Posted on 09/28/2006 10:46:27 AM PDT by CondorFlight
Police: Gang Threats Postpone Murder Trial
By Darla Miles
(DURHAM) - Durham officials have postponed a murder trial amid alleged gang-related threats of violence... Tuesday's courthouse melee erupted on the fifth-floor, after key witnesses backed out of the Nicholson trial. They said they were being threatened.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
"You can't really conduct trials in an atmosphere, where there is intimidation of witnesses, or where there is fear that something might happen," Nifong said. "The District Attorney's Office is not equipped to protect witnesses in any situation. There aren't any local witness protection programs, or anything of that nature. The fact is people are to some extent on their own, in terms of their protection."
IOW, the DA is saying that he can't protect witnesses.
(Wonder how it feels to be a witness to an upcoming trial
there?)
Nifong is as empty as a suit can get, it appears.
In all fairness, we had the same stuff here in little old Jackson, Michigan. It seems as though the local kids meet Detroit gang members, and the gangs have discovered Jackson's drug traffic.
We just sent 3 gangstas away on the testimony of another gang member, which means his life will probably be short.
Yep, imagine the absolute breakdown in authority that enables "gangstas" to burst into a courtroom and make threats. When I was coming up, those guys would have been found "under the jail". Case closed.
As far as I'm concerned, that ought to get drummed right out of their cushy jobs and straight into being legal aides (again).
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