AP reports that North Carolina officials have decided to drop the remaining charges against the three Duke lacrosse players who were falsely accused of rape, kidnapping, and sexual offense and indicted by prosecutor Thomas Nifong in an obvious bid to garner votes from a certain class of persons in his reelection campaign:
State prosecutors have decided to drop all charges against three Duke lacrosse players accused of sexual assaulting a stripper at a team party, a person close to the case told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The North Carolina Attorney General’s office, which took over the case in January after the local district attorney was accused of ethics violations, said it would have an announcement on the case at 2:30 p.m.
That’s the right thing to do, but there’s much more work to be done. Nifong must be brought to account for his despicable misdeeds in the Duke false prosecution scandal.
All appropriate civil and criminal charges should be filed against him as soon as possible. In addition, the accuser should be brought under criminal charges.
Nifong and the accuser must be held accountable for the anguish, humiliation, and huge legal expenses they imposed on these young men who were entirely innocent of the wrongdoings of which they were so obviously falsely charged, and for the effect on these men’s families.
The actions of which the North Carolina bar has correctly accused Nifong—making misleading and inflammatory comments about the Duke players charged in the case, withholding evidence from defense attorneys, and lying to the court and state bar investigators—are criminal offenses and should be prosecuted to the full extent that North Carolina law allows.
This case, then, is far from over. The true criminals must be brought to justice.
Galway in Ireland had every year for a number of years a hoaxer who claimed to be raped. She was never charged with making false accusations or wasting police time.
In Athlone genuine attacks have been taking place and what happens?
5 taxi drivers fined for picking up lone women outside designated taxi ranks.
Very nice cartoon, Yoni. We appreciate the advance look. Thanks for the link.
Jordan, you’re correct to remind us that Nifong has been charged by the NC bar. See my story here. In my view, disbarment is the least that should be done. Thanks for the comment.
Just wanted to give you a link to an editorial cartoon that will run this Friday in Duke’s newspaper:
http://yonicartoon.blogspot.com/2007/04/dropped-charges.html
Nifong is up on ethics charges, and faces the possibility of being disbarred.
Jordan, I’m pretty sure you’re right on the civil angle, though I don’t know what NC’s laws on it are, and if there’s any way he can be brought to account in the civil courts, I hope that it will be pursued aggressively.
As to criminal charges, there are plenty of avenues that can be pursued in the cases of both Nifong and the accuser, such as obstruction of justice. When the government really wants to get somebody, they can. But just as you suggest, they probably won’t be eager to pursue that route in the present instance. However, it’s important that we call for it and let the world know that if nothing happens, a further injustice has been done. That is what I have tried to do here.
As a public servant, I believe that Nifong has immunity from any civil prosecution. And making a criminal case against him would be rather difficult, I think.
There is the potential for charging the accuser with something like filing a false police report, but it’s far more likely that the attorney’s office is going to put this behind them as soon as possible.