And don’t let the door hit you in the ass:
Michael B. Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, announced Friday that he would resign, as he faces disciplinary charges for his handling of a sexual assault prosecution against three former Duke University lacrosse players who were later declared innocent.
Speaking in a barely audible voice in testimony before a disciplinary hearing panel, Mr. Nifong apologized to the players, their families and the North Carolina justice system.
His resignation came as a surprise on the fourth day of a hearing by the North Carolina State Bar, which has charged him with “systematic abuse of prosecutorial discretion” for withholding evidence and making improper pretrial statements.
“It has become increasingly apparent, during the course of this week, in some ways that it might not have been before, that my presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice,” Mr. Nifong said.
Joseph B. Cheshire, a lawyer for one of the three former players, said of Mr. Nifong’s promise to resign: “I believe it is a cynical political attempt to save his law license. His apology is far too late.”
Is there anyone who doesn’t think his resignation is anything more than a cynical ploy to save his law license?
jake
Oops, you did see it.
Clearly he has borrowed a page from the Goodling/McNulty/Elston &c playbook: Walk before they run your arse out of town. The man gets a special FU for setting the prosecution of rape cases back about 5,000 years.
taodon
Nifong is a true hero…
To rapists, opportunists, and knee-jerk racial injustice cry-babies everywhere.
ThymeZone
The real story, which is not being told … yet … is that Nifong is a lot more typical than you might think. Prosecutorial incompetance, abuse and excess are not uncommon in this country. People caught in the gears of the system are treated as disposable.
I can provide pretty convincing testimony that people who work in that field sit around and refer to anyone who happens to be in the back seat of a police car as “scumbags” whether those persons have been convicted or even charged with any crime, or not …. or whether the speaker has any knowledge of the individual or the case, or not. When you get sucked into this system, you are cannon fodder for someone else’s ambition and agenda.
Nifong just got exposed in a sensational case. What he did is not unusual.
The Other Steve
I’m going to start a new video series… Prosecutors Gone Wild!
Although to be fair. Back in the early 1980s the county attorney where I lived when after a big child-sex ring. Arrested something like 40 people. By the time she got the first two convicted, the media(and the local Republican party) was convinced that it was some giant prosecutor witch hunt and started calling for her removal. She got ousted in the election.
But from everything I heard and saw, there was a real case there.
It so depends.
ThymeZone
But judging from you post, you dont get what it depends on.
What it does NOT depend on is the anecdotal view of any particular case or cases.
What it does depend on is the prosecutorial agenda and ethos that makes up the culture in any prosecutor’s office. The way the process is viewed, and treated.
If 98% of the cases that your prosecutor advances are good, then justice in your district is a disaster. Because 2% badly handled cases is a train wreck to the lives and futures of people in your community.
AFAIC even 1% is a train wreck. What percentage of cases in your district are good, solid prosecutions, in which there is zero abuse, zero excess, zero treatment of the accused as disposable? Do you know?
Go down and talk to your local Public Defender’s office to get a quick clue. They know.
p.lukasiak
yeah, because his resignation has no bearing on the outcome of the hearings on his conduct, and the recommendations that will be issued. He’s quitting, as Jake suggested above, before he gets fired, and his quitting won’t mean squat in terms of whether he gets disbarred or not.
Tulkinghorn
If Nifong is admitting errors in judgment, and seeks to limit the sanctions to be received (I strongly doubt he will be disbarred), then it is appropriate for him to stand down as a demonstration that he recognizes the severity of his actions. It is neither cynical nor craven, just a matter of demonstrating responsibility. He let his political judgment drive his choice of how and who to prosecute.
Nifong is a huge improvement over the crooks at the DOJ. They are guilty of conspiracy to do much worse than Nifong ever did (at least the lacrosse players had the means to defend themselves – the people driven away and intimidated from the polls will never have that chance to vote again). And they are up their lying to the public and to congress, brazenly toughing it out in confidence that their lord shall protect and pardon them as needed.
Save your contempt for where it is needed.
Mr Furious
I’m with P.Luk…why should his quitting save him from being disbarred? And frankly, why isn’t he being prosecuted? I hope he at least finds his ass in civil court.
jake
When any person, sworn to uphold the law, decides to re-interpret “sworn,” “uphold” and “law,” the rest of us get screwed. Nifong, Gonzales, the cop who sodomizes a prisoner with a broom handle, are all interchangable creeps who should not hold power over other human beings. Trying to rank these bastards in order of awfulness is a waste of time. They all suck and the world don’t need ’em.
No worries, I’ve got plenty to spare.
grumpy realist
Well, whatever Nifong was trying to pull out of the hat at the last minute, it didn’t work. AP reports that he’s just been disbarred.
Tulkinghorn
Damn, that was fast. I guess those North Carolina attorneys, whether prosecutors of bar counsel, sure like to move fast. I am astonished that they would rule on a Saturday, the day after testimony is given, like that. Where I have tracked such cases in other states the process takes months at best.
Then again, streamlining process and leaping to conclusions seem to be what the North Carolina bar does best.
PaulW
The resignation didn’t do much: he’s still being disbarred this evening by what has to be the slowest speaking judge in all of North Carolina.
jake
A few minutes ago I read that he agreed that he should be disbarred. Now, if he’ll slap on a cape and mount a one man crusade to stamp out crooked PA’s, I’ll be ready to turn down the scorn-o-tronic.
Pure speculation: It was agree to this or get dragged through court for the next decade. But that’s just speculation.
Paul L.
Watched parts of Nifong Testimony on the web
Found the following bits interesting.
Nifong started out as a social worker
Called Durham a progressive community.
Still believes Crystal Mangum’s story (something happened).
Claimed in court that the defense had all exculpatory evidence. When asked why he did not include the exculpatory DNA evidence of other men found in the rape kit. Claimed that he did not check the report to see that information was in the report.
so his defense was He’s not unethical just incompetent.
edmund dantes
He probably thought this defense works so well for Bush and the gang he might as well give it the ole’ college try.
Cromagnon
I could never figure out why this was a national story to begin with
ATS
Let’s not sell Nifong short. Making Dukies an object of sympathy is a masterpiece of irony, akin to moral alchemy.
Inspired by all this, I tried to hire strippers for my first communion next week, but they wouldn’t fit in the lower school bathroom.
Paul L.
Hint:
Rich White privileged men at prestige college “raped” a poor black woman who stripped to put herself through a black college.
The prefect meta-narrative for the woman and black studies types and their allies in the media to show that white males are sexist and racist pigs.
incontrolados
It’s not like Nifong hired any strippers for a party. It’s not like several white boys — Nifong included — did nothing wrong. Pity. It’s so hard to be a guy and white.
Let me know when all of the cases where non-white males and females of all stripes start getting the support that those Duke boys did and when the prosecutors like Nifong start getting nailed for what they do to those groups.
I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
Paul L.
Correction: the perfect meta-narrative
Seeing that Nifong is a democrat, he could have learned the “incompetent” defense from”
The Clinton White House defense on how they got 1000 FBI files on their opponents or how Sandy Berg(l)er ended up removing classified documents from the National Archives.
Paul L.
The Duke 3 were not accused of hiring strippers. They were accused of rape/sexual assault. boorish behavior is not a crime. However, Durham is a progressive community.
Let me know when you see protests, marches, and statements to the media calling for the arrest of a group of a non-white males or females accused of rape by a white male.
jrg
Nifong is a hypocrite, opportunist, and politician. Race-baiting, IMO, is no less ethical than gay-baiting.
How many elected Dems were burning these kids at the stake before they had a chance at a fair trial (links please)? I’m not talking about shit-nuts Black Panthers.
incontrolados
Will do. Paul L. You do know that white males don’t have to protest or march, right?
And in the end, we will never know what happened at that party. Those boys will never tell and the females have been publicly discredited. But like people always say — charges dropped doesn’t equal innocence.
cleek
when was the last time a DA from a small city anywhere in America gained this kind of national notoriety ?
matt
I posted about this the last time John had a thread up about it, but I still think there’s a fascinating story here to be told about why this particular story captured the political blogosphere the way it did.
Tulkinghorn
Really? It seems pretty simple to me. You don’t need to be a Marxist to understand this is all about class. The political elite and media elite and corporate elite and well-educated bloggers look at the three defendants and see people just like their own sons. They look at the accuser, and see a minority, unmarried mother with two children from two different fathers, making a living in the sex industry, and go “ick”.
These college students almost got railroaded, and that is a new and remarkable phenomenon for these elites.
mclaren
Whoops, Nifong has been bisbarred. At this point he’s hit rock bottom and there’s no place left for him but to become…
…WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL!
Trilateral Chairman
I suspect that all of this is a last-ditch attempt to save himself from further legal action. He resigned instead of being fired; he accepted the disbarment (even agreed with it); he acknowledged at least some of his errors. At some point, the lacrosse players are going to look vindictive–as though they’re hitting a guy when he’s already down. “He’s already lost his job and his career, and he admitted his mistake,” people will say. “What’s left?”
I don’t particularly agree with that view. I used to live in Durham, and I can only imagine how his actions have further damaged race relations there. But I do think that before too long, people will be putting Nifong in the victim’s seat. It is, after all, very easy to paint rich white boys as heartless greedy jerks.
jake
Please stop. I was in law school during the Mike Tyson trial and I can’t tell you how alarming it was to hear future lawyers drag out some case from the 70’s about a rape victim who later admitted she lied, ergo D. Williams (Washington?) must be lying. When Tyson was convicted these same jackasses said: “Well, we’ll never know what happened in that hotel room.” (Ergo he might be innocent.)
Your logic sucks just as hard.
Yep. And “If you’ve done nothing wrong, what are you afraid of?” People say all sorts of idiotic things, don’t they? Fortunately the law is set up so that in theory the stupid things “people always say” has no impact on what happens to the defendant.
Paul L.
Here is your chance to defend/give support to the suspects in the Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom murder like the right did for the Duke 3.
Afterall, the neo-nazi’s are protesting it.
Stand up for Justice for Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom Rally
And no I am not a neo-nazi, I found the site on google.
Perhaps you should check what the NC Attorney General said when he dropped the charges.
N.C. attorney general: Duke players ‘innocent’
Now, can you give me any reason/evidence to believe the accuser?
Tulkinghorn
Paul L.:
Why link to such a thing? How does it relate to the Duke case, aside from it being a an interracial case?
1- This case has not been suppressed by the media, if that is what is being suggested here;
2- There is no such thing as officially branding something a hate crime – just prosecutorial discretion. Is there even any hate crime statute for the jurisdiction hearing this case?
3- Demand that the media report something? These people sound like Symbionese Liberation Army here…
You seem to be trying to make a point here, but I can’t figure out what it is or how it follows.
According to reports the white kids were lynched, and it is horrible, just like any lynching. It is nice to see the white supremacists launching an anti-lynching campaign, even if it is 150 years too late to do much good for anyone.
Tulkinghorn
And Paul, 30 seconds of research via the Google indicates that the Tennessee Hate crime statutes do not apply here. The only Federal charge is carjacking, and that does not seem to be enough to bring the case within the Federal hate crime law (victims not engaging in Federally protected activity).
Now, if the good white people of Tennessee had not opposed proper hate crime and anti-lynching laws at the state and federal level for the last century these white supremacist wankers might actually have a point. And you might, too. But I doubt it.
Paul L.
It is an example of a case where neo-nazis are protesting as the new black panthers party was in the Duke Lacrosse case.
I do not agree with the neo-nazis points and am awaiting more information before making the judgment.
There have been a lot of inaccurate reports and speculation in this case, did the report that the white kids were lynched come from law enforcement?
Bob In Pacifica
The fraudulent case does not rise and fall on Mike Nifong. Prior to his involvement in it the Durham Police Department, most notably a cop named Gottlieb, did a number of illegal things to promote the case. He should be prosecuted. During the bar hearing SANE nurse Tara Levicy got on the stand briefly and either perjured herself, revealed that Gottlieb had perjured himself in previous venues, or revealed that both had perjured themselves.
In short, there should be criminal prosecutions. There will definitely be lawsuits. The city of Durham, Duke U. and several other entities are all on the hook for legal fees and damages.
The Other Steve
I really wish John Cole would do a post about Casey Serin.
This guy is the poster child for just about everything wrong with this country. He’s racked up $2.2 million in debt to buy houses in bubble land, California… refuses to get a job because God will provide.
Latest Casey Serin News
His website
His fanclub
The Mortage Implode-a-meter
ThymeZone
If you think the Nifong debacle is an exception that proves a rule, that prosecution in this country is being advanced in a fair way that protects your rights and your freedom, then ask a few questions and let us know the answers:
1. What percentage of proscutions in your jurisdiction, and in the largest jurisdiction within 100 miles, are good ones? By that we mean, what percentage of them are possibly sending innocent people to jail, or over-prosecuting in order to advance an agenda that is not about justice?
2. While you are answering that question, also explain what your metrics are and how you are applying them.
3. Also describe how the prosecuting agencies involved are applying those metrics and enforcing rigid standards of good prosecution within their offices.
4. Make sure you get input from the public defender agencies in those same jurisdictions.
5. Ascertain what you think is the acceptable level of marginal or bad prosecutions. Is it two percent? Is 98% good prosecution good enough for you? In my district, a two percent bad rate would have one innocent or possibly innocent person going to jail every day. How many railroaded, abused or over-prosecuted people can I tolerate? One a day? One a week? One a month? Because I assure you, the actual number is never zero.
6. Who is the watchdog in your area, and how are they doing? Who keeps an eye out for the rights of the little guy, the guy who isn’t Paris Hilton or a Duke Lacrosse player whose parents are being interviewed on 60 Minutes because they are important rich white people?
Isn’t prosecution in your district pretty much an out-of-sight-out-of-mind deal, save for the splashy cases that get on the nightly news? Doesn’t your system treat the accused as pretty much disposable?
To what extent is manipulative prosecution being used in your area? That is, prosecution that is advanced in order to coerce witnesses to talk or testify against others? How much of this is a good thing? Is it okay to ruin the life of A in order to get bad guy B?
To what extent does your jurisdiction rely on things like jailhouse snitches to advance prosecutions? Do you care about these abuses to the system? If they happened, how would you know about it?
Citizens are treating justice as a necessary evil. And they are leaving its administration to politicians. Need any more be said here about the mendacity of politicians?
I think of the criminal justice system the way Benjamin Franklin described the product of the Constitutional Convention: You have a justice system … if you can keep it. I’m sad to say that I am less convinced than ever that we can keep it.
Redleg
Paul L,
It always does go back to Clinton for you knee-jerk neo-cons, doesn’t it? By the way, didn’t Berger remove those files after Clinton left office? I thought so.
incontrolados
sorry jake, I was thinking of the less famous cases that go through our system every day — not Mike Tyson — when I wrote that. And it is not my logic — you and I both know that people in general make up their minds about guilt or innocence before a trial has happened. Give me a break — otherwise the case of Libby, the border guards and the
Duke boys wouldn’t even have gone to trial. There is a large segment of our collective puplic that judges BEFORE the evidence is in and there is always a possibility that someone who is guilty as hell will go free based on his skin color — or biological gender. I can point you to Robert Durst as an example.
People of color don’t get this sort of coverage. They just get convicted, sometimes wrongly and our system just goes along. Despite Sister La Bar.
jh
This bears repeating.
Do people honestly think Nifong is the anomoly?
The only things outstanding about this case is that rich, white guys found themselves on the business end of a gun normally aimed at the poor and the non-white.
That’s it.
As TZ has so aptly explained, talk to a Public Defender in any reasonably sized municipality.
Procedural misconduct, racially charged, overzealous prosecutions and all other manner of legal travesties are occurring with alarming regularity every single day.
TR
Number of Clinton officials convicted: 0
Number of Reagan officials convicted: 33
Number of W. officials convicted: still counting
And yet these assclowns still insist Clinton’s term in office were the height of political misconduct.
Jimmmmm
Because of that bastard Nifong, rich white kids won’t be able to rape strippers at their private parties without fear of having to hire lawyers and media reps.
The horror!