In a country that prides itself for it’s judicial system, the Duke rape case has been a rude awakening to the vast majority of it’s citizens. This kind of travesty of justice is supposed to occur in totalitarian and third world nations, not the United States, but it did and this is not the first time. This time it was wealthy white kids being railroaded instead of poor minorities.
While minorities commit a disproportionate amount of crime, they also are most likely to be falsely accused and convicted. Unlike the Duke players, they can not afford high powered attorneys and have to rely on an over worked and under funded public defenders. They also are less likely to benefit from pretrial diversion programs.20 percent of white defendants charged with crimes providing for the option of pretrial diversion received that benefit, while only 14 percent of similarly situated blacks and 11 percent of similarly situated Hispanics were placed in such programs. San Jose Mercury The Duke case focused on prosecutorial discretion. District Attorney Nifong was involved in a reelection bid during the incident. It seem Nifong issued defamatory statements and prosecuted the case in order to secure black votes for reelection. His conduct of the case has resulted in serious ethic charges filed by the North Carolina Bar Association against Nifong"It almost doesn’t get any worse than lying to the judge in terms of ethical violations, but lying to the judge about information that suggests the defendant is innocent is even worse," University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law professor Joe Kennedy For a nation that professes to operate under “The Rule Of Law” the Duke fiasco shows that may be a chimaera for many.
|
| |
Written By:
James E. Fish
URL:
http://faroutfishfiles.blogspot.com/
|
|
Did anyone not see this from like 14 miles away? I mean seriously... |
| |
Written By:
josh b
URL:
http://
|
|
Yes joshb, all those idiots that voted him into office for no reason other then he was prosecuting the rich white folks. |
| |
Written By:
SkyWatch
URL:
http://
|
In a country that prides itself for it’s judicial system, the Duke rape case has been a rude awakening to the vast majority of it’s citizens. Except, they’re getting off and the runaway-prosecutor is likely going to jail instead. Justice is served. Should the Duke kids have ever been charged? No. But there isn’t a system in the world that would have prevented that, or at least not one we’d want here.
In a totalitarian or third world country there would not have been the kind of process and scrutiny we’ve seen here. It is that scrutiny and the many avenues of legal protection that eventually caused this thing to reach the correct result.
|
| |
Written By:
MichaelW
URL:
http://asecondhandconjecture.com
|
Should the Duke kids have ever been charged? No. But there isn’t a system in the world that would have prevented that No ethical prosecutor would have continued the prosecution after the initial investigation showed the ‘victims’ companion refuted her claim. If the Duke students had been charged, unlikely given the lack of evidence from day one, the charges would certainly been dropped after they DNA evidence exonerated them.
The initial investigation did not provide sufficient evidence to charge the students. They would have been questioned, then sent home pending compilation of the investigation.
Having covered many District Attorneys over the years I know of none who would have acted the way Nifong did. He had his eyes on the prize and it was re-election not justice. |
| |
Written By:
James E. Fish
URL:
http://faroutfishfiles.blogspot.com/
|
|
My favorite case of misconduct by a district atorney is the McMartin preschool case in CA. Secret tunnels and flying elephants! Then there was the Wenatchee, Wash. convictions, Kern county CA, .... There is no lack of wrongful prosecutions by incompetent or malicious DAs out there. It may be difficult for a good prosecutor to actually indict a ham sandwhich, but even a mediocre one can indict(and convict) innocent people. |
| |
Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
|
Another case was the boy in Escondido, CA, who the police/DA were convinced killed his sister. In fact, it was done by a transient.
I don’t think that minorities are the primary victim of this sorta thing. What I’ve noticed is a number of child abuse / rape cases fasely blamed on fathers. For example, there was a girl who was kidnapped, raped, and returned that night. However, social workers blamed the father and were able to essentially brainwash the girl into saying (perhaps even believing) that she was raped by her father—it took them awhile to "turn" the girl, but they did. IIRC, the judge in the case ignored the fact that there was someone "working the area" with the MO that fit the girl’s pre-brainwashing story. |
| |
Written By:
Don
URL:
http://
|
Timactual said it better than I could. The remedy needs to be compensatory and punative damages against Durham and prison time for Nifong.
I’m reminded of a case in Central NY many decades ago where a family was killed in a home invasion. A state trooper fabricated evidence against a suspect who was killed resisting arrest. I am convinced beyond doubt that the suspect was guilty, but the trooper who fabricated the evidence was convicted and sent to prison for several years.
People have to have faith in the integrity of the justice system. Nifong can’t walk with a suspended law license or a fine. What he did was criminal, and Durham allowed it.
|
| |
Written By:
MarkD
URL:
http://
|
No ethical prosecutor would have continued the prosecution after the initial investigation showed the ‘victims’ companion refuted her claim.
Right. But the point of our system is to not rely upon the ethics of prosecuters.
There are a number of sex crimes which end up as "he said / she said", and to resolve this the feminists insist that what "she said" is right, and "he" lied. The male is defacto guilty.
This is further enhanced by feminist political myths about rape (including the "its not about sex" thing we already argued about).
Furthermore the police are used to the idea that "someone in the house did it", since it often is true. They have trouble shifting gears to some stranger . . .
Put it all together and you have a recipe for false prosecutions . . . |
| |
Written By:
Don
URL:
http://
|
But the point of our system is to not rely upon the ethics of prosecuters Our system relies on the ethics of prosecutors. That’s why they are allowed prosecutorial desecration. The job of a District Attorney is not to garner convictions, it’s to see that justice is served. Most do a good job. Fortunately Nifong is the exception to the rule. His actions have discredited the nations justice system.
|
| |
Written By:
James E. Fish
URL:
http://faroutfishfiles.blogspot.com/
|
|
LOL! Jim, although I’m pretty sure you meant prosecutorial discretion, you’ve provided (via Freudian slip?) an unbeatable characterization of Nifong’s sole "achievement" as DA: Prosecutorial desecration. It just says it all! |
| |
Written By:
Linda Morgan
URL:
http://
|
