| Blog and Media Roundup - Wednesday, October 20, 2010; News Roundup | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 20 2010, 05:25 AM (595 Views) | |
| abb | Oct 20 2010, 05:25 AM Post #1 |
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/9970314/article-Police-Chief-retiring-at-end-of-November?instance=main_article Police Chief retiring at end of November The Herald Sun 10.19.10 - 06:42 pm The Herald-Sun | File Photo By Bernard Thomas<br> Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran speaks to the media and answer questions on March 7, 2008, concerning the death of UNC student body president Eve Carson. Curran is retiring at the end of November. Curran to stay in Chapel Hill; advancement from within likely By Gregory Childress gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645 Chapel Hill -- Police Chief Brian Curran is retiring at the end of November, ending nearly 30 years of service to the town, most of which was served on the police force. Curran said he doesn't have any immediate plans, but will stay in Chapel Hill. He has a daughter who is a student at East Chapel Hill High and his wife is a nurse at UNC Hospitals. "I'm going to take some time off and decompress and go from there," Curran said in an interview Tuesday. Curran was named police chief in 2007 after serving a several-months stint as the interim chief when Gregg Jarvies retired. In a statement, Town Manager Roger Stancil said he will work with Curran and others to identify a new police chief to continue initiatives started under Curran's leadership. "Brian has brought stability and leadership to the department during some difficult times," Curran said. "His command presence during the events surrounding the murder of Eve Carson set the tone for professionalism and compassion during a difficult time for the entire community." Eve Carson was UNC Chapel Hill student body president when she was slain in 2008. Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said Curran's replacement will likely come from within the department. He said Stancil has asked department leaders to identify and groom talent to assume leadership posts when they become vacant. "The department under Brian [Curran] has been working to do just that," Kleinschmidt said. "You have to be able to assume the leadership position." The Police Department currently has two assistant police chiefs -- Chris Blue and Bob Overton. Because he sent a memo to Stancil in the spring and Stancil forwarded the memo to the Town Council, Curran said he was surprised more people didn't know about his plans to retire. "I thought it was out," Curran said in an interview Tuesday. "I thought everybody knew." Councilwoman Laurin Easthom also said she thought the general public was aware of Curran's announcement. She said she assumed the town sent out a news release announcing the retirement. "I thought they had done one," Easthom said. "I'm surprised we hadn't announced it, but I thought everyone knew." Town officials said announcements are not usually made when employees announce their retirement. "We don't typically put news out if people are leaving," said Town spokeswoman Catherine Lazorko. "We typically put news out of people coming in." Curran, a U.S. Navy veteran, came to Chapel Hill in 1982 to visit an old college roommate, but stayed because he liked the town. He took a bunch of odd jobs, but eventually got contract work with the town's Department of Parks and Recreation before joining the police force in 1986. Curran said he had the most fun while serving as a patrol sergeant, which he did from 1995 to 2000, because he could attend crime scenes and get involved in "all of the exciting police work." "That's the most fun in the world," Curran said. He said serving as a patrol sergeant also gave him an opportunity to work closely with young officers and the chance to have a positive impact on their careers. Curran has faced some tough challenges during his stint as police chief, and none more difficult than the Carson's murder. "He demonstrated extraordinary leadership during that time," Kleinschmidt said. Curran acknowledges that the Carson murder was tough because of the circumstances and the close media scrutiny the case brought. "I had a lot of confidence in the people investigating that case, that they were going to get it done," Curran said. But he said the media attention was trying, noting that at one point there were eight or nine TV satellite trucks parked at the Police Department. "I couldn't leave the building without running into a gaggle of TV reporters," Curran said. Curran said he is proud of the department's move toward the Chapel Hill vision for community policing and ongoing efforts to develop a strategic plan. A native of Hornell, N.Y., Curran served in the Navy for five years before coming to Chapel Hill. He was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal for service related to the failed military hostage rescue attempt in Iran in 1980. While on the police force, he has held positions of public safety officer, juvenile officer, patrol sergeant, detective, narcotics squad leader and Northside neighborhood squad leader. Curran has a bachelor's degree in history from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He earned an Administrative Officers Management Program Certificate from N.C. State University in July 2004 and attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., in spring 2006. |
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| abb | Oct 20 2010, 05:32 AM Post #2 |
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http://dukechronicle.com/article/lawyer-irons-will-fight-rape-allegations Lawyer: Irons will fight rape allegations By Joanna Lichter October 20, 2010 Eric Irons, a former Trinity sophomore, claims he is innocent of rape charges and plans to face the allegations in district court Nov. 9, his attorney said. Irons was arrested on charges of second-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping of a female student by the Duke University Police Department Sept. 8. “Eric Irons is an innocent man,” said Bill Thomas, Irons’ lawyer. “We have located witnesses and have evidence that the allegations made against him are entirely false. I have every confidence that, once all of the facts are known, that Eric Irons will be completely exonerated of any wrongdoing whatsoever.” Irons, a 19-year-old from Hong Kong, was charged and released Sept. 8 on a $75,000 bond, according to court records. He withdrew from the University Sept. 9 following his arrest. Mitchell Garrell, an assistant district attorney who is handling the case, did not respond to several e-mails and phone calls. Candy Clark, an administrative assistant at the district attorney’s office, declined to comment. “We do not discuss evidence in pending cases except in the courtroom,” Clark wrote in an e-mail Oct. 18. Irons allegedly assaulted a 20-year-old female student at an April 17 party in an apartment on Central Campus, according to the probable cause affidavit, part of the application for a search warrant by DUPD. Several witnesses said the alleged victim was “very intoxicated” at the party, the affidavit reads. The next day, the female student went to the Duke University Medical Center’s Emergency Department, where a sexual assault kit was administered. This procedure often includes collection of blood, hair, urine and body secretion samples as well as photo documentation and collection of clothing. The alleged rape was reported April 18, and Spring classes ended April 28. DUPD submitted a search warrant application to the Durham magistrate Sept. 7 to obtain DNA swabs from Irons. The evidence, including samples of his head and pubic hair, saliva and blood, was collected by DUPD and Emergency Department workers Sept. 8. Duke Police applied for the warrant eight days after classes resumed in the Fall. It is unclear whether Irons was in the country during the summer break. Thomas said Irons requested a DNA test in April, adding that DUPD declined to collect DNA at that time. “Once again, the decision was to charge first and investigate later,” said Thomas, who also represented one uncharged member of the 2005-2006 lacrosse team, several players from which were accused of rape. All charges against the players were later dropped. “We were very concerned that he was not given a DNA test. He protested his innocence of the allegations and should have been given one immediately.” In an interview with Duke Police following the incident, Irons admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with the alleged victim but denied having sexual intercourse, according to the affidavit. State statutes define second-degree rape as vaginal intercourse “by force and against the will of the other person.” First-degree kidnapping is the illegal confinement, restraint or removal of a person from one location to another, so that “the person kidnapped either was not released by the defendant in a safe place or had been seriously injured or sexually assaulted.” Thomas declined to say whether Irons has returned to Hong Kong since withdrawing from the University, but he added that Irons will be present to face the allegations in court. Both Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, and Thomas declined to comment on Irons’ withdrawal from Duke. It is unclear whether Irons voluntarily left or if the University encouraged his move. Thomas said he is unsure whether Irons will reenroll at Duke if he is found innocent. “That’s a decision that has not been made at this point in time,” Thomas said. “Eric Irons will face these allegations in court and will restore his reputation once he is shown to be completely innocent of these charges.” Irons could not be reached following multiple attempts for contact. It is Chronicle policy not to identify the victims of sexual assault cases. Editor's Note: The Chronicle has disabled the comments on this story due to the sensitive nature of the article. |
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| abb | Oct 20 2010, 05:35 AM Post #3 |
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http://dukechronicle.com/article/morrison-column-distorts-durham-crime-stats Morrison column distorts Durham crime stats By Rob Gillespie October 20, 2010 Gregory Morrison’s column [7], dated Oct. 19, 2010, misstates Durham’s crime statistics. Truth be told, Durham has less crime than cities its same size. Every year, Durham’s Convention & Visitor’s Bureau (DCVB) commissions a statistical analysis of crime in Durham compared to 10 southeastern benchmark cities and 27 nationwide benchmark cities. These cities are chosen due to their similar size and demographics to Durham. The data presented in this report is clear: Durham has less crime than the average city its size. In fact, Durham has less violent crime than 6 of the 10 southeastern benchmark cities, and Durham’s violent crime late is in the lowest quartile of the nationwide peer group. Morrison attempted to compare crime on a simple per capita basis. This analysis does not hold true, as cities have higher densities than rural environs, meaning they have different propensities for crime. The fair analysis, and the one used by those that study crime trends, would be to compare Durham to an appropriately-selected peer group. This is exactly what the DCVB report has done. In 2009, Durham had less per capita violent and property crime than Greensboro, Wilmington, Winston-Salem and Charlotte. As in all cities, Durham has crime. It is an unfortunate side effect of urban living, and we are all grateful that no Duke students were seriously injured by last week’s events. Yes, Durham and Duke should work together on reducing crime, and more in-roads could be made in that area. It is irresponsible, however, to mislead students into thinking that Durham is more dangerous than any comparable city in the United States. Rob Gillespie Ph.D. Candidate, Biochemistry |
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| abb | Oct 20 2010, 05:36 AM Post #4 |
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http://dukechronicle.com/node/153332/talk 4:41 AM October 20, 2010 Fact Checker * ✔As the FBI itself notes in the preface to its annual crime statistics, there is great inconsistency in definition and reporting, and its data should not be used for city-by-city comparisons. But let's do just that. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/word I cannot find an updated version of the "annual" report from the Visitors and Convention Bureau that the writer of the Letter to the Editor mentions. However, from reports that are on line, we can see a selective use of statistics. For example: while mentioning Charlotte, Greensboro, Wilmington and Winston-Salem, there is no mention of Raleigh nor Fayetteville. In the latest year on line, Durham's city crime rate was 178.8 percent of the national average, Raleigh's was 119 percent. That's a pattern that is consistent over all the years. Statistics are malleable: the Convention and Visitors Bureau seems to hop-scotch year to year, sometimes comparing violent crime rates, sometimes the rates for all crimes if that is more convenient, and focusing on crimes against property in a year when Durham's number fell significantly. Further, a Visitors and Convention Bureau newsletter contains this information: "... while the majority of Durham is as safe as or safer than similar communities, several Durham neighborhoods remain under siege. In a recent keynote address, Brad Brinegar, CEO of McKinney and Silver (M+S; an independent operating unit of Havas, the world’s fourth-largest communications conglomerate), pinpointed high-crime areas in a five mile radius around the company’s new home in the American Tobacco Historic District of Downtown Durham." (Translation: the high crime circle embraces all of Duke) Allow, please, FC to compare Duke with UNC Chapel Hill. (The Clery Report covers the calendar year, not the academic year). In 2009 UNC reported a total of 4 robberies, while Duke had 7. Let's remember that Carolina has twice as many students, 27,500 to our 13,662. And both campuses cover roughly the same number of acres. In reviewing the UNC statistics, I note their police chief is the current head of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. Duke is not among the university and college members in North Carolina. The commission seems to offer valuable insight and training in police work. |
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| abb | Oct 20 2010, 05:38 AM Post #5 |
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http://justice4nifong.blogspot.com/2010/10/sbis-rule-not-just-bad-but-unfair.html Tuesday, October 19, 2010 SBI’s rule not just bad, but unfair! As SBI Agent Duane Deaver testified at Gregory Taylor’s February 2010 hearing before the three judge panel, he was merely following established protocol by withholding from the 1993 jury, blood test results that would have been favorable to murder defendant Gregory Taylor. This revelation spewed forth from the front page of October 13, 2010 edition of The News & Observer in an article titled “SBI vet wrote bad rule for tests.” Whoever wrote that headline was generous towards the SBI director by merely stating that the rule written for the lab test was "bad." The truth of the matter is that it was downright unfair. The rule, which had been in practice for decades, and put in writing in 1997, embraced the practice of reporting positive lab results and withholding negative results… a practice which placed defendants at a definite disadvantage. Prosecutors were aware of this policy and the general mindset in the lab, and in all likelihood, pushed for it. The SBI lab, instead of being an honest broker when it came to analyzing evidence, was instead a biased arm of the prosecution engaging in approved hocus-pocus with evidence in order to help the prosecution win a conviction. The 25 year veteran SBI agent who wrote the policy, Mark Nelson, retired from the SBI in 2002, and is currently a senior program manager at the National Institute of Justice in Washington, DC. The written policy put in place by Mr. Nelson was approved by officials in the Attorney General’s Office. To suggest that prosecutors were unaware of the prejudicial and misleading policy and practices of the SBI lab, is not within the realm of belief, especially in light of the existence of 1997 policy. It was the prosecutor’s drive to win convictions at all costs that resulted in such a policy being implemented in the first place… especially the more inept prosecutors like Tom Ford who heavily relied on winning a conviction by using perjured testimony in exchange for promises of leaner sentences. For a specific example of the gross injustice of the practice, consider the following. If a presumptive test for blood was positive (indicating that blood, along with other substances might be present), but the confirmatory test was negative (meaning that no blood was present and that the positive presumptive test was due to a non-blood agent), then the lab report was to read that the tests “revealed chemical indications of blood.” This would lead a reasonable person to believe that the substance tested contained blood. The scenario just mentioned is exactly what transpired in the Gregory Taylor case. And the so-called “blood on the bumper” evidence was a significant piece of the pie that resulted in Gregory Taylor’s conviction. What is truly disheartening is the observation by Bob Gaesslin, a professor of serology at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He acknowledged that such incomplete and misleading reporting of test results is “not completely forthcoming, but people have always done it.” Mr. Gaesslin, who has written authoritative serology books used by law enforcement, I believe, is accurate in his assessment of prevailing practices in courts nationwide. My eyebrow is raised with his comment about why juries are not told about negative confirmatory tests when presumptive tests for blood are positive. He states: “I don’t know whether we think that people aren’t going to understand the report if we put them in, or if it’s an effort to not give the cross examiner a lot of cannon fodder…” The answer is negative with regards to the first part of the statement. A person of average intellect should have no difficulty understanding the difference between a presumptive and confirmatory test and their implications. Laboratory techs should be able to satisfactorily explain this to the people seated in the jury box. Regarding the second part of his statement, he is absolutely right on… the person testifying about lab results unfavorable to the prosecution try to hide the truth from the defense attorney. By misleading the defense attorney, there is no doubt going to be very little in the way of cross examination. That is the sole reason why the court does not hear about negative confirmatory test results, when presumptive ones are positive… to mislead the defense, the judge, and the jury. Regarding the misleading practice, Mr. Gaesslin concludes, “but everyone does that and they still do it.” This statement is sad but true. And the reason for this has to do with the "win-at-all-costs" attitude of many prosecutors, which has supplanted and made a complete and total mockery of its supposed “minister of justice” role. As a proximate result of the uneven playing field, many innocent people are languishing behind bars at taxpayer expense, while funneling hard earned taxpayer dollars into corporations with financial interests in the correctional system and maintaining full occupancy. The politicians and media, alike, have no qualms about the unjust incarceration of innocents because they are in very large measure the poor, disenfranchised, and people of color… those within a capitalistic society who are expendable… a society with a tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color” which pampers the well-heeled and crushes the downtrodden who are caught up in the criminal system. Posted by Nifong Supporter at 7:18 AM |
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| Quasimodo | Oct 20 2010, 08:45 AM Post #6 |
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Why not? Is there a rule against it? Is this a new change in Durham policy?
Is this also a new policy? Edited by Quasimodo, Oct 20 2010, 08:48 AM.
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| abb | Oct 20 2010, 09:53 AM Post #7 |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/20/us/AP-US-Rape-Exoneration-Award.html?ref=global-home October 20, 2010 Man Cleared in 1984 Rape Gets $18.5M From NYC By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:18 a.m. ET NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has awarded $18.5 million to a New York City man who was exonerated four years ago after spending more than two decades in prison. Alan Newton was cleared by DNA evidence in 2006. He had been sentenced in 1985 to up to 40 years in prison after being convicted of raping a woman in an abandoned building. In awarding the money Tuesday, the federal jury in Manhattan ruled the city had violated Newton's constitutional rights. It also found two police officers had failed to produce Newton's evidence when requested. The city says it will appeal. Newton told The New York Times it's something he'd been fighting for since he was freed in 2006. His case has been supported by the nonprofit Innocence Project, which seeks to free convicts through DNA evidence. |
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