Duke lacrosse: This Duke Friend is a Durham friend, too

Attorney and Friends of Duke University spokesperson Jason Trumpbour is a friend of Durham, too. You'll see that when you read his letter published today in the Durham Herald Sun:

To the editor:

In an August 1 editorial, you found District Attorney Mike Nifong "courageous" and "contrite" in his discussion of the Duke lacrosse case at a recent press conference.

Unfortunately, there is little courage to be found in a desperate appeal to sympathy by an embattled politician. And Nifong was hardly contrite as he continued to obfuscate the relevant legal standards for his conduct.

You also stated that Nifong "still believes he has a good case" and find that significant for some reason. Yet, Nifong apparently lacks the courage of those convictions. After ramrodding evidence through a hopelessly backlogged SBI crime lab and racing to get indictments before the election, Nifong is now trying to postpone the day of reckoning until next spring.

Nifong refused to even look at any of the exculpatory evidence proffered to him by the defense. This action violated North Carolina Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8 which prohibits a prosecutor from avoiding "pursuit of evidence merely because he or she believes it will damage the prosecutor's case."

In hiding his eyes from that evidence, Nifong abdicated the responsibilities of the office to which he was appointed and should have no further claim to it.

While, ideally, the voters of Durham County should elect the person who will be their district attorney, at least they have the opportunity to choose who they do not want for that office. The writer is a member of Friends of Duke University.

JASON TRUMPBOUR
Parkton, Md.
August 4, 2006

Now there's a person looking out for Durham!

Trumpbour's letter is an excellent "clip and send," only today it's just a click or two and you save the cost of postage.

I hope many of you who are bloggers will post Trumpbour's letter.

You JinC Regulars who've been so effective in alerting folks at Court TV, Talk Left, Free Rebublic and elsewhere to posts here know what to do.

In a few hours we should be able to get Trumpbour's letter buzzing all around the blogoshere.

I'm including links to:

Friends of Duke University.

KC Johnson's post,"Roy Cooper's Silence," which includes a scholarly review of N. C. law and procedures relating to Nifong's misconduct. KC writes lucidly and to the point.

Professor James E. Coleman Jr's letter calling for Nifong's replacement with a special prosecutor.

Coleman's letter makes very clear what Nifong did to get his indictments which people like Duke President Richard Brodhead now want to serve as the basis for a trial of three Duke students on multiple felony charges.

Coleman said of the photo ID Nifong arranged with the police:

Thus, the police not only failed to include people they knew were not suspects among the photographs shown the woman, they told the witness in effect that there would be no such "fillers" among the photographs she would see.

This strongly suggests that the purpose of the identification process was to give the alleged victim an opportunity to pick three members of the lacrosse team who could be charged. Any three students would do; there could be no wrong choice. (bold added)

Does anyone doubt Coleman is describing a frame-up?

Let's get Trumpbour and Coleman's letters out there along with Johnson's post.

After you do that, have a nice day.