December 27, 2006

NYT pretty much admits Duke lacrosse team was framed

From another news story buried over the pre-Christmas weekend by the newspaper that did more than any other to facilitate DA Mike Nifong's travesty of justice:

DNA Witness Jolted Dynamic of Duke Case
By DAVID BARSTOW and DUFF WILSON

DURHAM, N.C., Dec. 23 — The moment that may have changed the course of the Duke lacrosse rape case came in a packed courtroom two Fridays ago.

On the stand at a pretrial hearing was Brian W. Meehan, director of a private laboratory that performed extensive DNA testing on rape kit swabs and underwear collected from a stripper only hours after she said that she had been gang-raped by three Duke lacrosse players after performing at a team party in March. Mr. Meehan’s tests on the swabs and underwear had detected traces of sperm and other DNA material from several men.

But his tests had found something else, too: none of that DNA material was from the three players, or any of their teammates.

Mr. Meehan had promptly shared this information with Michael B. Nifong, the Durham district attorney. Yet his summary report — the one that would be turned over to the defense — mentioned none of this.

It was an awkward omission that Mr. Meehan struggled to explain under withering cross-examination from defense lawyers. At one point, he was forced to admit that the incomplete report violated his laboratory’s own protocols.

Finally, a defense lawyer asked Mr. Meehan if the decision not to report complete test results was “an intentional limitation” arrived at between him and Mr. Nifong. “Yes,” Mr. Meehan replied.

The courtroom, packed to standing room capacity with supporters of the players — who have always said they were innocent — erupted with applause. [More]


My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I especially liked the ending quote by Nifong “you all are flipping out over this particular case, which is not the most significant case in our office.." Funniest thing I've read all day

Anonymous said...

For hiding exculpatory evidence intentionally, Nifong should be disbarred.

Moreover, since this was intentional, he should be arrested for malicious prosecution and tried for it. What he did was no different than a cop attempting to plant a bag of dope on a motorist stopped for suspicion of drunk driving, but found not to be drinking, just driving too SLOW (there were NO laws broken).

What is REALLY dissapointing in this matter is that none of the civil rights organizations that were so anxious to try the lacrosse players have not stood up now and asked that all the charges be completely dropped. They, like many of us, were mislead by the media's early take on the story. I myself, after watching the first two reports out of Durham the day the story broke, thought the guys were probably guilty. I was astonished the case had been pursued as agitiprop for Nifong's re-election campain.


For those of you who think "no harm, no foul", consider this: the lawyers fees, the bail, the time out of school, the humiliation, the media exposure (Reid Seligman and Colin Finnerty will have their names remembered by those they meet for the next decade as "rape suspects" and "racists")and the money the parents are out of (Im afraid to guess) are very real consequences of Mike Nifong's dishonesty, as well as one sleazoid stripper.


I really dont think the lying stripper is gonna have to fork over a dime. Indeed, the gender-feminists on campus will probably try to rewrite the history of this "event" after the current freshman class leaves Duke (about 5 more years). Time will tell what the legacy of this is. The morale of the story to fratboys is this: dont hire a stripper for anybody's birthday, go to Hooters or something instead.

Anonymous said...

There are few if no AV supporters, so I'm not sure what all the concern is about?!

The defense has a solid case that should be tried in the courtrom, as quickly as possible. People in Durham should decide, not public pressure, not congressman from other districts.

The defense using PR tactics and (from what I have read in DC) PR firms to be so heavy-handed in the media may create a backlash and they could lose them the jury.

Lastly, there is no history of discrimination towards white males, so civil rights, whether orgs or feds, are most likely not going to get involved. Quite the opposite, the reason the public overwhelmingly supports the defendants is that they are considered of credible class, race, gender, etc. They are benefitting more than most who have contact with our system as defendants.

It is next to impossible to do anything to this DA but vote him out.

I prefer 'we the people' vote on DAs rather than having to rely on 'partisans' to fire a rogue DA who has become a permanently lodged civil servant.

Anonymous said...

This is good ol'Miles..........


Anonymous #3 wrote:

"....so I'm not sure what all the concern is about"?-----The concern is that the charges should have been dropped months ago based on the evidence, and the stripper charged with making a false police report. The CONCERN is that these boy's parents are out hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, bail, and are going to pay a lifetime of suspicion and have endured humiliation because of one sleazy pole-dancers false accusation and one policially inspired prosecutor. If the boys were NOT RICH, they'd still be in the tank awaiting a trial that should have never have taken place.

Does this not bother you?


Anonymous #3 wrote: "the defense has a solid case that should be tried in the courtroom".....NOPE, this should have not even made it to trial. No evidence. The trials that should take place are a stripper being on trial for filing a false police report, then a civil trial so the stripper can be tried for the pain, humiliation, and degradation of character she put 48 young men through.


Anonymous #3 wrote: "lastly, there is no history of discrimination towards whitre males"---------------------------HA HA HA, what college did you go to? I had to sit through English, Sociology, and Psychology classes where ALL I HEARD was how the white guys (who invented computers, the internet, planes, trains, automobiles, trucks, microwaves, refrigerators, space shuttles, satellites, guns, electric appliances like diswashers, clothes dryers, washing machines, central heat and air conditioning, modern medicine, modern surgery, modern medical equipment, electricity, pneumatic power, the internal-combustion engine, and pretty much every major advance the world enjoys were THE PROBLEM PLAGUING THE WORLD. The "discrimination" from one old white female English teacher in particular was just dripping from her fangs, er, teeth. White people, and especially white men in particular, are the only people who can be openly degraded with no fear of official backlash.


Anonymous #3 wrote: "civil rights, whether orgs or feds, are most likely not going to get involved". Youre right, but they SHOULD. The American Civil Liberties Union is supposed to protect the civil liberties as defined in the first ten amends to the Constitution of all citizens. In this respect they fail habitually, but they aren't "supposed" to.


Anonymous #3 wrote : "....defense usuing PR tactics (from what I have read in DC) PR firms to be so heavy-handed in the media may create a backlash and they could lose the jury"
-----------I hate PR as much as anybody, and the hired guns are admittedly despicabable, but in this one instance the hired-sleaze is on the side of innocence. I cannot impart enough that even if the charges against these innocent kids (who may be spoiled brats in all honesty) are dropped, they are still out a great, great, great deal of money and their reputations are sullied for a couple of decades (people will remember the names Seligman and Finnerty because the media repeated them so much). I feel especially sorry for Seligman because ATM receipts show he could not have even have been THERE at the time of the "rape".



Face it, the lacrosse players (even if they are arrogant rich kids.....or not) are completely innocent, and the STRIPPER should indeed be going to jail for filing a false report, lying (repeatedly) to police officers and the DA, and be made to make restitution as much as possible (I suggest garnishing 15% of her wages for however long it takes to repay the legal fees incurred, with interest).

That would be just.

Anonymous said...

http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2006/12/28/550734.html&cvqh=itn_duke



The NC bar has just filed charges against Nifong. We have some self respect left in America. I hope they disbar him.