Rape Charges Against Duke LaCrosse Players to be Dropped

[Gawain 0]

Don't have a link yet, Limbaugh was reporting it from a news release apparently just issued by Duke. I didn't see it on their web-site.

If the report is accurate, I feel really bad for the players, their reputations are scarred by this kind of shit. The DA played this card to get re-elected. The media seemed to be quasi-balanced in the end, but at the beginning, the gallows were already being built...

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[Zenister 0]

based on the 'evidence' i'd seen (admittedly from media sources) its appalling that charges were filed in the first place...

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Michele 1]

Both MSNBC and FOX are confirming that some charges are being dropped. I think, if I've understood clearly, the kidnapping charges are still pending, but the rape charges are being dropped.

All I can say is "thank God!" The students will have the rest of their lives affected by this, but at least they are not being tried for rape. I hope the DA grows a bigger set and drops all charges.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[NCclimber 0]

There is so much about this case that is completely fucked up. I can't believe it's still around. I mean how can Nifong still be charging one guy, who has surveillance tape to prove he wasn't there?

Hopefull, when it's all said and done, the three lacrosse players will successfully sue Mike Nifong and the NC Bar will take away his license.

[lawrocket 3]

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I mean how can Nifong still be charging one guy, who has surveillance tape to prove he wasn't there?

Because DA's are exempt from malicious prosecution. That's how. Guess why DA's are, as a group, at the top of my legal shitlist. It's what happens when conduct is privileged. Note, there are plenty of great DA's, but what happened to these Duke players happens all the time. Everywhere. Every day. Only without the press.

Fortunately, these Duke guys had the resources to fight it as a group. If it was only one or two guys, they'd either have pled out or faced criminal trial, costing a pretty penny. Either way, their lives would be ruined for a long time.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[TrophyHusband 0]

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There is so much about this case that is completely fucked up. I can't believe it's still around. I mean how can Nifong still be charging one guy, who has surveillance tape to prove he wasn't there?

Hopefull, when it's all said and done, the three lacrosse players will successfully sue Mike Nifong and the NC Bar will take away his license.

i think that nifong should be sued as well, but unfortunatly he is protected from lawsuits. that doesn't mean that enough lawyers and money couldn't find a way around it. nifong is a very very bad guy and likely won't get the punishment he deserves.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[lawrocket 3]

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that doesn't mean that enough lawyers and money couldn't find a way around it.

The litigation privilege is pretty airtight. The only hope is really that the Bar goes after him.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[TrophyHusband 0]

is there anything that he can be charged with criminally?

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[lawrocket 3]

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that doesn't mean that enough lawyers and money couldn't find a way around it.

The litigation privilege is pretty airtight. The only hope is really that the Bar goes after him.

The North Carolina Bar has filed ethics charges against DA Mike Nifong.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061229/ap_on_re_us/duke_lacrosse_ethics_30

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The North Carolina bar filed ethics charges Thursday against the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, accusing him of saying misleading and inflammatory things to the media about the athletes under suspicion.

The article also states that he could be removed from the case because of a conflict of interest.

Bravo to the North Carolina Bar for stepping up to the plate. Guys like Nifong are the reason why DA's (as a group) are at the top of my legal shit list.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Andy9o8 0]

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The North Carolina bar filed ethics charges Thursday against the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, accusing him of saying misleading and inflammatory things to the media about the athletes under suspicion.

The article also states that he could be removed from the case because of a conflict of interest.

Bravo to the North Carolina Bar for stepping up to the plate. Guys like Nifong are the reason why DA's (as a group) are at the top of my legal shit list.

Hear, hear! Every time I hear a prosecutor give one of these types of inflammatory news quotes before a jury is even picked - and that happens A LOT - it seriously pisses me off. Seems the vast majority of radio & TV news bytes I hear coming from the courthouse in criminal cases comes from the prosecutors. Tell me that doesn't taint the potential jury pool. Judges seriously under-utilize their power to impose gag orders in criminal cases to preserve a fair trial.

[Gawain 0]

Now, the DA is seeking to be removed from the case and is facing possible ethics charges!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_sp_co_ne/duke_lacrosse

I predict that the DA's office is going to face a civil lawsuit and the state of North Carolina is going to have to pay out millions.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[1969912 0]

The entire Duke LaCrosse team should line up and rape Nifong in every imaginable orifce. Twice.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[ahegeman 0]

I'm surprised no one has commented on the latest development in the Duke lacrosse "rape" case. All remaining charges were finally dropped, with the State Attorney General proclaiming the players "innocent", and calling Nifong a "rogue" prosecutor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_us/duke_legal;_ylt=AgIj7KCWDSlT7dvMswSPa8ZI2ocA

Of course, the formerly accused will probably end up fine, getting compensation through the courts and selling their stories to various media outlets. The real victims in this whole thing are all the actual rape victims who will now face that much more skepticism of their stories.

---------------------------------------------------------------
There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'.
--Dave Barry

[rushmc 18]

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I'm surprised no one has commented on the latest development in the Duke lacrosse "rape" case. All remaining charges were finally dropped, with the State Attorney General proclaiming the players "innocent", and calling Nifong a "rogue" prosecutor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_us/duke_legal;_ylt=AgIj7KCWDSlT7dvMswSPa8ZI2ocA

Of course, the formerly accused will probably end up fine, getting compensation through the courts and selling their stories to various media outlets. The real victims in this whole thing are all the actual rape victims who will now face that much more skepticism of their stories.

How much money is one year of your life worth?.......just for an idiot that wanted to get re-elected

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[itllclear 1]

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DA's are, as a group, at the top of my legal shitlist.

Nifong screwed up, but just be glad you weren't in his position.

Suppose he didn't file charges. How would you like to be running for election in a 40% black county, while Gloria Alred, Jessie Jackson, and Al Sharpton were holding a press conference asking for your head on a platter because you were letting the white kids get away with an assault on a black woman?

No matter what he did, he was going to lose.

In hindsight, the only way for him to have gotten out of that mess would have been to resign on the spot due to "family reasons" and let someone else handle the hot potato.

"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."

"Your statement answered your question."

[TheAnvil 0]

No. He could have stood up to Bigots $harpton and Jack$on and done the right thing. Both those morons rely on the ignorance of the people whose support they court for their livelihood. Against anyone with a nutsack and a three digit IQ, neither one of those fucktards have a chance at winning an argument (unless they happen to be correct; fat chance).

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[dorbie 0]

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DA's are, as a group, at the top of my legal shitlist.

Nifong screwed up, but just be glad you weren't in his position.

Suppose he didn't file charges. How would you like to be running for election in a 40% black county, while Gloria Alred, Jessie Jackson, and Al Sharpton were holding a press conference asking for your head on a platter because you were letting the white kids get away with an assault on a black woman?

No matter what he did, he was going to lose.

Huh?

Fuck him!

What he did he did through unethical misconduct with enthusiasm and tenacity. This is already a better outcome than I ever imagined possible, such is my faith in the judicial system but I for one will laugh my ass off at whatever predicament he's brought on himself, and I sincerely hope things get MUCH worse for him.

He could have done his job without the misconduct, there was nothing mandatory or unavoidable about that, and anyone who thinks that railroading 3 innocent people is the only way to keep their job should in fact do the right thing at the risk of it, or at a MINIMUM strive to act ethically. Maybe the name Nifong will be a reminder to similar hollow men (actually that's a huge compliment for him) who might otherwise assume their office shields them from any and all repercussions.

Here's hoping the guilty man faces some fraction of the hell he would have knowingly visited on his innocent victims for his own gain.

[Gawain 0]

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DA's are, as a group, at the top of my legal shitlist.

Nifong screwed up, but just be glad you weren't in his position.

Suppose he didn't file charges. How would you like to be running for election in a 40% black county, while Gloria Alred, Jessie Jackson, and Al Sharpton were holding a press conference asking for your head on a platter because you were letting the white kids get away with an assault on a black woman?

No matter what he did, he was going to lose.

In hindsight, the only way for him to have gotten out of that mess would have been to resign on the spot due to "family reasons" and let someone else handle the hot potato.

The ends don't justify the means. Everyone was calling him out about this being his re-election case. You had everyone from Revs Sharpton and Jackson to the Black Panthers weighing in.

He made his bed, and didn't realize that these activist groups do not support anyone in the long run.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[dorbie 0]

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He made his bed, and didn't realize that these activist groups do not support anyone in the long run.

Support or no support, long term or not what he did was wrong. He KNEW this at the time, now it is becoming clearer to everyone that what he did was unethical.

[jakee 1,262]

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Nifong screwed up, but just be glad you weren't in his position.

Suppose he didn't file charges. How would you like to be running for election in a 40% black county, while Gloria Alred, Jessie Jackson, and Al Sharpton were holding a press conference asking for your head on a platter because you were letting the white kids get away with an assault on a black woman?

Right.

So he ruined the lives of a bunch of innocent kids in order to make it easier to get re-elected. And that's ok by you?

Fuck that.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Darius11 12]

Yes the DA is a duchbag, but what about the lying whore?

What should her punishment be?

How often does a woman lie that she was raped just to get back at a man?

It makes me wonder how many guys have been fucked over by the system when a woman decides to lie.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[DiggerDan 0]

She's just another nappy-headed ho!

[lawrocket 3]

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How would you like to be running for election in a 40% black county, while Gloria Alred, Jessie Jackson, and Al Sharpton were holding a press conference asking for your head on a platter because you were letting the white kids get away with an assault on a black woman?

First, I wouldn't want to be up for election. But second, one would expect the highest level of ethics from someone in that position. If this guy can't do the right thing in the face of pressure, then he is in no position to be DA. Period.

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No matter what he did, he was going to lose.

I disagree. The way he handled it made sure he lost. Do the words, "No comment" enter his vocabulary? Nope. He saw this as a way to make political hay. This was his chance to get in the limelight as a crusader against injustice, and maybe land himself a job as a legal analyst on "Good Morning America."

Nifong gambled with these kids' futures - and lost.
The kids lost, too.
The lacrosse team lost a whole season.
Race relations lost.

We are moving backwards.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Broke 0]

Can we write Sharpton and Jackson and demand an apology?

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[lawrocket 3]

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So he ruined the lives of a bunch of innocent kids in order to make it easier to get re-elected. And that's ok by you?

Fuck that.

As an aside, DA's do this often to innocent people, kids, etc. I mean, DA's are immune from malpractice. They are immune from malicious prosecution.abuse of process, etc. The only thing that can hold them liable is the bar.

(Sidebar - there are good reasons for keeping prosecutors immune because if there wasn't an absolute immunity, tey'd face malicious prosecution charges from every defendant against whom they could not secure a trial conviction. It is not a stretch to see policy reasons behind it - but, like any privilege, it can and is regularly abused)

DA's have no personal stake in anything. Just their job performance, and like most lawyers, they want to win. When they've got the resources of the state on their side, that presents a dangerous spectre.

Do you think shit like this doesn't happen hundreds or thousands of times per day? It does. The issue is that Nifong made it worse because he opened his big mouth early and often.

Minorities typically think it happens only to them. Well, they are wrong. IT happens to everybody. This is a prime example of when a system goes wrong.

Personally, I hold members of my profession to higher standards. We all take an oath and speak it loudly before others or, often before God. Why must we swear on these things? Why do we publicly aver this oath?

Because these words have meaning. Thoughts and ideas have meaning. It means something to faithfully discharge our duties to the best of our ability. It means something to swear to maintain only those actions or proceedings that are legal and just, and to maintain only those causes that are consistent with the truth.

What Nifong did makes the profession look bad. When the profession looks bad it makes ME look bad. And when something makes ME look bad and I get to face the consequences, I get pissed off.

I thank the State Attorney General's office for clearing this up - they weren't conflicted with delusions of grandeur.

This wasn't just a fuck-up. Nifong kept this going for a while. I hope the guy faces the consequences.

My wife is hotter than your wife.