Friday, December 15, 2006

Liestoppers' simple devastation

Remember the old adage:“Simple is best?”

Liestoppers has just produced a very simple, informative and powerful post. But don’t read it if you want to go on believing DA Mike Nifong is fair or honest.

Liestoppers’ post in full is below. My comments follow.
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Flashback:

"The state is not aware of any additional material or information which may be exculpatory in nature with respect to the defendant [Seligmann]," Nifong wrote in a court filing [May 18].

Today:

"Meehan struggled to say why he didn’t include the favorable evidence in a report dated May 12, almost a month after Seligmann and Finnerty had been indicted. He cited concerns about the privacy of the lacrosse players, his discussions at several meetings with Nifong, and the fact that he didn’t know whose DNA it was.

"Under questioning by Jim Cooney, a defense attorney for Seligmann, Meehan admitted that his report violated his laboratory’s standards by not reporting results of all tests.

"Did Nifong and his investigators know the results of all the DNA tests?" Cooney asked.

“I believe so,” Meehan said.

“Did they know the test results excluded Reade Seligmann?” Cooney asked
I believe so,” Meehan said.

"Was the failure to report these results the intentional decision of you and the district attorney?" Cooney asked.

“Yes,” Meehan replied."

"Head of DNA lab says he and Nifong agreed not to report results" [N&O]
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It’s devastating, isn’t it? And who can argue with it? It’s all “the record.”

It couldn’t have been easy for Meehan to admit he and Nifong agreed that he’d intentionally withhold exculpatory evidence from his report.

Meehan’s ruined professionally and he very likely will face civil suits. But he must have realized that awful as those consequences are, they’re preferable to a perjury conviction.

Liestoppers’ post makes it clear Nifong will now need to offer another lie(s) to explain his May 18 written statement to the court.

But "the noose" is tightening.

“O, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

If I were a decision-maker at the state bar association, and I’d just read Liestoppers' post, I hope I’d be calling the other decision-makers and saying something like: “We better start moving.”

Message to Liestoppers: Congratulations on a simply devastating post.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a first-hand report

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1753040/posts?page=1241#1241

Anonymous said...

Locomotive Breath, Thanks so much for being there, and for your valued imput! It's much appreciated!

Jhn1 said...

At this point, anyone who has ever had this lab's results used against them should go back to court to reopen the case, and require whatever additional information might be pertinent to their case be brought back. As this lab has demonstrated, they will not submit complete reports unless required by outside sources determining that the report is possibly incomplete, and outside sources determining that the lab is willing to slant that incomplete to the benefit of the hiring authority.
Also everyone who has used this lab should press for refunds and take the work to another lab as this one has been cought in a sutuation where anyone could cast doubt on any testimony that they would ever give.
Bankrupt the lab if they can't be brought down any other way.