What did Tracey Cline know and do when?

This is a 1,2, 3 post.

1) Excerpts from the AP’s report of Mike Nifong crony and current Durham chief assistant district attorney Tracey Cline’s victory in yesterday’s Democratic primary race to complete the remainder of Nifong’s term as DA after he was forced to resign following his disbarment.

2) Excerpts from attorney and Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren’s Greta Wire blog post today expressing her understandable outrage in response to Cline’s election victory.

3) Some JinC comments.

Let’s begin - - -


1) - - - Under the headline - “Cline wins Dem primary for Durham DA, job tainted by Nifong” – the AP reported:

Two years after Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong began his ill-fated pursuit of the Duke lacrosse rape case, voters turned to 1 of his colleagues to take the office beyond the scandal.

Tracey Cline won the Democratic primary for district attorney Tuesday night, beating three challengers in an election that focused as much on a trouble-filled past as the future.

With all but one precinct counted, Cline had 46% of the vote in unofficial results. Former prosecutor Freda Black was second with 34%, while private practice lawyer Keith Bishop was third with 13%. Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Garrell had 7%.

No Republicans are in the race, making it likely Cline will claim the office made infamous by Nifong and his disastrous prosecution of 3 Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape. …

The rest of the AP’s story's here.


2) - - - Van Susteren responded at her blog Greta Wire [excerpts]:

If I were a voter in Durham County, I would have wanted to cross examine Tracey Cline about what she knew about Mike Nifong’s handling of the Duke Lacrosse case. She worked in the office at the time the case was the high profile case in the office…and I can’t believe it was not discussed a great deal.

If it was not discussed, I would like to know why she did not quiz Nifong about it.

Certainly she heard all the lawyers on TV and in the local press complaining about his handling of it as early as 2 weeks after the dancer was at the house.

Important issues - including the withholding of evidence — were constantly discussed on TV.

Every Assistant DA in that office while Nifong was handling that case should have had the courage to step forward….before I would vote for her, I would want to know why she did not.

Prosecutors have enormous power — and communities must be confidant that those with great courage hold those jobs.

3) - - - My comments:

I’m with Greta. What about you?

Why haven't Durham’s two print publications – The Herald Sun and Duke’s student newspaper, The Chronicle – addressed in editorials the critical issues regarding Cline and the attempted frame-up of three Duke students Greta's addressed?

It was no surprise that the Herald Sun endorsed Cline. The paper’s been anti-Duke students from the time Crystal Mangum and Nifong began telling their lies with enablement from Duke’s trustees, senior administration and most of its faculty.

But why did The Chronicle’s editorial board, which claims to represent Duke's students, remain silent during the primary campaign?

Couldn’t at least some of The Chronicle’s editorial board members think of a few important questions Cline should’ve answered before yesterday’s election?

So what if the questions upset President Brodhead, the trustees and those faculty members who did the most to support what Nifong did, and what DPD Inv. Himan testified Cline did?

Is that any reason not to ask them?

There’s one thing we can all count on: Attorneys for the Duke students in the civil rights suits brought against Duke and Durham will have plenty of questions to ask Cline.

When we all hear those questions, even some of the most credulous H-S and TC readers may ask: “Now why didn’t my newspaper ask those question?”

In the meantime, the editors at both papers keep telling us how good they are.

Hat tip: Archer 05