Thursday, April 19, 2007
Thomas Sowell Sees it Clearly
Sowell says that everything Durham DA Mike Nifong did in the Duke Lacrosse fiasco makes sense if you view it as Nifong using the case for political ends with no desire to ever take it to trial. Makes sense to me. Sometimes providing a shaping frame of reference makes everything clearer. Money quotes:
Nothing that Michael Nifong did is consistent with his ever believing that the Duke University students were guilty. If he really thought they were guilty and expected to go to trial and convict them, then the rigged photo lineup he arranged could have been enough to get the case thrown out of court.
[...]
A real lineup, conducted according to well-established rules, could have revealed early on that the stripper who accused Duke lacrosse players of rape didn't have a clue who they were. That would have killed the case and destroyed Nifong's trump card -- the race card -- for winning the black vote.
The district attorney's failure to interview either the accuser or the accused for months likewise suggests someone who was more concerned with avoiding the premature collapse of his case before election time than with finding out what really happened.
[...]
When it finally came out, months after the indictment of the Duke students, that the stripper who accused them could not even be sure that a rape had occurred -- despite her previous various accounts of rape -- only the rape charge was dropped, while other serious felonies still hung over the students' heads, based on the same unreliable accuser.
It is hard to believe that Nifong believed that these other charges would stand up in court. But they didn't have to.
After months of mounting pressure and growing legal bills, many people would have plea-bargained, "confessed" to something minor, just to get the nightmare over with.
By making furthering his career more important than doing justice, Nifong did real and lasting damage to the three wrongfully accused, to DAs everywhere and, ironically (but satisfyingly) to his own career, which I continue to think is over come June.
Nothing that Michael Nifong did is consistent with his ever believing that the Duke University students were guilty. If he really thought they were guilty and expected to go to trial and convict them, then the rigged photo lineup he arranged could have been enough to get the case thrown out of court.
[...]
A real lineup, conducted according to well-established rules, could have revealed early on that the stripper who accused Duke lacrosse players of rape didn't have a clue who they were. That would have killed the case and destroyed Nifong's trump card -- the race card -- for winning the black vote.
The district attorney's failure to interview either the accuser or the accused for months likewise suggests someone who was more concerned with avoiding the premature collapse of his case before election time than with finding out what really happened.
[...]
When it finally came out, months after the indictment of the Duke students, that the stripper who accused them could not even be sure that a rape had occurred -- despite her previous various accounts of rape -- only the rape charge was dropped, while other serious felonies still hung over the students' heads, based on the same unreliable accuser.
It is hard to believe that Nifong believed that these other charges would stand up in court. But they didn't have to.
After months of mounting pressure and growing legal bills, many people would have plea-bargained, "confessed" to something minor, just to get the nightmare over with.
By making furthering his career more important than doing justice, Nifong did real and lasting damage to the three wrongfully accused, to DAs everywhere and, ironically (but satisfyingly) to his own career, which I continue to think is over come June.
Labels: Mike Nifong; Duke Lacrosse fiasco
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:40 AM 
Comments:
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Well, yes.
Of course Mike Nifong did what he did to get elected. There is no other rational explanation. Not that DA Nifong was rational in his decision making process.
Of course Mike Nifong did what he did to get elected. There is no other rational explanation. Not that DA Nifong was rational in his decision making process.
# posted by 
: 8:54 AM
: 8:54 AM
Well, yes.
Of course Mike Nifong did what he did to get elected. There is no other rational explanation. Not that DA Nifong was rational in his decision making process.
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Of course Mike Nifong did what he did to get elected. There is no other rational explanation. Not that DA Nifong was rational in his decision making process.
# posted by : 8:54 AM
: 8:54 AM << Home
