Duke Lacrosse scandal

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on December 17, 2006

Unfortunately, I have to use the label headline above so that you'll quickly know what this post is about. To be more accurate, it should read something along the lines of "Durham County D.A. scandal."

There's a couple of reasons why the alleged rape scandal at Duke University interests me. First, I played Lacrosse in high school and college. Second, what's been going on for the past few months is every man's worst nightmare -- being accused of a crime you didn't commit.

By now, to any fair and open-minded person, it's clear that no rape took place at that Duke Lacrosse team party. There's a ton of exculpatory evidence and nothing other than the accuser's word that anything happened.

When you read about things like the Wenatchee Witch Hunts or San Diego's own Dale Akiki case, it's horrifying to see what can happen with unchecked and unaccountable prosecutorial power.

And it's happening again in Durham, N.C.

Just this past week District Attorney Mike Nifong admitted to lying about what the DNA lab tasked with testing genetic material from the "victim" had discovered.

At the beginning of Friday's hearing, Nifong made a statement that differed from [DNA Security director Brian] Meehan's subsequent testimony:

"The first I had heard of this particular situation was when I was served with this particular motion" on Wednesday, Nifong told the judge.

After court, Nifong amended his remarks and said he knew about the DNA results.

"And we were trying to, just as Dr. Meehan said, trying to avoid dragging any names through the mud but at the same time his report made it clear that all the information was available if they wanted it and they have every word of it," Nifong said.

The use of the term "amending" is an obfuscation the News & Observer shouldn't have allowed to stand. They probably wouldn't want to call Nifong a liar as I have either. Perhaps we could come to a middle ground on "changed his tune."

There are two people who should be spending some serious time in jail in this case: the accuser and Nifong. The accuser for lying about the "rape" in the first place and Nifong for what can only be described at this point as a malicious prosecution.

Despite Nifong's unethical (and possibly illegal) behavior in this case, he's probably going to be personally protected by the civil lawsuits against him that will follow an acquittal in this case. The taxpayers of Durham, however, will be footing a rather steep legal bill.

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