Posted on 06/22/2006 2:23:47 AM PDT by abb
And, BTW, Robert Zelnick is the same Bob Zelnick formerly of ABC News...
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/robert_zelnick/profile.html
"He does not ruin lives with charges that will die in any courtroom in which they are tried."
Alas, the sad state of American jurisprudence is that judges who ought to intervene to prevent this kind of abuse fear the community reaction more than they care about justice; and so they permit the case to drag on and on, like the Energizer bunny.
And juries can be stacked; they can convict because they want to convict, regardless of any evidence.
And legal minds (such as those at the Duke Law faculty) imagine they can escape becoming involved by remaining aloof, not realizing that they are involved already; and that their silence speaks more loudly about them and their values than anything else.
(Welcome to Scottsboro 2006. Judge Horton, where are you?)
Here is a link to what is purported to be the entire line up of one time through the photo array, possibly number 6.
http://www.wral.com/slideshow/dukelacrosse/9141851/detail.html?qs=;s=1;w=800
Do you know when the script of the ID was made public? Who released it?
The AV identified 17 of 46 as having been at the party 3 weeks after the event. She was unequivocal about the 17. Ahe even remembered indiviudals who did nothing but were watching TV! This in and of itself is an amazing feat of recall. She has a phenomenal memory or she is lying.
It would be interesting to match her id's with those actually at the party.
Something is very suspicious about this line up. She simply can't be that unequivocal. She has either rehearsed this or been primed to respond a certain way. Records of the other line ups will help clarify this.
It is also noteworthy that while she was explicit about what two individuals did - she was neither asked nor volunteered what the other two suspects #4 and #5 did. Nor did she identify the one who "strangled" her.
If it has been used, it's been by British media. They tend to get to the point on some things...
A few things that can be done :
The Duke Law Faculty can pen a joint letter requesting the NC attorney general to intervene and take the case away from Nifong. (Despite denials, there are in fact provisions for an AG in NC to do this.)
Likewise, they can request a special prosecutor.
Both these actions would carry some weight.
(For that matter, criminal law professors around the country could do the same thing. Does anyone think that if the accused were AA involved in a similar travesty of justice, that they wouldn't already have done this?)
But all we get is silence.
In years to come, when this case is studied (and learned tomes are written to analyze it), the words of all these law professors--who are going to pen these tomes--are going to ring hollow and be filled with hypocrisy; because when their words would have had some meaning and they could have helped to end this injustice, they couldn't bring themselves to speak.
Today's crop of letters to the editor in the Durham area papers...
http://www.newsobserver.com/673/story/456986.html
http://www.herald-sun.com/opinion/hsletters/
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MCNEIL, KENNETH, NATHANIEL
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Reckon the perp asaulted Crystial and her kids?
I'm thinkin maybe.
She had to go to court to get child support.
Regardless of who the father was, if those kids were born when she was married to him, the law assumes he is the father (I know, another thread topic)
Maybe she was staying with him. We all know how supportive he was when the cameras were in his face.
I can't believe I missed all of the news coverage on this one. \sarcasm
"DV PROTECTIVE ORDER VIOL"
Mmm, many possibilities. I wonder if the article about the 2 mil offer from Jakee reminded him it was time to pay the ex-little woman a courtesy call.
Just thinking out loud.
correction : offer not from Jakkee.
He/she was the source of the story..
are you a poster on the court tv threads? they need to see that information over there...
I have a screen name over there, God only knows what it is..
JLS, don't you post over there?
I do post over there some. They seem to be closed again today. So I guess that information can go their on Wednesday at the earliest?
they have a weekend thread going, JLS
http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.php?s=0b7a7c306f78dea51bff1748053d1813&postid=8223943#post8223943
Re: the research on eyewitness identification: A big name in this area is Gary Wells. He used to be at Iowa State but I heard he may be leaving there. No question, the defense will try to get him as an expert witness.
There is a lot of information out there about bias in lineups and photo id's. The longer the length of time between incident and photo id, the greater the number of errors. Priming by showing the photos beforehand to see who she recognized as having been at the party, as the Durham police apparently did,increases the number of false id's. Repetition, e.g., six id sessions, as the Durham Police apparently did, increases the errors.
The big names in the area of forensic psychology and memory are: Wells, Ceci, Loftus, Bruck and Roediger to name just a few. The area has been well researched and I'm sure the defense attorneys have already lined them up as expert witnesses. The Durham PD and Nifong have done *everything* wrong in their photo id presentations. The defense attorneys will have a ball pointing out all their mistakes.
BTW, people who have been sexual abused as children are very susceptible to false memories. I suspect the defense attorneys have good reason to trying to obtain the AV's medical records.
The IQ and/or sobriety of the accuser is inversely proportional to the number of errors as well! :D
MCNEIL, KENNETH, NATHANIEL
One must wonder if the DA is applying pressure on McNeil to give testimony in support of the accuser. Another cab driver/Kim Roberts Pittman pressure play?
Does anyone know off the cuff what Nifong's middle name is?
Mud.
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