Tuesday, November 14, 2006

St. Pete Times: Drop it, Nifong

Florida’s St. Petersburg Times is the latest newspaper calling on Durham DA Mike Nifong to turn the Duke case over to a special prosecutor who can bring some “sense of fairness to the prosecution.”

The Times says [excerpts]:

[It’s no surprise] the rape charges emerging from a team party in March that included underage drinking and strippers performing became a national cause and have riven the Durham, N.C., community along racial, gender and class lines.

The surprise has come from the irresponsibility of the district attorney. Michael Nifong first tried the case in the media, fanning the flames of social discord, and has refused to reconsider the case as evidence emerged that strongly pointed to the innocence of the accused.

Nifong has behaved irresponsibly and significantly compromised this case. He should hand it off to an impartial prosecutor.

From every vantage it appears that Nifong grandstanded this tragic case as a way to build voter support in Durham's African-American community. …

The CBS News show 60 Minutes recently did a thorough review of the evidence available and found that there is little to corroborate the accuser's story.

The DNA of the three accused men failed to match that found on the accuser's body.

One of the accused, Reede Seligmann, has cell phone records that show he made nine phone calls when the crime was alleged to have been committed. He was also photographed by a bank security camera at an ATM machine about that time.

The other exotic dancer at the party that evening says that she didn't see an attack and was with the alleged victim nearly the entire time.

The accuser has apparently changed her story a number of times and reportedly went back to performing even while going to hospitals to say she was racked by pain from the attack.

The lives of the three young men accused, Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, are on hold until their trial next spring.

Yet Nifong, the man who has upended their lives, seems increasingly uninterested in the facts of the case. He recently said that he has not ever talked with the alleged victim, and he has refused to consider the alibi evidence from one of the accused.

Nifong has a prosecutor's obligation to be open to new evidence that might challenge original conclusions. His primary goal should be to seek justice, not keep his job by fanning public outrage and playing on racial and class bias.

Only an outside, independent prosecutor can bring some sense of fairness to a prosecution that has been terribly mishandled from the beginning.
The St. Pete Times is right on every point.

I’m sending copies of the editorial and this post to Durham Herald Sun editor Bob Ashely and Raleigh News & Observer editorial page editor Steve Ford.

To the list of reasons the St. Pete Times gives for Nifong stepping aside, I can add two more:

1) Nifong’s claim that he hasn’t been able to get the accuser to talk to him about the alleged crimes is a very strong argument for a special prosecutor taking over the case. Surely, whoever is going to prosecute the case needs to talk to the accuser and assess first-hand what she is saying. Eight months have passed since the alleged events.

2) If a trial is held, jury selection is expected to take several weeks and the trial that will follow is expected to take many months. During all that time, the legal proceding will necessarily absorb almost all, if not all, Nifong’s professional time and attention, including as always happens with major trials the need to work weekends.

Durham has a very serious crime problem, made much worse be the recent rapid growth in gang activity. By stepping aside and allowing a special prosecutor to take over the case, Nifong will free himself to do what he promised during the campaign to do: fight violent street crime and the gang problem

KC Johnson reports The Charlotte Observer, The Rocky Mount Telegram, and The Winston-Salem Journal have all called for Nifong to step aside and allow a special prosecutor to take charge of the case.

I hope we can soon add the N&O and the H-S to that list.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a golden opportunity for the governor to step in and 'advise" Nifong to let a special prosecutor take over. In doing so it totally lets Nifong off the hook either from misconduct charges or violations of NC law. Regardless of the decision by the special prosecutor Nifong will be able to claim his belief in the boys guilt and hold on to his reason for going to trial, likley making hard to make any charges stick. The Gov also gets off the hook of not having to force Nifong to drop the case, which is having a negative backlash against the Gov.

Perhaps if the two suspended boys intend (why?) on coming back to Duke, they can make it by 2nd semester in the event a special prosecutor decides on not enough (any?) evidence go go forward.

So listen up Gov, Nifong, et al: Lots of winners here if this case is handed over to a special prosecutor.

Anonymous said...

To 2:44 post:
It would also go away if Judge Smith throws out the ID process, then Nifong has nothing.

Anonymous said...

Please e-mail the editorial page editor and publisher of The St. Petersburg Times. Let them know you appreciate an intelligent, long-overdue editorial on this case of prosecutorial misconduct. Also send copies of the St. Pete Times editorial to the CEO of McClatchy, Mr. Pruitt, and the CEO of Paxton Media, owner of the infamous Ashley publication.

Anonymous said...

To the 2:44 poster: How do you imagine that appointing a special prosecutor to take over the case will "totally let[] Nifong off the hook" for his ethical and other violations? Regardless of whether or not this case eventually makes it to trial (with Nifong at the helm or someone else), Nifong is still going to have to answer the many complaints filed against him with the NC Bar. Appointment of a special prosecutor is not going to magically erase Nifong's unethical conduct in this case, nor is it going to absolve Nifong of accepting responsibility for that misconduct.