This was very much like the Tawana Brawley case in 1988. It included false accusations,
a rush to judgement, unnecessary racial strife, rash presuppositions by self-appointed "leaders of the black community",
and media coverage that concentrated on three-second sound bites rather than accurate assessments of the facts.
Note: The newest material is at the bottom of this page.
The Lies of Duke: "She was
black, they were white, and race and sex were in the air." That's how a Washington Post columnist
described the atmosphere that led to the brutal gang rape of Crystal Mangum by a group of Duke University
lacrosse players in 2006. You remember, right? That was the violent, racially motivated hate crime
that never happened.
Playing the race
card may inhibit true justice in Durham alleged rape case. African-American groups
in Durham have essentially convicted the two white Duke students without a trial. Demonstrations
have been held and District Attorney Mike Nifong, who is seeking reelection this year, has made condemning
statements seemingly meant to appease his black constituency. Nifong has come under considerable
criticism from legal experts who say his actions have gone far beyond the fair search for truth.
Everyone Should Judge And Be Judged On
Character, Not Color. The prosecutor [in the Duke case] has refused to stop the prosecution
even though it has become obvious that it was fundamentally flawed from the start, there is no evidence to
confirm the accused's charges, there is plenty of evidence that the charges are false, and, for a plethora
of reasons (including her criminal, medical and sexual histories) having nothing to do with race or color,
the accuser
is … NOT CREDIBLE.
The worst
worsens. After all this time, it finally came out in court last week that the DNA samples collected
from the underwear and private parts of the alleged victim contained DNA from other men — but none from
the Duke lacrosse players who were accused of raping her.
Fatty and
Duke: The alleged Duke lacrosse team accuser originally told police that 20 men had
raped her. Later she said it had been three men. Raleigh-Durham station WRAL reports
that a police report stated the accuser first said she was groped, not raped. She repeatedly
altered her account of how much she had drunk that night. Washington Post columnist
Ruth Marcus says the accuser has changed her story six times now.
Convict, Correct, but Never
Apologize. Eighty-eight Duke professors and administrators published a statement that both
implicitly convicted the lacrosse team of all the charges, and explained how the attack on the dancer was
symptomatic of the racist, classist, and miscogynistic society in which we live, where this kind of thing
happens all the time. For the record (and clearly this would be news to the signers of the Duke
letter), there are many more white women sexually assaulted by black men in America each year than there
are black women sexually assaulted by white men (100 times as many in some years).
Prosecutor
in Duke Case Faces Ethics Complaint. The North Carolina State Bar filed a formal ethics
complaint yesterday [12/28/2006] against the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, accusing him
of making inflammatory remarks about the team to the news media and misleading the public about evidence.
The 17-page complaint took issue with a long list of public comments by the prosecutor, Michael B. Nifong,
the Durham district attorney.
N.C. Bar Files Charges Against Duke
D.A.. The North Carolina bar filed ethics charges Thursday [12/28/2006] against the prosecutor
in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, accusing him of saying misleading and inflammatory things to the
media about the athletes under suspicion. The punishment for ethics violations can range from
admonishment to disbarment.
Duke's
Tenured Vigilantes: The Duke University "lacrosse rape case" is all but over. On Friday,
January 12, the prosecutor, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, petitioned the North Carolina
attorney general's office to be recused from the case, and the office complied, appointing a pair of special
prosecutors to take over.
Orwell
University — Duke Profs' P.C. Travesty. Three Duke lacrosse players were falsely accused of
raping a woman and charged unjustly with that and other crimes by a district attorney who suppressed
evidence and committed perjury before recusing himself from the case. This monumental injustice
deserves a protest, especially since the trumped-up charges have not yet been dropped (though they
soon will be).
More Ethics
Charges Brought Against Official in Duke Case. The North Carolina State Bar filed a second, more
serious round of ethics charges yesterday [1/24/2007] against the district attorney in Durham, N.C., accusing
him of "systematic abuse of prosecutorial discretion" in the sexual assault case against three former members
of the Duke University lacrosse team.
The real issue
at Duke. Nifong's actions are inexplicable only if you assume that his purpose was to get at the
truth about what actually happened at the party where the stripper claimed to have been raped. That
assumption has never been made in this column. From day one, I have never believed that this case was
about rape, about the Duke lacrosse players or about the "exotic dancers" or strippers. District Attorney
Nifong's actions are perfectly consistent and logical from start to finish, once you see that this case is
about Nifong's own career.
Nifong says he's innocent.
District Attorney Mike Nifong said in a response to the N.C. State Bar today that
the rights of the defendants in the Duke lacrosse case were not violated because they and their attorneys
knew of DNA evidence that could help their case before a trial date was set.
Update: US
students cleared of stripper assault. Three US student athletes accused of kidnapping and sexually
assaulting a black stripper at a Duke University lacrosse team party have been cleared of all remaining
criminal charges.
Prosecutors Drop Charges in Duke Case.
The Duke lacrosse rape case finally collapsed Wednesday [4/11/2007], with North Carolina's top prosecutor saying
the three athletes were railroaded by a district attorney who ignored increasingly flimsy evidence in a "tragic
rush to accuse."
Cleared
Duke lacrosse players don't rule out lawsuit against DA. Lawyers for three former Duke lacrosse players are
considering suing the district attorney who pursued rape and sexual assault charges against the three men, who were
declared innocent this week by the state attorney general.
Let
the Liar be Named and Shamed. Her name is Crystal Gail Mangum. She is the woman who falsely accused three
Duke University students of rape. Yesterday, the attorney general of North Carolina came forward and flatly declared
the three young men "innocent of these charges." That means their accuser is a liar.
Hefty price for justice.
So what was the Duke lacrosse rape case anyway? A hoax? A failure to speak truth to power? A journalistic
breakdown? Or was that year-long academic, civic, athletic and sociological trainwreck indeed what North Carolina
attorney general Roy Cooper branded a "tragic rush to accuse"? Take your pick: All kinds of labels got tossed
around in the wake of Cooper's dismissal Wednesday of all charges against the accused players.
Duke's
sorry faculty: The most remarkable fact about the Duke lacrosse fiasco is not that it took nearly a year for
obviously flimsy charges to be dropped against the players. That's a long time, but it was only in January that the
North Carolina attorney general took over the case from the corrupt Durham County district attorney.
Duke
Case: Will the Times Apologize? Reverse the races, change the sport, and you have the Kobe Bryant
"rape" hoax all over again. It frightens me that, in this day and age, three demonstrably innocent men can be
dragged into the public square in chains and be unjustly accused, tried and convicted in the media — forcibly
lynched — for a rape that never happened.
The
Durham Travesty. It's about time. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper yesterday
dropped all charges against three for mer Duke lacrosse players accused of raping a stripper at an off-campus
party — putting an end to one of the worst cases of legal railroading ever.
When Women Cry Wolf
About Rape. Now that the Duke "rape" case has been brought to its conclusion and the
falsely-accused young men have been thoroughly exonerated, it is time for us — especially us
women — to come down hard on the woman who cried "Wolf" and those who enabled her.
Media rehab and the Duke lacrosse
case. Much of the media are desperately trying to rehabilitate themselves in the wake of the Duke
lacrosse exonerations. This is not unlike the firefighter arsonist who sets a blaze and then arrives on
the scene later — after tremendous damage has been done — to fight the fire and gain praise
for his bravery.
Journalism's Hoax on Duke: As the
late commentator and editor Michael Kelly wrote, "most journalists learn to see the world through a
set of standard templates into which they plug each day's events." The most obvious templates
concern race — whites are oppressing blacks, gender — men are oppressing
women, and class — the privileged are oppressing the poor. Since all three of
these templates were in play during the Duke race case, how surprising is it that this triple
high tide resulted in some of the worst journalism of the decade?
Duke
of Injustice: What a difference a year makes. A year ago, there was a lynch mob
atmosphere against the accused students — from the Duke University campus to the national media,
and including the local NAACP and the ever-present Jesse Jackson. These were affluent white
male students and a poor black woman accusing them of rape.
Nifong's Ticket
to Ride: This column predicted in April a year ago that this case would never go to trial because
it was obvious even then that discovering the guilt or innocence of the accused was not District Attorney Nifong's
real goal. What served Nifong's purposes was keeping this case alive long enough for him to win his
election as district attorney.
The lineups that weren't? One
flaw in the Duke lacrosse case pointed out by the attorney general's report Friday [4/27/2007] was that the
lineup in which accuser Crystal Gail Mangum identified players as rapists was "of questionable validity."
Durham police violated their own policy by not interspersing photos of nonsuspects. On
Friday [4/27/2007], City Manager Patrick Baker, who oversees the Police Department, offered
an explanation: None of the three photo arrays Mangum viewed technically were lineups.
Trial this week for prosecutor in Duke
case. The prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse team rape case goes on trial Tuesday before the North
Carolina State Bar for alleged ethical violations during the rape investigation. The proceeding could
result in his disbarment.
Duke Prosecutor Says He
Will Resign. Facing the loss of his law license, a tearful Mike Nifong said Friday he will
resign as district attorney, more than a year after he obtained rape indictments against three Duke
University lacrosse players who were later declared innocent by state prosecutors.
N.C. State Bar: Nifong Guilty of Ethics Violations.
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been found guilty by the North Carolina State Bar for a battery of
ethics violations in the Duke Lacrosse case. Nifong is expected to be disciplined as early as today
[6/16/2007]. His punishment could range from a written reprimand to disbarment. He already
announced Friday his intention to resign as district attorney.
Panel says Duke prosecutor broke
ethics rules. Mike Nifong broke several rules of professional conduct during his disastrous
prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, committing "deceit and
misrepresentations," a disciplinary committee ruled Saturday.
Nifong
surrenders license. After 15 months of waging war in the Duke lacrosse case, Durham County
District Attorney Michael B. Nifong surrendered his law license yesterday. Nifong gave up minutes
after a state panel ruled that he had intentionally and repeatedly lied and cheated as he prosecuted three
former lacrosse players on rape charges.
Now
what about those Duke professors. Why would a seasoned prosecutor like Nifong flout the rules in
so many ways in the Duke case? Why would he publicly describe the Duke lacrosse players as "rapists"
before that had been established in a court of law? Why would he suppress DNA evidence that the defense
was entitled to see? Why, in short, did he go so far before the facts were in?
Tears Of A Clown.
Mike Nifong weeps at the consequences of persecuting three college kids for a crime they did not commit.
Meanwhile, Scooter Libby enters prison for a crime that never occurred.
The Duke Case's
Unfinished Business. Not only is [Michael] Nifong still liable to civil lawsuits from the three
young men whose lives he tried to ruin, and criminal prosecution for his obstruction of justice and making
false statements to a judge, there are many other people who disgraced themselves in hyping a lynch mob
atmosphere when this case first broke last year.
N.C. Bar Issues Order
Disbarring Nifong. The North Carolina State Bar on Thursday [7/12/2007] issued a formal order
disbarring former district attorney Mike Nifong for his handling of the now-discredited Duke lacrosse rape
case. Nifong must surrender his law license to the bar no later than 30 days from when he is
served with the order. He also must pay costs associated with his June ethics trial.
Duke, lacrosse players reach settlement.
Duke University has reached a settlement with each of the three former lacrosse players and their families.
The university made the announcement this afternoon. According to a press release issued by Duke, the terms
of the settlement will not be disclosed.
The Brawley Case of the
South: If anyone ever starts a museum of horrible explanations, the one-liner by Newsweek's Evan
Thomas about his magazine's dubious reporting on the Duke non-rape case — "The narrative was right but the
facts were wrong" — is destined to become a popular exhibit, right up there with "we had to destroy the
village to save it." What Mr. Thomas seems to mean is that the newsroom view of the lacrosse players
as privileged, sexist, and arrogant white male jocks was the correct angle on the story. It wasn't.
The University Has No Clothes.
To underscore its horror, the university adopted a new rule: "Strippers may not be invited or paid to perform
at events sponsored by individual students, residential living groups, or cohesive units." So, some
might be surprised to learn that on this year's Super Bowl Sunday, Duke University played host to a group of
strippers, prostitutes, phone-sex operators, and others in a "Sex Workers Art Show" to display their
"creativity and genius."
Convicted
Without Trial: You've read about the stripper who carried DNA from multiple sex partners
but none from the accused. You've seen the exonerated players on TV. You've watched the career
of Durham, North Carolina, district attorney Mike Nifong collapse into a heap of reckless ambition. But
there's one character in this uniquely American passion play about whom you still know very little: Mike
Pressler, the former head coach of the Duke University lacrosse team and the only university employee to lose
a job over the scandal.
Obama's
accidental gift on race. Much of America is petrified to bring up race, especially in public forums — the
media, in particular. But for exactly the opposite reasons Mr. Holder, the Obama administration and the brain trust
of modern liberalism assert. Americans, especially nonblacks, are deeply fearful that the dynamic is predicated on
an un-American premise: presumed guilt. Innocence, under the extra-constitutional reign of political
correctness, liberalism's brand of soft Shariah law, must be proved ex post facto. Think not? Ask the
Duke lacrosse team...
Years later... Duke lacrosse accuser charged with attempted murder,
arson. Durham police arrested Duke lacrosse accuser Crystal Gale Mangum, 33, late Wednesday [2/17/2010]
after she allegedly assaulted her boyfriend, set his clothes on fire in a bathtub and threatened to stab him.
Duke lacrosse
figure charged. Crystal Gail Mangum, who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of
rape in 2006, now is accused of attempting to murder her boyfriend and is being held in the Durham County Jail on
a $1 million bond.
Duke lacrosse accuser arrested again.
Authorities say former Duke Lacrosse accuser Crystal Mangum was arrested overnight Sunday [4/3/2011] for stabbing
her boyfriend in the chest. ... Mangum is charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting
serious injury.
Where
are Crystal Mangum's liberal supporters now? Being held on a $300,000 secured bond, 2006 Duke
Lacrosse rape accuser Crystal Mangum sits in a Durham County jail cell after being charged with assault with
a deadly weapon with intent to kill. The man Ms. Mangum allegedly stabbed on April 3 died of his
injuries on Wednesday [4/13/2011]. The charges against Ms. Mangum have yet to be upgraded to murder.
This pretty well sums it up... Mike Nifong's Crime:
This despicable career government employee seized upon a completely selfish, self-serving opportunity to heighten
racial tensions in our nation so that he could get elected to a minor office and get a good civil service pension.
In a disunited country at war, ridden with racial problems, he pandered to invidious racial stereotypes to
drive a wedge between the races in America.
