Two sealed indictments? (Signifying Nothing: how does saying nothing at all become so loud?)

Monday, 17 April 2006

Two sealed indictments?

The News & Observer has an AP report on the results of today’s grand jury:

No members of Duke University’s lacrosse team were among the defendants publicly indicted Monday by a grand jury, which defense attorneys had expected to consider allegations that a stripper was raped at a team party.

However, it was not immediately clear if the grand jury returned any indictments under seal, or if any of the players were among the 24 cases “carried forward” to be heard at a later date.

The version at ABC 11’s website doesn’t add much, although perhaps it gives a bit of insight into the size of Mike Nifong’s ego:

Nifong emerged from his office around 3:20 p.m., weaving through a large crowd of cameras and reporters to a water fountain. As he has for the past two weeks, he refused to answer any questions about the case.

“I’m just happy to see all of you here,” he said.

Update: CNN.com currently has a banner saying “Two sealed indictments are handed up in the Duke University lacrosse rape investigation, a source tells CNN.” I’m watching Abrams live on MSNBC, and he hasn’t confirmed this information (in fact, he’s been yakking about Natalee Holloway for the last 20 minutes).

ESPN.com reports:

Prosecutors have informed defense attorneys that the alleged victim has identified two players with 100 percent certainty and is 90 percent certain on a third player, ABC News reports.

Make of that what you will…

7 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. mungowitz wrote @ Mon, 17 Apr 2006, 2:50 pm CDT:

that’s “Righteous Townie” DA Mike Nifong to YOU, buddy.

2. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Mon, 17 Apr 2006, 2:54 pm CDT:

Indeed…

3. azbballfan wrote @ Mon, 17 Apr 2006, 3:14 pm CDT:

Not sure, but was that a bit of sarcasm?

Chris – congrats on your 15 minutes the other day.

By the way – prior to all this happening, what was the state of the DA race?

My understanding is that Nifong is a 26 year career Durham prosecutor who inherited the job last year when his boss became a superior court judge. This is his first election. Who else is runnning?

What is the local take on Nifong – is he really using the national media?

4. azbballfan wrote @ Mon, 17 Apr 2006, 3:58 pm CDT:

Chris,

Don’t know how to e-mail you, so here’s an excerpt from the NewObserver story:

But Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens at 3:30 p.m. filed a court paper stating that he had sealed an indictment, after the grand jury had left for the day and issued its list. Stephens cited a law that allows judges to seal an indictment until a defendant is arrested or appears before the court.

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/429588.html

5. Simon Spero wrote @ Mon, 17 Apr 2006, 4:03 pm CDT:

Nifong was appointed by Easely to replace Jim Hardin; Hardin was poached for a judgeship after a very strong performance in the Peterson trial.

Nifong’s main opponent in the race is Freda Black, who was Hardin’s assistant in that trial. He virtually forced her out as soon as he took office, and began running a rather dirty campaign. See this Barry Saunders article from February.

Simon
p.s.
Now that the name of Buchanan Blvd has gathered so much bad press, it would be a good idea for the city to rename it. They could stick with the Public Choice Society theme (Tullock Street? Munger Lane?), but my suggestion would have to be “Dean Smith Way”.

6. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Mon, 17 Apr 2006, 4:06 pm CDT:

Simon: Heh. They could, I guess, just extend the Guess Road name south if they so chose.

7. azbballfan wrote @ Mon, 17 Apr 2006, 4:16 pm CDT:

“Dean Smith Way”

Too funny.

Thanks for the background info and the article link. The article mentions the likelyhood of Coach K biting the head off an official.

By the way, in my opinion, much of the reason why this story is getting so much attention is because of Coach K, his sideline antics, and love for the media.

Duke Vitale and Chrysler have been setting this up for a while. I’m still waiting for the in-depth legal analysis from that famous Duke lawyer – Jay Bilas.

(no knock on Jay, he’s a good guy)

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