The three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape last year were declared innocent this week, but that doesn't end the case. Mike Nifong, the district attorney who insisted on continuing the prosecution despite the evidence that led the attorney general to declare the men innocent, is still in office, and he's now facing ethics charges with the state bar. His hearing yesterday with the Disciplinary Hearings Commission didn't go well for him. But could he have bigger problems than just losing his law license? Joseph Kennedy writes in Slate that he could:
if Nifong indeed committed all of the acts alleged in the ethics complaint, he may also have obstructed justice in violation of state law and committed a federal civil rights crime.The strongest basis for a prosecution on either charge would probably be the allegations that Nifong tried to suppress DNA test results that suggested the innocence of the defendants
As the Duke players themselves have noted, it's horrifying to think about the implications of district attorneys suppressing DNA evidence: It's entirely possible that Nifong railroaded other defendants, and that those defendants didn't have the Duke players' resources to fight back. It's good news that the Duke players won't go to prison. It will also be good news if Nifong does go to prison.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-15-2007 @ 3:09PM
Yerodin said...
We may be all missing something important here.
Two undergraduates and a senior are charged with rape, kidnapping, and commiting a sexual offense, on a woman who is found to have on or in her body, DNA material from several donors.
The woman is an exotic dancer, and the average person's belief is that nobody gets to deposit DNA on or in an exotic dancer.
The woman & another exotic dancer attend a party at which there are 47 males, lots of drinking, and boisterous behavior.
The party is arranged & promoted by three Duke Lacrosse team captains:
1. Matthew Zash.
2. David Evans.
3. Daniel Flannery.
Invitees include undergraduates
1. Collin Finnerty.
2. Reade Seligmann.
Mr. Evans has been previously cited by the police for noise violations.
Both Mr. Evans and Mr. Flannery appear to be in charge of financial transactions with regard to the entertainment for the evening.
Exotic dancing entertainment costs $800 dollars up front, and the expectation is two hours worth of performance.
The dancers turn up, with one dancer appearing at least as inebriated as perhaps 30 of the 47 men.
Please pause in your reading.
Assume that there is an information blackout, and nothing else can be heard.
Later the story picks back up, with one of the exotic dancers saying she was throttled & sexually assaulted.
The woman is within her right to make a report, and get all of the assistance that is available for victims of that type of crime. (i.e. Regardless of her ethnicity)
Tomorrow's Headline news…… it happened at a Duke University party with all Duke students, at the edge of the Duke Campus.
If the police & prosecutors did do something right, it was to investigate the woman's report. After all, it is their job to investigate crimes against citizens of the community.
What happens next might seem mystifying to all but the most logical mind.
It is worth noting that a DNA examiner could not tie DNA material from the 3 men charged by the prosecutor's office, to the DNA lifted from the dancer's body.
With the DNA evidence that could be recovered, nobody can yet say whose DNA was present on the woman.
The woman claims she was sexually assaulted.
Doesn't it seem to be a miscarriage of justice for all and sundry to be focused on, whose DNA does not match what was recovered?
I don't personally know any of the characters in this sordid story, but I sympathize from recognition of the FUBAR logic being used by the media and law enforcement.
Look again, & look deeper.
Sincerely,
Yerodin Parris.
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