The accuser and the editor (Signifying Nothing: how does saying nothing at all become so loud?)

Sunday, 16 April 2006

The accuser and the editor

Two vaguely interesting pieces in Sunday’s News & Observer: a lengthy article on the background of the accuser that is perhaps more intriguing for what it doesn’t tell us than what it does, and the second is another public editor column. Like I said—vaguely interesting.

Monday may be a bit more exciting; the rumor mill over-under on the number of people Nifong can get the grand jury to indict is around 2. I already have Ryan McFadyen down for getting one—sending an obscene email has got to violate at least one law in North Carolina, and Nifong’s got to walk away with at least one conviction out of this whole thing just to keep some self-respect.

Who else does he go after? Maybe he goes for some penny-ante stuff to tide everyone over; he’s probably got photos that will let him go to bat on some underage alcohol consumption charges against the under-21s and illegal distribution of alcohol to minors for the rest. Maybe he figures he can use that stuff as leverage to find out more, since even though this stuff normally gets pled out to a fine, in this environment he can go to a Townie jury and get max sentencing on these charges. Maybe the pressure of potentially spending a year in the Durham County Jail gets someone to flip, although unless they have beer bottles (and not just Dixie cups) in their hands in the photos it’s going to be a tough conviction.

Beyond that, who knows? He probably can get a rape indictment if the grand jury doesn’t ask any tough questions. We have no clue what he’s got, and he doesn’t have to tell anyone what the grand jury sees—although out of 18 people on that grand jury, I think it’s a safe bet we will get a leak or six. So, we shall see. I expect a good preview leak out of the prosecution camp (or maybe some expectations management by defense attorneys) to surface in one of the papers for Monday’s editions, so clarity may be here sooner than you’d think.

3 comments:

Any views expressed in these comments are solely those of their authors; they do not reflect the views of the authors of Signifying Nothing, unless attributed to one of us.

1. John wrote @ Sun, 16 Apr 2006, 9:12 am CDT:

I’m an attorney who used to practice a little criminal law years ago. I don’t believe the email constitutes any arguable crime. As to underage drinking, NC law would prohibit active time unless those charged had serious records, which I don’t believe to be the case. That certainly is not to say, however, that there won’t be underaged drinking charges—plea bargains do allow dismissals if, for example, evidence is offered by those accused. But, do you believe that Nifong gains any traction simply by indicting on such penny ante stuff? I don’t think so, and besides, grand juries don’t have to indict on misdemeanors; any magistrate could make the charge if presented with evidence by the police. I believe if there are indictments, they will be big, or not at all.

2. azbballfan wrote @ Sun, 16 Apr 2006, 4:44 pm CDT:

Thanks John.

Yep, grand juries aren’t used for misdemeanors and the e-mail does not constitue a crime.

He will get indictments for anyone the victim/accuser identified that the police cannot prove weren’t at the party. (sorry for the akward logic, but it’s necessary).

3. Ryme wrote @ Sun, 16 Apr 2006, 5:55 pm CDT:

Nifong is running scared. If he had anything big, he’d spill it. His desperation was obvious when he held that conference at the NCC University where he thought he was in friendly territory.

Nifong claims the boys are “stone walling”, but when the accusation was made, the police questioned the three boys, who lived in the house, for over six hours, not one asked for a lawyer. When the entire team was told they had to submit DNA samples, they didn’t call their parents or fight the warrant.

The boys cooperated completely. These aren’t the actions of guilty boys. Only when their parents witnessed the circus-like atmosphere created by District Attorney Mike Nifong, the boys were advised to remain quiet.

Nifong nationally proclaimed that he will indite the entire team for aiding and abetting. He doesn’t care whether anyone is innocent or guilty, or if he has to bulldoze over 50 boys to get to one. Nifong portrayed all of these boys as rapists while claiming that they’re hiding information because the only information they have is that the rape never occurred, and DNA evidence supports the boys’ story, and the second stripper coincides with the boys account of events, but it doesn’t matter.

Because of Nifong, these boys have already been convicted in the media. Their reputations destroyed as their names and pictures are widely distributed with hate slogans labeling them as rapist.

Nifong will get an indictment to avoid facing the racial tensions he stoked to near riot levels, then he will leave this “powder keg” to the next elected DA to handle the fallout, and when this case presents itself to be unfounded and accusations of “white privilege” force racial tensions to explode, I predict Mr. Nifong will be somewhere far far away on vacation.

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