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Blog and Media Roundup - Tuesday, February 20, 2018; News Roundup
Topic Started: Feb 20 2018, 05:27 AM (115 Views)
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1 acquitted, 2 cases dismissed in Durham Confederate statue case

By Virginia Bridges

vbridges@heraldsun.com

February 19, 2018 12:18 PM

Durham

A Durham County judge on Monday acquitted one person and dismissed the charges against two others accused of toppling a Durham County Confederate monument last summer.

District Court Judge Fred Battaglia found Raul Mauro Jimenez not guilty of injury to real property, defacing a public building or monument, and conspiracy to deface a public building or monument.

Earlier, Battaglia dismissed the cases against Peter Gilbert and Dante Strobino, who had faced the same three misdemeanor charges in connection with the destruction of the downtown statue Aug. 14.
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Assistant District Attorney Ameshia Cooper had called Strobino’s effort to destroy a monument owned and maintained by Durham County “organized destruction,” during her opening arguments.

“The state will give you a behind-the-scene look to destroy a monument here in Durham,” she had said. “Your honor, you will learn that this was not a spontaneous event but a well-orchestrated plan.”

But the judge dismissed the charges against Gilbert, who is a staff attorney with North Carolina Legal Aid, and Strobino after defense attorney Scott Holmes made a motion to dismiss in each case.

The judge said the prosecution had proved the statue was destroyed but not by whom.

“The court finds the state has failed to identify who the perpetrator was. ... Furthermore, the court has noted there is no evidence of a conspiracy,” Battaglia said in Strobino’s case.

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A judge dismissed charges against Peter Gilbert, in the red tie, in the Confederate statue toppling case.
Virginia Bridges vbridges@heraldsun.com

Strobino was the first of eight people to go on trial on the three misdemeanor charges. The remaining defendants are Takiyah Thompson, Elena Everett, Jessica Nicole Jude, Qasima Wideman and Joseph Karlik. Their trials are expected to take place on April 2.

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Confederate statue trials: Durham commissioners don’t have to testify. Here’s why

Cooper had asked the judge pay close attention to three things: the defendants’ movements, actions and demeanor.

Cooper presented a number of witnesses, including a Durham resident who was present and recorded the incident, the county’s security manager, and two sheriff’s deputies.

Most of Holmes’ opening statement centered not on the charges, but on how the monument infringed on others’ rights.

“The object is a symbol of the traitorous revolt of the Southern states to violently defend human slavery,” Holmes said.

The defense plans to show the monument violated federal and state laws by violating the constitutional guarantee of equal protection for all citizens and endorsing racial discrimination and the overthrow of the government.

The monument also violated state law that prohibits the use of a public building in teaching the violent overthrow of the government, Holmes said.

strobino
A judge dismissed the charges against Dante Strobino, in the glasses, the first of eight defendants to be tried Monday in the toppling of a Confederate monument in Durham last summer.
Virginia Bridges vbridges@heraldsun.com

Strobino said he wasn’t surprised the charges were dismissed because fighting white supremacy isn’t a crime.

“It wasn’t one or two lone individuals,” Strobino said. “It was the mass of the community that did it. So we are not surprised they couldn’t pin it on or two of us. We are going to keep fighting until all the institutions of white supremacy are done are gone.”
‘Wrath and power’

At 8:30 a.m., the activists’ supporters gathered in front of the courthouse to criticize their prosecution.

“These individuals are putting our entire movement on trial, so they will feel the wrath and power of our entire movement,” said Loan Tran, who was also charged but accepted a deal of deferred prosecution.

Instead of focusing on the real crimes of homelessness, poverty and fatal police shootings, prosecutors are focusing on people who “allegedly took very bold action to do something that we all needed done,” Loan Tran said.

Not everyone waiting outside of the courthouse agreed.

William O’Quinn, capital brigade commander of the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans and a Durham resident, said a majority of people do not like what has unfolded since the statue was pulled down.

“They don’t like the monuments torn down,” said O’Quinn, who planned to attend the trials with two others members of the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans. “They don’t like the way the felonies have been dropped.”

Many people want the Confederate soldier who was pulled down to return, he said.
Felonies dropped

During the Aug. 14 protest, Thompson climbed a ladder, placed a yellow towing strap around the bronze statue and others pulled it to the ground. The nearly century-old statue crashed to the ground where it crumpled and protesters started kicking it.

Twelve people were initially charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors, but District Attorney Roger Echols later dropped the felonies.

Charges were dropped against three of the original 12 defendants because there were no evidence linking them to the toppling, Echols has said.

In December, a fourth defendant, Tran, accepted deferred prosecution on three misdemeanor charges – injury to real property, damage to personal property and defacing a public monument – for helping to topple the statue. Tran also agreed to pay $1,250 in restitution and perform 100 hours of community service.

Defend Durham, a loose group formed to support those charged, has sought support for the eight people still facing charges by asking people to call the District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Office to demand the charges be dropped.

Defend Durham also plans to have a 6 p.m. “solidarity march and rally” Monday beginning at the site of the Confederate monument and progressing to the Durham County courthouse.

Virginia Bridges: 919-829-8924, @virginiabridges

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article200905779.html#storylink=cpy
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http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2018/02/acquittal-for-one-charges-dropped-for-two-others-in-durham-confederate-monument-toppling-case


Acquittal for one, charges dropped for two others in Durham Confederate monument toppling case
By Lexi Kadis | 02/19/2018

The misdemeanor cases against the first two defendants charged with toppling a Confederate monument in downtown Durham last summer were dismissed in court Monday and a third defendant was acquitted of charges.

Last August, in the wake of the demonstration in Charlottesville, Va., protesters in Durham dismantled a Confederate monument—which depicted a common soldier with a Confederate seal—that was located in front of the Old Durham County Courthouse, about a mile from East Campus. The eight people charged with destroying the statue appeared in court Monday, almost six months after the incident.

Although the felony charges were dropped by Durham County District Attorney Roger Echols in January, the defendants still faced three misdemeanor charges each—injury to real property, defacing a public building or monument and conspiracy to deface a public building or monument. Dante Strobino and Peter Gilbert were the first of the eight defendants to go on trial.

“The state will give you a behind-the-scene look to destroy a monument here in Durham,” said Ameshia Cooper, Durham County assistant district attorney, in her opening arguments as reported by the Durham Herald Sun. “Your honor, you will learn that this was not a spontaneous event but a well-orchestrated plan.”

During the trial, Cooper introduced several witnesses, ranging from a Durham resident who recorded the incident to two sheriff’s deputies. However, Cooper was unable to present sufficient evidence that proved the defendants were guilty of the three misdemeanors. This led the presiding judge to dismiss the first two cases against Strobino and Gilbert.

“The court must dismiss this case now and not let it go any further than it has because the identification has not been made in this case,” said District Court Judge Fred Battaglia Jr. “The court finds the state has failed to identify who the perpetrator was as to this defendant [Dante Strobino]; furthermore, the court has noted there is no evidence of a conspiracy.”

Although the prosecution was able to prove that the statue had been destroyed, they were unable to prove by whom, Battaglia noted.

The third defendant, Raul Mauro Jimenez, was found not guilty of all three misdemeanor charges.
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http://reason.com/blog/2018/02/19/ruth-bader-ginsburg-due-process-me-too


Ruth Bader Ginsburg Thinks Some College Title IX Trials Are Unfair to the Accused
Supreme Court justice says the #MeToo movement is important, but so is due process.

Robby Soave|Feb. 19, 2018 10:29 am

GinsburgJosh Edelson/ZUMA Press/NewscomSupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg thinks colleges and universities are violating the due process rights of students facing sexual misconduct charges.

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Rosen asked the Court's second-ever female justice for her thoughts on the #MeToo movement. Unsurprisingly, Ginsburg was happy about the increased public attention being paid to the problems of sexual harassment and gender-based inequality in the workplace. But she was also concerned about protecting the due process rights of the accused—particularly on college campuses:

Rosen: What about due process for the accused?

Ginsburg: Well, that must not be ignored and it goes beyond sexual harassment. The person who is accused has a right to defend herself or himself, and we certainly should not lose sight of that. Recognizing that these are complaints that should be heard. There's been criticism of some college codes of conduct for not giving the accused person a fair opportunity to be heard, and that's one of the basic tenets of our system, as you know, everyone deserves a fair hearing.

Rosen: Are some of those criticisms of the college codes valid?

Ginsburg: Do I think they are? Yes.

Note that Ginsburg was asked about due process, but not campuses specifically. The fact that she immediately suggested college codes of conduct as an example of a policy that sometimes violates "the basic tenets of our system," says a great deal about the glaring unfairness of the modern approach to Title IX, the federal statute that requires universities to investigate sexual harassment and assault. And Ginsburg didn't just make note of the controversy; she explicitly said critics of the current procedures have a point.

One of those critics, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has rescinded some of the federal guidance that had contributed to the problem. A legacy of the Obama-era campus sexual misconduct, dictates the infamous 2011 "Dear Colleague" letter had instructed universities to follow sexual misconduct procedures that left little room for due process. The new administration withdrew this letter last September, though most universities have insisted that they will continue to operate as before.

This means that many students who are accused of misconduct will still face investigatory procedures that seem hopelessly biased against them. Accused students are routinely denied the right to confront their accusers, refused access to crucial information about the nature of the charges against them, and forced to prove their innocence to a single bureaucrat who gets to play judge, jury, executioner, lead detective, and prosecutor.

Defenders of what are commonly called "victim-centered" investigatory procedures say preventing rape is more important than obeying due process. But this is a false dichotomy, according to Ginsburg:

Rosen: I think people are hungry for your thoughts about how to balance the values of due process against the need for increased gender equality.

Ginsburg: It's not one or the other. It's both. We have a system of justice where people who are accused get due process, so it's just applying to this field what we have applied generally.

Students who were found responsible for sexual misconduct often sue their universities for violating their due process rights, and many of them have prevailed in court. If a campus sexual misconduct case adjudicated under the deficient standards ever made it all the way to the Supreme Court, it certainly sounds like Ginsburg would question whether the accused was given a meaningful opportunity to defend himself.


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https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/us/north-carolina-willingham-unc-settlement/index.html

UNC 'fake classes' whistleblower to get $335K in settlement

By Sara Ganim, CNN
Updated 5:44 PM ET, Tue March 17, 2015

Mary Willingham accused UNC of holding fake classes that helped athletes stay in school
The university denied the charge for years, but independent investigation confirmed it

(CNN)The University of North Carolina will pay whistleblower Mary Willingham $335,000 to settle her lawsuit with the university, following the largest academic fraud scandal in NCAA history.

Willingham is the former athletics literacy counselor who blew the whistle about the fake classes that went on for nearly 20 years at the prestigious university.

Willingham spent years fielding attacks from university officials -- including accusations that she was lying when she said that officials within the athletic department steered underprepared athletes into the fake classes to keep them eligible.

For nearly five years, UNC denied those claims, but Willingham refused to keep quiet. She first told her story to the News & Observer in Raleigh, and then to national media when the university refused to admit that the classes were well-known to faculty.
The added attention forced UNC to hire a new investigator and launch a new probe in 2014. That latest review, led by Ken Wainstein, a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Justice Department, found exactly what Willingham had always claimed -- widespread and systematic cheating.

Willingham left her job last spring after complaining that she was being retaliated against.

"The University's settlement with Mrs. Willingham resolves all of the outstanding legal issues in the case," said Rick White, associate vice chancellor of communications and public affairs. "We appreciate the efforts of the mediator to help us achieve a successful and timely conclusion to the mediation. We believe the settlement is in the best interest of the University and allows us to move forward and fully focus on other important issues."

When she sued, Willingham said she hoped to accomplish what no other investigation has done -- to subpoena documents and to depose university officials under oath. Her lawsuit never got that far.

Instead, she says she's hoping that will be accomplished by a larger class-action lawsuit filed by powerhouse attorney Michael Hausfeld on behalf of two former UNC athletes.

Devon Ramsay and Rashanda McCants both sued in January, saying they were promised an education but didn't get one because of the paper class scandal.

Hausfeld is the attorney who beat the NCAA last summer in federal court on behalf of former UCLA player Ed O'Bannon, winning a case that will forever change college sports by forcing the NCAA to eliminate the rule that forbids schools from paying players.
That lawsuit is the reason Willingham says she was OK with entering into mediation in her whistleblower suit. She shared the settlement document with CNN.

"It's about the students and not about me. I don't need it to be about me," Willingham said. "I got an education, but those students left without one, and we still have a system that doesn't work. And so I'm hopeful that (the Hausfeld lawsuit) will move forward and prove that (NCAA Division I) schools all across the country have a flawed system where a promise of an education isn't happening, and therefore these students are getting nothing."

Willingham is co-founder of Paper Class Inc., which serves as a portal and rallying point for the college sports reform movement and includes a program to give students reading help in middle school.
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