Yesterday’s Raleigh N & O carried a 2700 word front-page story on Durham DA Mike Nifong. I posted a few “observations” and invited comments. The comments are well worth reading. Also, be sure to read the takes of “the usual suspects” – Durham-in-Wonderland, Johnsville News and Liestoppers.
Today I’m taking a second look at the story.
Question: Is Mike Nifong -- how shall I put this –- politically motivated?
Not according to yesterday’s N&O story. Sure, Mike has a temper. He cusses and fusses some, especially after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer which is now in remission.
But Mike Nifong politically motivated? The N&O's story begins:
Anyone who asks why Mike Nifong won't drop the Duke University lacrosse rape case doesn't know Mike Nifong.And for anyone asking “Why,” the N&O explains:
In his long career, Nifong has earned a reputation as a prosecutor who charges hard at his opposition and relishes going to trial. Although his unpredictable behavior might puzzle some observers of the lacrosse case, it is vintage Nifong.Oh, vintage Nifong. You mean it’s just the way the man is? I see
The N&O goes on:
For six months, Nifong has been the public face of -- and the driving force behind -- the case against three Duke lacrosse players who are accused of raping a woman hired to dance at a team party. Even after DNA tests came back negative or inconclusive, and evidence emerged that contradicts the state's case, Nifong pressed ahead.You know, I wondered why he refused to meet with them. So it was because he was confident. I like confident prosecutors. What about you?
He was so confident in the accuser's story and his case that he refused to meet with lawyers who said they could prove players' innocence. …
Has Nifong always been this good?
Here's some of what the N&O found out about that:
In more than 300 felony trials and countless pleas, Nifong's confidence and bluster have served him and Durham County well. For most of his career, he has been sending to prison people who belonged there.This Nifong fellow sounds like just the sort of person who ought to be Durham's DA.
Right now Nifong has the Duke lacrosse case to contend with. He’s up against a defense team the N&O says is:
well-funded and includes some of the most highly regarded lawyers in the state. …Saber-rattling? Is that what it’s called?
The case has drawn national media attention, and Nifong's saber-rattling has been on display for the world.
When Nifong kept saying he wished someone at the party had the decency to tell what happened even as he knew all about the cooperation and information the players had provided and their attorneys wanted to provide, do you know what I called what Nifong was doing?
I called it lying. But it seems it was really just "saber-rattling."
Did you know that?
The N&O does say something about an upcoming election Nifong’s involved in. But it’s a very small part of the story which the N&O begins with this sentence :
Nifong, 56, is a prosecutor, not a politician.How thoughtful of the N&O to tell us that. Now we don't need to wonder about it?
The N&O tells us:
Nifong declined to answer questions for this story. The News & Observer interviewed nearly two dozen people, reviewed court files and listened to recordings of him in court. The interviews and documents help shed light on why, when saddled with a case that another prosecutor might have dropped, Nifong has chosen to continue.(bold mine)Why, indeed? That's the very question people all over town are asking.
What’s the answer, N&O?
Here’s the subhead that follows the “Why?":
FAITH IN KEY WITNESSThat's followed by:
At the trial, Nifong's key witness will be the accuser, who will presumably testify that she was raped by Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann. Under North Carolina law, her accusation is enough evidence to take the case to a jury.The N&O has a UNC public law and government prof tell us Nifong doesn’t have to try the case. He can use his judgment.
And what is the result of Nifong's judgment?
Although Nifong has never heard the woman tell her story, he believes herThe N&O doesn’t say which of her stories Nifong believes; or where he read or heard the one he believes. The N&O doesn't even mention there's more than one "out there."
But, hey folks, you can’t have everything, even in a 2700 word story.
Besides, there’s that wonderful 1994 case the N&O tells us about, first with the subhead:
Echoes of '94 caseand then:
Twelve years ago, Nifong prosecuted a man in a rape case that bore some similarity to the one he is focused on now.So you see, what Mike’s doing now is just “vintage Nifong.” It’s all “part and parcel” of the man who’s spent his career “sending to prison people who belong there.”
As in the Duke lacrosse case, Nifong had on his side the word of the woman. And the defense said it had plenty of evidence that no rape happened.
The N&O quotes the 1994 case accuser (Jury verdict: “Not guilty.”):
"He believed in me, and until that time, I didn't feel anybody else believed in me," she said. "I felt like the system let me down until Mike took the case."Now that the N&O has explained what Nifong did in the 1994 case and we’ve heard from the accuser in the case, who would say anything unkind about Nifong or his motives.
Well, enough of that, folks.
I’m sure you see my point.
A few other items and I’ll be done with the story.
Look at this paragraph :
In his prosecutions, Nifong opened up his entire file to defense lawyers -- something the law didn't require until 2004. It was a matter of fairness, he said in the 2005 interview, but it also added to the intimidation factor. He would tell a lawyer what he had and what he was going to do, and then in court he would do it.Can you believe that after running that paragraph, the N&O didn't consider why Nifong has been so withholding of evidence in the Duke case?
The N&O's story is filled with paragraphs that can be spliced unedited into Nifong campaign commercials. I'll end this post with three of them which would make a wonderful thirty second Nifong commercial:
In 1999, Nifong was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He endured surgery, radiation and a year of hormone therapy.
After missing months of work, he said in the 2005 interview, he returned less convinced that things were black and white. His illness changed the way he thought about the courtroom.
"What you may lose sight of when all you're worried about is winning ... that's not really what the DA's office is here for," Nifong said. "This is really supposed to be about justice."
9 comments:
It would be interesting to dig up some more info on the '94 case (and another more recent case where the evidence was 'accidently' erased ... )
Posted on FODU today
Profile in Courage
Moezeldin Elmostafa
Previously I wrote about Dave Evans and Kerstin Kimel to remind us not to forget that amid the darkness of the Duke Lacrosse Case, some true heroes have emerged. Now I want to write about a different kind of hero, an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances: Moezeldin Elmostafa.
Elmostafa was the taxi driver caught in the cross fire of the indictment of Reade Seligmann. He picked up Reade Seligmann and Rob Wellington and drove them to the Wachovia ATM machine, then to a fast-food restaurant called “Cook Out” and finally to their dorms on Duke’s West Campus. The cab driver spoke first with defense attorneys and then police and recalled picking up the two young men. Mr. Elmostafa signed an affidavit describing his recollection of the evening. Rather than accept the cab driver’s word and the new evidence in the case, the police reportedly asked Elmostafa whether he had been paid for his testimony.
As a result of his coming forward, the cabbie was arrested on May 11, 2006 on an almost 3-year-old warrant for larceny. The larceny charge related to picking up a passenger, driving her to the mall, and then driving her home. Shortly thereafter, Elmostafa was contacted by store security who informed him that his passenger had shoplifted five purses totaling about $250.
Elmostafa assisted security by providing his passenger’s address and his own driver’s license. Store security thanked him for his help and he never thought about it again. The passenger, Lisa Faye Hawkins, a woman with a record of 127 arrests, pleaded guilty about three months later.
Coincidentally, investigators in the Duke Lacrosse case arrested Elmostafa. About his arrest, the taxi driver asserted, “They asked me if I had anything new to say about the lacrosse case. When I said no, they took me to the magistrate.” Mr. Elmostafa was represented by attorney, Thomas Loflin, who called the larceny charges “entirely frivolous”. Loflin said, "It was striking that two principal investigators in the lacrosse case served the warrant instead of one uniformed officer.” According to Loflin, detectives don't serve warrants unless it is a murder or something serious. Loflin said, "This is the first case I know of where that has happened, in Durham at least.” Elmostafa was acquitted of all charges on August 29, 2006. During the trial, two investigators in the Duke Lacrosse case sat in the courtroom.
Throughout this travesty known as the Duke Lacrosse case, some ‘fantastic lies’ have been told and unraveled. In recalling the events of that evening, Mr. Elmostafa never wavered. Perhaps he followed Mark Twain’s advice “Always tell the truth; that way you don't have to remember what you said.” He bravely stood up to Durham’s high stakes game of ‘Truth or Consequences’ and in doing so he risked everything. He was arrested, incurred legal expenses, spent five hours in jail, and endured his picture and name on the news and in the press. All of this for a total stranger.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Elmostafa decided not to remain silent about something that mattered, even in the face of risk to himself. In doing so, he showed himself to be a person of integrity and a true hero.
Writing this Profile in Courage series has reminded me that courage transcends gender, race, nationality, and social status. Courage lies deep within some of us, waiting for that special moment to emerge. In that one moment, courage can turn an ordinary individual into an extraordinary human being who becomes role model for us all. Moezeldin Elmostafa is such a hero.
Joan Collins
Garden City, NY
What is it with those pathetic journalists?
Scared of their own shadow, apparently.
The only thing they can come up with is "Nifong is so confident."
Thank heaven for bloggers.
Joan, your words are a beautiful tribute to Moezeldin Elmostafa. I hope he will have an opportunity to read the tribute and understand how his courage is making a difference in this case. All of us who believe in these three young men owe him a debt of gratitude.
Mr. Elmostafa is man to be honored and emulated.
The N&O article was predictable. That said the '94 is not a good comparison to this one; the '94 had much 'stronger' evidence as in this one is pathetically weak.
Is there a possibility another newspaper could make it in Raleigh?
New posting at Melanie's blog:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/editor/index.php?title=the_nifong_profile&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
does anyone know if 60 minutes is really planning to air the Duke piece?
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