Today’s Durham Herald Sun's report on the Duke lacrosse rape allegation includes this:
District Attorney Mike Nifong had said he expected to obtain the DNA test results from State Bureau of Investigation technicians last week, but they were not available by the close of business on Friday."(I)f the dancer was able to identify her assailants."
Nifong told reporters he believed such testing would confirm the exotic dancer's version of events. But he also said he might be able to pursue criminal charges even if there were no DNA matches, especially if the dancer was able to identify her assailants. (bold added - JinC)
However, Nifong declined to reveal whether an identification actually was made.
That sounds like there hasn't been a police lineup. Or, that if there was a lineup, she couldn't make positive identifications.
Was there a lineup? And if there was, what was the outcome?
If there's been no lineup, why not?
The alleged attack is said to have occurred the night Mar 13. That's almost four weeks ago.
Has there been any effort to make positive IDs from face-photos? If yes, DA Nifong's statement would indicate the woman wasn't able to make any positive IDs.
If there's been no effort to make any face-photo positive identifications, why not?
Individual face-photos of all the white lacrosse players (the woman says all her attackers were white)are easily obtained. The Raleigh News & Observer got them for its imfamous "vigilante poster." If The N&O could get them, surely the DA could.
What's going on?
I know it's been an incredibly busy time for Nifong what with him first needing to try the case in the press and then feeling he needed to take time out to go to a conference. And we shouldn't forget he has to spend time on his reelection campaign.
Still, I hope tomorrow he finds a few minutes to answer these questions.
Those who've already voted for conviction may not care about the questions, but there are plenty of us who do.
7 comments:
The truth about DNA testing is that it has freed more accused AND convicted than it has manage to convict.
It has long been touted as the definitive answer to identities of subjects.
The lacrosse team is available to be DNA tested, the evidence has been sent to a lab for testing. If they find no match, but had evidence to test and access to the suspects, that means they have the wrong suspects.
That as they say is elementary, dear Watson.
Sounds to me like the prosecutor is alerting the alleged victim that he doesn't believe in the strength of the case and forewarning her that she may have to testify falsely against the accused if they both are to reap the benefits.
They obviously had evidence or they couldn't have sent it to the lab. I would think that seeking a conviction against suspects the evidence might clear would be a crime in and of itself. His warning to the alleged victim would appear to be conspiracy to commit a crime. Conspiracies can happen in public if disguised as something else.
We don't know that the evidence will exonerate the suspects. It may well incriminate them. But surely conspiracy to commit a crime if it does not, is a crime of its own.
I think a lot more questions should be asked of a prosecutor that says he could pursue a conviction against the evidence.
straightarrow writes, "I think a lot more questions should be asked of a prosecutor that says he could pursue a conviction against the evidence."
What "conviction" has he pursued yet? I missed any news about him seeking arrest or indictment so far.
(Nifong id the "he" in the below sentence)
"But he also said he might be able to pursue criminal charges even if there were no DNA matches, especially if the dancer was able to identify her assailants. (bold added - JinC)"
Did you just miss this statement or do you consider that he might seek criminal charges with no intention of seeking conviction?
Oh, please, Nifong will ride this case until after the elections b/c he needs the "righteous" votes in Durham.
Then the case will vanish.
-AC
From http://www.crime.blogs.com
Why is it I feel so guilty believing that a rape did not occur in the house at 610 N. Buchannon, the party house of the Duke Lacrosse team.
I mean am I confused or biased because I am Caucasian? Certainly that is a possibility, I am white, I did grow up in a predominantly white household. So am I a racist?
Is it because I come from a fairly privileged background, I attended private schools, my dad wore a tie to work, my mother however does scrub toilets as a care nurse for the terminally ill but she does so more for spiritual rewards rather than financial gain. But I am, at best, middle-class, I live paycheck to paycheck and have no idea how I am going to cover the spread come April 15th. So how can I be an elitist, a snob?
Could I somehow be a sexist? I am a male. I have in my time objectified women by thumbing through pages of Playboy magazine and have made disparaging remarks with my guy friends about a woman’s body. I have been to strip clubs, smoked cigars and spit, burped and scratched like a lot of guys.
But I have marched in more than one Take Back the Night demonstration, I have written editorials for the Wilmington Journal, an African American newspaper, attacking injustices and inequalities.
How could I be a racist, an elitist, and/or a sexist?
But as I work to investigate the alleged rape of a woman in Durham I find no sanctuary in my own understanding of what took place.
Friends of mine in the media look at me odd when I question the credibility of the accuser. Blogsites I post my opinion in have deleted my posts and many times removed my privileges without explanation. My last post simply gave a timeline of events and the forum was shut down.
Now this is not a conspiracy against the truth, or me but it is an indication as to either how far off base I am or how upsetting the possibility that this woman could be lying is.
Maybe it isn’t about race, or gender or class, maybe it is about how much people just hate Duke.
I never thought about that but it does make perfect sense. It reminds me of the hatred spilled over from the Clinton era.
People can become blinded by the truth, unintentionally. Hatred spilling into the decision making process.
So now I wonder how often this happens. Can it happen at work? Can a supervisor hate college-educated upstarts and set them up for failure? Can an educator have such hatred against the poor and needy that they label a child a trouble maker for failing to be able to perform at a level accustom to the teachers expectations of what a child should be like? Can this hatred effect justice in the courts? Jurist swayed by deeply rooted hatred? Illustrated so well in the popular play and movie, Twelve Angry Men.
People I am not saying that those affected with such hatred recognize it. In fact I doubt that those on the peripheral edge of their world are even aware of it. Good people know better than to admit hate. In fact they will cloak themselves with benevolent activities such as participation in church or community boards. They will argue to the death, in many cases, how right they are.
But we are all capable of being wrong, I worry all the time that I am wrong. I worry that I am wrong about the situation at Duke.
If I am wrong about wanting to know why this accuser’s accusations shouldn’t be questioned then am I wrong about other things? If so what other things am I wrong about?
I’m serious I place a lot of confidence in who I am based on what I believe. If I am not who I think I am then who am I? Who are you because if I don’t know who I am I certainly don’t know who you are.
See how confusing this is getting? See how important it is to have a belief, an opinion?
So maybe I am just overreacting, maybe all this is, is that people just hate Duke.
But wait… who is Duke?
Maybe this is about race, about class and about sex.
Duke is white, primarily children of the rich and powerful and we all know it is the rich and powerful that get all the women.
No wonder people hate Duke.
Duke is a metaphor of our present day conflicting consciousness of cultural debate. The out of control students represent the seed of liberal minded America’s Bush administration and the woman? A representative of any country our government has invaded and planted it’s “democratic” seed into forcefully.
So here we are, hating Duke. Hating our country.
I'd rather be wrong.
yep, AC, hence my comment about a conspiracy to commit a crime so that both accuser and prosecutor can enjoy the benefits.
Also, explains my comment in another thread reminiscent of Tawana Brawley.
We'll know more when all the evidence is made available. Which is why it strikes me as amiss that plans are already being laid for proceeding if the evidence is exculpatory. Something stinks here.
Do not get me wrong. If the evidence indicates guilt on the part of the accused, if they are ever identified,they should be punished mightily.
However, so should this prosecutor. He is not relieved of responsibility for an immoral and illegal plot to "pursue charges" if the evidence clears them.
So even though it is still possible that the evidence will indict the accused, that possible fact only constitutes good fortune for the prosecutor and in no way diminishes his guilt for planning to commit both an immoral wrong and a legal trespass and the abuse of power of his office.
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