Anniversary of Duke Lacrosse Rape Hoax

Charlotte, NC (TLS). One year ago this past Wednesday, March 14, 2006, marked the beginning of the one of the most despicable chapters in American jurisprudence--the day that Durham, North Carolina District Attorney Mike Nifong and his co-conspirators in the Durham police department plotted one of the biggest hoaxes and frame-ups ever to occur in the U.S. justice system.

Students of Duke University who were each part of the university's lacrosse team were charged with raping a woman at a private party. Nifong did not bother to interview the accuser until nearly 10 months later.

In the meantime, a community was torn apart, wild accusations were made, the public decided that the students were guilty before having their day in court, university professors publicly condemned the three students, and Nifong made statements to the media on numerous occasions claiming he had irrefutable proof that the students were guilty.

As it turns out, no such evidence existed, and what little evidence Nifong had was kept hidden from the court and the defense attorneys in a secret, under-the-table deal with the lab that examined DNA evidence--evidence that showed that none of the accused had sex with the woman who accused them.

In the midst of this parade of insanity the accuser changed her story numerous times, eventually admitting that the students did not rape her.

As for Nifong, the state BAR had gotten enough of his antics and charged him with prosecutorial misconduct, lying to the court, and a breach of ethics.

In spite of all of this, the students in question are still under indictment. They still face charges of kidnapping and sexual misdeeds of some sort, but not rape.

North Carolina Attorney-General Roy Cooper appointed special prosecutors to pour over the documents following Nifong's removal of himself from the case in order to face charges as a defendant. Cooper, by the way, visited Durham on Thursday and spent 30 minutes inside the house where the supposed crimes took place.

Joan Foster of Liestoppers has written a poignant column commemorating the one year anniversary of the hoax. Her words are so gripping in fact, that I wrote to her to say that this piece should be published far and wide.

I offer you the first paragraph of Foster's brilliant and gripping observations. The link at the end of the paragraph will send you directly to her Liestoppers post.

'Today is Hoax Day, a time to remember what we've learned. Sadly, we've learned how pathetically biased and inaccurate all of our news media can be. We've learned that the media often does not correct or amend its mistakes, research its articles or prepare for talk-show "commentary." Instead they brazenly, carelessly or unconcernedly repeat the same misstatements over and over again. We understand now that this shoddy, biased reporting has NOT just occurred THIS ONE TIME ...in THIS ONE CASE. We've learned our media is unreliable a great deal of the time. They are biased and agenda driven. We will no longer forgive it or indulge it when the bias matches our own. That's a deadly path for our intellect, our honesty and our freedom. Never forget the outrageous Hoax reporting. Never forget.'

Be sure to read the rest of it here:
http://liestoppers.blogspot.com/2007/03/hoax-day-never-forget.html