Updated - today's items:
Lara Setrakian, ABC News Law & Justice Unit:
Obama: Investigate Duke Lacrosse DA Nifong -- Presidential Hopeful Says an 'Independent Inquiry Is Needed' into Durham, N.C., District Attorney Mike Nifong's Conduct - Another voice has joined the call for a federal investigation into the handling of the Duke Lacrosse case -- this one with the punch of presidential politics. -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in a written response to a constituent, said that an "independent inquiry is needed" into the conduct of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong.
Nifong prosecuted and led the investigation into the alleged sexual assault of an exotic dancer at a lacrosse team party in March 2006.
Obama cited the fact that Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has already asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for a federal investigation into Nifong's conduct. ABC News has learned that similar requests have been made by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., and Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla.
According to Obama's letter, Jones asked Gonzales to "review new evidence that Mr. Nifong withheld exculpatory DNA results from the defendants in order to determine if his conduct has illegally denied the students their civil rights as U.S. citizens under federal law."
Obama said of the call for a federal investigation that he "will be following its progress closely."...
Obama's comments were first posted on "Liestoppers," an online blog and forum on the Duke Lacrosse case. The user who posted them, known on that forum by the alias "sceptical," was the constituent who corresponded with Obama about the case....
discussion:
Liestoppers forum: Our SCEPTICAL covered by ABC NEWS!!!, Liestoppers too!!
FreeRepublic: Obama: Investigate DA Nifong
KC Johnson: Obama and the DOJ
John in Carolina: Will the Feds come to Durham?
The crawl of justice -- We are told that, very soon, the charges against the lacrosse players are likely to be dropped. This long overdue reversal is not surprising-it's hard to conceive that any person with even a modicum of objectivity could fail to realize the charges are false.
This year-long persecution has been a dark exhibition of some of the worst tendencies in humans and the end of the criminal case is a cause for rejoicing. But the end of the criminal case is only the beginning of the search for justice. Now is the time to go after the real culprits and to make them answer for their crimes...
At the top of that list is Mike Nifong, Durham's chief prosecutor...Duke University also needs a new president...Lastly, our professors need to answer for their actions...
Clay Waters, NewsBusters.org:
NY Times Sports Columnist Slurs Innocent Duke Lacrosse Players, Again -- When it comes to slurring innocent Duke lacrosse players, New York Times sports columnist Selena Roberts is apparently angling to become the Amanda Marcotte of the New York Times. Even after the three lacrosse players have been all but formally cleared of the sexual assault of a stripper (in a case brought forward by a zealous local prosecutor Mike Nifong, to go on trial himself for ethics violations in his handling of the case), Roberts apparently thinks it was worth it in her Sunday column, "Closing a Case Will Not Mean Closure at Duke." ...
Noted lawyer J. Kirk Osborn dies -- Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong assured the public that a rape had occurred and that the accuser could identify her attackers. It was a packet of pages Osborn and Conner filed that helped turn the tide...
Tania Osborn said that her husband, a three-year letterman on the University of Colorado football team, exercised every morning at 4:30 a.m. He was used to big cases, and she didn't think the heart attack was related to the stress of the lacrosse case.
"His work was a joy to him," she said. "He was a passionate champion of anyone in a legal tangle."Osborn is survived by his wife and two daughters.related:
LieStoppers blog: Number 64
LieStoppers forum: Kirk Osborn in his own words
Men of the Cloth -- That figures of the cloth have been associated with prosecutorial misconduct and the passions of the mob is one of this case’s many ironies. Rev. William Barber presides over the state NAACP, which posted an inaccuracy-laden “memorandum of law” on the case. The four-term former head of the Durham NAACP, Rev. Curtis Gatewood, contended that North Carolina Bar aided “the lynching mobs in Durham who have verbally lynched and sought to politically assassinate DA Mike Nifong,” and described the ethics charges against Nifong as part of a “conspiracy to disrupt justice in this Durham case.” At the April 11 NCCU forum, Pastor John Bennett proclaimed that he would lead a protest outside 610 N. Buchanan every week until the suspects were not only arrested but led away in handcuffs. A week later, Nifong obliged...
One lacrosse parent who attended the service approached Fr. [Joseph] Vetter [Duke’s Catholic chaplain] afterwards, reminded him of the presumption of innocence, and said that part of the priest’s job was to minister to Catholic players on the team.
Vetter’s response? “Tell them to confess their sins first.”
discussion:
LieStoppers forum: Men of the cloth
Introduction to a fraud -- March 25, 2007 is the first anniversary of the false, inflammatory and deliberately malicious story The Raleigh News & Observer headlined across five columns on page one above the fold: Dancer gives details of ordeal ....
Defense leads Duke past pesky Hoyas -- After dropping its second game of the season to No. 1 Cornell Tuesday, No. 5 Duke (6-2) produced enough offense to erase a two-goal halftime deficit for a 6-4 victory over No. 7 Georgetown (4-2) Saturday...
GoDuke.com:
Defense Lifts No. 5 Blue Devils Past No. 7 Georgetown, 6-4 -- Goalkeeper Dan Loftus registered a season-high 19 saves and the Duke defense limited Georgetown to just one goal in the second half as the fifth-ranked Blue Devils earned a 6-4 victory over the seventh-ranked Hoyas on Saturday afternoon in front of 3,246 fans in Washington, D.C. ...
related:
Mike Keegan, InsideLacrosse.com:
In-Game Blog: Duke at Georgetown
