Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 12:00 PM

Bogus rape charges against Duke Lacrosse players…dropped!

Posted by Anthony L. Hall

According to ABC News, the North Carolina Attorney General will announce later today that all charges against the Duke Lacrosse players will be dropped. And, it’s about time. Because here’s what I admonished Mike Nifong, the Durham District Attorney who filed these bogus charges, to do exactly a year ago today:

…Durham DA Mike Nifong owes it to the players, the alleged victim and a very anxious and confused public to state, unequivocally and without further delay, what these results portend for the prosecution of this case. Because, despite vowing to continue the case even absent DNA evidence, I suspect he will find it legally and politically prudent to make the anticlimactic announcement, within days, that the case will be dropped and the alleged victim prosecuted for making a false claim.
[from "DNA results exculpate Duke lacrosse players in rape case....Now what?" The iPINIONS Journal 11 April 2006]

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the uncanny coincidence between the dropping of these racially-motivated charges, which DA Nifong clearly filed to exploit racial tensions to further his own career, and the racist (and sexist) remarks Don Imus made about the Rutgers women’s Basketball team that has the entire country now in the throes of yet another reflexive harangue (complete with Imus’ truth and reconciliation tour) about racism in America.

But since today’s announcement will be almost as anticlimactic as yesterday’s announcement that Larry Birkhead, not Howard K. Stern, is Anna Nicole’s baby Daddy, I shall suffice to republish my 14 December 2006 article. Because it and related articles I’ve written explain not only why the rape charges had to be dropped, but also why Nifong has to be disbarred and face federal charges for this wilful violation of the civil rights of these (white) men. After all, his persecution of them constitutes a prima-facie case of egregious and unconscionable prosecutorial misconduct.

___________________________

I think it was fitting, despite the obvious irony, that the last report Ed Bradley presented on 60 Minutes before he died a month ago was an exposé on the miscarriage of justice in the racially-charged Duke University rape case.

To recap: Last March, a black stripper accused several members of the all-white (except for one) Duke lacrosse team of gang-raping her. She claimed that they perpetrated this crime during a party at which her strip tease was supposed to be the feature entertainment.

And, despite glaring inconsistencies in her complaint and the absence of any forensic evidence linking anyone at the party to this alleged crime, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong misled a grand jury to indict three of them based on her spurious eye witness selection.

However, months before Bradley reported facts which indicted Nifong for professional misconduct beyond all reasonable doubt, here’s what I wrote as a public appeal for justice in this case:

…I hereby reiterate my plea for DA Nifong to drop these charges, post-haste! Because proceeding would only exacerbate the irreparable harm these men have already suffered (financially and by the infliction of emotional distress); especially since a trial would surely result in a “not guilty” verdict given all of the well-documented flaws in the case for the prosecution.

But, never mind my plea, Nifong seemed impervious even to Bradley’s damning report and persisted in his wanton persecution of these players.However, the Associated Press reported this week that, in the early days of his investigation last Spring, Nifong retained a private lab to run DNA tests on the forensic evidence collected in this case. And, according to this truly shocking and scandalous AP report:

…the lab found genetic material from several males in the accuser’s body and her underwear, but none from any team member.

This, notwithstanding the fact that the accuser swore she did not have sex with anyone within days before she claims she was raped. Now lawyers for the accused players have filed an official complaint alleging that Nifong neglected to disclose this clearly exculpatory evidence immediately - in violation of his professional ethics and generally recognized criminal law.

Moreover, it seems this report also provoked U.S. Congressman Walter Jones - who hails from North Carolina where Duke is located – to ask U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Justice Department to conduct federal investigations to determine whether Nifong’s actions in this case constitute a violation of the players’s civil rights.

Therefore, expect this to become a federal case now whether or not Nifong comes to his senses and drops the charges - post haste….

60 Minutes did more to further justice in this case than either Mike Nifong - the zealous District Attorney prosecuting it, or black activists - who have made it a badge of racial pride to insist that there shall be “no justice, no peace” unless these presumed (and evidently) innocent white men are found guilty.
[“Duke rape case…closed” The iPINIONS Journal 17 October 2006]

Related Articles:
The Duke rape case…closed! If you didn’t believe me, perhaps you’ll believe 60 Minutes
CBS Reporter Ed Bradley is dead

Comments

  1. USpace April 14, 2007 at 9:32 am

    These two are garbage, they belong in jail, especially Nifong…

    absurd thought -
    God of the Universe says
    make false rape claims

    support by changing stories
    solid lack of evidence
    .

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