INNOCENT: Poetic justice & The Herald Sun

"... these three individuals [David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann,] are innocent of these charges."

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, Apr. 11, 2007
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Folks, before reading any further I want you to swear on DA Mike Nifong’s law license that you won’t repeat to Durham Herald Sun editor Bob Ashley what I’m about to tell you.

You just did?

OK, let’s continue.

After all the shilling for Nifong the H-S has done (in fairness, some of its recent coverage has been much more objective), what should happen today but the following.

The H-S set out to publish two excellent letters to the editor excoriating Durham Police Cpl. David Addison and his enablers for a letter Addison wrote which the H-S published Sunday. If you want more background on the matter read this post.

Anyway, two response letters were published today, June 14, on the H-S's editorial page in the letters section of its print edition.

So far, so good for the H-S.

But, when it came to publishing the letters at Durhamsun.com, a mistake was made that is poetic justice.

The letters with their headlines were placed in the editorials section. As of 3 PM Eastern, you can still find the letter there with their heads: Addison letter continues to mislead community and Blue wall of silence. Here's the link to Durhamsun.com's editorial section.

Isn’t that wonderful!

Just in case the letters are moved and you have trouble finding them, I posted them below.

Hats off to letter writers Philip Wood (he blogs at the superb Liestoppers.com) and William Doherty, a retired member of the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association. They’re aiding justice.

A last word before I end: remember, you all promised not to tell Bob Ashley about his “editorials.”

John
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Addison letter continues to mislead community

The extreme hypocrisy offered by Durham Police Department Cpl. David Addison in his June 10 letter does a terrible disservice to the organizations he represents. Addison, who serves as liaison to CrimeStoppers, president of the Triangle Chapter of the Police Benevolent Association and as occasional spokesperson for the Durham Police Department, decries "slander and vicious attacks" from city leaders, yet it was his own slander and vicious attacks that contributed to the hoax that city leaders now investigate.

As spokesperson for the DPD, Addison falsely informed the community: "You are looking at one victim brutally raped," and "police approached the lacrosse team with the five-page search warrant on March 16, but that all of the members refused to cooperate with the investigation," and that there was "really, really strong physical evidence" of the crime that we all know now never occurred.

As spokesperson for CrimeStoppers, Addison misled the media and the community with a statement that read in part: "The victim was sodomized, raped, assaulted and robbed. This horrific crime sent shock waves throughout our community."

Addison attempts to dissuade inspection of his own actions, and those of a few other officers who have also sullied the department. The community would be better served by his cooperating with the investigation.

Rather than denouncing the effort to restore the integrity and public confidence he helped destroy, Addison should consider being the first to break the real "wall of silence" behind the hoax.

Philip Wood

Cary, N. C.
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Blue wall of silence

"Wall of Silence." Isn't that what Cpl. David Addison said about the Duke lacrosse team, even though he was wrong? I am writing because as a retired member of the New Jersey state Police Benevolent Association, I still receive their newspaper in the mail. Addison is a disgrace to any police department. He continues to stand in silence, otherwise his department's crimes will be exposed. This is truly "the blue wall of silence."

He and his department make all of us who have served or are serving look like a bunch of liars and hoax artists. I was a PBA member for 25 years and we never stood behind police corruption. Only in Durham can this happen. We would not stand behind police officers who tried to railroad three innocent Duke students


William Doherty

Westmont, N. J.