to the grand jury and smearing them in the media coinciding with his reelection campaign SCREAMS they didn't do it. The state prosecuting attorney of North Carolina that took over the case drops all of the charges says they didn't do it.

But if you feel they did it in your little imaginary world than that's your right, just don't sit on any juries ok.

[AX10]

10. I agree.

[Horse with no Name]

12. No there was evidence

The problem was, can you without a doubt say that the other dancer wasn't paid off? Can you say that she wasn't "led" by Nifong to change her story to make it more incendiary? Does the state prosecuting attorney of North Carolina have his own agenda? Who are his campaign contributors? Might be interesting to know that.
I guess in YOUR IMAGINARY WORLD, that women just lie about being raped because they have nothing better to do. All in all, I'd rather have ME on a jury than you.

[sasquatch]

14. No in the real world, PEOPLE LIE ALL THE TIME FOR THEIR OWN REASONS!!

Perhaps this woman saw it as a financial shakedown gain, perhaps she was trying to "explain" away her pregnancy, perhaps she's mentally ill in some way and needs psychiatric help. If she's compentent then she needs to be prosecuted for filing a false police report and sent to prison for a while because she's demeaning the seriousness of rape and demenaing rape victims.

[Firepit 462]

23. HEY !!! I love my dodge truck.

[sasquatch]

25. Your purogative their Firepit 462

[Zynx]

11. Whatever, Nancy Grace

The accuser made up allegations (probably for shake down purposes) and Nifong was blatently corrupt in trying to put together a sham case. That's what the NC A.G said.

Nifong isn't going to be losing his law license and probably going to jail for being sloppy. Because he wasn't sloppy or stupid, at least, not in the sense of being incompetent.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Zynx]

16. So I'm right wing because I don't like seeing innocent people sent to jail??

Explain please.

You sound like Nancy Grace with the Steve Avery case, where she kept implying he never should have been let out of jail on a rape charge it turned out he couldn't have committed.

[Horse with no Name]

18. You accused me of being right wing because it pisses me off that

the truth will never be known because of a malicious prosecutor.
THAT sounds like Rush to me.:shrug:

[sasquatch]

19. You fascist bastard, how dare you stand up for innocent people

Don't you know they could eventually break they law someday too.
:sarcasm: :crazy:

[Missy M]

22. So you are absolutely, without a doubt sure the boys in the...

Duke case are completely innocent. Did you ever see or hear all the evidence? A jury would have.

[sasquatch]

26. Do we know whithout a doubt that you're not a childmolester?

Granted, I have no physical evidence and I just made up the allegation to prove a point, but should you be charged, arrested, processed, jailed, arraigned, have your name associated with this heinious crime, your integritty destroyed because I feel like and have a jury of judge on crimes you didn't commit?

[Solo_in_MD]

34. At least one of the accused was documented as not being there, so yes I am sure at least he was

innocent.

Then again there was the DNA evidence that showed none of the LAX players had sex with her, but others had.

[sasquatch]

15. .

:spray::applause:

[yardwork]

17. There is no evidence that anything happened

If you read the detailed information about the case, you will see that there is simply no evidence at all.

The hospital report - which Nifong claimed "proved" that a rape occurred - proves nothing of the sort, and Nifong never even read it.

This is not a case of murky details and unclear evidence and not being quite sure exactly what happened. This is a case made up out of nothing - absolutely nothing. That's the tragedy. It will make it so much harder for victims of real assaults - and there are so many - to be believed. This case sets back justice about 100 years. All because of one stinking rotten criminal DA. He didn't just blow the case. He made it up.

[sasquatch]

20. Bingo!

:thumbsup:

[Horse with no Name]

21. It was malicious prosecution

No doubt. However, if THERE WAS A SHRED of truth in the original accusation, it was lost.
I don't want anyone innocent locked up any more than I don't want rapists walking the streets.
The truth would have been sufficient, don't you think?
THAT is what was lost. The plain and simple truth.

[yardwork]

24. No arguments here.

[DURHAM D]

28. Hey Yardwork - If it makes you feel any better . . .

I saw Nifong several weeks ago at our local Lowes - we were both pulling into the parking lot and ended up facing each other in our cars. As he got out of his car he sort of nodded and then smiled at me (like I was one of his adoring constituents). I responded with a thumbs-down gesture. His politician's smile immediately fell off his face. Then he started walking into the store by taking a path that was unnecessarily close to me - I think he thought I would feel threatened. Instead, I chuckled and quietly said to him - If you are trying to scare me it is not working. You are an embarrassment to this community. He quickly went on.

Local attorneys tell me that he has always been thought of as unbelievably arrogant and they are embarrassed by his lack of professional behavior. They are pleased that he got what was coming to him.

[redacted]

27. The whole thing is strange. Esp the media attention given to it. NT

[Forkboy]

32. That's because of Duke's fame in the sports world.

If it happened at Podunk U it probably wouldn't have seen the media coverage this got.

[blondeatlast]

29. All prosecutors have to have that agenda, justice be damned.

A close friend was railroaded on a solicitation case, the prosecutor had the wrong damn car in the evidence (the car he owned, but was in the shop, eh was driving a rental--I only wish I were joking.)

It's purely a political office and I'm surprised this hasn't happened far more often.

[fishnfla]

31. He used this case to get elected. This is the salient point

This is a political discussion board and it should be said.

Dem, Repug, Whatever.

He rode this case to office. He knew it, its why it came to this, and it should be a lesson to us all.

Most times, votes are not real people to slimey pols

Power corrupts

[Solo_in_MD]

33. What about the one accussed who wasn't there no matter *what* actually happened?

[Horse with no Name]

36. As I said, I have only followed this case peripherally

Justice needed to prevail.
Nifong obstructed that justice by his agenda.
These boys--if innocent--will always have those, like me, who followed on the edges but didn't hang on to every morsel who felt that something may have happened simply because of whatever they heard.
Had justice been truly served, these boys could have left the trial vindicated, however, I was just left feeling that Nifong screwed it up so much by leading the witness, not disclosing exculpatory evidence, amongst other things that the truth was absolutely lost in the sideshow. I just cannot say that justice was served.
But as I did say in another post, in fairness, I would rather a guilty man walk free than an innocent man serve time in prison.
I guess that is where it is left.

[Solo_in_MD]

37. Nifong was a craven politician who played a race card to win an election

There needs to be a special place in hell for those who do that kind of thing

[Bacchus39]

35. greedy power monger

and sadly there were many who went along with him.