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KC on Balko's article
Topic Started: Mar 20 2014, 05:36 PM (621 Views)
Quasimodo

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http://www.durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014
Comments on the Balko Article

A few thoughts on the Radley Balko exposé that Mike Nifong might well have prosecuted, and convicted—an innocent man, and that he might have violated ethical norms while doing so. The man was named Darryl Howard, and he was convicted of 2nd-degree murder in 1995, in the killing of Doris Washington and her 13-year-old daughter, Nishonda. The Innocence Project has filed papers calling for a review of Howard’s case.

1.) It’s an extraordinary piece of journalism. Read it in its entirety. The piece is both a brilliant exposé and a damning indictment of Durham’s legal culture.

2.) The article gives the lie to Nifong’s oft-repeated claim in the 2006 primary and general election of his fundamentally ethical nature.

3.) Balko provides some interesting—and very important—context about the relationship between DNA evidence and Nifong’s conception of his role as prosecutor. Recall in the lacrosse case, Nifong at first said that the DNA test results would be decisive, but then, when the tests came back negative, he dismissed the importance of DNA in deciding cases the “old-fashioned” way. (He also, of course, sought out Dr. Brian Meehan for additional DNA testing, the results of which he falsely portrayed in court.) The theme here, however: Nifong was a prosecutor who seemed to believe that he didn’t need to adjust his theory of the “crime” to accommodate unimpeachable scientific evidence.

So too in the Howard case. The operating theory of the crime was that the killer raped the Washingtons before killing them. Semen was found on the girl’s body—but after testing that occurred following the arrest, it didn’t match Howard’s. Nifong plowed ahead anyway, continuing the murder case against Howard but simply dropping the theory that a sexual assault was tied to the crime. (Instead, incredibly, he suggested that the 13-year-old girl was sleeping around, and the semen was her boyfriend’s.) As Balko noted, “Such test results might have persuaded a conscientious prosecutor to at least consider the possibility that he had charged the wrong man, especially considering the statement from the informant. At the very least, it would seem to mean they needed to change their theory, and consider the possibility that Howard didn’t kill the women by himself.” Of course, Nifong was not a conscientious prosecutor.

4.) At the heart of Howard’s case is what Balko terms “a credible statement from an informant days after the murder who attributed the crimes to a local gang, not to Darryl Howard,” which Nifong might have withheld from the defense. If Nifong did so, he committed a Brady violation—hardly a surprising move from such an unethical man. But, as Balko notes, Howard’s lawyer hasn’t kept the case file, and can’t say with 100% certainty that Nifong or the police withheld the document.

That doesn’t excuse Nifong, however. Either he committed a Brady violation; or he did turn over the document but never read it, even though it undermined his case. The latter is a possibility—recall during the case he claimed that his regular approach was to pass his entire file onto defense attorneys without bothering to read its contents. So, regarding the Brady document, Nifong was either outright unethical or so lazy as to be unethical.

5.) The Balko article also reveals dubious conduct from the Durham Police Department—in this case from a detective named Darryl Dowdy, who allegedly pressured witnesses to bolster Nifong’s case and ignored obvious leads that a gang, and not Howard, might be responsible for the murders. Should anyone be surprised that a department that kept Mark Gottlieb on the force for two decades had more than its share of ethically challenged law enforcement officers?

5.) Howard’s lawyer was Woody Vann (who had also once represented Crystal Mangum). Yes, the same Woody Vann who frequently appeared on cable news in 2006 defending Nifong’s integrity. The man who told the AP in summer 2007, “Nobody knows anything about the previous 28 years. The cases he's tried and won, and the cases he's tried well and won.” Vann said that even though he represented a client who may very well have been sent to jail for murder as a result of Nifong’s unethical conduct—and who, he told Balko, Vann himself believed was innocent.

6.) As I often said at the time and repeat today, Jim Coleman was one of the heroes of the lacrosse case—he spoke truth to power when few in Durham were willing to do so, and when the easiest thing for him (personally and professionally) would have been to have remained quiet. Some of his comments since the case ended, however, have been a little odd. For instance, he bizarrely compared the Forsyth County DA to Nifong—even though, in the case in question, the prosecutor wasn’t even accused of ethical misconduct, much less the sort of massive misconduct associated with Nifong.

In the Balko article, Coleman says, “I had hoped that the people of influence who were attracted to this case — the players and their families, the conservative groups, the commentators who were drawn to the injustice — I had hoped they would have used it as an opportunity to subject the criminal justice system to a searing review. It’s as if they believe the only bias in the system is against wealthy white college students.” That’s largely true when describing the (almost exclusively out-of-state) conservative journalists who defended the lacrosse players. But did Coleman expect otherwise? The time to have engaged the conservatives who were active on the case (again, not a terribly large number) was during the case itself. Events in Durham provided a perfect opportunity for a cross-ideological alliance in favor of due process. But at the time, the state NAACP, the Group of 88, or groups like Durham’s People’s Alliance weren’t interested—they were too busy either outright defending Nifong or ignoring his abuses. What’s the excuse for the continued silence of such groups? These figures supposedly favor due process. Or were they so compromised by their de facto alliance with Nifong that they’ve chosen to just move on?

But Coleman also accused the “players and their families” of declining “an opportunity to subject the criminal justice system to a searing review. It’s as if they believe the only bias in the system is against wealthy white college students.” This is an outrageous statement. The one group that clearly has been concerned with these issues were the falsely accused players, their families, and their attorneys. They pushed for reform in Durham (even as the Whichard Committee was quickly shut down), and reform has been a central element of their lawsuit against the city before the 4th Circuit provided a procedural cover to Durham. They’ve been active with the Innocence Project. Reade Seligman—who has said he went to law school in large part because his own experience convinced him of the need to be able to help others who are falsely accused—and Jim Cooney have frequently spoken about the case.

I understand that Coleman’s statements in the lacrosse case caused him some professional discomfort with allies, and perhaps in attacking the falsely accused players’ character he’s now trying to rehabilitate himself with them. Nonetheless, I would hope that Coleman would issue an apology to the players and the families.

7.) It’s worth reiterating: even after Nifong’s abuses, the voters of Durham County elected the ethically challenged Tracey Cline as their chief prosecutor. And the frontrunner in this year’s DA primary is a Cline protégé.


8.) Finally, to repeat: the Balko article is amazing. Please read it.
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Jack Wade

First, the Dowdy in this case may be Dwight Dowdy, the former DPD captain who got the city sued after he assaulted a free-lance photographer outside the police line at a crime scene. Balko was careless with names -- he refers at one point to former Gov. "John" Martin, clearly meaning Jim Martin, the governor from 1985 to 1993.

Second, Coleman's mention of the Forsyth County prosecutor isn't as odd as KC makes it. The Forsyth County DA's office is notorious for throwing innocent people in prison (Darryl Hunt, anyone?) and Coleman is in the midst of representing a man named Kalvin Michael Smith who claims innocence in a robbery/assault that left a store clerk with severe brain damage. Main allegation there is an allegedly police-fabricated ID: cop showed the victim a picture of Smith and she ID'ed him, but there are lots of questions about whether she has any actual recall of events.
Edited by Jack Wade, Mar 21 2014, 09:11 AM.
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Joan Foster

One supposes that a few of us here fall under KC's umbrella of out of state conservatives who defended the Lacrosse team...because we see only bias in the system against wealthy whites.

Largely true, KC? what a ignorant pompous ass you are! Only you and your Lefty friends are pure of heart and had noble reasons? The rest of us were just bigots, eh?

That is "The Hero of The Hoax"...outing himself for the biased phony he is.

Edited to say...after these comments I wish LS would stop giving him space here. Why not carry the Justice for Nifong columns as well?
Edited by Joan Foster, Mar 21 2014, 09:28 AM.
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RighteousThug
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Joan Foster
Mar 21 2014, 09:25 AM
One supposes that a few of us here fall under KC's umbrella of out of state conservatives who defended the Lacrosse team...because we see only bias in the system against wealthy whites.

Tell us how you really feel, Joan. ;)

Btw, the "It’s as if they believe the only bias in the system is against wealthy white college students.” was a quote from Coleman, not KC.

Coleman was the one who claimed that the conservatives 'moved on' after the dismissal, and Balko seemingly agreed. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, and KC said so. His 'almost exclusively out-of-state' referred to journalists.
Edited by RighteousThug, Mar 21 2014, 10:07 AM.
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Joan Foster

"In the Balko article, Coleman says, “I had hoped that the people of influence who were attracted to this case — the players and their families, the conservative groups, the commentators who were drawn to the injustice — I had hoped they would have used it as an opportunity to subject the criminal justice system to a searing review. It’s as if they believe the only bias in the system is against wealthy white college students.” That’s largely true when describing the (almost exclusively out-of-state) conservative journalists who defended the lacrosse players. But did Coleman expect otherwise?"


"Did Coleman expect otherwise?" So KC is asserting that our concern for rich white kids was just parr for the course for our benighted racist selves. He should have engaged us then...and perhaps could have helped us out of the darkness.

This is outrageous!

What else could Coleman have expected? Maybe that there are racists of all political persuasions...that empathy has no political allegiance and that there a good people of good intentions who vote other than the way KC and Coleman do?

What could we have expected from KC? Maybe a better memory ...and a lot less PRESUMPTION that he knows other peoples motivations.

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RighteousThug
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Joan Foster
Mar 21 2014, 10:08 AM
"Did Coleman expect otherwise?" So KC is asserting that our concern for rich white kids was just parr for the course for our benighted racist selves. He should have engaged us then...and perhaps could have helped us out of the darkness.

Dunno exactly what he is asserting, but it referred to journalists, not you or I.
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Joan Foster

RighteousThug
Mar 21 2014, 09:56 AM
Joan Foster
Mar 21 2014, 09:25 AM
One supposes that a few of us here fall under KC's umbrella of out of state conservatives who defended the Lacrosse team...because we see only bias in the system against wealthy whites.

Tell us how you really feel, Joan. ;)

Btw, the "It’s as if they believe the only bias in the system is against wealthy white college students.” was a quote from Coleman, not KC.

Coleman was the one who claimed that the conservatives 'moved on' after the dismissal, and Balko seemingly agreed. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, and KC said so. His 'almost exclusively out-of-state' referred to journalists.
So by limiting his bias to just Conservative " journalists"....we are to assume that KC meant only THEY had racist motivations? The rest of us conservatives who do not pull a paycheck from Fox are exempt? How charitable of KC! This "disease" that brings KC to exclaim..."What could he expect?" ....somehow sails above the conservative unprofessionally unemployed..like some ideological exemption?

KC's own bias is all over this nifty little paragraph. Of course...the Left wing MSM rallied so nobly to the cause...because, as KC understands, they are not so benighted by their biases.

Right.

:puk: :puk: :puk:


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Joan Foster

"Largely true."

KC is saying it is largely true that conservative "journalists" only care about white college kids. Who do liberal journalists "largely" care about? What can we learn from their collective work on this case?

Oh, yeah....I guess it is "largely true" that THEY have only the finest of intentions.
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RighteousThug
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Joan Foster
Mar 21 2014, 10:17 AM
Of course...the Left wing MSM rallied so nobly to the cause...because, as KC understands, they are not so benighted by their biases.

Did someone piss in your cornflakes this morning?
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abb
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At the risk of butting in here and getting my pinfeathers scorched (never had that happen b4, lol), in the Howard case, we are going to see all sorts of "liberal" types come out of the woodwork and begin running their mouths. There will be lots of advocates that never soiled their hands during the Duke Lax Frame. For example, Duke Law, Democrat Underground (just saw this case posted on their website), The Innocence Project. And on and on.

Why? Because the victim here is of the proper socio-economic class and race, unlike Colin, Reade, and David.

The only thing I can say about it is that life just ain't fair.

BUT, and a very big BUT.

If it means we have to ally with them to see that Nifong goes to jail, and the truth of Durham's rot is exposed, I say we should suck it up and make the best of it.

One of the few points of agreement between sincere liberals and sincere conservatives is fear of an overreaching government and encroachment upon individual liberties.

All my opinion, of course...
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Joan Foster

RighteousThug
Mar 21 2014, 10:22 AM
Joan Foster
Mar 21 2014, 10:17 AM
Of course...the Left wing MSM rallied so nobly to the cause...because, as KC understands, they are not so benighted by their biases.

Did someone piss in your cornflakes this morning?
No, RT. I am truly offended.

Except perhaps if KC has been operating some kind of confessional up there in NYC...and conservative journalists have been unburdening themselves to him...in regard to their White bias in defending the Lacrosse team. Then, KC is not conveying his own ideological bias...he has been truly privy to the inner motivations of those journalists who do not vote as he does.

Otherwise KC is a buffoon who allows himself great liberty in ASSUMING the motivations of others...particularly "The Other"....ie anyone who is not in ideological lockstep with HIM.

Unlike KC...I believe there were people of good faith and good intention on BOTH sides of the political aisle.

The arrogance in this piece is astounding!

"What did he expect." That presumes he should have expected conservatives to only care about WHITES!!!!!

This attitude why unity is so difficult to achieve on a broad base of topics today. This presumption that the other political side is afflicted with bad or ignorant intentions.

KC does not know ANYTHING about the intentions of anyone other than himself.

Edited by Joan Foster, Mar 21 2014, 04:43 PM.
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Jack Wade

I'm not going to take a position on Joan's complaint but otherwise say that KC like all of us has his flaws. The one that rubs me wrong is his tendency despite his training as a historian to make short shrift of context. An example would be his lack of understanding of the the culture of major-sports schools like Duke, for having come up himself at schools like Harvard and UChicago that aren't athletic powers. He makes much, for instance, of the lacrosse players' grades without acknowledging that the implicit deal at a D1 school is that the athletes in the revenue sports generate the money to subsidize the entire program while those in non-revenue sports make the grades necessary to generate positive PR. Not only does KC not understand that, he doesn't understand that he doesn't understand.
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abb
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Jack Wade
Mar 21 2014, 12:15 PM
...the implicit deal at a D1 school is that the athletes in the revenue sports generate the money to subsidize the entire program while those in non-revenue sports make the grades necessary to generate positive PR.
Another instance of life not being fair. But the hypocrisy of the Higher Education leadership guild is a bit much sometimes - they're just moneygrubbers like most everyone else. They just get to cloak it with platitudes about "molding the minds and bodies of our future leaders..." Or some such baloney.
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~J~ is in Wonderland
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~J~ is in Wonderland
Hummmm- think I should not post.

Later :confus: :X
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Joan Foster

" It’s as if they believe the only bias in the system is against wealthy white college students.” That’s largely true when describing the (almost exclusively out-of-state) conservative journalists who defended the lacrosse players. But did Coleman expect otherwise?"

:bom: :bom: :bom: :bom:

Sorry J ...but KC is nothing if not articulate. What he says here is that Coleman's belief that "the only bias in the system is against wealthy white college system" is LARGELY TRUE in regard to conservative journalists.

It is " largely true."

Does anyone "expect otherwise?"

Are you defending that kind of smear? And how does Mr. Wonderland decide when this racist malady effects a journalist...when he votes? Gets a job? Obviously, it is his POLITICAL belief that makes him racist...."largely" racist.

That is flat out offensive, unfair, and untrue. I'd like to hear that statement defended as anything other than a political smear.

And, in making his point...it was unnecessary to even include.

Only a Ass would spout such ignorance. Would he condone such generalizations to be made about liberals or homosexuals? "Oh THEM...well of course...WHAT can you expect."

"Largely true." "What can you expect?"

If you are offended that I have little respect for KC...I ask you how much respect HE has to make an ignorant general assumption like that? He implies conservatives are racist or, at best! only concerned with the injustice to THEIR own race. THAT is HIS bias. HIS ignorance.

When this Board started...about 15 people got it going. We started a blog and a discussion Board. We were from all over the place and we never asked each other's politics. We cared about these kids. Do you think our politics somehow tainted our motivation? The Libs were here because they are noble and fair? The Conservatives were here because the guys were WHITE?

HUH? Are you buying that?

I think there were good people of every political persausion drawn to the outrageousness of this Hoax and skin hue was NO factor.

Racism, according to KC...is apparently synonymous with conservatism. "What did he expect?"

How dare he ascribe motives like that to individuals unknown to him except for their political leaning! He obviously feels Racism is LARGELY integral part of the mindset of anyone who does not vote in lockstep with Him.

Of course, if anyone can explain the unbiased innocence of those sentences...I will be glad to be tutored.



Edited by Joan Foster, Mar 21 2014, 08:14 PM.
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