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Two letters on suing Durham; Sept. 2007
Topic Started: Nov 12 2010, 09:21 AM (256 Views)
Quasimodo

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2007/09/duke-case-nifong-released-from-jail.html

Quote:
 

Rob Waters / Letter to The Durham News:

Suit will only hurt citizens --

To David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, the Duke Lacrosse Three, some advice.

Some high-end lawyers came to town this week claiming to be acting in your interest. Be skeptical.

They want to help you sue the City of Durham and/or its police department for their sins in the lacrosse case.

But look, guys, Duke University has already reached a settlement with each of you. We don't know how much money is involved, but we're pretty sure it more than covers your considerable expenses of the last year and a half.

So you don't really need the cash. What, then, would be the point of a suit? Revenge? Against whom? [...]

You're smart and well-educated, and you each have your whole adult lives ahead of you.

Consider tuning out the lawyers and turning the page. Let it go.




Quote:
 
Bill Anderson:

Email to Mr. Waters --

I think that the citizens of Durham should have taken into consideration that the charges were false before they voted Nifong into office. In fact, had Nifong NOT pursued the charges, it almost is certain he would have lost the election. Moreover, there was massive police misconduct on behalf of the Durham police and civilian officials that can be regarded as criminal.

Yet, instead of people stepping up and admitting the absolute wrongness of what happened last year, we have journalists accusing the players of being greedy. [...]

By the way, if the defendants had been black and poor, would you be admonishing them not to sue Durham? It seems to me that we need "liberty and justice FOR ALL," not just some. Thus, if Durham does not want to be sued, then perhaps people like you could urge its officials to obey the law, not to lie, and not to try to frame innocent people and have them sent to prison. It sure could save your city a lot of money in the future.
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Quasimodo

more ruminations on the suits:

Quote:
 

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2007/09/duke-case-nifong-released-from-jail.html

BlueNC blog:

Will We Ever Be Free of Nifong Stories
--

What has bothered me most about the Nifong case is how quickly the defense lawyers brought all of the power of the national media to bear on the case so that it never got sorted out by twelve folks from Durham. Now it is the vindictiveness of the civil case and its derailing of an investigation that is striking me.

There is something more than Nifong's action rotten with this case. And that is the determination of the parents not to have the merits of the case, whatever few there might have been, brought out either in a trial or in an investigation of the actions of the Durham Police.

Could it be that the point is not to get justice but to ensure that rich white jocks at prestigious colleges get legal immunity? Class has its privileges [...]


I agree--we need to have all the details of the case PUBLICLY AIRED--so BRING ON THE CIVIL SUITS
and let everyone explain just what happened, right?

ETA: (Clearly the Innocence Declaration wasn't enough for some people.)
Edited by Quasimodo, Nov 12 2010, 09:25 AM.
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Quasimodo

BTW, there is no legal requirement that a settlement of a civil suit has to include
either a confidentiality clause or

a clause requiring the litigants not to speak about the issues or each other thereafter.

A settlement does not have to be a bribe to keep silent; such clauses are part of the
negotiations and the litigants do not have to agree to give away their right to speak
after a suit is over.
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MikeZPU

Quasimodo
Nov 12 2010, 09:24 AM

Quote:
 

http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2007/09/duke-case-nifong-released-from-jail.html

BlueNC blog:

Will We Ever Be Free of Nifong Stories
--

What has bothered me most about the Nifong case is how quickly the defense lawyers brought all of the power of the national media to bear on the case so that it never got sorted out by twelve folks from Durham. Now it is the vindictiveness of the civil case and its derailing of an investigation that is striking me.

There is something more than Nifong's action rotten with this case. And that is the determination of the parents not to have the merits of the case, whatever few there might have been, brought out either in a trial or in an investigation of the actions of the Durham Police.

Could it be that the point is not to get justice but to ensure that rich white jocks at prestigious colleges get legal immunity? Class has its privileges [...]

Such astounding ignorance.

Does Judge Beatty need any further evidence of the damage done
to the reputations of RCD, in particular, and the LAX players, in general?
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MikeZPU

Quasimodo
Nov 12 2010, 09:21 AM

Quote:
 
Bill Anderson:

Email to Mr. Waters --

I think that the citizens of Durham should have taken into consideration that the charges were false before they voted Nifong into office. In fact, had Nifong NOT pursued the charges, it almost is certain he would have lost the election. Moreover, there was massive police misconduct on behalf of the Durham police and civilian officials that can be regarded as criminal.

Yet, instead of people stepping up and admitting the absolute wrongness of what happened last year, we have journalists accusing the players of being greedy. [...]

By the way, if the defendants had been black and poor, would you be admonishing them not to sue Durham? It seems to me that we need "liberty and justice FOR ALL," not just some. Thus, if Durham does not want to be sued, then perhaps people like you could urge its officials to obey the law, not to lie, and not to try to frame innocent people and have them sent to prison. It sure could save your city a lot of money in the future.
I would like to add to Prof. Anderson's points, specifically with regard to his
comment about the citizens who voted Nifong into office.

AG Cooper declared RCD "innocent" in April 2007, and also took the extraordinary
step of publicly chastising Nifong as a "rogue prosecutor" in a speech he knew would
be heard around the world. For AG Cooper, a Democrat, to make such extraordinary
remarks -- to actually use the word "innocent" AND to call Nifong a "rogue prosecutor" --
was a clear indication of just how egregiously nefarious Nifong's actions were.

YET, I heard no Democrat who voted for Nifong, calling on Nifong to step down
in the days and weeks after Nifong was called a "rogue prosecutor" by the state's
top law enforcement official, after the completion of a three-month in-depth investigation
of the case! I know of no such call by anyone who voted for Nifong,
in the form of a letter to the editor, a blog, a church sermon, etc.

In those first few days and weeks just after the NC AG called Nifong a "rogue prosecutor"
in a high-profile speech, where were the calls for Nifong to step down by the voters who
voted him in? I'm not talking about arresting him, I'm just talking about him stepping down,
at least until after the Bar Trial. After being called a "rogue prosecutor" by the NC AG,
how could he possibly function properly in the job as DA?

The silence was sickening.

I think that speaks volumes about the complicity of some of the citizens of Durham.
Edited by MikeZPU, Nov 13 2010, 10:26 AM.
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