Michael Gaynor
Durham judge gagging Duke three is an abomination!
By Michael Gaynor
Where is the outrage? Their accuser was NOT raped, but the Duke Three really have been GAGGED (by a judge!). If three poor black natives had been gagged after a young white woman with the criminal, medical, sexual and employment histories of that accuser had accused them of rape and a politically desperate prosecutor had parlayed that into indictments and an upset Democrat primary victory, civil libertarians would be aghast and federal intervention would be demanded. But, the Duke Three are tripled cursed: they are white, they are Yankees, and their families are wealthy.
The day after Durham County Commissioner Lewis Cheek said he would not campaign against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong or even accept the office if elected, Mr. Nifong held a press conference and conceded that some criticism of the way he's handled the so-called Duke rape case is justified.
Mr. Nifong: "My handling of the media coverage of this case has occasioned substantial criticism, some of which is undoubtedly justified. I both underestimated the level of media attention this case would draw and misjudged the effect that my words would have."
What Mr. Nifong acknowledged were tactic errors, not his great sins: persecuting the Duke Three for personal political advantage and severely prejudicing them in his public statements.
Set forth below is the "Background Facts" portion of the motion by the Duke Three's attorneys for modification of the gag order. It nicely puts the gag order in context and describes some of Mr. Nifong's "tactics."
"This case arose after the accuser alleged, in the early morning hours of March 14, 2006, that she was physically and sexually assaulted earlier that night inside the residential home at 610 North Buchanan Boulevard in Durham, North Carolina, by members of the Duke University Men's Lacrosse Team. As noted in the Defendant's previous discovery-related filings, that allegation was not immediately made to the woman she left the residence with or to the three law enforcement officers she initially encountered that night, when she refused to leave the other woman's passenger seat at a nearby grocery store. The allegation was only made after two of those officers transported the accuser to a facility where she was going to be involuntarily committed. When the accuser made that initial allegation, she was transported to Duke Hospital's Emergency Room.
"Within days, this case became the subject of published reports in local newspapers and television stations. Public interest continued to grow when, on March 23, 2006, the 46 white members of the lacrosse team were ordered to submit to non-testimonial identification procedures for the purpose of gathering evidence for DNA testing and photo lineup procedures. Public interest began to peak when, within days of those procedures, Durham County District Attorney Michael Nifong began a series of public comments about the case in some 50 to 70 interviews, with print and television media, both local and national.
"A very limited review of Mr. Nifong's public comments about this case in March and April reflects that Mr. Nifong made the following comments to the public:
'The district attorney's office said team members deny the accusations, but admit there was underage drinking at the party. Otherwise, they are not cooperating with authorities. Nifong, who said Monday that he himself will prosecute the case, said authorities may apply for more search warrants in the case and that more charges for aiding and abetting may be possible against partygoers. "There's a good chance, if someone had spoken up and said, 'You can't do this,' it might not have happened," said Nifong.' WRAL, March 27, 2006.
'"The information that I have does lead me to conclude that a rape did occur," Nifong said. "I'm making a statement to the Durham community and, as a citizen of Durham, I am making a statement for the Durham community. This is not the kind of activity we condone, and it must be dealt with quickly and harshly."' NBC17, March 27, 2006.
'"This is not a case of people drinking and it getting out of hand from that. This is something much, much beyond that."' NBC 17, March 27, 2006.
'"My guess is that some of this stonewall of silence [from the lacrosse players] that we have seen may tend to crumble once charges start to come out."' WT\JD, ABC11, March 27, 2006.
'This is the type of case that because of the — on top of the rape, which is already an abhorrent crime enough, you have the additional racial animus and hostility that just seems totally out of place for this community in this day and age. And I felt that this was a case that we needed to make a statement, as a community, that we would not tolerate this kind of behavior here in Durham. And I felt that the best way to make that statement was to take this case myself.' MSNBC, Rita Cosby Live & Direct, March 28, 2006.
'Meanwhile, Nifong said charges are possible against those who were at the party but did nothing to stop a rape. "We're talking about a situation where had somebody spoken up and said, 'Wait a minute, we can't do this,' this incident might not have taken place," Nifong said. Nifong said he plans to prosecute the case himself to send a message to the community that authorities are taking the offense seriously.' AP, March 28, 2006.
'"The thing that most of us found so abhorrent, and the reason I decided to take ft over myself, was the combination gang-like rape activity accompanied by the racial slurs and general racial hostility," Mr. Nifong said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "There are three people who went into the bathroom with the young lady, and whether the other people there knew what was going on at the time, they do now and have not come forward. I'm disappointed that no one has been enough of a man to come forward. And if they would have spoken up at the time, this may never have happened."' New York Times, March 28, 2006.
'"I am convinced there was a rape, yes, sir. ... There is evidence of trauma in the victim's vaginal area that was noted when she was examined by a nurse at the hospital. And her general demeanor was suggestive of the fact that she had been through a traumatic situation....Well, I don't want to go into a lot of the details of the evidence right now, but obviously, the story that these people were hired to dance and were asked to leave is the alternate story."' Abrams Report, MSNBC, March 29, 2006.
'"My reading of the report of the emergency room nurse would indicate that some type of sexual assault did in fact take place," Nifong said." WRAL, March 29, 2006.
'"The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done," District Attorney Mike Nifong said. "It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so."' NBC 17, March 29, 2006.
'There's no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location.' FoxNews, The O'Reilly Factor, March 29, 2006.
'"The victim was examined at Duke University Medical Center by a nurse who was specially trained in sexual assault cases," Nifong said. "And the investigation at that time was certainly consistent with a sexual assault having taken place, as was the victim's demeanor at the time of the examination."... ... "The lacrosse team, clearly, has not been fully cooperative" in the investigation, Nifong confirmed to Syler. ... "The racial slurs involved are relevant to show the mindset...involved in this particular attack," Nifong told Syler. "And, obviously, it made what is already an extremely reprehensible act even more reprehensible."' The Early Show, CBS, March 30, 2006.
'"There's been a feeling in the past that Duke students are treated differently by the court system," Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong says. "There was a feeling that Duke students' daddies could buy them expensive lawyers and that they knew the right people. It's discouraging when people feel that way, and we try not to make that the case."' USA Today, March 30, 2006.
'Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said Wednesday that even if DNA results, which are expected as early as next week, do not match team members, no one is necessarily exonerated. The attackers could have used condoms or might not have been team members, Nifong said. "How does DNA exonerate you? It's either a match or there's not a match," Nifong said. "...If the only thing that we ever have in this case is DNA, then we wouldn't have a case."' Raleigh News & Obsetver, March 30, 2006.
'"There are certainly people who've told me that the timing of this could not be better for the election," Nifong said. "I had nothing to do with the timing of this case. I had nothing to do with anything about this other than the fact that what happened here was one of the worst things that's happened since I have become district attorney."' WRAL, March 31, 2006.
'"If it's not the way it's been reported, then why are they so unwilling to tell us what, in their words, did take place that night?" Nifong told [ESPN's George] Smith on Thursday. "And one would wonder why one needs an attorney if one was not charged and had not done anything wrong."' ESPN.com, March 31, 2006.
'Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has said that anyone who does have information and does not cooperate with investigators could face charges for aiding and abetting.' WRAL, April 1, 2006.
'Nifong, asked a week ago about news coverage of the case, said, "Having said something other than 'no comment' in the first place, it's kind of like going into Iraq. It's not a question of if you're right to go in there. It's a question of is it right to leave things a mess at this point in time?"' Raleigh News & Observer, April 8, 2006.
'[Nifong] implied that members of the lacrosse team were engaging in a conspiracy of silence. "I would like to think that somebody [not involved in the attack] has the human decency to call up and say, 'What am I doing covering up for a bunch of hooligans?' he said. Nifong expressed confidence that the DNA would be important to filling charges. "By next week, we'll know precisely who was involved," he said, shortly after the samples were taken. "I'm trying to be as honest and as straightforward as I can without jeopardizing the case, without being unfair to any person."' Raleigh News & Observer, April 10, 2006.
'Asked whether the DNA tests hurt his case, Nifong said that cases are often won on eyewitness and victim testimony. "The absence of DNA doesn't prove anything," Nifong said.' Raleigh News & Observer, April 10, 2006.
'"I would not be surprised if condoms were used," Nifong said in an interview last month. "Probably an exotic dancer would not be your first choice for unprotected sex."' Charlotte Observer, April 11, 2006.
'"The reason that I took this case is because this case says something about Durham that I'm not going to let be said," said Nifong. "I'm not going to allow Durham's view in the minds of the world to be a bunch of lacrosse players at Duke raping a black girl from Durham."' WRAL, April 13, 2006.
'When asked about the alleged Victim's evident intoxication the night of the party, District Attorney Mike Nifong told Newsweek several weeks ago that her impaired state was not necessarily voluntary. Refusing to speak about the evidence in this case specifically, Nifong, in retrospect, now appears to have been offering a clue: "What does it mean that she was intoxicated?" said Nifong. "Just as an example — speaking hypothetically — if I had a witness who saw her right before this and she was not intoxicated, and then I had a witness who said that she was given a drink at the party and after taking a few sips of that drink acted in a particular way, that could be evidence of something other than intoxication, or at least other than voluntary intoxication," Nifong told Newsweek. "There are many explanations for someone appearing to be intoxicated," he said. Asked if he had any evidence suggesting this scenario took place the night of the alleged rape, Nifong responded, "I don't have any evidence that I want to talk to you about right now." Still speaking hypothetically, he went on to say that, depending on the circumstances, an alleged victim's intoxication might make her a more credible witness.' Newsweek Magazine, April 18, 2006.
"Read and viewed together, Mr. Nifong's dozens of media interviews in March and April set a clear narrative of this case that was embraced by most if not all of the media covering the case, as well as the public it served, and that narrative was this: a racially-motivated gang rape occurred at 610 N. Buchanan Boulevard on the night of March 13; the alleged victim was the subject of involuntary intoxication caused by her alleged assailants; her medical examination at Duke Hospital later that night established clear proof of a sexual and physical assault; the lacrosse team members did not cooperate in the investigation and created a 'stonewall of silence'; lacrosse players other than the alleged assailants could be charged as aiders and abettors; lacrosse players who had not come forward to confirm to authorities that a physical and sexual assault occurred had done something criminally wrong; and Mr. Nifong personally assumed the prosecution of the case, because it was one of the worst things that had happened in Durham since he had become District Attorney, because he wanted to send the message that Duke students' daddies would not be able to hire 'expensive lawyers' and use 'the right people' to make the case go away, and because he was personally committed to seeing that Durham would not be seen in the 'minds of the world' as a place where 'a bunch of lacrosse players at Duke' would get away with 'raping a black girl from Durham.'
"While Mr. Nifong significantly curtailed his media appearances after May 2, 2006, he sent an e-mail on June 13, 2006, to a reporter for Newsweek magazine, which he later attached to a press release he issued on June 19, 2006. In that e-mail, he wrote that all of his public comments had been 'essentially restricted' to (a) his belief that the accuser had been sexually assaulted at 610 N. Buchanan, and (b) his hope that one or more persons who were present but not involved with the assault would cooperate with the investigation. He then made a temporal distinction not recognized by the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct about public comments made by a prosecutor and lawyer involved in a criminal case before a person is formally charged in that case versus after a person is formally charged. Among critical comments about the media, Mr. Nifong continued to reiterate his initial beliefs, stated in March and April, and said that 'none of the evidence' he had 'seen from any source' had 'changed the opinion [he] expressed initially.' He went on to imply that defense attorneys were misleading the public by 'creat[ing] reasonable doubt' and accused them of 'spinning this case in such a way that things do not look good for the prosecution.' His e-mail concluded with a reiteration of his belief that ethical rules governing prosecutor and lawyer speech only apply after a formal charge is filed In a criminal case, and stating that the lesson he had learned 'from all of this' is that he would 'probably be best served in the future by avoiding speaking to the press at all.'
"That said, Mr. Nifong did speak to the press, with all of the authority and goodwill and trust given to him by the people of Durham County — if not the world — as the County's chief executive law enforcement officer. And, in 2006, his words, stated in that capacity, remain alive every day in newspapers, television, and on the internet. Mr. Nifong's initial and extensive public comments made during his March and April media campaign, which he stood by in his press released of June 19, 2006, are archived on dozens if not hundreds of Internet websites and have often been repeated, in hundreds if not thousands of stories written or broadcast in newspapers, on television, and on the Internet. In short, Mr. Nifong's narrative has thrived.
"And because the narrative is wrong, undersigned counsel are not only permitted, but ethically obligated, to defend Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann against it. Moreover, under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, their teammates on the 2006 Duke University Men's Lacrosse team have a right to respond freely to that government criticism."
BEWARE PROSECUTORS LIKE MR. NIFONG AND JUDGES WHO ISSUE GAG ORDERS TO HELP HIM!
The "Argument" section of the defense motion papers is noteworthy too:
"As highlighted In recent pleadings filed on behalf of the Defendants in this case, discovery provided by the State reflects a much different reality than the narrative that took hold about this case as a result of Mr. Nifong's public comments. Notably:
© Michael Gaynor
Where is the outrage? Their accuser was NOT raped, but the Duke Three really have been GAGGED (by a judge!). If three poor black natives had been gagged after a young white woman with the criminal, medical, sexual and employment histories of that accuser had accused them of rape and a politically desperate prosecutor had parlayed that into indictments and an upset Democrat primary victory, civil libertarians would be aghast and federal intervention would be demanded. But, the Duke Three are tripled cursed: they are white, they are Yankees, and their families are wealthy.
The day after Durham County Commissioner Lewis Cheek said he would not campaign against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong or even accept the office if elected, Mr. Nifong held a press conference and conceded that some criticism of the way he's handled the so-called Duke rape case is justified.
Mr. Nifong: "My handling of the media coverage of this case has occasioned substantial criticism, some of which is undoubtedly justified. I both underestimated the level of media attention this case would draw and misjudged the effect that my words would have."
What Mr. Nifong acknowledged were tactic errors, not his great sins: persecuting the Duke Three for personal political advantage and severely prejudicing them in his public statements.
Set forth below is the "Background Facts" portion of the motion by the Duke Three's attorneys for modification of the gag order. It nicely puts the gag order in context and describes some of Mr. Nifong's "tactics."
"This case arose after the accuser alleged, in the early morning hours of March 14, 2006, that she was physically and sexually assaulted earlier that night inside the residential home at 610 North Buchanan Boulevard in Durham, North Carolina, by members of the Duke University Men's Lacrosse Team. As noted in the Defendant's previous discovery-related filings, that allegation was not immediately made to the woman she left the residence with or to the three law enforcement officers she initially encountered that night, when she refused to leave the other woman's passenger seat at a nearby grocery store. The allegation was only made after two of those officers transported the accuser to a facility where she was going to be involuntarily committed. When the accuser made that initial allegation, she was transported to Duke Hospital's Emergency Room.
"Within days, this case became the subject of published reports in local newspapers and television stations. Public interest continued to grow when, on March 23, 2006, the 46 white members of the lacrosse team were ordered to submit to non-testimonial identification procedures for the purpose of gathering evidence for DNA testing and photo lineup procedures. Public interest began to peak when, within days of those procedures, Durham County District Attorney Michael Nifong began a series of public comments about the case in some 50 to 70 interviews, with print and television media, both local and national.
"A very limited review of Mr. Nifong's public comments about this case in March and April reflects that Mr. Nifong made the following comments to the public:
'The district attorney's office said team members deny the accusations, but admit there was underage drinking at the party. Otherwise, they are not cooperating with authorities. Nifong, who said Monday that he himself will prosecute the case, said authorities may apply for more search warrants in the case and that more charges for aiding and abetting may be possible against partygoers. "There's a good chance, if someone had spoken up and said, 'You can't do this,' it might not have happened," said Nifong.' WRAL, March 27, 2006.
'"The information that I have does lead me to conclude that a rape did occur," Nifong said. "I'm making a statement to the Durham community and, as a citizen of Durham, I am making a statement for the Durham community. This is not the kind of activity we condone, and it must be dealt with quickly and harshly."' NBC17, March 27, 2006.
'"This is not a case of people drinking and it getting out of hand from that. This is something much, much beyond that."' NBC 17, March 27, 2006.
'"My guess is that some of this stonewall of silence [from the lacrosse players] that we have seen may tend to crumble once charges start to come out."' WT\JD, ABC11, March 27, 2006.
'This is the type of case that because of the — on top of the rape, which is already an abhorrent crime enough, you have the additional racial animus and hostility that just seems totally out of place for this community in this day and age. And I felt that this was a case that we needed to make a statement, as a community, that we would not tolerate this kind of behavior here in Durham. And I felt that the best way to make that statement was to take this case myself.' MSNBC, Rita Cosby Live & Direct, March 28, 2006.
'Meanwhile, Nifong said charges are possible against those who were at the party but did nothing to stop a rape. "We're talking about a situation where had somebody spoken up and said, 'Wait a minute, we can't do this,' this incident might not have taken place," Nifong said. Nifong said he plans to prosecute the case himself to send a message to the community that authorities are taking the offense seriously.' AP, March 28, 2006.
'"The thing that most of us found so abhorrent, and the reason I decided to take ft over myself, was the combination gang-like rape activity accompanied by the racial slurs and general racial hostility," Mr. Nifong said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "There are three people who went into the bathroom with the young lady, and whether the other people there knew what was going on at the time, they do now and have not come forward. I'm disappointed that no one has been enough of a man to come forward. And if they would have spoken up at the time, this may never have happened."' New York Times, March 28, 2006.
'"I am convinced there was a rape, yes, sir. ... There is evidence of trauma in the victim's vaginal area that was noted when she was examined by a nurse at the hospital. And her general demeanor was suggestive of the fact that she had been through a traumatic situation....Well, I don't want to go into a lot of the details of the evidence right now, but obviously, the story that these people were hired to dance and were asked to leave is the alternate story."' Abrams Report, MSNBC, March 29, 2006.
'"My reading of the report of the emergency room nurse would indicate that some type of sexual assault did in fact take place," Nifong said." WRAL, March 29, 2006.
'"The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done," District Attorney Mike Nifong said. "It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so."' NBC 17, March 29, 2006.
'There's no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location.' FoxNews, The O'Reilly Factor, March 29, 2006.
'"The victim was examined at Duke University Medical Center by a nurse who was specially trained in sexual assault cases," Nifong said. "And the investigation at that time was certainly consistent with a sexual assault having taken place, as was the victim's demeanor at the time of the examination."... ... "The lacrosse team, clearly, has not been fully cooperative" in the investigation, Nifong confirmed to Syler. ... "The racial slurs involved are relevant to show the mindset...involved in this particular attack," Nifong told Syler. "And, obviously, it made what is already an extremely reprehensible act even more reprehensible."' The Early Show, CBS, March 30, 2006.
'"There's been a feeling in the past that Duke students are treated differently by the court system," Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong says. "There was a feeling that Duke students' daddies could buy them expensive lawyers and that they knew the right people. It's discouraging when people feel that way, and we try not to make that the case."' USA Today, March 30, 2006.
'Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said Wednesday that even if DNA results, which are expected as early as next week, do not match team members, no one is necessarily exonerated. The attackers could have used condoms or might not have been team members, Nifong said. "How does DNA exonerate you? It's either a match or there's not a match," Nifong said. "...If the only thing that we ever have in this case is DNA, then we wouldn't have a case."' Raleigh News & Obsetver, March 30, 2006.
'"There are certainly people who've told me that the timing of this could not be better for the election," Nifong said. "I had nothing to do with the timing of this case. I had nothing to do with anything about this other than the fact that what happened here was one of the worst things that's happened since I have become district attorney."' WRAL, March 31, 2006.
'"If it's not the way it's been reported, then why are they so unwilling to tell us what, in their words, did take place that night?" Nifong told [ESPN's George] Smith on Thursday. "And one would wonder why one needs an attorney if one was not charged and had not done anything wrong."' ESPN.com, March 31, 2006.
'Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has said that anyone who does have information and does not cooperate with investigators could face charges for aiding and abetting.' WRAL, April 1, 2006.
'Nifong, asked a week ago about news coverage of the case, said, "Having said something other than 'no comment' in the first place, it's kind of like going into Iraq. It's not a question of if you're right to go in there. It's a question of is it right to leave things a mess at this point in time?"' Raleigh News & Observer, April 8, 2006.
'[Nifong] implied that members of the lacrosse team were engaging in a conspiracy of silence. "I would like to think that somebody [not involved in the attack] has the human decency to call up and say, 'What am I doing covering up for a bunch of hooligans?' he said. Nifong expressed confidence that the DNA would be important to filling charges. "By next week, we'll know precisely who was involved," he said, shortly after the samples were taken. "I'm trying to be as honest and as straightforward as I can without jeopardizing the case, without being unfair to any person."' Raleigh News & Observer, April 10, 2006.
'Asked whether the DNA tests hurt his case, Nifong said that cases are often won on eyewitness and victim testimony. "The absence of DNA doesn't prove anything," Nifong said.' Raleigh News & Observer, April 10, 2006.
'"I would not be surprised if condoms were used," Nifong said in an interview last month. "Probably an exotic dancer would not be your first choice for unprotected sex."' Charlotte Observer, April 11, 2006.
'"The reason that I took this case is because this case says something about Durham that I'm not going to let be said," said Nifong. "I'm not going to allow Durham's view in the minds of the world to be a bunch of lacrosse players at Duke raping a black girl from Durham."' WRAL, April 13, 2006.
'When asked about the alleged Victim's evident intoxication the night of the party, District Attorney Mike Nifong told Newsweek several weeks ago that her impaired state was not necessarily voluntary. Refusing to speak about the evidence in this case specifically, Nifong, in retrospect, now appears to have been offering a clue: "What does it mean that she was intoxicated?" said Nifong. "Just as an example — speaking hypothetically — if I had a witness who saw her right before this and she was not intoxicated, and then I had a witness who said that she was given a drink at the party and after taking a few sips of that drink acted in a particular way, that could be evidence of something other than intoxication, or at least other than voluntary intoxication," Nifong told Newsweek. "There are many explanations for someone appearing to be intoxicated," he said. Asked if he had any evidence suggesting this scenario took place the night of the alleged rape, Nifong responded, "I don't have any evidence that I want to talk to you about right now." Still speaking hypothetically, he went on to say that, depending on the circumstances, an alleged victim's intoxication might make her a more credible witness.' Newsweek Magazine, April 18, 2006.
"Read and viewed together, Mr. Nifong's dozens of media interviews in March and April set a clear narrative of this case that was embraced by most if not all of the media covering the case, as well as the public it served, and that narrative was this: a racially-motivated gang rape occurred at 610 N. Buchanan Boulevard on the night of March 13; the alleged victim was the subject of involuntary intoxication caused by her alleged assailants; her medical examination at Duke Hospital later that night established clear proof of a sexual and physical assault; the lacrosse team members did not cooperate in the investigation and created a 'stonewall of silence'; lacrosse players other than the alleged assailants could be charged as aiders and abettors; lacrosse players who had not come forward to confirm to authorities that a physical and sexual assault occurred had done something criminally wrong; and Mr. Nifong personally assumed the prosecution of the case, because it was one of the worst things that had happened in Durham since he had become District Attorney, because he wanted to send the message that Duke students' daddies would not be able to hire 'expensive lawyers' and use 'the right people' to make the case go away, and because he was personally committed to seeing that Durham would not be seen in the 'minds of the world' as a place where 'a bunch of lacrosse players at Duke' would get away with 'raping a black girl from Durham.'
"While Mr. Nifong significantly curtailed his media appearances after May 2, 2006, he sent an e-mail on June 13, 2006, to a reporter for Newsweek magazine, which he later attached to a press release he issued on June 19, 2006. In that e-mail, he wrote that all of his public comments had been 'essentially restricted' to (a) his belief that the accuser had been sexually assaulted at 610 N. Buchanan, and (b) his hope that one or more persons who were present but not involved with the assault would cooperate with the investigation. He then made a temporal distinction not recognized by the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct about public comments made by a prosecutor and lawyer involved in a criminal case before a person is formally charged in that case versus after a person is formally charged. Among critical comments about the media, Mr. Nifong continued to reiterate his initial beliefs, stated in March and April, and said that 'none of the evidence' he had 'seen from any source' had 'changed the opinion [he] expressed initially.' He went on to imply that defense attorneys were misleading the public by 'creat[ing] reasonable doubt' and accused them of 'spinning this case in such a way that things do not look good for the prosecution.' His e-mail concluded with a reiteration of his belief that ethical rules governing prosecutor and lawyer speech only apply after a formal charge is filed In a criminal case, and stating that the lesson he had learned 'from all of this' is that he would 'probably be best served in the future by avoiding speaking to the press at all.'
"That said, Mr. Nifong did speak to the press, with all of the authority and goodwill and trust given to him by the people of Durham County — if not the world — as the County's chief executive law enforcement officer. And, in 2006, his words, stated in that capacity, remain alive every day in newspapers, television, and on the internet. Mr. Nifong's initial and extensive public comments made during his March and April media campaign, which he stood by in his press released of June 19, 2006, are archived on dozens if not hundreds of Internet websites and have often been repeated, in hundreds if not thousands of stories written or broadcast in newspapers, on television, and on the Internet. In short, Mr. Nifong's narrative has thrived.
"And because the narrative is wrong, undersigned counsel are not only permitted, but ethically obligated, to defend Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann against it. Moreover, under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, their teammates on the 2006 Duke University Men's Lacrosse team have a right to respond freely to that government criticism."
BEWARE PROSECUTORS LIKE MR. NIFONG AND JUDGES WHO ISSUE GAG ORDERS TO HELP HIM!
The "Argument" section of the defense motion papers is noteworthy too:
"As highlighted In recent pleadings filed on behalf of the Defendants in this case, discovery provided by the State reflects a much different reality than the narrative that took hold about this case as a result of Mr. Nifong's public comments. Notably:
- No toxicology tests were performed at Duke Hospital, and the accuser told police on March 16, 2006, that she 'did not drink that much' and had 'no drugs' on the night of March 13 and, in fact, 'knew what was going on.'
- Contemporaneous records of the accuser's treatment over nearly 12 hours at Duke Hospital reflect that the only physical trauma observed by the female SANE doctor were three small cuts on her knee, ankle, and leg. No vaginal or anal trauma was observed. Only 'diffuse edema' (swelling) of the vaginal walls was noted.
- While initially stating in court filings and public comments that DNA test results would narrow the list of suspects, Mr. Nifong eventually dismissed the lack of DNA evidence of a sexual assault by implying (if not outright stating) in several local and national interviews that condoms were used by the alleged assailants. He made those comments despite the fact that contemporaneous records of the accuser's treatment over nearly 12 hours at Duke Hospital — records he was citing to support his belief that a physical and sexual assault occurred — reflect that the accuser repeatedly claimed that her alleged assailants did not use condoms and ejaculated.
- In none of his public comments did Mr. Nifong refer to the accuser's recantation of the rape allegation in the early morning hours of March 14 or the myriad conflicting statements she made that morning and over the following weeks to police and hospital personnel about the alleged attack.
- In none of his public comments did Mr. Nifong state that the other dancer told police that the accuser's allegation of a physical and sexual assault was a 'crock' and that she (the second dancer) was only apart from the accuser for about five minutes that night, making it Impossible for the accuser to have suffered a brutal triple gang-rape at that location over a half-hour period, as claimed by the accuser and repeated in probable cause affidavits to support multiple applications for search warrants and the non-testimonial identification order entered in this case.
- In addition to his negative public comments on the exercise of Fifth Amendment rights by the same lacrosse players he was simultaneously threatening, in the same public comments, to charge as principals or aiders and abettors if they did not come forward with information confirming that a physical and sexual assault occurred, the majority of Mr. Nifong's public comments on that subject repeatedly implied that everyone on the lacrosse team was hiding behind a stonewall of silence, while the truth is that Dave Evans, whom Mr. Nifong would eventually indict, as well as his co-residents at 610 N. Buchanan, had assisted in the execution of the search warrant .at their house and had all volunteered, without asking for a lawyer, to accompany officers to the police station, where they gave hours of oral and written statements and voluntarily submitted to biological evidence collection procedures. Notably, they did that without calling their 'daddies' or 'expensive lawyers' or other 'right people.'"
© Michael Gaynor
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