Posted on 03/29/2014 3:10:03 AM PDT by abb
Former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has held his tongue since his career imploded in the Duke lacrosse case. But his thoughts are about to land in bookstores, at length and virtually unchallenged.
“The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, The Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of Our Great Universities” is scheduled for publication April 8.
The book – $35 in hardback, 650 pages long – bills itself as “the definitive, magisterial account” of a case that generated tens of thousands of news stories, countless blog posts, seemingly endless cable gabfests and a handful of books.
Three Duke lacrosse players were charged with raping and sexually assaulting an escort service dancer, Crystal Gail Mangum, at a team party in March 2006. The players are white and wealthy, Mangum poor and black, and the case blew up into national outrage against the players until the facts emerged: There was no rape, Mangum had made up the story, the players were declared innocent and Nifong was stripped of his law license.
The case made international headlines and generated a new slang verb: to Nifong is “To use the law to destroy innocent people,” according to the website Urban Dictionary.
The author, William Cohan, is a Duke graduate and former investment banker who has written several well-received books about Wall Street.
Most of the new content in the book comes from Cohan’s interviews with Nifong. In the book, Nifong speaks at length about critical junctures in the case. Cohan allows the former prosecutor’s assertions to go unchallenged.
Nifong said he still believes that Mangum was attacked in the bathroom, as does Cohan.
“I am convinced, frankly, that this woman suffered a trauma that night,” Cohan said in an interview Friday. “Something did happen in that bathroom.”
Cohan is sympathetic to Nifong throughout the book. For example, Cohan writes that the charge that Nifong withheld evidence favorable to the defense was “a red herring.” This runs counter to findings from the N.C. State Bar and a Superior Court judge, who ruled that Nifong lied to the court and withheld evidence that helped prove the players’ innocence.
Nifong could not be reached for comment.
‘Sandbagged’ by Cooper?
One of the key moments in the case was April 11, 2007, when Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped charges and ended the case in a news conference televised live nationally.
Cohan wrote that Cooper “dropped a bombshell” at the press conference by declaring the three players innocent.
In the book, Nifong contends that Cooper declared the players innocent because of pressure from defense lawyers.
“Roy Cooper had some real doubt about what the defense board wanted him to do – that is to declare the boys to be actually innocent – which, of course, is something that’s well beyond the purview of the criminal justice system,” Nifong says in the book. “Roy Cooper would’ve lied if he thought it would help him.”
Nifong said that Cooper’s lead investigators, longtime prosecutors Jim Coman and Mary Winstead, were just as shocked as Nifong by the announcement.
“I have to believe, based on my knowledge of Jim Coman and Mary Winstead, that they were every bit as sandbagged by what happened as I was,” Nifong said.
Coman, who recently retired after 40 years in law enforcement, was the head of the Attorney General’s criminal division, former director of the State Bureau of Investigation, and one of the state’s most respected prosecutors.
Nifong is wrong, Coman said. “These characterizations are figments of his imagination,” he said.
Coman said he and Winstead insisted that Cooper declare the players innocent, and Cooper agreed.
“Roy was absolutely appalled at Nifong’s conduct, which gave the North Carolina justice system a black eye,” Coman said.
Evidence of innocence
Coman said all the physical evidence pointed to innocence – DNA tests; cellphone records of the players and Mangum; photographs and videos; and receipts from a gas station, restaurants and debit cards. One player, whom Coman dubbed “Ansel Adams,” photographed and videoed much of the evening.
“I was just adamant,” Coman said. “She lied, she made up a story, and damn it, we’ve got to do the right and ethical thing.”
Coman and Winstead said they were not contacted for the book. Cohan wrote that he tried to interview Cooper, who declined to speak with him.
In 2007, Cooper released a 21-page report explaining the evidence of the players’ innocence; Coman and Winstead wrote the report.
Cohan has filed a lawsuit trying to obtain the underlying documents for the report from Cooper’s office. Under North Carolina state law, criminal investigative records are not public.
Cooper declined to discuss the book with The News & Observer.
Neff: 919-829-4516
When this had been underway for a while I happened to be spending some time where I came in contact with two lawyers and their wives at a out of town setting. These fellows each headed different law firms in North Carolina which is where I was at the time.
They both said Nifong was an incompetent attorney and should never have been given a position with such responsibility. They had no doubt it was a bogus case and told me that they expected that it would fall apart.
Fall apart it did, but only after hundreds of thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars were spent on what should never have gotten past the investigation stage.
Um, NO, Nifong, you corrupt @$$hole. You're not getting away with the subtle blaming of the university, "the rich" and everybody but who the blame really belongs on - YOU. Arrogant, disbarred, POS.
> Nifong said he still believes that Mangum was attacked in the bathroom, as does Cohan... Cohan writes that the charge that Nifong withheld evidence favorable to the defense was “a red herring.” This runs counter to findings from the N.C. State Bar and a Superior Court judge, who ruled that Nifong lied to the court and withheld evidence that helped prove the players’ innocence.
Looks like Cohen’s just the literary equivalent of an ambulance chaser. Thanks abb.
Nifong must be a hell of a charmer...able to consistently drag people into his gyre...where they drown.
House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street
by William D. Cohan
http://www.amazon.com/House-Cards-Hubris-Wretched-Excess/dp/0767930894
http://www.amazon.com/William-D.-Cohan/e/B001JS0CX2/
save for later
and I for one will not be contributing to him trying to make a living.
so after destroying four lives, he wants to make money off of it?
Mary Mapes syndrome. He still doesn’t know what hit him.
The “victim” is now in prison for 2nd degree murder.
This will turn up on the $0.50 rack in about two weeks, and it still won’t move. What a stupid business decision by the publisher - hope they take a major bath.....
Absolutely NO ONE SHOULD BUY THIS BOOK OF BS.
“[Update, for those interested: it might be worth reviewing the AG’s report.]”
To wit:
http://www.ncdoj.gov/getdoc/29748585-538e-43be-9de2-113628743d57/SummaryConclusions.aspx
Nifong is part of the 99% of lawyers who give the other 1% a bad name.
-=00=-
Lawyers are still one of the very best garden soil amendments.....hogs like them too.
I want to see him begging for food.
-=00=-
Better the jute jig or hempen hop.......
Crystal Gail Mangum escort service pole dancer was recently charged with second degree murder in the death of a male acquaintance ... she's a upstanding citizen no question.
She was also convicted.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/11/22/3396116/jury-in-mangum-murder-trial-continue.html
Crystal Mangum found guilty of 2nd-degree murder
“I am convinced, frankly, that this woman suffered a trauma that night,” Cohan said in an interview Friday. “Something did happen in that bathroom.”
Did we ever learn the size of that bathroom? If “something did happen” in that bathroom, it would have to have happened with the 3 guys and liar Mangum packed in there like sardines unable to move a muscle. What she described not only didn’t happen, but couldn’t have happened, and Nifong knew but didn’t care.
If you will recall, the house was demolished in 2010 by Duke University, who owned it.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/12/577917/duke-lacrosse-house-demolished.html
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