Attorneys: Investigate Nifong, DPD

ABC News reporting today:

For the three Duke lacrosse players once called "hooligans" by Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, Wednesday's dropping of all charges against them was both a legal and personal vindication.
"I hope these allegations don't come to define me," said former lacrosse player David Evans. ….

Evans and his fellow teammates, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, fought back with the help of the four attorneys who represented them: Joe Cheshire, Jim Cooney, Bill Cotter and Wade Smith.

On "Good Morning America," the attorneys talked about what's next for the young men, Nifong and the woman who accused the players of rape. …

Cooney said that Nifong should be investigated by the state bar and by an independent agency who can determine if he engaged in criminal wrongdoing.
"I think we all need to make sure that we give Mr. Nifong the thing he didn't want to give our clients, which is a fair hearing before the state bar," Cooney said.

"One thing we're all in agreement on is that an independent agency with criminal jurisdiction needs to do an investigation into this case. We need to determine whether there was in fact criminal wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement, and on the part of Mr. Nifong." (emphasis added)

So they're all in agreement: “We need to determine whether there was in fact criminal wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement, and on the part of Mr. Nifong."

I think that means some kind of investigation, more likely more than one, is/are going to happen given the legal and moral authority with which the defense attorneys can now speak because of how the case played out as an indisputable frame-up of three innocent young men.

I wish Cooney had said which “independent agency with criminal jurisdiction” should investigate. I hope blogs such as Liestoppers and Durham-in-Wonderland will follow up and bring us more from Cooney and the other attorneys.

So much that is questionable and perhaps criminal was done involving both state and federal laws that agencies on both levels very likely have cause to be involved.

At least federal involvement seems a sure thing. Every attorney I’ve spoken to recently about the case has said something between “reasonable grounds to at least consider whether their civil rights were violated” and “there’s no question their civil rights were violated. At some point the federal government is going to have to step in. It’s a matter of when and how.”

Needing investigation are all the matters surrounding DPD Cpl. David Addison’s public assurances a crime was committed at a time when evidence DPD had strongly indicated none had occurred. And don’t forget all the DPD involvement with the CrimeStoppers poster.

Some attorneys have pointed to Moezeldin Elmostafa, the cab driver may very well have a civil rights violation claim based on his arrest and trial for a three year old shoplifting warrant.

Those attorneys say you’re not supposed to single out one citizen for treatment that you wouldn’t treat other citizens like in similar circumstances. Here’s how one attorney “made the case:” “How many of the thousands of Durham residents with old, outstanding shoplifting warrants are arrested by Durham Police, taken to jail, forced to post bond and then tried in court where two police officers show up, sit through the trial and never explain why they were there?”

Let’s keep in touch, folks. There’s a lot we don’t know and a lot more we’ll learn.

Hat tip: Liestoppers.com