Prosecutors Drop Charges in Duke Case

Taft

blackredyellow wrote:

That's what bothers me the most about this case (and the death penalty in capitol cases). These guys obviously had the money and resources to fight these charges (I've heard $3 million in legal expenses). What happens to the poor person who is charged with a crime by an over zealous prosecutor, who has the budget for "expert" witnesses and can get someone wrongly convicted?

In their press conference on Wednesday, the lacrosse players and their attorney's expressed their concern over this exact problem....that they were able to defend themselves but what about those who could not? I wouldn't be surprised if Reade, Colin or Dave ended up in law school and came out as law advocates for the poor.

On a side note, while they did have resources, one of the families did have to mortgage their home which was completely paid off, for $250,000, effectively destroying any chance of retirement. So they aren't in financial bliss by any means.

blackredyellow

Taft wrote:

In their press conference on Wednesday, the lacrosse players and their attorney's expressed their concern over this exact problem....that they were able to defend themselves but what about those who could not? I wouldn't be surprised if Reade, Colin or Dave ended up in law school and came out as law advocates for the poor.

On a side note, while they did have resources, one of the families did have to mortgage their home which was completely paid off, for $250,000, effectively destroying any chance of retirement. So they aren't in financial bliss by any means.

Yeah... and unless they file a lawsuit against Nifong (and win), they won't recover any of the money. It's not like they can get any money from the woman.

Taft

blackredyellow wrote:

Yeah... and unless they file a lawsuit against Nifong (and win), they won't recover any of the money. It's not like they can get any money from the woman.

I believe they will easily be able to lift the veil of prosecutorial immunity by using the 42 USC section 1983 Civil Rights act....Nifong's actions clearly were not "objectively reasonable" in this situation.

mammasan

blackredyellow wrote:

Yeah... and unless they file a lawsuit against Nifong (and win), they won't recover any of the money. It's not like they can get any money from the woman.

Either that or they will sell their story and it will be made into a made for TV movie.

Pacomc79

Taft wrote:

In their press conference on Wednesday, the lacrosse players and their attorney's expressed their concern over this exact problem....that they were able to defend themselves but what about those who could not? I wouldn't be surprised if Reade, Colin or Dave ended up in law school and came out as law advocates for the poor.

On a side note, while they did have resources, one of the families did have to mortgage their home which was completely paid off, for $250,000, effectively destroying any chance of retirement. So they aren't in financial bliss by any means.

I'm hoping Duke will step up and pay off the legal fees, they owe it after that cheap shit faculty response. I'm kind of hoping the two that haven't graduated will go to Hofstra and finish out with thier coach.

josevolution

vedderelf wrote:

Oh, my. What I wouldn't give to go back a year and see the threads on this one. I think these young men are owed one gigantic apology. Jesse and Al can start. Oh, they're still to busy with Imus, huh?

The accuser should definetely spend some time behind bars.

she is to bussy dancing on a pole .......

dkfan9

I could pretty much tell from the beginning that this case looked a little faulty. Then as time went on I was completely sure of it... It really did piss me off seeing the news channels(as well as Duke and multiple other media figures) condemning these kids without any evidence. I understood feeling that they could be guilty, but not the completely fucking anti-American thoughts running through a lot of people's heads, "Guilty until provn innocent."

inmytree

If "anyone" owes anyone an apology it's the American public who ravenously watched the story unfold via the corporate media....

with that said, I fell little sympathy for these fine young men....they chose to have a keg party and they hired a stripper...what did they think, they were getting top o' the line entertainment...

my point is, they put themselves in a situation, it ended badly...it happens...

Solat13

inmytree wrote:

If "anyone" owes anyone an apology it's the American public who ravenously watched the story unfold via the corporate media....

I think all of the following are owed an apology as well besides the three players:

the coach who lost his job

the three students' families

any seniors on the Duke team who never got a chance to play their senior year

the entire Duke team who was nationally ranked and had a shot at a national title

the entire town of Durham which became a playground for Sharpton and Jackson and became further racially divided

any woman who gets raped now and comes forward but is looked at skeptically because of incidents like this and the Kobe Bryant incident

inmytree wrote:

my point is, they put themselves in a situation, it ended badly...it happens...

I guess every college girl who has too much too drink or wears a mini skirt at a bar or party deserves what happens as well.

inmytree

Solat13 wrote:

I think all of the following are owed an apology as well besides the three players:

the coach who lost his job

the three students' families

any seniors on the Duke team who never got a chance to play their senior year

the entire Duke team who was nationally ranked and had a shot at a national title

the entire town of Durham which became a playground for Sharpton and Jackson and became further racially divided

any woman who gets raped now and comes forward but is looked at skeptically because of incidents like this and the Kobe Bryant incident



I guess every college girl who has too much too drink or wears a mini skirt at a bar or party deserves what happens as well.

oh my, the drama...

question: if these nice fellas had not thrown a keg party with underage kids and hired a stripper...would we be having this discussion...?

as for you last comment...in no way did I say any of that...

Pacomc79

inmytree wrote:

oh my, the drama...

question: if these nice fellas had not thrown a keg party with underage kids and hired a stripper...would we be having this discussion...?

as for you last comment...in no way did I say any of that...

Of the vast multitudes of people who routinely drink beer at thier homes and occasionally hire "exotic dancers" for say a batchelor party....how many deserve to be falsely accused of rape and so on and so forth...?

The difference between this story and an Oscar winning movie is completely based on the skin color of these kids. I thought that's what we were supposed to be fighting against.

The right thing to do is for the community to appologize to these kids and for Duke to pay thier legal fees.

It'd be the right thing to do no matter what color the skin ability to pay lawyers or poorness of judgment the kids showed a year ago.

I fight the same fight here in Georgia where idiots have locked up a kid who was headed to Vanderbilt but unfortunately chose to have sex in a bathroom with a little white girl who happened to be 15 or so when he was 17.

I find it absolutely deplorable that an intelligent young man is rotting in jail for 10 years because some fucking troglodite in the state legislature put a zero tolerance clause in statutory rape legislation so he could get elected.

So yes, absolutely the world owes these kids an appology.

inmytree

Pacomc79 wrote:

Of the vast multitudes of people who routinely drink beer at thier homes and occasionally hire "exotic dancers" for say a batchelor party....how many deserve to be falsely accused of rape and so on and so forth...?

I'm not saying that at all...but one chooses to put their self in a position that can end badly...that's on them...

if you play with fire, you may just get burned...

we assume since the charges were dropped that nothing happened...we'll never know...

Solat13

inmytree wrote:

I'm not saying that at all...but one chooses to put their self in a position that can end badly...that's on them...

if you play with fire, you may just get burned...

we assume since the charges were dropped that nothing happened...we'll never know...

Well considering one of them wasn't even in the building when the party was going on, do you lump him in with the rest?

I guess taking a cab, getting fast food, going to an atm machine and then getting dropped off at your girlfriend's place like he did was playing with fire.

inmytree

Solat13 wrote:

Well considering one of them wasn't even in the building when the party was going on, do you lump him in with the rest?

I guess taking a cab, getting fast food, going to an atm machine and then getting dropped off at your girlfriend's place like he did was playing with fire.

ok...you win on that one...

I'm sorry kid who was at a party and got drunk, took a cab a went to his girlfriends...at least that's what his lawyer said...

how about the other two...did they play with fire...?

Taft

inmytree wrote:

If "anyone" owes anyone an apology it's the American public who ravenously watched the story unfold via the corporate media....

with that said, I fell little sympathy for these fine young men....they chose to have a keg party and they hired a stripper...what did they think, they were getting top o' the line entertainment...

my point is, they put themselves in a situation, it ended badly...it happens...

Are you serious? That is officially the worst post on this board...ever. Having a keg party and paying for a stripper equates to being falsely accused of rape, kidnapping and getting suspended from school? Other than actually being raped, or being murdered, I can't think of a worse thing to have happen to someone than to be falsely accused of rape over the course of a year and a month.

Solat13

inmytree wrote:

ok...you win on that one...

I'm sorry kid who was at a party and got drunk, took a cab a went to his girlfriends...at least that's what his lawyer said...

how about the other two...did they play with fire...?

The kid wasn't drunk and it wasn't his lawyer's story. It was the cabbie's story, the atm camera's story, the fast food restaurant camera's story and the dorm's story that showed his id being swiped in.

I guess what I'm having a problem with is your whole playing with fire thing.

These sort of parties happen all the time in college.

If the stripper who lied was white, this would never have been a national issue.

Of course she was portrayed as a victim and the fact that she had filed previous false allegations and assaulted a cop was hidden from the public.

I supported them the whole time and knew this case had no legs. I'm just glad to see them vindicated and hope that the DA who only tried the case to get re-elected spends a long time in jail.

Taft

inmytree wrote:

I'm not saying that at all...but one chooses to put their self in a position that can end badly...that's on them...

if you play with fire, you may just get burned...

we assume since the charges were dropped that nothing happened...we'll never know...

NO dingbat, the charges weren't just dropped, the AG of North Carolina declared them INNOCENT, which is unparelled in American justice history. He didn't say the case could not be pursued, he declared them completely INNOCENT and stated that the strippers story was false. We do know what happened. Period.

inmytree

Taft wrote:

Are you serious? That is officially the worst post on this board...ever. Having a keg party and paying for a stripper equates to being falsely accused of rape, kidnapping and getting suspended from school? Other than actually being raped, or being murdered, I can't think of a worse thing to have happen to someone than to be falsely accused of rape over the course of a year and a month.

thanks for joining the discussion, o' great post moderator...

perhaps if you step back, breath a bit, and attempt...which here means: try, to understand what I'm saying, you may be able to grasp my point...

and thanks for the compliment...that meant nothing coming from you...:)

Taft

inmytree wrote:

thanks for joining the discussion, o' great post moderator...

perhaps if you step back, breath a bit, and attempt...which here means: try, to understand what I'm saying, you may be able to grasp my point...

Believe me I can "grasp" your point. It uses logic on the level of a simpleton.

inmytree

Solat13 wrote:

The kid wasn't drunk and it wasn't his lawyer's story. It was the cabbie's story, the atm camera's story, the fast food restaurant camera's story and the dorm's story that showed his id being swiped in.

I guess what I'm having a problem with is your whole playing with fire thing.

These sort of parties happen all the time in college.

If the stripper who lied was white, this would never have been a national issue.

Of course she was portrayed as a victim and the fact that she had filed previous false allegations and assaulted a cop was hidden from the public.

I supported them the whole time and knew this case had no legs. I'm just glad to see them vindicated and hope that the DA who only tried the case to get re-elected spends a long time in jail.

good for you...hannity devoted a lot of time to this as well...

anyhoo...that's great that "These sort of parties happen all the time in college"...just so you know, I threw those kinds of parties and attended many more...just because these parties occur "all the time" does not mean that things can't go wrong...

alcohol + young males + unstable stripper = bad things, in this case...

I'm sure you watched every minute of the coverage...thusly, you are partly to blame...if the media did not have an audience with this...it would not have received the coverage it did...

so say you're sorry...