Criminal Law

The Chronicle Remembers

Posted on March 15, 2011
Interviews with '06 and '07 editors Seyward Darby and Ryan McCartney. I never met Darby; I had a few conversations with McCartney (whose work I admired very much). Both are asked--appropriately--what they would do differently, with the benefit of hindsight; and both have some ideas...

The DNA Security File

Posted on March 11, 2011
Brian Meehan, the former lab director of DNA Security (DSI) who was fired after the nature of his . . . incomplete . . . report in the lacrosse case came to light, has filed a quixotic appeal to his quixotic wrongful termination suit. (His suit failed to survive summary judgment...

Document Excerpts: DSI File

Posted on March 11, 2011
Here is Meehan's complaint misrepresenting his May 2006 report, which actually did everything it could, short of simply lying about the results, to prop up "client" Nifong's case.Given the reality of his report, Meehan really didn't want to appear in court on Dec...

Money Badly Spent

Posted on February 28, 2011
At Minding the Campus, I have an essay on a highly dubious federal funding decision: nearly $50,000 to a conference organized by Paula McClain--yes, that Paula McClain--to "offer guidance" to minority political science junior faculty members on how to achieve tenure...

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Context & A Controversial Newspaper

Posted on February 25, 2011
The Detroit News blared the following headline: ?Controversial ex-Duke lacrosse player owes IRS $6.5M; lawyer calls it mistake.? The lede: ?Nearly four years after receiving an undisclosed settlement from Duke University, Reade Seligmann, one of three lacrosse players exonerated in a racially charged rape case, owes the IRS almost $6...

Guidance from Dr. Brodhead

Posted on February 18, 2011
Two tangentially related items: First, in one respect, the discovery that Richard Brodhead was selected by the President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,Leslie Berlowitz, to co-chair ?a national commission to bolster teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences, fields that are critical to culture, education, and to America's economic competitiveness? is beyond belief...

The Wonderful World of Nicole Kubon

Posted on February 03, 2011
Every so often, a post or comment comes along that even I find extraordinary. Such was the case with a recent post by Nicole Kubon, a self-described ?modern day feminist, struggling between the desire for social change and bitterness towards the depraved decadence of our backward culture...

Four Updates

Posted on January 21, 2011
In an expected move, Crystal Mangum will not be re-tried on the most arson charge that she faced. What message the jury?s original acquittal vote sends to Durham is anyone?s guess. -- In another unsurprising move, a new (albeit minor) demonstration of the continuing vise the Group of 88 and their allies exercise over Duke...

With Malice Toward Some

Posted on January 16, 2011
When the lacrosse case first broke, politically correct members of the media (such as Selena Roberts) and race/class/gender faculty ideologues (most spectacularly the Group of 88) rushed to exploit it. And then the case to which they had attached their reputations imploded...

Why the Civil Suit Matters

Posted on January 12, 2011
I?ve received a few questions on the status of the civil trial; my response would be that the civil case exemplifies what happens when one side (in this case Duke and Durham) has everything to gain and nothing to lose by delay. Even if the case makes it to trial and Duke/Durham prevails, it would be a loser for the duo, since the trial?s revelations almost certainly would place them in a terrible light...

A Curious Comment

Posted on January 11, 2011
This anonymous item, from the common thread: "Robert King Steel (Board Chair of Trustees in 2006) has been heard in and around Greenwich, Connecticut of late, claiming 'he knows something happened in the house that night.'"If true, the ex-Board chairman's remarks could be considered a breach of the falsely accused players' settlement with Duke...

The AHA's Shame

Posted on January 02, 2011
I have a piece at Minding the Campus on the latest embarrassment to academia that the lacrosse case has produced--the American Historical Association conferred upon Peter Wood (yes, that Peter Wood) the Eugene Asher Award, given annually to one history teacher for having "inspired" his or her students...

Quote for the Day

Posted on December 26, 2010
Early on, Easley?s attorneys had asked Kenerly for a chance to speak with him before he made any final decision on how to proceed in the case.Kenerly agreed to make himself available, mainly because he didn?t want to miss something that could be crucial...

The Durham Way

Posted on December 20, 2010
Final thoughts on the last few weeks: Given all that we?ve seen of Durham?s attitudes toward criminal justice?reflected best in the nomination and then election of Mike Nifong, followed by the nomination and election of his deputy, Tracey Cline?the verdict in the case should come as little surprise...

Times Sports Editor Reassigned

Posted on December 16, 2010
The New York Post reports that Tom Jolly, the Times sports editor who oversaw the paper's disgraced early coverage of the lacrosse case--for which he subsequently apologized--has been reassigned. The Times did not name a replacement. Fittingly, the Post lists the paper's mishandling of the lacrosse case as item number one in Jolly's legacy...

The Mangum Trial Continues

Posted on December 15, 2010
[Update, Wed., 9.40am: The N&O reports: "In a videotaped interrogation shown to the jury Tuesday morning, Crystal Mangum confessed to smashing her boyfriend Milton Walker?s windshield with a vacuum cleaner, slashing his tires and setting his clothes on fire because she says he punched her in the face repeatedly...

Astonishing

Posted on December 08, 2010
Astonishing news from the Duke public relations office: Group of 88 member?and later apologist?Cathy Davidson has been nominated to the 26-member the National Council of Humanities, which advises the NEH. The position requires Senate confirmation; I would hope that at least one senator would ask Davidson about her record in the lacrosse case?both her rush to judgment in spring 2006 and her willful dissembling about her actions in January 2007...

The Mangum Trial

Posted on December 08, 2010
The trial of false accuser Crystal Mangum is underway in Duham; the serial fabricator stands charged with arson, injury to personal property, contributing to the delinquency of her three children, and resisting arrest.A few items: (1) Prosecutors agreed that they wouldn?t bring up Mangum?s myriad lies in the lacrosse case to undermine the credibility of her tales regarding the criminal charges against her...

Sporting Analysis

Posted on December 05, 2010
The lacrosse case featured some . . . unusual . . . sports-related commentary from members of the Group of 88. Karla Holloway produced an essay for Scholar and Feminist Online denouncing the women?s lacrosse team for publicly supporting their falsely accused men?s colleagues...

Island of Misfit Toys

Posted on November 28, 2010
In what was a horrific midterm election for Democrats, one of the party?s few bright spots came in Nevada, where Senate majority leader Harry Reid won re-election. The result was perhaps the biggest upset of the year: Reid?s favorability ratings were terrible, and Nevada?s economy was worse...

Group Members, Hypocrisy, & Karen Owen

Posted on October 30, 2010
I haven?t commented on the Karen Owen affair because Owen?s affront to basic decency seemed so obvious. (Owen, for those unaware, is the Duke graduate who chronicled, through a PowerPoint replete with photos, her sexual exploits with multiple male Duke student-athletes...

Duke-AIG Settlement?

Posted on October 13, 2010
Bloomberg reports that Duke and AIG might settle the University's lawsuit against the insurance company--a critical development, since such a settlement would avoid continued discovery, and a hearing at which some of this discovery might become public...

The Dynamic Duo

Posted on October 12, 2010
For those in Durham without anything else to do Thursday, and who are eager for an evening of impenetrable discourse, consider the seminar event below:Because, if nothing else, Wahneema Lubiano is expert in "works-in-progress."

Business As Usual

Posted on September 30, 2010
Today is "Founder's Day" Convocation at Duke. The featured speaker? Ex-BOT chairman Robert Steel, whose checkered record in leading the institution through the lacrosse case ended in payments to the three falsely accused players and (to date) hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees in staving off additional lawsuits...

Updates

Posted on September 28, 2010
In the latest edition of Days of Precious? Lives, Crystal Mangum?s estranged ex-boyfriend walked into the DA?s office and claimed that he?not the false accuser?had set clothes on fire the nigh police were summoned to their residence. His excuse for his turnabout? ?I wasn't on my medication ...

Twitter

Posted on September 16, 2010
For those interested: while DIW posts are now rare, as the case lurches forward in the civil system, all of my posts (here, at Minding the Campus, and at Cliopatria) can be accessed through my twitter feed.

Mangum Bail Revoked

Posted on August 26, 2010
ABC-11 is reporting that authorities have revoked the bail of serial fabricator Crystal Mangum. The false accuser violated the terms of her bail, and therefore will be returning to jail.Another troublesome figure from the lacrosse case in the news: state NAACP head William Barber, whose organization posted a wildly slanted, factually challenged "memorandum of law" and whose case advisors repudiated a host of traditional NAACP positions in a vain attempt to bolster Mike Nifong's case...

Brodhead: "Every Allegation Is Not a Truth"

Posted on August 19, 2010
That quote came from today's N&O, regarding allegations of research misconduct against a Duke professor.Brodhead, of course, was far less clear-cut in defending the due process rights of disfavored students on campus.The article also noted that Duke has engaged in a round of budget trimming, totaling $100 million from its total operating budget, through elimination of 500 jobs.

Wendy Murphy's Revival

Posted on August 14, 2010
While I rarely watch cable news, I?m fully aware that?in the era of Glenn Beck?the medium is more ?entertainment? than ?news.? Nonetheless, FOX, CNN, and MSNBC all claim to have some ?news? in their broadcasts. And so it would seem to me that each network would have minimal standards in a guest?perhaps to the extent that a guest who made repeated and verifiably false statements would not continue to be invited...

New N&O Series

Posted on August 08, 2010
One fortuitous aspect of the lacrosse case came in that the N&O--perhaps as much as any newspaper of comparable (or even larger) size--had a record of first-class work on issues of police and prosecutorial misconduct. The paper therefore had context through which to interpret Mike Nifong's unethical behavior...

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