Cooper's strong statement
I was pretty darn sure Roy Cooper would drop charges in the Duke lacrosse case.
But I was worried that he'd hedge, like: "We aren't confident we could win a conviction based on the thin and ambiguous evidence at hand." That would leave a cloud of suspicion over Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty.
So I was very pleased to hear Cooper speak in the strongest terms about Mike Nifong's unjustified prosecution of the three former lacrosse players.
After thoroughly investigating the case for 12 weeks, Cooper and his staff concluded with certainty: Seligmann, Evans and Finnerty are innocent. Moreover, there's no credible evidence that any crime occurred at all. The accusing witness' constantly changing stories don't match the facts. Charges dropped.
On top of that, Cooper said the case demonstrates the need for a new law allowing rogue prosecutors to be reined in.
Also in need of reining in were all the demonstrations, judgments and hysteria that roiled Durham and Duke. Those rich white boys thought they could get away with anything, and they were going to pay. Mike Nifong would see to it.
And get himself elected while he was at it.
Durham voters went for it, but Nifong's runaway prosecution couldn't stand up to legal scrutiny. To its eternal credit, the N.C. State Bar was the first to bring him to heel, accusing him of unethical behavior. But it took the Attorney General's Office to finally end this mockery of justice.
Cooper didn't mince words. He didn't express any doubts. He promised to release details of his investigation next week. It should make interesting reading.
This has been an acute embarrassment for all of North Carolina. How could a case that the entire nation could see unraveling before its eyes actually proceed to trial, stringing along three young men unlucky enough to be picked out of a rigged photo lineup?
Now it won't be, thanks to Cooper. He made the right call the right way.
Comments (10)
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Now it won't be, thanks to Cooper. He made the right call the right way.*Doug
Good for you Doug! I am proud of the way you try to expose the judical issues in this state by all political parties and individuals and give credit to those who do right as Cooper. In all of my years, I have never heard a State Lawyer use the term " innocent" as Cooper did today.
Posted on April 11, 2007 11:52 PM
Is Jesse Jackson still going to pay her tuition?
Posted on April 12, 2007 9:05 AM
He promised, and he'd never break his word.
Posted on April 12, 2007 9:29 AM
Will that be in her lifetime?
Posted on April 12, 2007 10:18 AM
So are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson now going to apologize to the white Duke lacrosse players for the racially demeaning statements they made while whipping up the racial frenzy over this bogus issue?
Posted on April 12, 2007 10:21 AM
I'm glad charges were dropped, but I think calling those Duke students "innocent" is stretching things too far.
Something bad happened that night. The extent to which the dancer exaggerated things is something we'll never know, but clearly they went a step beyond harmless "boys will be boys" behavior. If that's not the case, why did the Lacrosse players have lawyers on the scene the very next day?
Mike Nifong has certainly found out what happens when you offend the Duke power structure, especially considering how many powerful attorneys and judicial in this state are Duke graduates.
Before you reject the notion that these students are not wholly innocent, let me remind you of the email a player sent the very next day to fellow team members.
McFadyen sent an e-mail saying he was planning an encore to "tonights (sic) show." The message, addressed "To whom it may concern," said, "however there will be no nudity."
"I plan on killing the bitches as soon as the(y) walk in and proceeding to cut their skin off," wrote McFadyen, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound Atlantic Coast Conference honor roll player who was one of five Duke players from the exclusive Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J., adding in vulgar terms that he would find the act sexually satisfying. The e-mail was signed with McFadyen's jersey number, 41.
Posted on April 12, 2007 10:24 AM
Granted, the wild party and the conduct there was out of line. McFadyen's email was grotesque.
But no evidence of crimes committed means no evidence. Accusing three men of rape was not an exaggeration, it was an invention.
Even the reaction to McFadyen's email was overblown. His room was searched on a warrant alleging suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. He was suspended from school (later lifted; he's playing lacrosse now).
There was no excuse for the prosecution of this case. Cooper couldn't be more clear about that.
Posted on April 12, 2007 10:32 AM
Hiring a hooker for a college party is nothing new, and nothing unusual around a college campus. Women like Mangum and her partner are commercially available for just that purpose. It's simple economics: They provide a service for which there is a demand.
If you must demonize the lacrosse players for this conduct, then let's demonize Jesse Jackson for disobeying his marriage vows, having sex with a woman outside marriage, fathering a child, and paying the woman off with funds gathered under false pretenses. Let's demonize Al Shapton for the Tawanna Brawley incident. And let's demand that Jackson and Sharpton apologize and resign over the racially demeaning remarks they made about the lacrosse players. They demanded the same of Imus, now let's see them walk the walk.
Posted on April 12, 2007 10:44 AM
"Something bad happened that night. The extent to which the dancer exaggerated things is something we'll never know, but clearly they went a step beyond harmless "boys will be boys" behavior. If that's not the case, why did the Lacrosse players have lawyers on the scene the very next day?"
Emery Would, if you are going to make such wild statements, perhaps you need to be prepared to back them up with some evidence, otherwise you are as bad as Mike Nifong. How do you know something bad happened that night? File you away with Jesse Jackson.
Posted on April 13, 2007 8:14 AM
I would add to Stormy's comment my recollection that no one hired lawyers until after the rape allegations surfaced. For the first several weeks of the case, all 47 white members of the lacrosse team were suspects. Remember, all were asked to submit DNA samples, even those who weren't there. Of course they had lawyers. Hiring a lawyer is not an admission of guilt.
Posted on April 13, 2007 8:23 AM