Sunday, December 24, 2006

Nifong Hoax items 12 – 24 -06

Johnsville News leads a post with a headline from the New York Post: “Rape Rap KO’d”

That’s great headline writing.

BTW – JN remains one of my “visit daily” blogs. More about JN after the holiday’s
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In yesterday’s Raleigh N&O editorial editor Steve Ford said [excerpts]

Then it turned out, as The News & Observer reported, that the D.A. had never interviewed the dancer about the events of that March evening, a puzzling fact given the certainty with which Nifong seemed to vouch for her truthfulness.

The photo lineup in which the woman identified her alleged attackers included photographs only of lacrosse team members, a violation of Durham's photo ID policy and clearly skewed against the players.
Hold on, Steve!

Actually, it was disclosed in open court Nifong said he’d tried to interview Precious but found her “too traumatized.” when they met

Give credit to the discovery process and the defense attorneys who forced the disclosure. Your paper just reported on what happened.

And, Steve, how about a little skepticism about what happened When Mickey met Precious.

So far we have only Nifong’s word for what happened. But he’s as reliable as Precious. Isn’t it possible Precious said some things Nifong didn’t want known before the election, and may never want known?

I’d be interested to hear what Precius says about the meeting even as I keep the salt sharer handy when she speaks. We may hear Precious’ account of their meeting as part of her testimony in an investigation into violations of the falsely indicted young men’s civil rights, or a State Bar hearing, or as part of a civil suit brought against Nifong.

Ford goes on to assert:
The accuser, if she can offer a coherent account and stand by it, deserves to have her allegations heard in court.
What?

As KC Johnson says:
This assertion is absurd: police and prosecutors are supposed to exercise discretion, rather than pass on any and all non-credible accusations for a jury to decide. In this case, the accuser/Nifong have presented at least 10 versions of events, with the two most recent changes (a shortening of the timeline, elimination of the rape charge) blatant manipulations of the story to fit new, exculpatory evidence.
KC’s Durham-in-Wonderland is another of my Hoax “visit daily” blogs.
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Chicago Sun Times columnist Gregg Couch today:
It's over now, no matter what happens in court. At one time, the stripper in the Duke lacrosse case accused three players of raping her vaginally, anally and orally. Now, she says she can't say for sure if there was any actual sexual intercourse.

What? I understand that moment in the bathroom at the team party could have been hell for her, if it happened at all. So maybe her head was spinning, the world was rushing. But that's an awfully powerful, heinous and specific accusation, if true. You can't come back from that and say you're not so sure.

This is a betrayal. If this rape allegation was false, then it is the lowest thing a woman can do to other women.
I don’t agree with everything Couch says but the column is worth a read.

One of the things Couch says I very strongly disagree with is that a false rape allegation is “the lowest thing a woman can do to other women.”

Much lower on my “lowest” scale are those things other woman do to “support their sisters’” false rape accusations. Those women (and men who go right along with them) encourage the false accusations thereby making other false rape accusations more likely. They put innocent people at great jeopardy. Victims of false rape claims face public censure, great costs to defend themselves, and are often jailed and sent to prison.

Don’t get me started, folks. I’ll be saying more about this subject soon.

A hat tip goes to Liestoppers where I found the link to Couch’s column. LS is my third hoax “visit daily” blog.

More after Christmas. A blessed holiday to you all.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Read Linda Williams on the editors' blog at the News and Observer. What do you make of this, John?