D.A. Nifong's Trial Begins

[John Kilduff]

Opening arguments began this morning. As we might expect this case to be in the news a lot, I thought it would be worthy of a thread.

WRAL News

I am appalled and outraged at what it appears that Nifong has done. While I am generally in favor of leniency for defendants in most cases, in this case I feel the opposite way. Those with the most power bear the most responsibility, and the intentional severe abuse of power in official capacity is beyond reprehensible, in my opinion - all the more so when such abuse can truly ruin people's lives.

I'm having a hard time thinking of any personal crime more evil than what it appears Nifong has attempted, short of murder.

I think those in power must be dissuaded from severely abusing that power. If all is as it appears on its face, and a conviction is gained, I hope they throw the book at Nifong and then some. This guy strikes me as more evil and unconscionable than violent gang members, and at least as dangerous.

As someone else asked, what if the accused Duke students had not the means to pay big $$$ to defend themselves? They would be in jail now with their lives ruined. Very few things make me really mad but Nifong has managed to arouse my ire enormously.

The case should be interesting as it proceeds.

Some have indicated that they think a D.A. is totally immune from all prosecution related to his actions during a case, but some experts have disputed this, saying it depends upon certain criteria. A link or two was posted in a previous thread explaining why D.A.s are not necessarily unconditionally immune to all prosecution. I am aware the matter may be debatable. If people wish to argue that point, perhaps the old thread should be resurrected for that purpose rather than arguing it in this thread (as I hope this thread folllows the current case as it develops, and that particular question may involve much discussion).

If the North Carolina State Bar, which has charged Nifong with several violations of the state's rules of professional conduct, is not pursuing charges that carry criminal penalties, then I would hope Nifong is later so charged. It appears to me that Nifong more or less attempted the professional equivalent of attempting to execute three persons he knew were innocent. Words cannot fully express my revulsion at his apparent conduct and the feeling of loathing so instilled.

Thanks for reading and for listening to this semi-rant, and hopefully the Nifong trial will provide material for a good continuing thread.

[John Kilduff]

Nifong Disbarred

excerpt: "The North Carolina State Bar charged Nifong with breaking several rules of professional conduct, including lying to both the court and bar investigators and withholding critical DNA test results from the players' defense attorneys.

The committee, after deliberating for a little more than an hour on Saturday, unanimously agreed with the bar on almost every charge—including the most serious allegations—that Nifong's actions involved "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation."

excerpt: "The players' attorneys have pledged to seek criminal contempt charges next week in Durham. "

Looks to me like a good first step or two in the right direction.

[ElliotR]

Does anyone know why they didn't impose the death penalty? Or is that for the next trial?

[John Kilduff]

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Does anyone know why they didn't impose the death penalty? Or is that for the next trial?


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excerpts:

"If the motion asking for criminal sanctions against Nifong is granted, the prosecutor could land in prison. The players, who have been exonerated, are also asking for financial reimbursement. Nifong was disbarred last Saturday for breaking more than two dozen rules of professional conduct in his handling of the Duke lacrosse rape case. He said in a letter released Monday that he would leave office July 13."

"Also Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson suspended Nifong with pay. The county sheriff, who immediately stripped Nifong of his badge and the keys to his office, was ordered to prevent Nifong from carrying out any duties of the office. There is probable cause to believe that the district attorney has engaged in willful misconduct in office and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, which brings the office into disrepute," Hudson wrote in his order."

FOX news story

In my opinion, there is probably no punishment that could legally be given to Nifong that is commensurate with what he tried to do to these three young men. He tried to ruin 3 lives yet he has only 1 life. That he was supposedly acting as an agent of the state in the interests of the justice system only makes it worse. As before stated, I am beyond revulsed at Nifong's conduct, and can only wonder how many more conscienceless, sociopathic prosecutors are running wild in our justice system.

[adios]

Is this an isolated incident or is it part of an ongoing pattern of unethical behavior? Nifong was an assistant DA there for a long time. If it's another incident in an ongoing pattern of unethical behaviour he probably isn't the only lawyer in the DAs office who was involved in unethical behavior. Don't know really and I can see a possiblity that it was a one time incident but don't think that's likely i.e. IMO it's more likely to represent on ongoing pattern of behavior. The accused basically stated that without the resources they had available to fight their charges, they would have been in serious jeopardy of going to jail. When a DA compromises the discovery process like he did it's not only reprehensible but terrifying. Don't know the quality of representation the indigent get in felony cases but the perception by many is that it's not all that good. If DAs act unethically (perhaps criminally) then I would think we'd see many indigent defendents going to jail when they shouldn't be going. It's fairly clear why some lawyers would want to take a case like this and "sweep it under the rug" so to speak.

[John Kilduff]

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Is this an isolated incident or is it part of an ongoing pattern of unethical behavior?

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I have no idea and that's an excellent question.

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Nifong was an assistant DA there for a long time. If it's another incident in an ongoing pattern of unethical behaviour he probably isn't the only lawyer in the DAs office who was involved in unethical behavior. Don't know really and I can see a possiblity that it was a one time incident but don't think that's likely i.e. IMO it's more likely to represent on ongoing pattern of behavior.

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Makes sense, but still hard to handicap without more information.

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The accused basically stated that without the resources they had available to fight their charges, they would have been in serious jeopardy of going to jail.

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The accused spent millions of dollars on defense, according to the article.

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When a DA compromises the discovery process like he did it's not only reprehensible but terrifying.

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Agreed.

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Don't know the quality of representation the indigent get in felony cases but the perception by many is that it's not all that good.

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Many death row inmates have been later exonerated (and some posthumously) by DNA evidence. The justice system is apparently strongly tilted, even in criminal cases, in favor of deep pockets. This might be a topic for a good paper or article and not just re. death row cases.

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If DAs act unethically (perhaps criminally) then I would think we'd see many indigent defendents going to jail when they shouldn't be going.

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My guess is that there probably are many such cases. If many death row inmates can be later exonerated by DNA evidence, and convictions are presumably harder to obtain for capital murder than for lesser offenses such as larceny, it makes sense to guess that the percentage of erroneous convictions for lesser offenses would be higher than for capital cases, so yes...my guess is there are many erroneous convictions and people going to jail wrongly.

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It's fairly clear why some lawyers would want to take a case like this and "sweep it under the rug" so to speak.

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Of course, but still reprehensible IMO.

I think part of the problem is that DA's have a "career" so to speak. Yet they are supposed to seek justice above convictions. A higher conviction rate probably helps a DA's career, though, does it not? So DA's have a compromising or conflicting incentive that shouldn't exist if justice is truly to be served. I'm not sure what could be done to rectify that; maybe someone more intimately familiar with the prosecutorial role could comment.

Thanks for your interesting points.

[Lestat]

Has it been determined that Nifong KNEW these men were innocent?

I agree wholeheartedly with you, but I think a different scenario may be possible. I.e., he went way too far in aggressively pursuing these guys without sufficient or even very scanty evidence in order to increase his political chances. That's a crime and should be severely punished. But it doesn't mean that he didn't genuinely believe they were guilty. So he may have just been way over-aggressive and ignored things he shouldn't have ignored.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say except... I think there's a big difference between knowingly trying to ruin 3 innocent lives for political gain, and the gross negligence of overlooking critical evidence, because he believed they were most likely guilty anyway. The first, I think he should hang. The latter, he should have the book thrown at him as you suggest, but it's not as bad as the first scenario.

I admit, I haven't followed this all that closely.

[Lestat]

The story of the black football player sentenced to 10 years in jail for CONSENSUAL fellatio (he was 17, the girl was 15), comes to mind. How is this any less catastrophic than than what Nifong did? And a judge has since ruled his sentence as absurd, but the prosecutor is STILL trying to keep him behind bars!

Another noteworthy item was a black teenage girl given an outrageous sentence for pushing a teacher's aid. The same judge who sentenced her, gave a white girl the same age (who had been in trouble multiple times), probation for setting a house on fire!

The fact is, southern law and thinking is still decades behind the civilized world. There needs to be a major shakeup down there. Perhaps Nifong went out of his way to counter balance the injustice in order to gain favor from voters.

[John Kilduff]

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Has it been determined that Nifong KNEW these men were innocent?

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Is that conclusion 100% known? I don't know, but here are a few facts. Nifong knew that none of the three accuseds DNA was found in or on the stripper, whereas the DNA of some other man was so found. (So how did they rape her without leaving any DNA evidence whatsoever? And why did the stripper not mention to Nifong the man whose DNA was found?) It is also known that Nifong conspired with the head of the DNA lab to NOT release exculpatory evidence in the case.

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I agree wholeheartedly with you, but I think a different scenario may be possible. I.e., he went way too far in aggressively pursuing these guys without sufficient or even very scanty evidence in order to increase his political chances. That's a crime and should be severely punished. But it doesn't mean that he didn't genuinely believe they were guilty. So he may have just been way over-aggressive and ignored things he shouldn't have ignored.

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I can't see how he believed they were guilty given the DNA lab results.

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I'm not sure what I'm trying to say except... I think there's a big difference between knowingly trying to ruin 3 innocent lives for political gain, and the gross negligence of overlooking critical evidence, because he believed they were most likely guilty anyway. The first, I think he should hang. The latter, he should have the book thrown at him as you suggest, but it's not as bad as the first scenario.

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He had zero reason to think they were guilty except for the word of the stripper, yet the DNA evidence, of which he knew, cast immense doubt on the veracity of her story and even raised other questions. Yet Nifong chose to push ahead with the trial anyway.

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I admit, I haven't followed this all that closely.

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I haven't followed it very closely, but what I have followed looks to me to be very bad. No doubt more will be in the news and we'll get further updates.

[John Kilduff]

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The story of the black football player sentenced to 10 years in jail for CONSENSUAL fellatio (he was 17, the girl was 15), comes to mind. How is this any less catastrophic than than what Nifong did? And a judge has since ruled his sentence as absurd, but the prosecutor is STILL trying to keep him behind bars!

Another noteworthy item was a black teenage girl given an outrageous sentence for pushing a teacher's aid. The same judge who sentenced her, gave a white girl the same age (who had been in trouble multiple times), probation for setting a house on fire!

The fact is, southern law and thinking is still decades behind the civilized world. There needs to be a major shakeup down there. Perhaps Nifong went out of his way to counter balance the injustice in order to gain favor from voters.

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The examples you cite are really amazing and absurd.

If Nifong was trying to counterbalance other injustices by sending three innocent young men to jail then he is both immoral and a retard. Two unrelated wrongs can't make a right, and innocent lives were hanging in the balance. I strongly suspect he was largely motivated by personal gain.