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Blog and Media Roundup - Sunday, February 28, 2010; News Roundup
Topic Started: Feb 28 2010, 06:37 AM (623 Views)
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/6490048/article-Tuition-set-to-be-above--50K-mark-in-2010-11?instance=main_article

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Tuition set to be above $50K mark in 2010-11
02.27.10 - 10:47 pm
By Neil Offen

noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646

DURHAM -- The cost of attending Duke University is going over the $50,000 a year mark.

The Duke University Board of Trustees Saturday approved a 3.9 percent increase in tuition, room and board for undergraduate students -- the same as the increase the board approved last year. The increase brings the price of a Duke education next school year to $51,865.

That means Duke joins at least 58 other private colleges and universities whose published rates this year for tuition, fees, room and board totaled $50,000 or more, according to a survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The year before, only five institutions had breached the $50,000 barrier.

The trustees also set undergraduate tuition for students enrolled in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering during the 2010-11 academic year at $38,985, a 4 percent increase. About 82 percent of Duke undergraduates are enrolled in Trinity College; 18 percent matriculate in the Pratt School.

The approved tuition increases are comparable to what some of Duke's peer institutions have done for the next school year. Last year, according to the College Board, the average increase for private four-year colleges was 4.4 percent, even though there was no general rise in inflation.

While raising the rates, the trustees also reaffirmed Duke's commitment to a need-blind admissions policy, under which the university accepts students without regard to their ability to pay and then meets 100 percent of their demonstrated financial need. More than 40 percent of students at Duke receive need-based financial aid, in addition to those who receive other assistance.

Between 1999 and 2009, Duke increased its annual spending on undergraduate financial aid from $34 million to $86.2 million, including a 27.5 percent increase over the past two years.

The trustees also approved new tuition rates for Duke's graduate and professional schools in 2010-11:

- Divinity School: $17,750, up 3.5 percent over the current year.

- Fuqua School of Business: $47,960 (daytime MBA), up 4.6 percent.

- Graduate School: $39,150 (Ph.D. programs), up 4 percent.

- Law School: $46,926, up 5.5 percent.

- Nicholas School of the Environment: $29,000, up 2.8 percent.

- Pratt School of Engineering: $38,440 (MEM program), up 5.9 percent.

- Sanford School of Public Policy: $35,360, up 4 percent.

- School of Medicine: $44,482, up 4 percent.

- School of Nursing: $42,660, up 5.8 percent.
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/6489704/article-Police-respond-to-call--shoot--wound-suspect?instance=main_article

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Police respond to call, shoot, wound suspect
02.27.10 - 09:44 pm
By Mark Donovan

mdonovan@heraldsun.com; 419-6655

DURHAM -- A man was shot and wounded by Durham police Saturday afternoon at the new Belcrest subdivision off Juliette Drive and Fayetteville Road.

His identity and condition had not been released as of late Saturday.

Police said they responded to a call about the "sound of shots" at 1:41 p.m. near Juliette Drive and Rosaline Lane in southwestern Durham about two miles north of The Streets at Southpoint and a mile or so south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said in an e-mail that police confronted "a male with a handgun in the 100 block of Rosaline Lane and the male was shot. The male, whose name is not being released at this time, was taken to Duke University Hospital for treatment."

Because at least one police officer was involved in the shooting, Michael said the incident will be investigated by the Police Department's Professional Standards Unit and the State Bureau of Investigation, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings.

The release, which was e-mailed at 4:24 p.m. Saturday, said no further information was available "at this time."

The house where the shooting occurred is one of seven built in the development by the original developer, Centex Homes, according to a spokeswoman for developer KB Home, which bought out Centex's interest in the subdivision and this week opened its first model home at Belcrest -- "directly across the street from the shooting," the spokeswoman said.

A woman who answered the phone at the KB Home sales office at Belcrest Saturday refused comment.

The national spokeswoman said, "We know as much as you do," about the shooting, but said she could confirm that the shooter was not a KB Home employee and that no KB Home employees were hurt.

The Belcrest development, according to the KB Home Web site, features single-family homes ranging in size from 1,303 square feet to 2,494 square feet in a price range of $174,990 to $200,990.
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http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/02/28/1278315/prosecutors-officer-tried-to-rig.html

Prosecutors: Officer tried to rig lineup
70 cases have been thrown out because of involvement by accused officer, who has resigned.
By Gary L. Wright
gwright@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010

A veteran police officer who complained that his cases were being dismissed has resigned after prosecutors accused him of misconduct in a robbery investigation.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Brian Cloninger tried to influence a lineup, prosecutors say. He gave the robbery victim the name and photo of the man he thought committed the gunpoint hold-up. He also urged the woman to look at the suspect's photo every day so she could pick him out.

Cloninger's behavior triggered an investigation and forced prosecutors to throw out some 70 cases he handled - including drunken driving, assault and drug charges.

"Officer Cloninger tainted the case from the start," says prosecutor Jeff Davis. "A victim's identification of a suspect should be based on memory and not because a police officer has shown the victim a mug shot."

Prosecutors say when they confronted Cloninger, the 15-year veteran was unrepentant and told them he was "just trying to get a bad guy off the streets."

Cloninger also expressed frustration about prosecutors dismissing "good cases" he'd brought them.

Tension between police and prosecutors has surfaced in the last year over Mecklenburg's high rate of dismissing criminal cases. In 2008, prosecutors dropped 52 percent of felonies they handled - more than in any other urban area in North Carolina.

While prosecutors rarely uncover cases of police acting unethically or illegally, Cloninger's case comes after several incidents of police misconduct.

CMPD recently fired Officer Marcus Jackson, who is charged with sexually assaulting six women while on patrol. A few weeks later, an officer quit after he was seen having sex in a restaurant bathroom. And last year, two officers went to prison for protecting a drug dealer and conspiring to sell cocaine.

A police spokesman said Chief Rodney Monroe wouldn't discuss Cloninger's actions because it's a personnel matter - although N.C. law allows the release of such information when it's deemed essential to maintaining public confidence.

Cloninger, who served on the force since 1995, also refused to comment.

"He's sorry for what happened," says Charlotte lawyer George Laughrun, who represented Cloninger in his police disciplinary case. "He made a mistake, and he's paid for it with his livelihood. He misses being a police officer."

Officer sure of suspect

Cloninger's handling of the robbery case first came to light in April 2009 when the victim - a Charlotte lawyer - decided she had to report the officer's behavior.

The robbery happened after midnight in August 2008. Lawyer Amy Fitzgerald was dropping a friend at home in Wesley Heights when two men approached. One stuck a handgun in her face. He demanded her purse, which held her earrings, bracelet and $35. Fitzgerald complied, and the men got away in her Volkswagen Rabbit.

When police arrived, Fitzgerald described the gunman to Cloninger.

Cloninger then used the computer in his patrol car to show her a mug shot, Fitzgerald says, and he told her this was probably her attacker because the man had been committing robberies in the area.

"Yeah, that looks like him," Fitzgerald recalls saying.

Cloninger then gave her the man's name and encouraged her to look "every day" at an archived photo on the county jail's Web site so she could pick him out in a photo lineup, she says.

Experts say police should do nothing to help a victim identify a suspect. Instead, police should ask for a detailed description of the suspect, then later ask the victim to pick the suspect from photos of people with similar features.

Four days after Fitzgerald was robbed - on the night before she was scheduled to look through suspect photos - Cloninger phoned her at home about 11 p.m., she says.

He asked if she'd had a chance to look at the suspect's photo, she recalls. She told him she hadn't.

"He then told me this was the right suspect in my case. He said police had a lot of evidence against him, and he was the person who'd robbed me," Fitzgerald says. "That's when he told me to 'do the right thing.'"

The next day, Fitzgerald looked through 50 or 60 photos. She recognized the dreadlocks and facial features of one man - including a mark on his cheek - as those of her attacker.

She picked the same man - 18-year-old Jairus Gaskin - whom Cloninger had suggested from the beginning. It was a different photo than the one Cloninger had shown her. But she had no doubt.

"I got a good look at him," she says.

Lawyer reports behavior

At the time, Gaskin had convictions for an assault and possession of marijuana. Prosecutors had previously dismissed an assault and an armed-robbery charge.

Gaskin landed in jail just days after the Fitzgerald robbery - but he wasn't charged in her case for several months. Instead, he'd been arrested in two other robberies.

One involved the gunpoint stick-up of four teenage girls who reported that a man stole their money, two cell phones and a wallet.

The other robbery involved two teenage victims who gave up their money to the gunman.

Police soon charged Gaskin with Fitzgerald's robbery too.

Over six months, as Fitzgerald awaited her day in court, she grew increasingly uncomfortable with how Cloninger had coached her in the identification of her assailant.

As a lawyer and officer of the court, she knew she was sworn to report any unethical behavior.

Last April, when she got word Gaskin was due in court, Fitzgerald showed up. She immediately recognized the man who robbed her standing with hands cuffed and legs shackled in the courtroom.

"Without a doubt," she says. "I recognized his voice - even the way he was standing."

She asked to speak to a prosecutor. In a conference room, she spelled out what Cloninger had done.

She knew she'd probably get no justice for being robbed if she reported the officer, but says: "I had an obligation to tell the truth. It was upsetting."

Prosecutors were stunned. They summoned Cloninger to the DA's office.

Cloninger confirmed that Fitzgerald had accurately recounted most of his actions in the case, says prosecutor Jeff Davis, although he denied instructing her to "do the right thing" during the lineup.

Davis asked Cloninger why he had failed to note in his police report that he had coached the victim in identifying a suspect.

Why would I record that, Davis recalls Cloninger saying.

"He said if he had to do it again, he'd do it exactly the same way," Davis says.

Cloninger went on to assert that police "do what we have to do," and that he was just trying to get a criminal off the streets, Davis recalls.

Cases dismissed

District Attorney Peter Gilchrist agrees his office dismisses too many cases. Plea bargains often require dismissing some charges against a defendant, but are an important tool in helping to manage jail space wisely.

Prosecutors also say they face difficulties pulling together cases - from inadequate evidence, to unbelievable testimony, to missing and uncooperative witnesses.

Police sometimes don't bring enough evidence to win a conviction, say prosecutors, who estimate as many as 25 percent of felonies are dismissed for insufficient evidence.

Prosecutors last May dismissed Fitzgerald's robbery case.

In the dismissal document, prosecutor Desmond McCallum wrote: "The officer's actions were irreparably suggestive. ... That photo identification was the only evidence that linked defendant to the crime."

In a memo, the prosecutor wrote: "Officer Cloninger's lack of repentance after he was informed of the detrimental effect of his practices raises concern about the ability to prosecute any criminal matters in which he is involved."

Gaskin, who had pleaded not guilty in the robbery, says: "The police officer caused me to lose some of my life. ... He caused me and my family a lot of pain. It was painful to be in jail for something I didn't do."

Prosecutors last year combed through pending cases in which Cloninger's testimony was crucial to win a conviction. They dismissed two more felonies - a drug and firearm charge.

They also threw out an estimated 70 misdemeanor charges and traffic offenses, including more than a dozen drunken driving cases, as well as charges of assault and possession of drugs and stolen goods.

"We have a duty not to put that officer on the witness stand. We can't trust him," Davis says.

Prosecutors don't know if any suspects brought in by Cloninger might have been convicted through improper police tactics. "We're not aware of any other misconduct," says Davis.

They considered charging Cloninger with obstructing justice, Davis says, but decided his removal from the force was punishment enough.

Police suspended Cloninger and recommended he be fired last June, say sources who asked not to be named because personnel information isn't public. A disciplinary hearing was set for Jan. 25, but Cloninger quit Jan. 4.

"He resigned because he didn't want to drag CMPD and himself through the mud," his lawyer says.

'It was the right thing to do'

Prosecutors dismissed the two remaining robbery charges against Gaskin.

The robbery of the two teens was dropped because a detective involved had resigned in the wake of allegations that he had filed a false report in an unrelated case.

The robbery of the four teen girls was thrown out because the only victim who identified Gaskin as the assailant later refused to cooperate. In a letter, she wrote there hadn't been a robbery and that the girls made up the story.

Gaskin got out of jail Feb. 1.

That disappoints Fitzgerald.

She tearfully recalls that night, staring at her attacker's pistol and following his orders. The smallest provocation, she knew, could have gotten her killed.

"It was very frightening - horrible. There was a feeling of being helpless," she says.

She can't imagine why Cloninger cut corners.

Still, she doesn't regret coming forward.

"It was the right thing to do. You can't have a man sitting in jail when there's been this misconduct by a police officer."

Researcher Maria David and staff writer Ely Portillo contributed.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/02/28/362437/sbi-to-review-old-lab-cases.html


Published Sun, Feb 28, 2010 03:37 AM
Modified Sun, Feb 28, 2010 04:41 AM
SBI to review old lab cases

RALEIGH The State Bureau of Investigation will examine thousands of oldcases analyzed in its forensic lab two decades ago to look for crucial evidence that may have been withheld from defendants.

The review follows the exoneration of Greg Taylor on Feb. 17. A three-judge panel convened by the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission found that the Wake County man had spent 17 years in prison for a killing he did not commit. Duane Deaver, a veteran SBI crime lab analyst, presented a report to prosecutors in 1991 that said a test of a substance found on Taylor's truck indicated that it was blood. At trial, a prosecutor repeatedly told jurors the substance was blood.

But Deaver actually had done a test that indicated the substance was not human blood, a result never shared with prosecutors or defense lawyers. Deaver testified recently that it was SBI policy to handle reports the way he did.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, who heads the SBI, said he has ordered a review to make sure prosecutors and defendants received critical information.

"If not, it gets fixed," Cooper said Friday. "If the crime lab was deficient, we need to know, and the public needs to know it will be remedied."

Defense attorneys andforensic scientists demanded an extensive review last week. Defense lawyers in particular fear that Deaver's approach to the Taylor case might have been common at the SBI crime lab.

"The SBI is not entitled to any trust right now," said Staples Hughes, the state's appellate defender, whose office represents indigent clients appealing their convictions. "There needs to be a mass recall in which they are forced to reveal all of the cases that could be affected."

The SBI review is being handled internally at the Attorney General's Office. Cooper said he might call for an independent review depending on his staff's findings. No personnel or leadership changes at the SBI have been made in the wake of Taylor's exoneration, Cooper said.

Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat from Raleigh and chairwoman of a House Judiciary committee, said legislators should consider calling for a review of the SBI lab by the state auditor or a legislative committee.

"We don't have investigative subpoena power, but there are things that we could and should do," Ross said.

Some prosecutors are beginning their own reviews of old cases to identify any that might have been handled as Taylor's was.

Jim Woodall, president of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys and the district attorney for Orange and Chatham counties, has begun reviewing old cases that relied on blood evidence. He is calling on other prosecutors to do the same, though he cautioned against making sweeping changes on the basis of the results in one case.

"If we have some that look questionable, we would do further testing," Woodall said, noting that the review will be a big undertaking since there is no database of old cases that will direct prosecutors to those needing review.

No policy violated

SBI Director Robin Pendergraft defended Deaver's work in Taylor's case, saying he violated no SBI policies. She explained that SBI forensic analysts report positive test results indicating a substance is blood, even if more specific tests call that result into question.

In Deaver's case, his first and only positive result came through a phenolphthalein test, a preliminary test often performed at crime scenes to give investigators clues about where blood might be. Though the test is helpful in early stages, it sometimes yields positive results for other substances such as metals and plant or animal matter.

Deaver performed tests needed to confirm the presence of blood. Those yielded negative results, according to Deaver's lab notes. He did not mention running those tests or the results in his report to prosecutors.

Pendergraft called Deaver's additional tests "inconclusive" and couldn't explain why he wouldn't have extracted additional samples to clarify any questions raised by the result. Pendergraft said prosecutors should have asked for Deaver's notes if they were unclear about his analysis.

Some forensic scientists criticized Deaver's handling of crime scene evidence.

"It is absolutely irresponsible to stop at [the presumptive test] and say it's blood, particularly when you've got better, conclusive tests casting doubt on that," said Heather Coyle, a forensic scientist who teaches at the University of New Haven and a former serologist at the crime lab in Connecticut.

1993 case questioned

Pendergraft said she didn't know how many cases Deaver handled while working in the SBI laboratory in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Deaver says he has testified as an expert at more than 100 trials, though he was involved in far more cases that never went to trial.

Deaver joined the SBI in 1985, fresh out of N.C. State University, just as forensic blood testing became standard in criminal investigations in North Carolina.

Deaver was one of a few forensic analysts trained in serology, the study of blood and other bodily fluids. He trained other SBI agents as well as crime scene analysts at local departments such as Wake County's City-County Bureau of Identification. He went on to become a blood spatter analyst.

Efforts to reach Deaver, who now works as an SBI criminal profiler, were unsuccessful.

His wife, Karen Deaver, defended her husband when reached this week, saying, "It's the media calling his credibility into question, not the SBI."

This is not the first time Deaver's work has been questioned. Deaver told Johnston County jurors in a capital murder trial in 1993 that a substance found on defendant George Goode's boot was blood, even though he had performed only the preliminary test that helps identify substances that might be blood.

A federal judge chastised Deaver's trial testimony last year in a ruling that vacated Goode's death sentence. He called Deaver's testimony "misleading."

Notes subpoenaed

Longtime criminal defense lawyers think the problem is not limited to Deaver. They point to a culture that allowed agents to offer opinions not supported by science for the sake of securing a conviction.

"I think this is just showing the symptom of a major disease at the SBI," said Mike Klinkosum, one of Taylor's attorneys and an assistant public defender in Wake County.

Much of what the SBI did 20 years ago never saw the light of day. The only reason Deaver's bench notes surfaced last year in Taylor's case was because of the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission. The agency, formed in 2006 to review claims of innocence, has the power to subpoena records such as those at the SBI. The commission, unique to North Carolina, investigated Greg Taylor's case after he had exhausted all of his appeals.

Sharing lab notes with prosecutors became common practice in the late 1990s, though federal law had long required police and prosecutors to turn over evidence that could be favorable to a defendant.

Now, lab notes are shared with prosecutors and defense attorneys, though some defense attorneys say they have difficulty getting all the information they want to fully review the SBI's analysis of evidence.

Coyle, the Connecticut forensic scientist, has been hired by defense attorneys to review more than 30 cases analyzed in the SBI lab. She said she has noticed significant problems over the years, including analysts confusing DNA samples from the suspect and the victim. Coyle has filed complaints about half a dozen times with the national organization that accredits the lab.

"The national forensic community is disturbed. They seem to be bending the science often," Coyle said. "This is damning to the credibility of the lab and the field. They need to reclaim confidence."

A push for change

Many in the legal and science community have long wanted the forensic lab to be taken out from under the SBI and the state attorney general, a recommendation made by the National Academy of Sciences last year because of concerns that such labs work to support prosecutors' theories, not pursue truth. About half the states have independent crime labs.

Defense attorneys say SBI analysts, who are law enforcement officers, often show bias in their lab reports.

"They work to convict people, not find the truth," said David Rudolf, a defense lawyer with offices in Charlotte and Chapel Hill who has brought civil suits against the SBI for its handling of other criminal cases. "This is an operation where the culture is that the end seems to justify the means."

Requests to move the lab in North Carolina are being renewed in light of Taylor's exoneration.

"Science is supposed to be something that is not one side or the other," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, a Raleigh defense lawyer pushing for the change. "It's supposed to be impartial. When you throw in partiality, you no longer have pure science."

Representatives of the N.C. Advocates for Justice, an association of litigators, will meet with Cooper this week to talk about the lab's independence, said Dick Taylor, director of the group.

Pendergraft said the lab belongs at the SBI, not an independent state agency.

"I think that's the wrong move - for the public and for public safety," Pendergraft said, saying that lab analysts are able to collect and analyze data better because of their law enforcement training.

Woodall, too, cautioned against moving the lab, saying that since analysts are trained law enforcement officers, they understand better what evidence is important not only to help eliminate suspects but to send investigators on paths they might not have followed.

"The thing that people keep missing is that for every suspect they identify, they eliminate hundreds," Woodall said. "I don't think a knee-jerk reaction at this time is what the state needs to do."

The lab undergoes frequent audits by inspectors affiliated with The American Society of Crime Lab Directors, Pendergraft noted.

Cooper asked that the SBI lab not be judged for past problems.

"We've made extraordinary advances," Cooper said. "We're talking about dealing with a problem that occurred two decades ago."
mandy.locke@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8927
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/02/28/362438/sbi-cant-hold-all-the-marbles.html


Published Sun, Feb 28, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Sun, Feb 28, 2010 12:42 AM
SBI can't 'hold all the marbles'

New laws aimed at giving defense attorneys and prosecutors the same information were supposed to ensure that defendants could analyze all of the evidence that prosecutors planned to use to convict them.

Criminal defense attorneys, however, say they are commonly denied requests for evidence and work performed by State Bureau of Investigation agents. Several lawyers say they have had to turn to judges at least a half-dozen times to force the SBI to hand over data.

Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Yvonne MimsEvans subpoenaed SBI officials to explain why they wouldn't share information about data used to make their conclusions about DNA evidence in a Caldwell County murder case. She ordered agency officials to hand it over and scolded them: "This is not a game of marbles in which you get to hold all the marbles."

In 2004, the state legislature overhauled the law to allow defendants and their attorneys to get copies of evidence and analysis generated during a case. Typically, the information is passed from prosecutors to defense attorneys.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper, who oversees the SBI, helped get the new discovery law passed. SBI Director Robin Pendergraft said Thursday that she was unaware of her agency's resistance to providing information in any specific cases.

She added, though, that often criminal defense attorneys will use the requests to make things difficult for prosecutors and law enforcement officials. She said that sometimes their requests are beyond the scope of what the law requires her agency to provide.

"We don't mind providing that, but how much can you push out?" Pendergraft said.

Defense attorneys sometimes request raw material from the SBI so they can hire experts to inspect the work. This is when some lawyers say they get resistance.

Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, said the state has an obligation to turn over discovery, particularly when it involves a critical capital case.

"Fighting over raw data discovery seems an inappropriate battle for the state to fight when someone's life is on the line," Glazier said.

Lisa Dubs, a lawyer from Hickory who primarily handles murder cases, has had to petition judges on four occasions to force the SBI to share information.

"It's like they don't believe the law exists," Dubs said. "That, or they are playing games."

Winston-Salem lawyer Kim Stevens also did battle with the SBI over records relating to DNA testing in a capital murder case in Moore County in 2006. Specifically, she wanted information about DNA profiles used to try to match her client to the scene so that another expert could review the SBI's conclusions. She petitioned the court four times before a judge ordered the SBI to produce the documents.

"This was about someone's life," Stevens said. "I don't know why they wouldn't want to be transparent."
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/02/28/362478/for-tabloids-saga-was-tailor-made.html


Published Sun, Feb 28, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Sun, Feb 28, 2010 06:57 AM
For tabloids, Edwards saga was tailor-made

During my 37 years of covering Tar Heel politics, I have known plenty of politicians with a roving eye. Big egos, nights away from home, and political groupies provide a lot of temptation.

But former Sen. John Edwards never had a reputation as a skirt chaser while he was in Raleigh. He was known as a workaholic lawyer who would hit the soccer fields with his kids in his spare time, not the bars cruising for women.

Even so, there were rumors. As early as 2003, I asked Edwards about a rumored affair from his days as a big-time trial lawyer. Edwards denied it. His campaign spokeswoman called my boss to complain that in all of the years of working in the Clinton White House she had never heard such off-base questions. One of his chief political advisers threw me out of his office the next day.

From that point on, the Edwards campaign treated me as a hostile reporter. To this day, I don't know whether Edwards had an affair with the woman in question.

Proving sexual affairs is a difficult business, even if one is willing to engage in peephole journalism.

Usually one party has to acknowledge the affair, or the liaison is documented in legal proceedings such as a divorce or child custody fight. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford acknowledged his affair after returning from an unexplained absence in Argentina. New York Gov. Elliott Spitzer's relationship with a call girl was disclosed during a federal investigation into another matter. New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey's affair came out when he put his boyfriend on the state payroll.

Some readers have wondered why it was The National Enquirer, and not some other news organization, that broke the Edwards sex scandal.

The Enquirer stories began in October 2007, bit by bit laying out the saga: how Edwards had an affair with Rielle Hunter, a woman he met in a New York bar; how Hunter had become pregnant; and how Edwards insiders concocted a plan to have a campaign aide, Andrew Young, claim paternity while campaign donors paid for Young and Hunter to go into hiding.

"We got a little lucky; we're also a little bit good," Steve Plaumann, senior executive editor of The National Enquirer, said when I appeared with him and ABC's Brian Ross on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" a while back.

The Enquirer had a good inside source or sources. We don't know who because they were anonymous - something that The News & Observer discourages and rarely uses in staff stories.

In his tell-all book, "The Politician," Young points his finger at Hunter or her friend Mimi Hockman as the likely source of the Enquirer stories.

Edwards might even have suspected his girlfriend. At one point, if Young's account is to be believed, Edwards asks him how The National Enquirer tracked Hunter from New Jersey to her hideaway in the Governor's Club in Chapel Hill.

"Just between us," Edwards is quoted as saying in the book, "I suspect she's [Hunter's] talking to them. Do you think so?"

"Hell yes," Young says he replied. "All she does is talk on her damn phone about you."

Whoever was talking, the Enquirer was paying - a practice that most news organizations don't engage in.

"They pay people to talk to them," said Ross, ABC's chief investigative correspondent. "We're not in a position to do that. Again and again in trying to pursue this story we would be asked by people who were central to it, 'What's in it for me? They [The Enquirer] offered me $50,000. What do you have?' We have a cup of coffee. So we're at a disadvantage there."

'Wiring' the story

As we say in the news business, The National Enquirer had the story wired. When Edwards showed up at the Beverly Hills Hilton to visit Hunter and their newborn baby, Quinn, The National Enquirer was waiting for him at the hotel, obviously tipped off by someone with inside knowledge.

The Enquirer was also willing to spend big money in pursuit of the story. It had a lengthy paparazzi-style stakeout in Chapel Hill to get a photograph of the pregnant Hunter. They waited days for her to leave her gated community to visit a doctor's office.

The initial National Enquirer story was easy to dismiss. It quoted an anonymous source saying Edwards had had an affair with an unidentified woman. The National Enquirer has a history of publishing questionable stories about the personal lives of leading political figures, including President George W. Bush and then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin - most of which are never followed up by other news organizations.

But this time, it became evident that the Enquirer was on to something, especially when it ran photographs of the pregnant Hunter.

The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer pursued the story from the beginning, sending reporters to New Jersey and California to follow leads. But the story was a dead end because no one was talking, and Edwards and his staff were denying everything.

It was only long after Edwards' presidential campaign was over and his political career dead that some Edwards aides began to talk about what they knew about the Edwards affair in the best-selling book "Game Change." And even then, they are mostly quoted anonymously. Young went public only after the money dried up from the Edwards financial patrons who were buying his silence. Then, he saw a way to cash in with his story.

Most news organizations would have loved to break such a juicy political sex scandal. But this was a hard story for news organizations of all ideological stripes. Not only did The New York Times not break the story, neither did Fox News nor the conservative blogs.

Sex stories and politics always involve difficult choices.

Sexual innuendo has become a common weapon in political campaigns; candidates for major offices can now expect to be slimed. The initial Republican line of attack on Edwards was not that he was a womanizer but that he was gay. (See "Breck Girl" and conservative columnist Ann Coulter using a derogatory term for gays to describe Edwards.)

At what point do you pay attention to the whispering campaigns? At what juncture does a news organization put its full resources into investigating the sex life of a politician? That is a far easier call for The National Enquirer, whose meat and potatoes are sex scandals.

There is also this question: When is a candidate's sex life the public's business? There are no clear rules here. But clearly the Edwards scandal met that threshold because it told us something about Edwards' reckless nature and lack of judgment.

And it was the National Enquirer that got the story.
rob.christensen@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4532
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/02/28/362450/durham-police-shoot-man-who-had.html


Published Sun, Feb 28, 2010 03:45 AM
Modified Sun, Feb 28, 2010 12:57 AM
Durham police shoot man who had a handgun

DURHAM Police shot a man Saturday afternoon in southern Durham.

The man was shot after 1:41 p.m., the time police officers responded to reported sounds of gunfire near Juliette Drive and Rosaline Lane, according to a statement from the Durham Police Department.

Officers confronted a man who had a handgun on the 100 block of Rosaline Lane and shot him, the statement said.

Police did not release the man's name, but said he was taken to Duke Hospital for treatment.

The police department's Professional Standards Unit and the State Bureau of Investigation are investigating, as is standard in officer-involved shootings.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/02/28/362448/duke-university-costs-will-rise.html


Published Sun, Feb 28, 2010 03:45 AM
Modified Sun, Feb 28, 2010 12:56 AM
Duke University costs will rise 3.9 percent in the fall

DURHAM Duke University undergraduates will be charged a 3.9 percent increase in tuition, room and board next academic year, bringing the total annual cost to attend Duke to $51,865.

Tuition rates for 2010-11 were set Saturday by the university's Board of Trustees. The board also approved the creation of a new 18-month master's program in engineering and the construction of a $20 million chilled-water plant to serve Duke Medical Center.

Though the annual cost to attend Duke has risen past $50,000, many students do not pay full freight. More than 40 percent receive financial aid, a Duke news release said Saturday.

The board also signed off on the construction of a new 150-bed residence hall. Nicknamed K4, the new dormitory is scheduled to be completed by January 2012.

It will be part of the Keohane Quad on West Campus. The residence hall will consist of two "houses," one with 90 beds and one with 60 beds.
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http://www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=17214

Quinzani's 8 Points Lead No. 8 Blue Devils Past Penn
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke senior attackman Max Quinzani tallied six goals and two assists to lead the eighth-ranked Blue Devils to a 16-11 win over Pennsylvania in men's lacrosse action this afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. Duke scored eight goals in the fourth quarter to come away with the five-goal victory.

Quinzani caught fire in the fourth quarter, scoring three of Duke's (2-1) final four goals of the game. The native of Duxbury, Mass., registered three markers in a span of 2:34 to finish with a game-high eight points. The Blue Devils overall scored five unanswered in the final 4:24 of the game to break open the 11-11 tie.

"It's a 60 minute game," head coach John Danowski said. "You just have to keep playing, keep hustling. When things aren't going your way you have to get back to your fundamentals and get back to basic things. Whether on offense it's possession or ground balls or defensively being individual technique on the ball."

Penn (0-1) garnered the early advantage, going up 4-1 after the opening 15 minutes behind a balanced attack with three different goal scorers. Dan Savage led the way for the Quakers in the opening frame with consecutive goals that put Penn up 3-1. Savage finished the game with three points from two tallies and an assist.

"I thought our kids today did a good job of just continuing to play hard," Danowski said. "Nobody freaking, no yelling or gnashing of teeth or anything, just continue to play and work hard. They just kept their composure and I'm really proud of them for that."

Duke senior Ned Crotty got the first of his four points of the day to start the second stanza and pull the Blue Devils within two scores. However, Penn answered by firing home three of the game's next four goals to take its biggest lead of the day at 6-2 with 9:42 left in the second quarter.

Needing a score, Quinzani hit the first of his six tallies minutes later when junior defenseman Michael Manley collected an outlet pass on a fast break and fed the Duke attackman for the score to make it 6-3.

Once again it was the Quakers answering Duke's call as Rob McMullen got the first of his two scores of the afternoon to push the lead back to four with 5:46 left until the break.

Sophomore midfielder Rob Rotanz closed out the first half scoring as he rifled an unassisted goal past Penn goalie Chris Casey to send Duke into the locker room down 7-4.

The Blue Devils picked up steam right off the bat in the third quarter when Crotty posted his second goal of the afternoon to make it 7-5 just 1:08 into the session. Just like they had done through the first two quarters, the Quakers quickly responded with a score from McMullen to stretch the lead back to three, 8-5.

That's when Quinzani started to take over for the Blue Devils. Trailing by three goals, the senior captain had a hand in Duke's next four goals that eventually evened the score 9-9 just seconds into the fourth stanza.

Freshman attackman Josh Offit also provided a big spark to Duke to start the fourth quarter. He fired home a Quinzani pass for his first collegiate point and then 47 seconds later he dropped in a feed from Will McKee to give Duke its first lead of the game, 10-9.

After senior Jonathan Livadas gave Duke an 11-9 advantage with a man-up goal with 13:17 left to play, the Quakers received consecutive goals from Julian Maldonado and John Conneely to make it an 11-11 draw with 9:27 remaining on the clock.

Nearly five minutes ticked away with neither team getting on the board. Duke's Steve Schoeffel was the first to step up as he tallied his first point of the season with what proved to be the game-winning goal. Crotty provided the assist.

Quinzani would take over after that, scoring three of the next four goals, with senior Zach Howell sandwiching in a score of his own. Eleven different Blue Devils finished with at least one point on the day.

Duke held a 39-28 advantage in shots and outshot the Quakers 25-9 in the second half. Restarts were an even battle with both squads taking home 15 wins. Senior Sam Payton took the majority of the draws, winning 11 of 21, while Penn's Justin Lynch with 13 of 28.

The extra-man offenses for both squads were outstanding as Penn went 2 for 2 on extra man opportunities and Duke posted a 4 of 6 mark.

In goal, rookie Dan Wigrizer made eight stops for the Blue Devils. Casey had 10 stops for the Quakers.

Duke opens ACC play on March 6 against Maryland in the annual Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore. Faceoff is set for 11 a.m., at M&T Bank Stadium.
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http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2009-10/news/022710_langan_loyola_race_past_quinnipiac

Feb 27, 2010
Langan, Loyola Race Past Quinnipiac

from press release

HAMDEN, Conn. – Matt Langan scored a career-high six points – with three goals and three assists – and the 10th-ranked Loyola University Maryland men’s lacrosse team held host Quinnipiac to just two goals in the second half, as the Greyhounds opened ECAC Lacrosse League play with an 11-5 win on Saturday afternoon.

Loyola (2-0 overall, 1-0 ECAC) took a 5-3 halftime lead when Patrick Fanshaw scored with seven seconds left on the first-half clock. The Greyhounds then scored the first three goals of the second half to take control of the game.

Loyola’s defense, which held the U.S. Naval Academy to seven goals last Saturday, limited the Bobcats (0-1, 0-1) to just 12 shots on goal. The Greyhounds also forced eight clearing errors by Quinnipiac, some of the Bobcats’ 26 turnovers.

Jake Hagelin made seven saves in goal for Loyola.

Langan’s three goals matched his career-best total set April 5, 2008, against Rutgers, and his three assists and six points established new career-highs.

The Greyhounds jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game as Cooper MacDonnell scored off a Kevin Moriarty assist, and Pat Byrnes fed Stephen Murray for a goal with 8:05 to go in the first quarter.

Garrett Kerr cut Loyola’s lead back to one, scoring Quinnipiac’s first goal with just over a minute left in the first quarter.

MacDonnell scored again, however, this time off Langan’s assist with 10:42 left in the second. The duo reversed the scoring order five minutes later as Langan scored his first goal.

Quinnipiac responded in short order. Bobby Schnibbe and Alex Marotto scored 1:08 apart, slicing Loyola’s advantage to 4-3 with 4:07 remaining before halftime.

Loyola had two shots saved by Bobcats’ goalkeeper Kevin Benzing after winning the ensuing possession, but Benzing turned the ball over on the clear. He saved another Greyhounds’ shot, and the Bobcats took the ball into their offensive zone.

After a Quinnipiac timeout, Josh Hawkins caused a Bobcats’ turnover, picked up the ground ball and started a transition opportunity for Loyola.

Hawkins got the ball to Langan who found Fanshaw in front of the goal for his first collegiate goal.

Loyola won the third-quarter restart, but Benzing made a save on a Byrnes shot. Quinnipiac appeared to have a good scoring chance, but Hagelin made a save on a point-blank Peter McNichols shot.

Hagelin cleared the ball to Hawkins at the top of the zone, and Hawkins raced past Quinnipiac’s defense, scoring his first goal as a collegian with 11:18 to play in the third.

The score remained 6-3 for the next nine minutes until Taylor Ebsary scored his first of the season off a Collin Finnerty assist.

Quinnipiac won the first faceoff of the fourth quarter, but Benzing turned the ball over to Loyola 20 seconds later. Eric Lusby scored for Loyola, assisted by Langan, with 13:56 remaining in the game.

Todd Kaiser got one back for Quinnipiac, making Loyola’s lead 8-4, with just under 12 mintues to play, but the Greyhounds wound over six minutes off the clock before Langan scored off Lusby’s pass from behind, with 5:04 on the clock.

On the ensuing faceoff, John Schiavone, who won 11-of-18 restarts on the day, flipped the ball to Hawkins. The freshman again used his speed to get up field, feeding Langan for Loyola’s second goal in nine seconds.

Loyola won the next faceoff, but the Greyhounds turned the ball over near the crease. Quinnipiac was able to clear the ball, but Scott Ratliff caused a Bobcats turnover, passed the ball ahead to Taylor Ebsary who found a cutting Finnerty for a goal with 3:08 to play.

Ebsary led Loyola with six ground balls, while Hawkins picked up five. Hawkins and Ratliff each caused two turnovers for Loyola.

The Greyhounds continue ECAC action on Wednesday, March 3, when they travel to Louisville, Ky., for a 1 p.m. game at Bellarmine.
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http://justice4nifong.blogspot.com/2010/02/million-dollar-bail-case-comparison_27.html

Saturday, February 27, 2010
Million dollar bail… a case comparison – Part 2
Raleigh police found a five month old girl who had been beaten by her parents so badly that she sustained the following injuries: (1) a skull fracture, (2) internal bleeding in the brain, (3) three fractured ribs, (4) a cut between the nose and the lip, and (5) bleeding from the right eye. In addition, police found inside the motel room in which they were staying marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and two other children belonging to the mother.

The parents were charged with three counts of misdemeanor child abuse, three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, and one count of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The baby’s mother, who kicked the father in the back and slammed a door on him was additionally charged with simple assault.

No attempted murder charges levied at anyone!

Crystal Mangum allegedly throws punches and objects at her boyfriend and scratches him, according to police.

Ms. Mangum is charged with attempted first degree murder and placed under a million dollar bond.

Bail set for the parents of beating the child was set at $780,000 and $515,000.

Yet another example of the all too prevalent comparative cases of selective justice based on Class and Color that so predominates the North Carolina criminal justice system. Charges are not leveled with any consistency, bail is arbitrarily set, and the media controls the spin in accordance with the powers that be. The carpetbagger jihad against Mike Nifong (a vindictive call to arms as initiated by Rae Evans in her “60 Minutes” interview) has definitely had a heavy hand in the heavy-handed treatment of Ms. Mangum in this unfortunate and private altercation she had with her boyfriend.

The media, of course, is quick to give prominent negative coverage to Ms. Mangum with a link on the front page of the News & Observer referring to the front page of the local (Triangle & Co.) section. On the front page of that section, the headlines address her as the “Lacrosse accuser.” Then there is a large photo showing Ms. Mangum in prison garb, extending low enough to depict the handcuffs on her wrists. Media coverage of the five month old baby girl who was beaten does not even merit coverage on the front page of the local section.

The cogs of the police, prosecutors, courts, and media are all in sync and spinning to the drumbeat of the carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants and their attorneys in carrying out their vindictive jihad against anything Nifong. Any staunch and vociferous supporter of Mike Nifong who happens to be ensnared in some criminal event, trumped up or not, can expect the same uneven treatment by the police, prosecutors, courts, and media that Ms. Mangum received.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/02/28/2010-02-28_top_cop_or_mob_boss_trooper_big_offers_his_best_don_corleone_on_abuse_vic.html

Paterson scandal: State
police boss Corbitt
sounds like mob boss
trying to explain
conduct

Michael Daly

Sunday, February 28th 2010, 4:00 AM

So maybe we should not be shocked that the head of
the New York State Police sounded like a mob boss
when he tried to explain why his troopers contacted
a woman who had filed court papers saying she was
assaulted by the governor's closest aide.

"We just gave her options," Superintendent Harry
Corbitt said.

Corbitt might as well have said they gave Sherr-una
Booker an offer she couldn't refuse. Here is how she
translated her "options."

"The state troopers kept calling me and harassing
me to drop the charges and I wouldn't," she said in
Bronx Family Court.

Corbitt tries to pass it off as just routine.

"It's typical if it involves anything that might involve
a media event," he told The New York Times.

In truth, the troopers had neither immediate
jurisdiction nor the remotest justification for calling
Booker.

That Corbitt would tell these lies suggests he was
either complicit in an effort to tamper with a witness
or subsequently sought to cover it up.

If this is so, he should not only be fired, he should
be arrested.

Section 215.10 of the New York State Penal Code
states: "A person is guilty of tampering with a
witness when, knowing that a person is or is about
to be called as a witness in an action or proceeding,
he wrongfully induces or attempts to induce such
person to absent himself."

The fact that Corbitt still has his job suggests Gov.
Paterson may be complicit himself.

Consider not only that Paterson himself spoke to
Booker, but the timing of the conversation.

Up to that point, Booker had resisted what she
described to the court as repeated attempts by the
state police to dissuade her from securing a full
order of protection against David Johnson, her
then-boyfriend and the governor's closest aide.

Johnson had managed to delay things by refusing to
accept service of the papers, but as long as Booker
kept appearing in court, the referee would keep
extending the temporary order. The case would be
dismissed in just one circumstance.

"The only time is when the victim doesn't come to
court," a senior family court official noted Friday.

The day before Booker was due for yet another court
appearance, Paterson either called her or spoke to
her after an associate asked her to call him.

"If you need me, I'm here for you," he reportedly told
her.

Just like the state police were there for her, giving
her "options."

Now it was the governor himself.

The next day, Booker failed to appear.
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Quote:
 
Section 215.10 of the New York State Penal Code
states: "A person is guilty of tampering with a
witness when, knowing that a person is or is about
to be called as a witness in an action or proceeding,
he wrongfully induces or attempts to induce such
person to absent himself."



Meanwhile, in NC, the sound of crickets is heard...
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http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2010/02/after_four_years_new_orleans_p.html

After four years, New Orleans police break the silence on Danziger Bridge: James Gill
By James Gill
February 28, 2010, 5:56AM

Media reports that "an internal investigation" has uncovered no wrongdoing in a police department are always guaranteed to raise a smile, because it's only natural that cops should be particularly keen "to protect and serve" when one of their own is in trouble.

Officers who may depend on one another in the course of hazardous duty tend to develop a more than usually robust esprit de corps. That is bound to lead to cover-ups.

But not to cover-ups as elaborate and depraved as the one that followed the Danziger Bridge shootings just after Katrina. It would surely have been exposed long before now in a competently managed police department.

It is inconceivable that nobody knew about it except for the seven trigger-happy officers and their supervisor, Michael Lohman, who last week admitted filing cock-and-bull reports and lying to the feds. If top brass were not complicit, they were woefully inept.

There can be no excuse either way. In almost five years word must have spread around the department, but the cops' code of silence held.

There is no such thing, according to Frank DeSalvo, attorney for one of the cops responsible for the fusillade that killed two allegedly unarmed civilians and severely wounded four.

Lohman, who just retired as a lieutenant, rather suggested that the code is in full effect when he pleaded guilty last week and described a conspiracy to hush up his subordinates' alleged offenses. The conspiracy, according to Lohman, included planting a gun at the scene to support a spurious claim that the victims had fired on the cops.

Lohman admitted that he had judged the shootings unjustified as soon as he arrived at the bridge amid the carnage.

One is inclined to believe that Lohman is telling the truth this time, given that the reward for his confession may be a spell in prison. He will also presumably become a pariah among cops who do not share DeSalvo's belief that the code of silence is a myth.

Now that Lohman has blabbed, and agreed to provide what can only be devastating testimony, his erstwhile subordinates must be wondering what kind of deal they might negotiate with the U.S. Attorney's office.

This is not the first time they have faced the threat of prosecution, for a state grand jury indicted four of them for first-degree murder, and the other three for attempting it, in 2006. Defense attorneys provoked the usual merriment by pointing to the internal investigation as proof of their clients' innocence.

But the cop/defendants could hardly have wished for a softer adversary than then-DA Eddie Jordan, who assigned Dustin Davis to handle the case. Davis did more to beat the rap than the defense attorneys combined.

He indicted three of them on the strength of testimony he forced them to provide for the grand jury on a grant of immunity. Then he breached grand jury secrecy rules by showing part of a transcript to none other than Lohman, who must have had his own trouble suppressing a smile.

Davis' errors forced state judge Raymond Bigelow to throw out the charges in 2008, but Lohman's smile cannot have lasted long, because the feds soon took up the case.
According to the bill of information, the FBI came calling in May of last year, when Lohman claimed that his investigation had been on the level.

Either conscience, or the realization that his fabrications could not stand much scrutiny, caused Lohman to come clean soon thereafter. Whether he then recorded incriminating statements by the shooters is unknown, but it isn't often that the FBI neglects an opportunity to wire up a co-operating witness.

Direct quotes from some of the suspects are included in court documents, so it does appear that some kind of surveillance was conducted. That provides even more incentive for plea negotiations to begin promptly.

Why the officers opened fire in the first place remains a mystery. Seven police officers, including two sergeants, do not suddenly decide to gun down unarmed civilians for no reason even in the turmoil immediately after a hurricane.

They must have been scared of something, but it apparently had nothing to do with the unfortunate souls who were killed or maimed. And nothing to do either with Lance Madison, who was thrown into jail on trumped-up charges after his brother had been shot dead.

Someone in the Police Department should have had the decency to rat out their comrades long before this.

James Gill is a columnist for The Times-Picayune. He can be reached at jgill@timespicayune.com or at 504.826.3318.
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http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2010/02/police_chief_warren_riley_coul.html

Police chief Warren Riley couldn't be bothered to read Danziger report?: Jarvis DeBerry
By Jarvis Deberry
February 28, 2010, 6:09AM

Warren Riley was not yet the New Orleans police superintendent when officers -- according to a retired lieutenant's guilty plea -- went on an unprovoked rampage against pedestrians on the Danziger Bridge. However, it was his responsibility -- more than that, it was his promise -- as the next police chief to find out what happened on the bridge the Sunday after Hurricane Katrina, to find out if there was anything to the allegations of police officers going berserk.

His promise was printed in this newspaper as a letter to the editor Sept. 24, 2006, after this column criticized what even then appeared to be a Police Department cover-up of Danziger. He wrote, in part, "While columnists...may have the limitless prerogative to judge complicated criminal and legal matters before they are fully investigated, the fact is that police departments do not. This is why I have not and will not comment on the Danziger Bridge shooting incident while the investigation I began remains in progress. I believe the public understands."

Please note that Riley said he'd begun an investigation. Later, in that same letter, he promises, "There will be no cover-up of the facts in this or any other case we investigate." His goal is to boost the public confidence in the Police Department, he says, and he will fully disclose the results of his investigation and punish any officer who needs to be punished.

On Thursday Riley said he never read his department's report on the Danziger Bridge shootings.
danziger-riley.JPGMichael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley listens to a question during a news conference at police headquarters Thursday, the day after a former lieutenant pleaded guilty to a cover-up in the Danziger Bridge shootings in 2005. Two people were killed, one of whom was developmentally disabled. A woman had part of her arm blown off, and her husband was shot in the head. That couple's daughter and nephew were also wounded. A suspect was booked with trying to kill seven police officers and a civilian. Officers were being accused of unleashing a massacre. Later, seven of them were indicted in state court on murder charges. The department's top police officer never read the report? Really?

"I was briefed," he said Thursday. Nothing in that briefing made him think there had been a cover-up, he said. Was that the extent of Riley's vaunted investigation: listening to a summary and not raising an eyebrow?

Admittedly, the chief is trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. If he says he read the report, he'll be asked why an officer of his standing didn't see it for the implausible work of fiction it was. By saying he didn't read it, though, he's pleading indifference. New Orleanians are dead and disfigured, his officers are accused of criminally attacking them, and he can't be bothered to even flip through the pages of a report.

The officers rushed to Danziger Bridge that Sunday afternoon in a Budget rental truck, responding to a false report that other officers had been shot. They saw pedestrians on the bridge. They shot them.

Michael Lohman, who retired as a lieutenant earlier this month, said Wednesday in federal court that the pedestrians did nothing to provoke the officers. None was carrying a weapon, Lohman said. Even so, as a supervisor on the scene, he went along with a plan to plant a Colt .357 Magnum and accuse pedestrian Lance Madison of having fired it at officers. Lohman says he later saw a police report that was so unbelievable in its description of events that he wrote his own fictional account to replace it. According to court records, even Lohman's report was switched out by another officer who thought it would be better if the cover-up story sounded more like the audio statements officers provided after the shootings.

The day after Lohman's confession, Riley held his press conference. "Today is a dark and disappointing day for the citizens of New Orleans," he said.

The disappointments began well before last week, and they include a police chief prickly enough to fire off a letter to a newspaper but too derelict in his duties to stand up for innocents being slaughtered by his own.

"What I can say is that Michael Lohman deserves to go to jail," Riley said.

There is no criminal charge for police chiefs who choose to see no evil and hear no evil when their cops are accused of murder. If there were, Warren Riley would be in a jail of his own.

Jarvis DeBerry is an editorial writer. He can be reached at jdeberry@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3355. Follow him at http://connect.nola.com/user/jdeberry/index.html and at twitter.com/jarvisdeberrytp.
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