Is That Legal?

Eric,

You could start a pool on the question of whether Mike Nifong is really stupid enough ever to call these cases for trial (although he may by now have painted himself into such a corner he has no option) and the second question, if they are tried, how many minutes the jury will be out before returning verdicts of Not Guilty.

Barry

Mr. Winston, surely you of all people should know that judging the outcome of a criminal trial before the jury returns its verdict is just worthless bluster. Let's see what happens at trial.

--cr

Eric: As a former prosecutor (admittedly, you were an AUSA and Nifong works in a state system and, presumably, the relevant rules/standards may differ), do you have any thoughts about whether various aspects of Nifong's conduct thus far (at least as publicly reported) have crossed any ethical or legal boundaries? If so, which of his actions (or inactions) give you the most pause?

ELM: Michael, I thought several of his early pubic comments about the guilt and conduct of the players were way out of line. (Note: I'm not saying they were inaccurate; I'm saying they were not things a prosecutor should be saying about a pending investigation.) Now it has reached a point where it looks as though he has dug in and is throwing charges at people in hopes that somebody will flip and testify against the others; I think he recognizes that without corroborating testimony from inside that house (or just outside it), he doesn't have a case he can take to a jury.

This is my opoimion. I think the acusser is a liar and messed up. I am not sure who is telling the truth but the evidence I see so far points to no one except her boyfriend. If they find out she is lying she should be put in jail. In my opioion I think the black accuser is doing this for money. I think the black panthers are threat to society. Also full of hate and should be arrested for making threats to the three acussed players. No one from the public should be aloud in the court except for the media, family and friends. the problem with this case is the prosecuter is withholding evidence from the defense and that is illlegal. No offense to the accusser but having a job as a stripper is low. Also what the duke lacrose players having a striper come over is immoral but I dont belive they raped her. they are innocent in my opion. However that is for the court to decide not me, the media or any one else except for the jurrors.

I have an unorthodox hypothesis for Nifong and would like to know what others think of it. Is it possible that Nifong stuck his foot in his mouth with all of his premature blusterings about the lax players' guilt, but later realized that they were innocent and did not want to wrongly convict them. Therefore, he purposely blew the line up so that essentially the only evidence (the SANE exam is highly subjective and indicates that sex occurred, but subsequently only proved that she had sex with her "boyfriend") would have to be tossed out at trial, thus ensuring no conviction. That would allow for him to be elected, pursue the case to trial to satisfy his electorate, but would also result in no wrongful convictions.

SHE COULDNT I.D ANYONE AT FIRST THAT WAS WHY DNA WAS TAKEN FROM ALL THE PLAYERS WHEN THAT CAME BACK WITH NO ID SHE COULD ALL OF A SUDDEN ID THE PLAYERS HOWS THAT MAKE SENSE. THIS IS OBEVIOS MALICOUS PROSECUTION SHE AND NIFONG SHOULD GO TO JAIL. I FOR ONE AM TIRED OF PEOPLE IN POSITIONS LIKE NIFONG DESTROYING LIVES TO FURTHER THIER CARRER

Barry:

Susna and I say Thank you.

The arrest of the cab driver was an outrage. He was a witness who helped police catch an offender. Is it any wonder people are often unwilling to assist the police in investigations.