Posted on 04/22/2006 2:45:35 AM PDT by abb
Defense lawyers and legal experts say District Attorney Mike Nifong may have crossed ethical lines in public comments about rape allegations involving Duke University lacrosse players, potentially prejudicing jurors and setting off a media maelstrom.
Nifong says that he has done nothing wrong, though he has ceased talking with reporters about allegations made by an escort service dancer hired to perform at a March 13 team party. He would speak only about his handling of the case Friday.
"In terms of what I said, no, I wouldn't say I regret anything I've said," Nifong said. "I think what I have learned, basically, is that if you cooperate with the media out of a sense of duty to public truth, you make yourself a victim."
Local observers were hard-pressed this week to remember a case with so much back-and-forth between the prosecution and defense playing out in a 24-hour news cycle. It has some suggesting a judge should step in with a gag order.
Defense attorneys for the lacrosse players say it is their clients who have been victimized by Nifong, and they blunt criticism of their own extensive public comments by saying they are just attempting to limit the damage. Some also said photos, ATM receipts and other evidence they claim exonerates the two team members arrested Tuesday were given to the media only after Nifong refused to look at them.
In its ethical rules, the N.C. State Bar orders lawyers to refrain from statements outside the courtroom that they know might have "a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" legal proceedings. But once one side talks to the press, ethics rules say the other side can make statements "a reasonable lawyer" would believe are required to protect a client from bad publicity.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Grist for today's discussion, doncha think?
Statements have been made that we are hearing the defense side. True, however there are independent statements and observations by people not involved with the incident which strongly corroborate the "accused." Barring some Perry Mason forensic evidence or confession, Nifong should do as they do in the Bible and "saddle his ass and depart."
Last night, Nancy Grace hardly discussed the case on her show. A very significant development. And now the N&O, which was at first heading up the lynch mob, has thrown Nifong down the stairs. I think the all the drive-by media will abandon Nifong this weekend...
Another N&O story here: http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/431417.html
DA changed bond status for second dancer
Probation arrest followed questioning
A dancer at the Duke lacrosse party where another hired escort reported a gang rape was arrested on a probation violation immediately after giving a statement to police about that night.
Kim Roberts, who danced with the woman who said she was attacked, was released on a $25,000 secured bond March 22, the day of her police interview.
On Monday, the day two lacrosse players were charged with rape, District Attorney Mike Nifong downgraded Roberts' bond to unsecured status, releasing her from the obligation to leave the money with the state -- bondsmen usually charge a 15 percent commission for this service -- or put up collateral.
Defense lawyers for the lacrosse players have said Nifong gave Roberts special treatment by downgrading the bond, which Nifong denies.
Roberts' "attorney requested that I do that and because I did not think that any of the reasons for pretrial release were served with this person remaining in custody," Nifong said. "That kind of thing happens every day."
Roberts' lawyer, Mark Simeon, said he requested the change in bond because Roberts was not a flight risk. He said defense attorneys were trying to undercut Roberts' credibility by bringing up her criminal record.
"It's nothing but a smear campaign," Simeon said. "The defense lawyers want to discredit her before potential jurors, to intimidate her into being quiet."
Roberts told The Associated Press that she doesn't know whether a rape occurred at the party but said she knew the lacrosse players had behaved badly.
snip
As a long time news junkie of the first order, I've often found that what ISN'T in the news is more important than what IS in the news...
Roberts has been convicted of a crime and is accused of a probation violation! How could anyone possibly think Nifong is showing any partisianship? (snark) Yo Nifong - step back and look hard at your involvement in this. You're over your head and your ethics are taking a beating. You might win a small battle here and there, but you stand to lose hugely in the long run! Somewhere out there is a voice of reason with whom you can consult. Get thee to that voice.
That is so true! What the media leave out of a story, or what they don't investigate is astonishing!
"an escort service dancer" "exotic dancers", etc.
The Drive-by Media is sugar coating the profession of the women they support.
Okay, I'll say it: they're whores.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! A stripper with a criminal conviction preaching about the behavior of others! I just LOVE it! Hey Kimmy, how about something like "Hate the sin but love the sinner." Yeah, THAT's the ticket!
I've been following this story closeley only since the DNA results came back negative, which was last week. Before that, I didn't monitor the threads closely.
But back about three weeks ago - which would have been about the time the driveby media would have been in full roar - would we have seen a story like this in the N&O?
Have you been following the story from the beginning?
I get so confused by the terms, are they drive by media or drive by whores? Is there a difference?
Well, one of them does it for the money... Oh, wait....
I've been following it and posting. However I am not an expert on it even though I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
LOL ! ! !
The last few days Howlin and Jezebele seem to be up to speed on it. I guess they're not awake yet...
Howlin has been outstanding on this! But, it's about time for me to call it for a few hours. (I'm in Kaleefornia) G'night and God Bless.
The Drive-by Media are drive-by whores. The exotic dancers are just whores. Same concept, different applications.
The Durham HeraldSun's spin on this story.
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-727102.html
DA contenders criticize Nifong
BY PAUL BONNER, The Herald-Sun
April 21, 2006 9:34 pm
DURHAM -- District Attorney Mike Nifong has mishandled the Duke lacrosse rape case, his opponents in the May 2 Democratic primary charged Friday.
Improper and unethical comments on the case by Nifong have fueled pretrial publicity that jeopardize its outcome and polarizes the community, said Freda Black in a press conference in front of the Durham County Judicial Building.
Black also said the case shouldn't be tried in the news media but in court. Publicity about the case, moreover, is overshadowing other concerns of more lasting importance to the administration of justice, she said. Those include homicides, such as the shooting death of a 16-year-old she said she learned about Thursday night. Police investigators later Friday said Tuesday's shooting was an act of self-defense.
"There will be a resolution of the [lacrosse] case," Black said. "But when we're left alone here in Durham, we will be left with the same issues we had prior to the inception of this case.
"If you want more of what we've got right now, vote for the interim district attorney," she said. "But if you want profound change, vote for me. ? We have to get back to what Durham needs."
Black denied that she was using the case to make a political point. She criticized Nifong for giving 70 on-air interviews about the case.
Nifong, asked for a response as he emerged from his office Friday, said that he had received about 70 interview requests but didn't grant that number and has given none since April 3. And he questioned Black's motives for calling the press conference, if they weren't political.
"So what was the purpose of her press conference?" he asked.
Keith Bishop, also a candidate in the primary, in a telephone interview echoed Black's criticisms.
"It's apparent that [Nifong] has spoken out on the case in a way that is imprudent," Bishop said. "He has jeopardized the harmony of race relations in Durham and has prejudiced the case involving the young woman, and he has prejudiced the young men involved."
Bishop also called for more transparency in the case, rather than issuing indictments from secret grand jury proceedings.
Nifong was appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to fill a vacancy last year left by the appointment of then-DA Jim Hardin to a judgeship. No Republicans are running.
"He's messing things up as the interim district attorney, and we should never make him more than the interim," Bishop said of Nifong.
Asked why she had previously required questions from The Herald-Sun to be submitted to her in writing, Black said the paper had misrepresented her. She said she particularly objected to a story by Herald-Sun reporter John Stevenson about a post-conviction motion by convicted murderer Gregory Wayne Bagley. Black, who was an assistant district attorney during Bagley's trial in 1994, was subpoenaed in the case.
Herald-Sun Editor Bob Ashley said the paper stands behind its reporting on the Bagley case.
"I don't think that assertion has any merit," Ashley said. "John strives to cover this story as he covers any story, with fairness and balance."
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