From Jemele Hill, ESPN’s Page 2:
I never wrote it, but I felt it—which is just as bad. I said it in private discussions with friends, some of whom tried to get me to see the whole picture, not just the picture I wanted to see.
My being a black woman, my knowing too many athletes who treat women like items to be purchased in a vending machine, and my witnessing enough athlete rape trials where accusers are overwhelmed by their fame and fortune—it all tainted my perception and made me doubt your innocence.
I feel stupid now.
I could blame Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, but that would be too easy. Oh, he’s a lout, no doubt. He played upon the emotions of a community and its long-held hostilities, and put his reelection bid above morality and common sense. He played all of us and should be punished with nothing less than disbarment.
I could blame Jesse Jackson, who I have hoped for years would disappear to a faraway land where CNN wouldn’t follow. As usual, Jesse showed up and showed out. He incited the masses and then left everyone else to sort out the wreckage. And if Jesse wants to gain an ounce of the credibility he no longer has, he would find the nearest camera—and we know he’s good at that—and express sorrow with all the sincerity he can muster. But the day Jesse apologizes for causing a scene is the day Rosie O’Donnell wears a muzzle.
But if there is anything to be learned from Don Imus’ fall, it’s that real apologies are never accompanied by rationalizations.
So to Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, the three Duke lacrosse players whose lives were mangled by an unsupported rape accusation, I say two of the hardest words in the English language:
I’m sorry.
It’s not enough, and I won’t pretend that it is. For the last year, your lives and those of your families have been more difficult than any of us can possibly imagine. I’ll never know what it was like walking around normal society labeled a rapist. I’ll never know what it’s like to lose everything—your school, your program and your life—because of one unproven accusation.
You deserve all of that back and then some, but unfortunately, you won’t get it. You have every right to not trust anyone and think less of people. Duke University abandoned you. An overzealous prosecutor tormented you. A community, a nation, didn’t believe you. Journalists everywhere, sensing ratings and salivating over the salaciousness of black strippers and white athletes, chose to keep you under attack.
Not that this is a contest to see who was wronged the most, but the Rutgers women’s basketball team at least received justice, because Imus was suspended and dropped by MSNBC, which simulcasts his morning show. Plenty of people are outraged on their behalf.
But who is outraged on your behalf? What justice will you receive? Will the same networks that willingly aided in destroying your reputations now give you airtime to vent your frustrations? Will Jesse Jackson now offer the three of you a free scholarship like he did the “victim,” since he helped assist in your battered reputation?
Maybe the only modicum of fairness you have received is that the News & Observer in Raleigh decided to print the name of your accuser. I don’t normally advocate that the names of alleged victims be printed, but it feels right in this instance.
See, Samhita? That’s how it’s done.
Because sometimes you find redemption only after first being shamed. Whereas a dogged willingness to defend your own mistakes at the expense of the reputation of others? Shows more cowardice than courage.
(thanks to Dario, who also suggested the title)
Wait! I hear something! Something from the part of the blogosphere where Samhita blogs….what is it? It’s very faint…..it’s……
[crickets chirping]
A false alarm. Never mind.
We now return you to the regularly schedule program.
That. Was. Excellent.
That’s a stand-up woman. I doff my cap to her bravery and humility.
Agreed, Rightwingsparkle. An apology from the heart. The sort that is sincere…..an all too rare occurrence.
But, but, but…
That’s exactly what the Duke 88 should be doing. Except down on their hands and knees.
Bravo.
Not so incidentally, that’s the start of how it’s done. And when Nifong is prosecuted, that’ll be the start of justice.
When Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson genuinely show their communities—the real victims—humility for the long-standing error of that brand of social engineering, and take responsibility for the harm its caused, that’ll be the start of spiritual healing.
I mean, they are Reverends, aren’t they?
That, children, is speaking truth to power.
Spot on.
An amazingly classy lady.
I’m sure she’s wrong though, I have no doubt we’ll see Jesse come forward any moment now with an apology.
Any moment now….
Any moment…………..
That’s one classy lady!
Well, she is “classy”, exept when:
But it is a nice apology. I wonder what “it” was.
She does have some classy friends.
Excellent! I truly believe there are more Jamele’s out there than sammys. A wonderful article by, what seems to be, a wonderful and honest human being.
lee,
Maybe this was her “Road to Damascus” moment. For now, I think it is enought to graciously accept what she has said.
But you might be right about remembering that line in the future.
So, how long do you figure it will take before HWSNBN comes along to this thread to call her a sellout?
Please consider adding a link to my homepage – The Internet Radio Network. At the IRN you can listen for free to 25 of America’s top Talk Shows for free via Streaming Audio!
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A true apology is greatly appreciated.
Close.
The boys were the victims. The stripper was not a victim, nor is she an alleged victim.
Otherwise, about right.
Sweet as a glass of water in an arid desert.
Much of what she addresses is what I was thinking. And since I’m not an original thinker of high order, it’s has to be what many people are thinking.
So Imus loses his job for talking like a rap star. That’s a mistake. OK. How many Gender Studies prof.s are getting their pink slips over at Duke, you know, the ones that were furiously typing angry emails and blog entries calling for the public lynching of the falsely accused lacrosse players, the ones banging pots and pans in the middle of the night at “Take Back the Night Rallies”? That was a mistake. An 8.0 righter scale mistake. What employment price do they pay? What would be just? I mean Imus’s brutish nature hurt some feelings. Those prof.s ignorance almost put three men in jail for 20-years each for a crime they didn’t commit. In relative terms to Imus’s punishment, how and how much should the Gender Studies prof.s be punished?
On the prof.’s judgment day they should be made to publicly perform fellatio on flying pigs is my answer. And not just any male bore, I’m talking really, really well hung pigs.
lee
Being “classy” doesn’t mean being perfect.
“Classy” is fessing up to one’s own failings without weasliness.
Some Jill can’t do.
feh.
Ha!
Since Lauren left that site has gone completely to shit. I used to like to visit over there, now it is just another Pandagon.
Darleen – They seem to have trouble with the concept of the AG declaring the three individuals innocent and nothing actually happening at the house that night. It’s almost as if they are deliberately skipping over the the AG’s words:
“We approached this case with the understanding that rape and sexual assault victims often have some inconsistencies in their accounts of a traumatic event. However, in this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house that night.”
The narrative must be continued no matter what anyone says! Something could have happened. You weren’t there!
Wow, between “Samhita” and that crock Jill from feministe is selling, the feminist movement must be real proud. Throw all your moral fiber and decency down the tube for the purpose of continuing to sell the product. What would be the best description for those types of people? Ideological whores? Kind of ironic, if you think about it.
I’ll admit upfront that I have no idea what either of those two have written or thought about our First Black Presidentâ„¢, but I’m guessing they never scolded him too harshly for engaging in workplace sexual harrassment, let alone the rape allegations of Juanita Broderick.
Again, just a guess. But I’d bet that I’m right. And the feminist movement, well, they sure can be proud of the way they handled that.
Aren’t we taking the whitewashing just a touch too far in this case?
An email sent by Ryan McFadyen, Duke lacrosse player, 28 minutes after the stripper reported the rape:
To whom it may concern
tommrow nght, after tonights show, ive decided to have some strippers over to edens 2c. all are welcome.. however there will be no nudity. i plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off while cumming in my duke issue spandex.. all in besides arch and tack please respond
41
It was this e-mail, coupled with the rape charge that set off the furor.
The medical examination indicated that the alleged victim was indeed raped and the police did find 4 of her fingernails right where she said she fought with her attackers.
Seems like a poor case to set any principles by.
Alphie, some of your statements are wrong, others just wrong-headed. Let’s start with the latter. The ridiculous e-mail (quoting a line in the movie American Psycho), beyond not being evidence of a any crime, was sent by someone other than the three exonerated players. So that’s nothing more than a red herring.
As for this claim…
…you are simply misinformed. The claim you make came from an inaccurate police affidavit. In reality, no physical trauma was found at the Duke hospital. What was found was evidence of consensual sexual activity of which the accuser had admitted to engaging in vigorously with more than one man just days before the alleged incident.
All that said, I hope you return the day someone of the politically protected class is found not guilty of a heinous crime so that you can mention his or her past problems and piss on them in the process. I have confidence you will do so because I know you are not a hypocrite.
Bring on the Ryan McFadden trial!! Pillow face overexposes ovarian fortitude. Steel doesn’t melt! WTC 7! Google it!
Back to Jill:
Let’s take a little walk down memory lane, shall we?
It doesn’t really matter whether I think Jill is a lying hypocrite. It was her power that enabled and encouraged her to lie hypocritically in the first place.
Nobody disputed that the two women had left the party once because they feared for their safety, but they were talked into returning to the party, Sav.
Nor is it disputed that the alleged victim was picked up by a stranger because the Duke boys were yelling racial epithets at her out in the street.
As far as the “inaccurate police affidavit” that indicated rape, that’s what the prosecutors had to go on, isn’t it. Tests done later would be less accurate, wouldn’t they?
There is certainly plenty of evidence that something unsavory occured at the party.
Not being a fan of collective punishment of any kind, I certainly question how the three charged Duke boys were picked out, though.
If facts were women, alpo would be a rapist.
LYNCH HIM!
Frammin’ on the jim-jam frippin’ at the krotz!!
Ten thousand apologies, infidels. I could not resist.
Alphie – Is Nobody’s testimony on the record? Did Nor give a deposition? Great tactics, asking people to prove negatives? The extended time between posts relative to your usual rapid fire inanities shows you are really grasping at straws here buddy.
What do you imagine happened since the AG’s team found no evidence that an assault occurred. Evidence would presumably include oral and forensic evidence such as observations and tests from a hospital exam. Could the boisterous lads perhaps have been upset that one of the ladies was too wasted to perform and kept passing out as some accounts relate. Why do you doubt the AG Alphie? Has he done something to give you cause to lose confidence in him? He has reached a conclusion based on a fresh examination of the evidence and a new investigation. He’s on site with the principals. Are you? Do you have special knowledge or insight that he does not?
I’m not sure what this has to do with anything you said earlier and that I responded to.
The Duke boys? Someone or someones allegedly yelled epithets. Do you know who exactly? You do know that racial epithets were spewed by the other side as well, don’t you? And not even allegedly as Mangum outright admitted it.
As they left, insults were traded. The woman who made the accusations of assault called one player “a little-dicked white boy”.
The tests were done that night at the hospital. And no, I’d assume Nifong had that information seeing as how it was in the press a short time later. Either way, that has nothing to do with anything once again.
Could you please list that evidence factually because I haven’t seen it.
I am a big fan of first sources, Pablo.
They tend to be rougher and more interesting than what you get after the P.R. guys, the lawyers and the carrots and sticks of right thinking enforcement have gotten a chance to smooth things over.
The original police report is quite illuminating.
The part where the alleged victim stated that her attackers kept calling each other different names and by number in attempt, she felt, to confuse her about their identities is very interesting indeed.
Perhaps now that the New York Post has felt the need to publish her real name, the alleged victim will come forward to counter the millions of dollars worth of unanswered spin the defense has been putting out about her.
Alphie – The defense turned out to be representing the victims in this travesty, or haven’t you heard.
Which story number did cristal give in that first report alphie? It certainly sounds like she can’t keep them all straight. Who knows, you might like one of the other versions better.
The race and socio-economic level of the defendants is the thing. If they are not destitute and happen to not be brown any story will do. It would be the same if they happend to be jewish, eh Alphie?
<blockquote>Perhaps now that the New York Post has felt the need to publish her real name, the alleged victim will come forward to counter the millions of dollars worth of unanswered spin the defense has been putting out about her.<b>
Good grief. Yes, spin, it’s all spin. She’s such a wonderful human being.
Alphie – I think the basic question for you and the other race/class/gender warriors is why do you think your expertise and knowledge, especially removed from the situation, is superior to that of the Atorney General of North Carolina and his investigative team.
Is it sheer arrogance, ego, inability to admit a mistake or compromise a narrative or someother mental defect?
The issue is, Zarq, is that all we’ve been hearing for the past year is one side of this tale, spun by the most talented people in the business.
If the alleged victim starts turning up on talk shows, dressed by talented fashion coordinators, coached by speaking coaches, interviewed by sympathetic interviewers (see the next 60 Minutes), we may get an interesting complete picture indeed.
More from the piece:
Bravo, Ms. Hill. That is an apology. Actual, honest to goodness decency. And from someone whom I don’t recall as being a screecher on this matter.
Or perhaps it is that you cannot release your own prejudices and hatreds even for a moment. To include a frame of reference an infidel would understand. When you type I hear George Wallace’s voice. But that is what I love about you.
Bitch better give us back our DNA.
Uh we have a complete picture, Alphie. You know, falsely accusing people of rape as well as a laundry list of bad behavior and run-ins with the law.
By the way, she’s not an “alleged victim” anymore. Not according to the state of North Carolina or to anyone with a semblance of common sense.
And of course the love I feel for you Alphie stems from the fact that your racism is essential to the success and well being of my ideology the world over.
Seriously, if you were not you. I could not have been me. So thanks.
I got nothing against rich, drunken frat boys, Zarq.
I got nothing against strippers, either.
I haven’t really looked into this case at all until tonight.
I never understood why, out of the 100,000 or so cases of rape reported in America each year, this one grew to Anna Nicole Smith proportions.
I’ve never been to the South, though.
After reading the untainted reports, it certainly doesn’t seem to fit the narrative the press has decided on for it.
Right now, the alleged victim is probably fielding offers from all the top talk shows.
If she’s judged sympathetic enough to get on Oprah or Ellen, she’s rich.
And the narrative will change.
Alphie – I certainly recall hearing two sides of the story over the past year. We had Nifong, virtually all of the national media, the lefties on the internet, the Duke faculty, and the race baiters of the democratic party all screaming guilty in advance of any trial. There was a small minority apart ftom the defendants parents and lawyers withholding judgement and waiting for the legal system to do its work. Now that it has done its work that majority can’t seem to let go.
I’ll ask again Alphie.
What makes your judgement and expertise on this matter superior to that of the AG of North Carolina?
No, really Alphie, don’t be modest. You’re the best. The blind hatreds (racial, economic and regional) they’re wonderful. Just keep being you, don’t ever change.
He just admitted he hasn’t looked into the case until tonight. Why he’s making various claims then is anybody’s guess.
BTW, instead of going on Oprah, it’s most likely we’ll never hear from Ms. Mangum again, unless she charges someone else with a similar crime. Another would give her the hat trick.
I’m sure the North Carolina AG is a nice guy doing the best job he can, daley, but we haven’t actually heard from the alleged victim yet, have we?
If she gets the right coaching, the Duke boy’s spin won’t be able to hold up, will it?
Really it is tribalism at its much ugly, but coated with just a teensy bit of post-modern psuedo-intellectual make-up. Beautiful, just beautiful. All that is missing is an AK-47.
Sorry, that should be tribalism, most ugly. Damn broken neck. It makes my fingers numb.
Saddam,
And a little beret, of course.
So anyway, how’s it hanging?
If anyone should know about missing weapons, it’s you, Saddam.
How’s the food, btw?
Alphie – Just curious. What exactly do you want her to spin if no assault took place? What stories shall she spin to entrall the national audiences with her truthiness?
So, are you saying her story won’t hold up, al?
It will be some skillful coaching, indeed, if said coach can square the circle of eleven different, and conflicting versions of the non-attack that Mangum gave authorities. For instance, that she was keenly aware that no condoms were slid onto any penis, yet not quite sure if any said penis penetrated her.
But naturally no such question will be forthcoming from, say, the therapeutic presence of Oprah.
This alphie dude has securely hitched his wagon to Mike Nifong and Rosie O’Donnell. Let that marinate………
I don’t think he handles other people’s money for a living.
Alphie, I’m pretty accustomed to your inane drivel, but I thought you at least possessed the level of intelligence that it takes to recognize the stupidity in condemning a whole region of the country (and its inhabitants) based solely upon your own bigoted viewpoint, while alleging to decry racism.
You, sir, don’t deserve a voice on this or any other forum. You are a jelly-spined, ignorant waste of skin. If you could puke smegma, you’d be at least capable of producing something worth more than the tripe you’re currently spewing.
TW: can42…Jeff, it’s time.
Protein Wisdom:
All Alphie all the time, because only Alphie can summarize the news.
Meh.
If you can provide steaming audio, you’ll make good money.
Bo, JPT:
I second that emotion. This place gets pretty boring having every thread turn into explaining the obvious to the same individual. Again. And again. And again.
And if some of “you people” would simply STOP!…
Delivered to his quivering little hands by a messenger direct from God.
Odd. Just a few days ago, you were in another thread pontificating about the obvious guilt of the accused. Now you admit you had no fucking idea what you were talking about.
Some things you probably still don’t know:
o Mangum said none of her attackers wore condoms. Yet no DNA from the accused were found on her.
o One of the accused was nowhere near the scene of the supposed attack at the time it was supposed to have happened.
o The line-up was purposefully set up so that every person in it was a potential suspect—a violation of police policy. And yet, she still managed to pick someone who wasn’t there.
o Nifong refused to listen to exculpatory evidence.
o Nifong acted to suppress the results of the DNA tests.
o This is the kind of crap that leads people to respond to you with gibberish. GIGO.
Or if the little troll would be banned.
Or just go away on its own free will. Ya knoe, like an adult who realizes he’s someplace he’s not welcome.
Bob,
You are of course very correct, ten thousand apologies. However I do not explain. I demean.
Do not engage the Talking Telelphone Pole.
Need you any more reason?
Nothing follows.
alphie, clearly, was the inspiration and the role model for Bill Whittle’s most recent essay.
If I wrote that water was wet, alphie would break out an internet piece he found detailing how “wetness” is a human construct, and that water is actually not “wet” so much as “slick” and “permeable,” molecularly speaking.
Hell, the guy took issue with my suggestion that an outfielder benefits from decent eye sight.
Keeping that in mind, just laugh at him when he starts trying to yank your chain. If he wants to walk around talking about how “the rich” spin the narrative, while the poor victim is being pilloried by unscrupulous neocons and a howling patriarchy, let him do so.
It just underscores his Reagan Republicanism.
One day, people will come to read this blog and it won’t be about an obtuse contrarian nitwit.
And Al Sharpton will embrace David Duke without Cindy Sheehan in the middle!
No Duke rape case…
No Anna Nicole…
What is the MSM gonna do?
Quick! We need a country-club discrimination story or a kidnapped blonde girl – stat!
Wait…a yacht club discrimination story…that’ll do; spring is comming and I want to be near the coast for the next few months.
Bill Whittle has it right. Jihadi boy represents the people who are anathema to the progress of civilization because they are completely incapable of critical thinking.
And it’s a damn shame that people who consistently show both that they are capable of critical thinking and prefer to apply it keep getting drawn into debating ideas with someone whose shown he’s incapable of it by nature or inclination.
So here’s my pledge to myself for what it’s worth. I’ll read a thread and contribute where I believe my contribution might add some value until jihadi boy hijacks the thread. Because there’s a hell of a lot better use for my limited online time than reading jihadi boy’s online auto-eroticism.
In all the years I’ve been reading blogs, I have never – NEVER – encountered intellectual dishonestly like that utilized by Alphie in this thread.
Everything he is spewing is so utterly contrary not only to fact and law, but to the basic principles which liberal claim to believe.
I truly believed I had seen the lowest liberals could sink. But in this thread, Alphie has surprised me. He has no principles, no morals, no ethics, and if he actually believes what he’s trying to say – he is a hypocrite of a magnitude that is almost unimaginable.
These men are innocent. Period. That the AG came right out and declared them innocent – in so many words – is damn near unprecedented.
Liberalism has lost its soul. It’s traded its principles for identity politics.
To Alphie, and Samhita, these men cannot be innocent. Period. It doesn’t fit the metanarrative.
I’ve truly never ever seen dishonesty and amorality like Alphie is exhibiting. Ever. And I guarantee he will never, ever admit it to himself.
There are no liberals any more. Not one. In this shameful episode, they’ve abandoned even their most basic root principles.
Jeff, you need to ban the little asshole. I understand that you’re trying to stick to your principles, but there are special circumstances and exceptions to every rule. He ruins every thread. It’s gotten beyond tiresome. At this point, it’s actually draining. I’ll bet I speak for most of the commenters here when I say that it takes an effort to click on to the comments knowing that at some point this shit is going to start up.
*And yet, she still managed to pick someone who wasn’t there*
Ok, but what if I “feel” like he WAS there. If so, wouldn’t that make the Duke 3 guilty of rape ? You change one fact and the whole house of cards comes crumbling down.
Mel Gibson Kyle. Mel Gibson.
alphie, like PIATOR and actus before him, simply has to be Jeff. No one could conceivably be this obtuse, unless it’s the brilliant parody played by Mr. Goldstein….
TW:fear88–deep fears, indeed
Precisely. Commenters do come and go as free time and inclination determines their contributions, but I have definitely noticed that some people whose ideas are worth listening too are contributing less or not at all.
Jeff, people will laugh once or twice at some cretin going from table to table wearing a pot on his head and hammering on it for all he’s worth every time a conversation starts up. But it gets old fast and there are other joints where good conversation doesn’t have to be shouted out over the din.
No, actually asshole, we have. That being the entire, well, problem, you dig? I mean, if you’ll permit.
Jeff, enough is really enough. If for no other reason than the good Professor, just above, has taken upon himself the arduous task of expounding on this persistent little cretin extensively and factually. It even looks painful—couldn’t have brought myself to touch those keys without hosing off the keyboard with ammonia. Bravo, prof.
Please. Either that or pie.
And it’s every conversation, relentlessly.
Almost as thoughIt’s a concerted effort to make pw annoying and unreadable.tw: truth21
What better validation could there be? Clearly, it is so.
And it’s working.
I would prefer to find the nerve and gouge it. It’s in there. It’s a challenge.
He’s given no information on himself – has he? Actus was in law school and gay. Piator lives in NZ. Has alphie revealed anything about himself? Can’t he be constructed physically and socially by his comments?
He’s lonely.
Sadly, he may be disabled ( he spends his days watching The View and Oprah and he believes that either of these shows could reinvent the lying accuser)
He’s poor, probably because he’s not very attractive and he has a real whiny voice which makes interviewing difficult.
The brother on Napoleon Dynamite would be a good start as far as looks and personality.
He’s a middle child who was ignored by his more athletic and intelligent siblings as well as his parents.
He went through his childhood wearing hand-me-downs and could not understand his mother’s extravagant spending on his older siblings while he had to make do with the scraps. I mean how much does it really cost to keep a child clothed?
He tortured animals, starting with pulling the legs off of bugs and graduating to burying cats up to their necks and running over their heads with the lawn mower.
He’s a virgin, be he straight or gay, and does not understand what all the fuss is about.
His favorite food is boogers.
I propose a contest to construct alphie.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled program. Here‘s a column by Jason Whitlock on the subject at hand.
Well, duh. That’s what trolls do.
On the subject, it’s good to see some people owning up and admitting they were wrong. I doubt we’ll see much of that, though. It doesn’t really fit the zeitgeist to apologize for your actual deeds; apologizing for something done by other people (usually dead) is more the fashion.
Why the hell does alpee think that Nifong is up on charges before the bar? He was pronouncing the Duke players guilty all over the media long before even an indictment AND he suppressed exculpatory evidence AND he lied to the judge about that exculpatory evidence.
And can we please remember that those fingernails that alpee and Jill and other cultists keep talking about were only Cristal’s because SHE BOUGHT THEM. There were PRESS ON nails…fakes that fall off easily.
I hoping N. Carolina has a court mechanism whereby the Duke 3 attorneys can make a motion asking for a directed verdict of innocent, or factual finding of innocent. Then these young men can have the record, including all arrest reports, etc, expunged.
It won’t satisfy moral cretins like Samhita, but it will legally protect them in future careers.
Amazing place where this is even necessary, isn’t it?
David R. Usher:
[Caution: Post Contains Sarcasm]
Well, of course, Alphie’s a Conservative.
Imagine a world where alphie, actus, and liberal avenger hang out.
Up is down and right is wrong in that world. Feh.
Ban “alphie”? But “alphie” does speak for Evil, after all. And it is out there in significant quantities. Still it might be at least interesting to see what kind of semblance-to-a-human will replace “alphie”, should “alphie” be banned.
Naw.
Uh, sorry. The author has a few screws loose on that one.
I saw nothing in his article to substantiate that charge.
What you have in the Duke case is a DA desperate beyond reason to get reelected who found the “perfect case” to exploit his constituents.
I work in a DA office, I see the police reports come in, I see the issuing dda’s turn down scads of reports for filing because of “insufficient evidence” or “no corraborating evidence” or “mishandled police procedures”…etc.
Police are not allowed to make judgements in the field..they are to take reports and kick ‘em to the da office. WE then make the determination what, if any, crime was committed.
I don’t deny that weird advocacy groups that put out bogus stats on “1 out of 3 women are abused” exist. But that just doesn’t translate into Rules of Evidence.
Case in point, something that happened last year via our Crimes Against Children unit. Complaining party was an articulate six-year old who said “X” had sexually abused her. Rape kit indicated sexual contact, semen was recovered. “X” admitted being alone with the vic at the time she claimed abuse. Other witnesses put “X” with vic alone also (he drove her from one family function to another). Our office filed charges …. DNA tests come back and it isn’t “X”. DDA drops charges THAT day.
Compare that with the Duke case where Nifong KNEW about the DNA early on and suppressed the evidence, then tried to dismiss it (just as Samhita and Jill are trying to do).
Rape, child rape, assault, spousal abuse, elder abuse … all are facts of life. The vase majority of DA offices just don’t have the friggin TIME to pursue cases where evidence doesn’t exist.
Darleen: Thanks for providing some much-needed context.
I wonder how many good cases Nifong’s office had to pass on (and how many guilty parties are walking the streets) because of Nifong’s waste of resources on this case.
Shoot, I think alphie should’ve been banned when he uncorked the howler about Gen. Geo. Meade whipping Stonewall Jackson in the glittering Union victory of Fredricksburg.
Cordially…
TW: local14. Speaking of Union
It happens here all the time. A woman’s word is all it takes. Must arrest laws, no dual arrest policies and no drop prosecution polices converge to make completely groundless charges an everyday occurrence. VAWA funding keeps it afloat, and restraining orders issued for the asking doubles the fun.
Now, perhaps in the big city they don’t have time for that, but not every place, including Durham, is the big city.
Classy, yes, but let’s not give her too much credit for stating the obvious. And you know what? No apology from her was necessary. She says she doubted their innocence, she never wrote about it, and she only mentioned it in private discussions with friends.
This is dramatically different from people who make public pronouncements of their guilt, and incredibly continue to make public pronouncements of their guilt. And refuse to back down in the face of all facts and reason.
(P.S. An alphie ban is long overdue. He adds nothing but stupidity. When I read his comments it feels like I’m being punched in the brain.)
Usher speaks for the political climate, Darleen, where, exactly as Pablo says, it’s a male guilt by female accusation world. 100% of the time? Of course not, but 10% of the time is too many.
The former chair of the American Bar Association’s Family Law Section is on record stating that arresting innocent men is a just price to pay to protect women. Aside from the gross unconstitutionality, given that all protectionism ends up victimizing the “victims” as well as the alleged perps, Usher is exactly in context.
I understand what Darleen talks about; I worked in teh Criminal Division of the Wayne County Circuit Court (Detroit). Every year another year’s worth of files would be boxed for transport to remote storage: forty, fifty feet of file boxes, stacked four-five high, all full of ruined lives, lives lost. Boxes of utter waste and tragedy. The treasure and talent spent to assemble those cases, bring them to prosecution.
Think about all the time and all the people involved – then think how few people are actually involved in all that.
God, it’s depressing to remember that.
Pablo
I don’t work in “the big city”…. think 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
And, shock of shocks, we prosecute female on male violence, too. And spousal abuse includes dating couples and gay couples.
Again…the volume of cases of all crime precludes filing cases where evidence is ONLY the uncorraborated word, absent circumstantial evidence, of the alledged victim.
JHoward…do you have that quote? I’d like not only to post on it, but run it by our Family Violence Unit attorneys for their opinion.
This little comment, which I remember all too well when it originally appeared, is quoted by Glenn Sacks here. I’d like your staff’s take on it as well.
From this mentality—and from Little Joe Biden’s VAWA and now, God forbid, I-VAWA—comes the political pendulum whipping back.
To deny gender oppression going one way is obviously to deny gender oppression going the other way. Can’t have one without at the very least, envisioning a reality where the other can occur.
I’d say that along with its racial overtones, the Duke case demonstrates that reality fairly convincingly.
In fact, my opinion is that this case is more about gender than it is race: I’m not aware of a mechanism for imprisoning one race at the allegation of another. I’m very aware of prosecuting—and jailing, where it’s constutitionally illegal to do so—one gender at the behest of the other.
Again, not here it doesn’t. And restraining order prosecutions on the same sort of evidence abound as well.
Here’s some good reading on the subject at RADAR. And some more. And more.
It also didn’t work that way in Durham.
And let me also note that most guys take the deal, generally accepting a “continuance without finding” so as not to risk a trial and the guaranteed expense of that (assuming little or no criminal record). But it still chalks up a man on woman violent episode for the statistics and counts as a win for the DA.
Which helps to show how terrible the problem is and in turn makes us pass laws to stop it, like must arrests, no drop and VAWA.