Duke DA Backlash

Source: Newsday

"I was shocked by how Mr. Nifong did the whole thing. It was a cover-up. He had evidence that these boys did not rape her," and improperly kept it secret, said Ragland.

The retired Durham Housing Authority maintenance supervisor has lived in the predominantly black South Central district for a half-century.

This area of modest homes and city housing projects, where 92 percent of the residents are black, is the kind of neighborhood Nifong supporters looked to in order to help re-elect him last November. Eighty percent of South Central's voters cast their ballots for him. But now, a year after an off-campus Duke lacrosse team party sparked charges of sexual assault and put the school and Durham under a national spotlight, many neighborhood residents said this week neither he nor the accuser, who used to live here, have earned their support.

SNIP

"The African-American community of Durham wants fairness, and the view is that if Mr. Nifong was not fair in this case, what's he going to be like in other cases?" said Floyd McKissick, a prominent African-American lawyer who is chairman of the Durham Democratic Party and a Duke Law School graduate.

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-liduke025155748apr02,0,3629937.story?page=1&coll=ny-linews-print

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It's more than a year since the accuser claimed that the three Duke students raped her in a brutal attack at an off-campus party. She wasn't able to identify any attackers until her third attempt, when she was given a photo line-up that she was told consisted only of students who attended the party. Highly sensitive tests found no DNA from any of the 46 team members on her body or clothes, and the prosecution colluded with the testing company to hide from the Court the fact that DNA from several other unrelated men WAS found. At different times last spring, the accuser said she was attacked by 3, 5, or about 20 men. In December, after the DNA results came to light, she changed her story to say she wasn't sure she had been raped after all.

The prosecutor dropped the rape charges, but left standing sexual assault and kidnapping charges that carry potential sentences of decades in prison. Meanwhile, the families of the three students have been spending millions on attorneys.

Who didn't see THAT coming. Even Al Sharpton, Jesse and the rest knew to keep a comfortable distance from that one.

Jackson offered to give her a college scholarship.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1091599/

"The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday that his Rainbow/Push Coalition will pay the college tuition for a black stripper who has made rape allegations against white members of Duke University's men's lacrosse team.

"And the offer stands even if it turns out she fabricated her story.

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"Jackson said he's been too busy with immigration issues and the upcoming New Orleans election to visit Durham, but plans to come at some point. Sharpton had planned to attend a rally outside the party house this Sunday but canceled after its organizer asked him to stay away for now.

"'We don't want our good to be turned into a racial issue,'said Bishop John Bennett, of the Church of the Apostolic Revival International. 'I just think his coming may stir some people up.'"

Strident support for Tawana Brawley was Sharpton's original
springboard to national prominence.

And just what EXACTLY do you mean by, "Even Al Sharpton, Jesse
and the rest", BTW? In the context you use it, it comes across
as as some wink wink/nudge nudge racism.

Jesse and Al, God Bless em, have poor judgment when it comes to what cause they back. They are the ambulance chasers of the civil rights movement. They are at the front door before anyone else, banging away, trying to get in front of some cameras, not careful enough to first know the facts. They have done this several times, to the great detriment of their reputations and causes.

But it's hardly safe to assume that someone who
so off-handedly throws out a comment like that
is always coming from the same place. Especially
with newer DUers whose statements have already "caught
my attention" a time ot two. Clarification can be
a good thing!

Just wondering as I'm surprised that a man who would level false accusations against another person would gain any support on this site.

Sharpton, Maddox and Mason were later successfully sued for statements made in connection with the case, and ordered to pay $345,000 in damages.

He lost a civil case brought by the man he smeared, but he never admitted wrongdoing or said he was sorry. Frankly, I don't respect Al Sharpton and don't understand why anyone takes him seriously.