justice4nifong

The misguided and unenlightened hurt themselves

2012-02-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

It is such a rarity when politicians tell the truth, especially Republicans, that it is quite refreshing when, on occasion, they do. One incident of actual truth-telling occurred yesterday, when Republican presidential hopeful Mitch Romney, giddy from his thorough trouncing of his party’s competitor for the presidential nomination Newt Gingrich, put his brain on cruise control and allowed his mouth to speak without monitoring its content. In response to a question posed to him during a television interview, Mitt Romney stated that he’s “not concerned about the very poor.” This should be no revelation to anyone who follows politics in this country as no Republican cares about the very poor. Not John Boehner, not Eric Cantor, not Renee Elmers, not Thom Tillis... the list goes on. What is surprising is that he actually said it.

Now Newt Gingrich was quick to pounce on Romney’s statement by stating that he “cares about all Americans.” I have a problem with such a hypocritical statement coming from Newt as it is an insult to the intelligence of all Americans. Everyone with a scintilla of common sense knows that Gingrich no more cares about the poor or the very poor than does Romney or other conservative Republicans. At least Romney put a health care system in his state of Massachusetts that covered the health care needs of most of its residents and was the national model of what’s become known as “Obamacare.” However, Romney exhibits his lack of courage by denying ownership of it because the Conservatives and Tea Partyers started bandying about the term “socialized medicine” when discussing it. Instead of shrieking from it, Romney should have boasted about it. After all, what is the alternative for the poor and needy who lack health insurance… to let them die?

Take the following example: suppose an infant with a high fever showing signs and symptoms of meningitis presents at the emergency room door, and he/she is not covered by health insurance. The Conservatives’ answer is to deny him/her medical treatment and allow him/her to die. This would not occur in a country with socialized medicine; not even a Third World nation. Many of the poor and the very poor, and even the not so poor in this country are lacking health insurance, and yet the Republicans are trashing President Obama’s efforts to provide health care coverage for all by labeling his endeavors as “socialized medicine.”

Socialism is a term that the majority of Americans have been taught to fear. What is so ludicrous is that the millions of Americans who are poor and/or in dire financial straits should be embracing its principles, which place the best interests of society before those of a privileged few. Instead, they are railing against the socialists policies that would work to their greatest benefit. In other words, they are brainwashed to act against their own interests by the wealthy and those in power.

In a follow up, Mitt Romney, whose wealth has been estimated at a quarter of a billion dollars and who pays an income tax rate of 13% (which is substantially lower than that paid by the majority of poor), stated that he didn’t worry about them because of the “safety net” that is in place for the indigent. What safety net? The millions of American citizens who are living on the streets, in automobiles, and in shelters would like to know about these so-called “safety nets.” He must have been referring to the room and board and medical care provided by the Prison Industrial Complex, for in some states it is a crime to be poor. In Wake County and the city of Raleigh, for example, it is a crime to panhandle without a permit… the Wake County permit must be renewed weekly. And the requirements for Johnston County’s panhandling permits are even more stringent, requiring a photo id and a criminal background check.

Food stamps, health care provided by Planned Parenthood, and other charitable programs and agencies have been under an onslaught by Republicans on a national and state level depriving needy Americans and Tar Heelians of the basic necessities of survival. And the GOP members, especially North Carolina’s own Congresswoman Renee Elmers, have been obstructionists in preventing President Obama and some of the Democrats from passing legislation to provide relief for those who have suffered from economic policies that have for so long favored the wealthiest. Without doubt, their motive in dragging down the country in a whole scale manner is to provide enough discontent amongst voters in order to cast blame on the incumbent president and persuade those who are suffering most to elect a corporate friendly GOP presidential nominee.

Americans need to enlighten themselves and take measures to protect the interests of all instead of the few at the summit. Most Americans should support the Occupy movements which call for economic equity and which call for an end to corporate greed. But all too often those individuals ensconced deep within the bowels of the 99% and who are without jobs, shelter, and do not know where their next meal is coming from, are the very ones who are detractors of the very movement that is attempting to come to their aid. They are not enlightened and are victims of a massive Jedi mind trick perpetrated by the avaricious privileged.

When Duke University discriminated against me in April 2010 because of my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs, I fought back, and continue to fight, for the protection of the First Amendment Rights of all Tar Heelians. Duke University, relying on its relationship with the media and heavily counting on the courts for help, has been waging an all-out battle to deprive me of my rights. Make no mistake, I am fighting not only for myself, but for all of the millions of residents in this state. Yet, many are misguided by the anti-Nifong propaganda that has flooded the state. Those who have been blinded by the murky media marketing and have failed to see the light are the ones who have taken glee in chiding and mocking me for fighting the good fight. What my detractors fail to realize and/or understand is that our fates are all linked together, and if you value your First Amendment Rights to have independent thought, opinions, and beliefs, then you should be standing besides me in the trenches.

An unenlightened populous will be more likely to elect officials under whose policies they will suffer most, be more prone to attack movements which are paradoxically fighting for their legal and social interests, and are most apt to ridicule the efforts of those making sacrifices on the social justice front lines to protect their liberties. 

Black NC legislators bemoan GOP treatment

2012-01-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

In a January 8, 2012 article in The News & Observer by John Frank titled “Black legislators blast GOP leadership,” African American legislators, led by North Carolina Democratic state Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr. roundly criticized the treatment of African Americans by the Republican controlled General Assembly. The head of the Legislative Black Caucus, McKissick made his discontent known shortly after the state Senate overrode Governor Bev Perdue’s veto of Republican backed changes in the state’s Racial Justice Act.

McKissick accused Republicans of disempowering black leaders, such as the head of the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division, and he chided the party for its disrespectful treatment of African American state employees. Senator McKissick concluded that the Republicans had shown “an overall disinterest and lack of respect for black people in North Carolina.” He then posed the rhetorical question, “When are they going to stop attacking black North Carolinians and focus on job creation and getting this economy moving?”

The answer to that question is simple… they are never going to stop attacking black North Carolinians – at least not as long as they see no reason not to do so. The Legislative Black Caucus has the potential to rein in the GOP’s acts of discrimination and disrespect but it lacks the courage to do anything about it. Republicans are aware of the silence of the black legislators as the criminal justice system tosses minorities into jail at an alarming rate and without probable cause, in many instances. Civil rights organizations such as the state’s NAACP and, to a lesser extent, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, have failed to raise any objection to the mistreatment of the state’s justice system when dealing with Crystal Mangum (the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser), Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey (wrongfully incarcerated for more than seven and twelve years respectively, but denied a pardon), James Arthur Johnson (heroically solved the heinous murder of Wilson teen Brittany Willis, and was rewarded with 39 months in jail and not the advertised $20,000 reward which he earned), Carletta Patrice Alston (held in jail without cause for twelve months before being released), and other innocent African Americans caught up in the swath of the Prison Industrial Complex with its insatiable appetite for minority inmates.

I have personally tried to solicit involvement in these causes of injustice by Senator McKissick, and state Representatives Mickey Michaux and Larry Hall, all of Durham County, but my endeavors have met with no success… and it seems as though the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong is fighting these wars against injustice alone. McKissick, Michaux, and Hall should all at least be actively advocating for their Durham constituents Crystal Mangum and Erick Daniels. But, like the NAACP, these politicians have all remained as silent as dormice.

Injustice against Ms. Mangum is especially egregious and is a prime example of vendetta justice at its worst… payback, if you will, for her role in the Duke Lacrosse case wherein she accused three Duke lacrosse athletes (from families of wealth, power, and privilege) of sexual assault which stemmed from a 2006 beer-guzzling, stripper-ogling party. The 2010 arrest of Mangum on a slew of trumped up charges, including felony first degree arson, was an obvious miscarriage of justice as Crystal Mangum was the victim of physical domestic abuse that February night in 2010. The prosecution by Prosecutor Angela Garcia-Lamarca perversely determined that Crystal’s ex-boyfriend abuser was an innocent victim who needed protection from the person whose face he had repeatedly battered with his fists, Ms. Mangum. McKissick and the Black Caucus remained silent.

Mangum now faces first degree murder charges in the April 13, 2011 death of Reginald Daye despite the fact that the stab wound she inflicted on April 3, 2011, had absolutely nothing to do with the deep coma into which he lapsed on the third postoperative day… and had nothing to do with the Duke University Hospital medical staff electively removing Daye from life support, which was the proximate cause of death. Major discrepancies exist in two autopsy reports on Reginald Daye which has neither sparked the interest of the media nor Black Caucus members. As with the bogus charges of 2010, the Black Caucus remains silent while Crystal Mangum now languishes in jail due to a vindictive and unforgiving criminal justice system.

Erick Daniels, who was released on appeal by Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson while seeking a new trial, was arrested at the age of fourteen and spent more than seven years behind bars before he tasted freedom. Despite his seven years of wrongful incarceration on an armed robbery conviction that hinged solely on the victim’s photo identification based on the shape of his eyebrows in a middle school yearbook, the Governor’s Office of Executive Clemency denied his request for a pardon so that he can be compensated for his many years of unjust imprisonment. I have appealed numerous times to Governor Bev Perdue asking her to reverse the clemency panel’s denial and grant Mr. Daniels a pardon. My attempts to enlist politicians, especially members of the Black Caucus with ties to Durham County, have been fruitless.

It is unreasonable to expect GOP leaders to show respect towards the African American community or African Americans in general if its African American political leaders show no interest in the plight of their constituents themselves… as is evident in these criminal justice cases. As long as Senator McKissick and his fellow Black Caucus members remain silent enablers of a biased criminal justice system, they can expect the Republicans in power to continue to treat African Americans dismissively with disdain.

Black Caucus members shouldn’t just sit in their comfortable plush seats and complain about the GOP’s show of disrespect… they need to do something about it. A good start to positively turn things around in the North Carolina General Assembly with regards to treatment by the Republican leadership would be for Senator McKissick and other Black Caucus members to summon the courage to take a stand against the state’s vendetta prosecution of Crystal Mangum by demanding to know why she is being charged with first degree murder in the death of Reginald Daye. 

2010 Mangum prosecutor scolded… a warning to Kelly Gauger

2012-01-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

In a January 14, 2012, News & Observer article by J. Andrew Curliss titled “Chiding prosecutor, judge resets sex-offender case,” the former Durham prosecutor in the 2010 case against Crystal Mangum, Angela Garcia-Lamarca, was rebuked for vindictive and improper actions against a fifty year-old man accused of child molestation decades ago. Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson stated that he would enter a written order that Ms. Garca-Lamarca, who resigned from the Durham District Attorney’s Office last month, violated ethics rules for lawyers while dealing with a heavy-handed plea deal. Durham defense attorney Kerry Sutton claimed that the assistant district attorney acted vindictively in seeking harsh charges against her client because he (the defendant in a sex abuse case) refused to accept a plea deal for time served. Although he denied the defense’s motion to have the case dismissed entirely, Judge Hudson refused to allow the defendant to face the more serious vindictive charges that Prosecutor Garcia-Lamarca had subsequently filed.

It was this same prosecutor who, in February 2010, prosecuted Crystal Mangum, the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser on a series of trumped up charges. The prosecution against Mangum was “payback” for her role in the Duke Lacrosse case. Among the initial charges leveled against Ms. Mangum was attempted first degree murder (with the weapons used being listed as her hands and feet), assault (although it was her ex-boyfriend who initiated physical interaction by repeatedly punching her in the face), communication of threats, identity theft (a charge abused by the prosecution as Ms. Mangum made no attempt to fraudulently misrepresent her identity in order to gain property unlawfully), child abuse, and a slew of other charges.

During that February 2010 incident, in which it was crystal clear that Ms. Mangum was innocent of committing any crime, the Durham Police vindictively wanted to saddle her with a serious charge that carried a lengthy prison sentence, so under the pretense of smelling smoke, the apartment was emptied by the officers which presented them with the opportunity, to go along with the means and motive, to set fire to clothes in the bathtub. The police then closed the door without making any attempt to extinguish the blaze they had ignited, and allowed smoke to damage the apartment while waiting for several fire trucks and two dozen firemen to come to the scene in the middle of the night to douse some flames that had scorched some articles of clothing. Keep in mind that the police did not set the building on fire, so the charge at best should have been nothing more than vandalism… not arson. And since everyone but the arsonist officers had vacated the building, it was not even a first degree felony as charged against Mangum.

In addition to first degree felony arson, Prosecutor Garcia-Lamarca also charged Mangum with three counts of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” asserting that the potential of destroying the apartment would make it more likely that her three children would run afoul of the law. As tenuous as the charge was, it was indisputably linked to the arson charge. This was borne out by a statement by the presiding judge, Superior Court Judge Abe Jones who ruled that the three charges of contributing to the abuse or neglect of her children would rise and fall on how the jury handled the arson charge. He promised to dismiss the abuse charge if the jury doesn't find Mangum guilty of arson. Judge Jones’ statement makes perfect sense. It’s crystal clear.

Yet, the jury, after a mistrial on the arson charge of nine to three in favor of acquittal, went on to unanimously convict Mangum on the charge related to the child abuse/endangerment/neglect. What was this jury thinking? Did the jurors not understand what Judge Abe Jones said prior to their reaching a verdict? As a result, the only true bogus charges for which Crystal Mangum was convicted was (1) injury to personal property for allegedly slashing the tires of her ex-boyfriend’s car and breaking its windshield; and (2) resisting a public officer (for allegedly struggling during her arrest and giving officers her sister's name and birth date). As most people are aware, the resisting a public officer charge is one that is used most commonly to tack onto other charges to make an offender’s offenses seem worse, or to make an arrest of an innocent person who has not committed a crime.

At the time of the prosecution, Prosecutor Garcia-Lamarca was far along in her pregnancy, and could take solace in knowing that she would be on maternity leave well before the case went to trial… leaving the unscrupulous dirty prosecutorial work to fellow Durham prosecutor Mark McCullough. Because of Garcia-Lamarca’s vindictive misconduct, Ms. Mangum served three months in jail, during which time she suffered the following: (1) lost her job; (2) lost her apartment; (3) lost custody of her children; (4) was kicked out of the Masters program at NCCU; (5) lost much of her personal property; (6) her father passed away; and (7) she lost her independence as a productive citizen moving positively towards turning her life around following the Duke Lacrosse incident. Quite a legacy, that Angela Garcia-Lamarca built for herself, and one in which Mangum’s current prosecutor is currently following.

Prosecutor Kelly Gauger has charged Ms. Mangum with first degree murder in the death of Reginald Daye, a man who was electively removed from life support by the medical staff at Duke University Hospital. Mr. Daye was taken off support after being declared to be “brain-dead”… the cause of which is either unknown, undisclosed, or both. What is clear is that Daye’s comatose state had no nexus to the stab wound inflicted by Ms. Mangum… and therefore, she is not responsible for Daye’s death. The comatose state could be explained by medical malpractice or possibly even a hospital homicide, but the Durham Police Department is loathed to even take such a possibility into consideration.

According to my reliable sources, Daye admitted to police that prior to the stabbing that he had “dragged Crystal by her hair and slapped her around.” So, after an involvement in a lengthy argument, it is very likely that the stabbing by Mangum was the result of self defense. The murder charge by Gauger is ludicrous and is not even supported by a motive.

Prosecutor Garcia-Lamarca has already been called out by Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson for her vindictive prosecutorial approach, similar to the one she used against Ms. Mangum in 2010. Prosecutor Kelly Gauger is following the same disgraceful path as her recently resigned colleague. And even though Ms. Mangum is getting what I believe to be, once again, less than adequate legal representation, prosecutor Gauger should heed the actions taken by Judge Hudson against Garcia-Lamarca. Gauger needs to consider that the biased mainstream media and the misguided anti-Nifong public sentiment cannot indefinitely hold back the march of Lady Justice in meting out “equal justice for all.” The day of reckoning for anti-Nifong legal eagles is close at hand. That much is crystal clear. 

Restatement of purpose

2012-01-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

Every now and again it seems as though the readers and commenters of this blog site get derailed about the purpose of the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong and its members. Once again, let me put the train back on track to avoid the discourse of distractions and the obstacles of obfuscation… so we can locomotion along the rails to enlightenment.

As we near our four anniversary this coming June, our mission statement and resolve has been steady, uncompromising, and one which follows the light of truth. The fundamental beliefs upon which this organization was founded have been and remain based upon the following principles: (1) former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong was selectively and unjustly persecuted and disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar because of his handing of the Duke Lacrosse case; (2) Mr. Nifong handled the Duke Lacrosse case well within the acceptable standards of a state prosecutor; (3) that Mr. Nifong is the only prosecutor to be disbarred due to professional misconduct is an outrage, especially when considering prosecutors Tom Ford (Gregory Taylor and Carletta Alston cases), Bill Wolfe (James Arthur Johnson case), Michael D. Parker (Floyd Brown case), and David Hoke (Alan Gell case), just to name a few. Our group’s focus remains committed to encouraging the NC State Bar to unilaterally and unconditionally reinstate Mr. Nifong’s license to practice law in the state without restrictions. Although Mr. Nifong has expressed that he never intends to practice law again, it is the contention that his license to practice law was unjustly taken by the Bar, and that it needs to man up and do the right thing by reinstating it.

Members of the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong, I believe, are some of the most courageous people in the state, because they lend their names and their faces to a righteous cause that is widely unpopular with the public because of contamination of the news that is broadcast and published by biased media-types… the big wigs in the upper echelons who determine what stories to follow, which stories to ignore, and what spin to give. Instead of remaining silent in the face of blatant anti-Nifong injustice, like most politicians, media outlets, and many civil rights organizations, members of the Committee speak loudly by their demonstration of courage. There are many ways to put it, but I like the saying attributed to President Abraham Lincoln who stated: “To sin by silence makes cowards of men.” One thing is certain… the members of our group, currently one shy of two dozen, are not cowards.

The Committee is, and always has been an inclusive organization, welcoming brave individuals who coalesce around the principles recited above with respect to former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong. No one has been turned down for membership, and dues and/or investment of time or money is not required. All that is required is the heart to seek justice for Mike Nifong, which at its most primal form would be the reinstatement of his law license. Potential members are not vetted or required to provide personal information about themselves, their political leanings, or their ideologies on other topics. Likewise, our group is extremely tolerant of others and we do not discriminate with respect to granting membership.

It is not expected, or even desired that everyone who joins the group hold the same beliefs or opinions on issues other than Mike Nifong’s mistreatment by the state and the media. Gay and lesbians, people of all races and colors, worshippers of all religions as well as atheists, Democrats and even Republicans are all invited to join.

Some commenters are quick to cast some Committee members as homophobes or racists, but I find that these labels are often made without substance. There are people who might not agree with same-sex relationships or who might have a problem with gay and lesbians getting married, but that, at least to my way of thinking, does not categorize them as being homophobes. Personally, I have no problem whatever with gay and lesbian relationships. I have no problem with civil union between couples of the same sex and I do not object to the term “marriage” being used to define such relationships. To my mind marriage is an institution in which two individuals are fully and lovingly committed to one another regardless of their sexes. Not only that, but I believe that the liberal tolerance towards gays and lesbians is growing and gaining greater acceptance.

Hopefully this blog will put issues about homophobia and racism to rest, and the future blogs can be devoted to issues of criminal justice… such as the vendetta prosecutions of Crystal Mangum, the racist pardon policy that the governor’s office has used to deny pardons to Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey, the anti-Nifong discrimination by Duke University against me, and other important issues facing Tar Heelians who believe in the principle of “equal justice for all” instead of those who follow the tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color.” 

Unanswered questions about Reginald Daye’s death

2012-01-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

Reginald Daye was a middle-aged Durham man who was in a symbiotic relationship with Crystal Mangum, the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser. The events surrounding his death, beginning with his April 3, 2011 stabbing by Ms. Mangum and extending to his death ten days later, are shrouded in mystery and intrigue. What some may consider equally baffling is the mainstream media’s apathy towards unraveling the bizarre and inexplicable sequence of circumstances which shortened Daye’s life.

Of this much we are certain: (1) At approximately 3:00 a.m. on April 3, 2011, Mangum stabbed Daye in the left torso with a kitchen knife (paring knife according to friends of Mangum and supported by autopsy reports); (2) Although the blood alcohol level coursing through Daye’s veins was at a stupor-level of nearly 300 mg/dl, he was awake and coherent when transported by ambulance to Duke Hospital; (3) Daye underwent emergency surgery to repair the stab wound to the splenic flexure of his colon within hours of the traumatic insult; (4) Postoperatively the following day, the surgery on Daye was proclaimed to be successful and the patient was expected to make a full recovery; and (5) On the 13th of April, ten days following his stabbing and surgery, Daye was taken off life support and pronounced dead.

The autopsy reports of April 13 and 14, 2011, which were released in mid-August 2011, four months later, shed only a modicum of light on what transpired during Daye’s ten day hospitalization. It appears that on the evening of the third postoperative day, Mr. Daye went into a deep and irreversible coma; the etiology of which was never determined and/or released to the public. The mainstream media kept Daye’s comatose state hidden for a week, and mentioned it only after his death. In addition, only one media source mentioned that Reginald Daye passed away after life support was electively removed by the Duke Hospital medical staff. Although it can be assumed that Daye’s next of kin were involved in the decision to remove him from life support, it is unknown whether the prosecution or defense attorneys were consulted or notified beforehand. The disconnection of Reginald Daye from life support was the proximate cause of his death, however, neither report even mentioned this. Instead of solving problems surrounding Daye’s demise, the autopsy reports of April 13th and 14th usher in questions about it on an even grander scale.

Both autopsy reports are vague, inadequate, misleading, and unprofessional, with the report of April 13, 2011 (Report of Investigation by Medical Examiner) being more accurate and reliable regarding injuries sustained by the single stab wound than that of the latter document. The description of the body and the body diagram of this report are deferred to the report of April 14, 2011 (Report of Autopsy Examination). What is most puzzling about this report of the 14th is that it includes a multitude of injuries not mentioned in the report of the 13th, which cited only the lesion to the colon. However, in the report of the 14th, Dr. Clay Nichols, the medical examiner, mentioned additional gross anatomical injuries to the following organs: lower left lung, diaphragm, left kidney, spleen, and fundus of the stomach. As a retired physician, I believe that it is impossible for a single stab wound from a paring knife (which entered at the seventh intercostal space of the left side of the torso and proceeded in a downward trajectory) to inflict wounds to all of the organs as described in Dr. Nichols’ report. However, it is not at all unreasonable to believe that such a stab wound would lacerate the splenic flexure of the colon only.

Although I believe the report of April 14, 2011, to be criminally fraudulent, I do not fault the medical examiner for making false claims because he undoubtedly has learned from the example that the state and the media made of former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong… which is that the consequences of not “going along with the program” can be excessive and severe. The purpose for fabricating these injuries in the latter report is to make the damage caused by Mangum’s stab wound appear to be much more extensive and serious than it actually was… to persuade the public that the inflicted wound was capable of causing death. The biased anti-Mangum media did its part by upgrading the status of the diaphragm, which is a large muscle, to that of being an organ, and counting it as such in proclaiming that “Fatal stab wound in Crystal Mangum case punctured six organs.” The media entirely ignores the more reliable report of April 13, 2011, which documented injury to only the large intestine.

Questions continue to swirl around Daye’s death and its aftermath. Why the major discrepancies between the report of the 13th and 14th? What was the cause of Daye’s lapsing into a coma and how was it related to the stab wound? Why is Crystal Mangum being charged with first degree murder when Daye was electively removed from life support by Duke’s medical staff? Was medical malpractice or a hospital homicide responsible the unconscious state which led to Daye being declared “brain dead” and taken off life support? Why has Mangum’s attorney not filed a motion to have the murder charge dismissed? Perhaps, most mind-boggling of all is why does the mainstream media lack curiosity about these unsolved mysteries?

Being a cynic of mainstream media’s dedication to report fairly and without bias, I do not find it surprising that the media would bury its head in the sand when it comes to the state’s illegal and unjust mistreatment of Crystal Mangum. After all, the media, like Durham prosecutor Kelly Gauger and the medical examiners, is part of this very broad based anti-Nifong conspiracy. 

North Carolina ACLU will protect the rights of Nazis and Klansmen, but not Nifong supporters

2012-01-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

I didn’t have much faith that the North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union would come to my aid and protect my civil rights, and the organization proved me right. Years ago when I first met Katy Parker, the director of the North Carolina ACLU, I handed her a questionnaire about former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong’s disbarment. I asked her if she would fill out the questionnaire and return it in the self-addressed/stamped envelope I provided. She told me that it would depend on the questions. Well, she evidently did not like the questions as I never received the questionnaire back.

In the summer of 2010, several months after the Duke University discrimination incident against me, and in a time during which I was trying to resolve the situation, I wrote the North Carolina ACLU and asked them to provide legal assistance for Crystal Mangum, as I, along with the Friends of Crystal Mangum and others were not at all pleased with her legal representation by the public defender for the February 2010 arson charge. I was informed that because of their high volume of requests it might take some time before I received an answer from the NC ACLU, but that all inquiries for help would eventually be given a response. No reply was ever made to my letter.

Around October 2010, approximately six months after Duke discriminated against me (with the plan of arresting me), lesbian Caitlin Breedlove and her partner were asked by a security guard at the Cameron Village Shopping Mall to leave the property because they briefly showed public affection. When they took it to the media, the media-types ran with the story… publishing in the newspaper, broadcasting it on the television news… the story went viral (unlike the media response to the discrimination I suffered at the hands of Duke University… which the media collectively chose to ignore). Even though the security guard company responded expeditiously and fully acquiesced to the demands of the lesbians and other gay rights individuals and organizations which supported the discriminated same-sex couple, the story got national attention on cable news networks, and the local news coverage followed developments daily for a couple of weeks. Needless to say, the NC ACLU’s director, Ms. Parker, threw the weight of the organization behind the discriminated pair by giving newspaper interviews in which she blasted the security guard’s actions while defending their rights while on private property.

Even though the NC ACLU interceded on behalf of the discriminated lesbian couple, because of my previous interaction with Ms. Parker and the failure of the organization to respond to my plea months earlier for assistance for Crystal Mangum, I held no hope that the NC ACLU would give me any support. So, although I reluctantly filed a discrimination lawsuit against Duke University in April 2011, I never seriously considered contacting the NC ACLU as I figured it would be a waste of time. Then just prior to Christmas 2011, I ran into a young lady in an ACLU tee shirt who was signing up people to join the ACLU. With foot traffic being slow at that time, we had a short conversation during which I mentioned my 2010 discrimination incident at Duke University. She recommended that I contact the ACLU, and although I thought it would be for naught, I rationalized that there was possibly a remote chance that the NC ACLU might give me some support… at least, there was nothing to lose.

After the holidays I phoned the organization and somehow managed to get Ms. Parker on the line. I began to fill her in on the happenings that took place on the Duke campus in April 2010, when she interrupted me halfway through my presentation and told me that she would not be able to do anything about my plight because the discrimination took place on Duke University grounds, which is a private institution on private property. In other words, I suggested, are all private institutes on private property who serve the public permitted to discriminate? I then reminded her that the lesbian couple, upon whose behalf she so vociferously supported, was discriminated against while on private property… the Cameron Village Shopping Mall. Ms. Parker countered by stating that it was possible that the young ladies were standing on a public sidewalk that intersected the private property when they were asked to leave the Mall grounds. But Ms. Parker was not defending the lesbians’ right to be on the sidewalk, rather their civil rights when on the Mall’s private property.

Duke University may be a private institution situated on private property, but it goes out of its way to bring the public to events held at numerous venues on its grounds. For example, the Nasher Museum, which is open to the public, is located on Duke private property. The Duke Cathedral, which hosts religious masses with the public invited, is in the center of its campus. Other Duke property venues to which the public is invited to attend by the university’s aggressive marketing campaign includes Reynolds Theater, the Duke Chapel, the school’s main library, Bryan Center, the Duke Law School, and its athletic centers. Duke is a university that embraces the public sector and thrives on their attendance and participation in campus events. Whether a workshop on fracking, a concert by world renown artists, a conference on political/environmental/economic issues, an exhibit featuring art and/or artifacts, or a speech given by a dignitary or person of celebrity the private institution that is Duke reaches out to draw in the people from the community and whom are representative of the public.

Now, am I to believe that if the same discrimination had occurred to me on the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill or North Carolina State University campus that the NC ACLU would’ve jumped into action on my behalf? Are only state universities and institutions prohibited from discriminating? It would seem after my conversation with Ms. Parker that Duke, being a private university, has the right to discriminate against anyone on its campus with impunity… and that the ACLU will remain muzzled. If my memory serves me correctly, F. W. Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, was not a state entity in the 50’s when it refused to serve African Americans at its lunch counter. Have civil rights regressed to the point where privately owned businesses on private property which serve the public can overtly discriminate anyone or any group of people with the ACLU’s blessing?

Needless to say, I was quite emotional during my conversation with Ms. Parker, as being deprived of my civil rights tends to cause me much aggravation. And with a modicum of shame, I admit that I sorta lost my composure to an extent, and our conversation, which concluded rather abruptly, did not end on the lofty note as I had planned. As a result, Ms. Parker, please consider this a heartfelt apology from me for losing my cool.

Unfortunately, to me it seems that the ACLU of North Carolina, which is charged with the duty of protecting the civil rights of all Tar Heelians, is ironically guilty of discrimination itself… discriminating against Nifong supporters. The organization has defended, with gusto, the rights of Nazis, Klansmen, Gays and Lesbians, and others who are disenfranchised. I have no problem with this, and applaud their efforts to see that the rights are protected of those who are in the minority in thought or characteristics, or who are publicly despised. In all fairness, I believe that umbrella of shielded rights should be extended to people who believe that Mike Nifong was selectively and unjustly disbarred and that he deserves to be unilaterally and unconditionally reinstated by the North Carolina State Bar.

This past week I would have enjoyed attending the daylong workshop on fracking that was held on Duke University campus and advertised as open to the public. According to the newspaper, more than 500 people attended from as far away as Massachusetts, Ohio, and Florida. But because it was held on the private property of Duke University, I could not attend, lest I risk being harassed, humiliated, and/or arrested… especially since there was no guarantee that a Duke professor friend would happen by at the opportune moment to again rescue me from such a fate. For these very reasons which threaten me every time I set foot on Duke University property, I have kept away from the December 2011 concert featuring pianist Andre Watts in an all Liszt program… I did not attend the September 2011 concert of Mozart’s Requiem… and I have avoided all other programs, exhibits and offerings held on Duke University property since April 15, 2010.

That my rights as a law-abiding public citizen are being trampled upon by the powerful and financially endowed institution that is Duke University with its selective discrimination against me because of my beliefs, thought, opinions, and allegiances is a disgrace. However, what is even more disgraceful, disturbing, and deplorable is that the North Carolina ACLU, which has a mandate to protect the civil rights of all North Carolinians, allows this abusive behavior against Nifong supporters by Duke University to take place unchallenged.

Discrimination of any kind is wrong whether it occurs on public property or private property… and, unlike the NC ACLU members who are sitting on their haunches in reaction to this form of prejudicial action, those people of courage and good conscience should actively and unwaveringly oppose it. 

Comic book roles for Governor Perdue and Speaker Tillis

2012-01-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

I have an idea for a fantastic super villain for the Batman franchise… North Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis who would be known as “The Trickster.” The antics and shenanigans that he could foment would put the Joker and the Riddler, combined, to shame. Mr. Tillis has been caught with his hand in the hypocritical cookie jar in the past by his shameful bonuses and pay raises to some of the cronies and sycophants on his staff while preaching from the Bible of Conservative Financial ideology. So the reasonable person with at least a scintilla of intelligence has some idea of what to expect from this wily politician. However, last night, he actually outdid himself with his late-night vote… and even though I denounce his vindictively inspired actions against the North Carolina Association of Educators in his early morning overriding veto to weaken the teachers’ labor union, I can’t help but hold a bit of admiration for his “in-your-face villainy.” One thing about Thom Tillis, the man has no shame, as he has proven in the past with his raises to his staff favorites in a time of austerity when state jobs are being eliminated, workloads increased, and salaries slashed.

Mr. Tillis doesn’t pretend to be fair… he doesn’t pretend to believe in the principle of transparent government… he doesn’t pretend to have an ounce of compassion for those in need or tolerance for those of different beliefs and/or opinions. He has shown the ability to boldly act, without any apparent concern for the consequences of his actions which have generated a slew of lawsuits and indignant outrage. That Speaker Tillis makes waves would be an understatement, as he is a veritable one-man tsunami.

A consummate Tea Party conservative, Tillis orchestrated the late-night override of the Perdue veto under a shroud of secrecy. Even his fellow Republicans were unaware of his nefarious plans until the eleventh hour. Then, after stirring up things with his questionable clandestine activities, Tillis has the audacity to proclaim his actions to be legal… and dares the Democrats to challenge them.

I have yet another villain for Batman to confront… Governor Bev Perdue as “Lady Two Face.” She puts on airs to the public that she’s a paragon when it comes to governing under transparency and stakes a claim on being a champion of racial equality and justice. Governor Perdue prides herself, with a big pat on the back, for vetoing the ethically challenged Republicans’ attempt to gut the provisions of the recently enacted Racial Justice Act. However, when it comes to her actions closer scrutiny shows they do not even come close to reflecting her lofty rhetoric about equal justice.

One need look no further than her treatment of petitions for pardons submitted by Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey, two African American men who were unjustly convicted for crimes they did not commit and who served, respectively, more than seven and twelve years of wrongful incarceration. They need a pardon from the governor in order to be eligible for compensation for their years of wrongful imprisonment. But… KAPOW!! No pardon. Both of their petitions were denied by Lady Two Face and her hench-people. And why were they denied, need you ask? For one reason, and one reason only… because of the color of their skin. Make no mistake about it.

If there is a legitimate reason other than racial prejudice for Governor Perdue denying a pardon to Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey, then she and her staff are keeping it top secret… as opaque as a lead-lined vault. When I specifically requested to know from the governor why Daniels’ request for a pardon was denied, her general counsel lied by telling me that the Governor’s office conducted its own investigation which did not clear Daniels of the crime for which he was convicted and served time… but due to “confidentiality concerns” they could not tell me what they were or divulge any information about their investigation. The governor’s office provided me with nothing more than a pathetic excuse which was really intended to keep its racist bias confidential.

Late in 2011, Wake County Democratic Party President Mack Paul authorized a three member panel to find out why the Governor denied a pardon to Erick Daniels. I spoke to two of the three, and they both told me that their efforts to obtain information were rebuffed by the governor’s office… there were no justifications given as to why his pardon request was turned down. In other words, the governor who proclaims to be a proponent of transparent government will even keep results of a criminal investigation hidden from members of the Wake County Democratic Party.

If DC Comics does not take me up on my generous suggestions for these two diabolical additions to their varied stable of villains, then take heart, readers. I can always find a place for them in my strip, “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.” 

In Raleigh being poor is a crime

2012-01-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

In a December 28, 2011 article in The News & Observer by Thomasi McDonald titled “Raleigh charges 8 beggars,” it was divulged that eight people were arrested in Raleigh for begging without a permit. According to the article, the arrests show the city’s growing intolerance of panhandling. Well, in today’s economic climate where the unemployment rate is at an all time high, banks are foreclosing on homes like there’s no tomorrow, and most of those people with jobs are overworked at slave wages, it is no surprise that the number of people panhandling is expected to increase.

According to the Raleigh ordinance, those individuals seeking to beg must obtain a permit… which is issued free of charge. It is not a revenue generator and the city is not being cheated out of any income, so why is it a crime for the poor and needy obtain a permit? If it is so important to regulate panhandling, why not have the police register the beggars on site… like they do for voting, rather than handing out citations and arresting the people.

The panhandling permit is one of the most ridiculous and inhumane laws on the books. If during hard times people are forced to beg, surely their financial status will not enable them to pay a bail of $1,000.00, or even $75.00. Instead of jailing them at taxpayer expense, one solution would be for them to be given a permit. And yet, even then it’s all madness. It’s absurd.

What Raleigh is doing, according to Raleigh police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan is merely enforcing an ordinance that is on the books. Its net effect is to turn law-abiding, poor, disenfranchised people who are desperate down on their luck into jail inmates… fodder for the all powerful Prison Industrial Complex. Surely these people are not being locked up for no reason. Head honchos who control the unethical corporations that feast on those who suffer from famine, are bringing in big bucks… hand over fist at the unjust misery of these unfortunates. And what is a boon to the Prison Industrial Complex is a bust to the taxpayers.

Now, if Raleigh’s obtuse panhandling permit wasn’t bad enough, it has evidently inspired other government agencies to follow its heartless lead. In fact, Wake County is in essence double dipping by forcing its Raleigh residents to obtain a panhandler permit that requires renewal every week. As if in an attempt to outdo Wake County, Johnson County is considering a panhandler permit that will require its applicants to undergo a criminal background check.

Those people who are panhandling need employment and not incarceration. Unfortunately, the news article did not state how long these violators who did not have a begging permit would be held in jail. Only one of the eight was able to post bond. The remaining seven are still being held in jail… their crime, panhandling without a permit.

What makes this panhandling permit nonsensical is that police state that panhandling is a “public safety concern” by blocking rights of way… whatever that is. But what I would like to know is how does a permit to panhandle improve public safety over panhandling without a permit?

Like most people, I don’t enjoy being approached by panhandlers, but more likely than not I will usually make an attempt to help them out financially and treat them with dignity. I would prefer that desperate people panhandle rather than mug others in order to survive. Making it a crime to panhandle merely makes it more difficult for those asking for money to distinguish between the legal consequences of begging and mugging.

Seven of the eight arrested on December 27, 2011 were in their 40’s and 50’s age-wise, and one fifty year old woman told the court that she was begging for her dying sister. So the magistrate hearing her case told her that she would only have to pay a bail bondsman $75.00 to get out of jail. As she so eloquently put it as she was being led away to jail sobbing, “I don’t have the money. That’s the problem.” Why can’t the city of Raleigh figure that out?

What’s next on the city of Raleigh’s agenda..? Forcing people who are living on the streets to have a homeless permit?

No doubt, the Man from Nazareth is not happy at what is going on in Raleigh.

Transitioning to a new year

2011-12-28T07:02:00.000-08:00

2011 – a year in review

2011 was a dynamic year for Tar Heelians with respect to social justice, economic, and political issues. It was also the year that ushered in the “flog” – a portmanteau of Flash and blog – an animated video format in which to present blog-like material… essentially, being an interactive documentary. Economic disparities were brought to the fore with the emergence of the Occupy Movement this year. The discontent with the status quo of the few rich getting richer while more and more individuals and families fall into the depths of poverty. Big corporations like banks, which unabashedly steal real properties and funds from its customers and anyone else they can, merge for the purpose of increasing their bottom line for the benefit of the executives and upper echelon, by creating monopolies to increase the cost of their services and products through loss of competition, while decreasing their bottom line by laying off employees. Environmentally, a new threat has emerged in the form of “fracking,” which threatens to pollute the groundwater with chemicals and carcinogens so that natural gas energy companies can increase their bottom lines. Politically, politicians, such as Renee Ellmers and Stephen LaRoche, are behaving hypocritically and unethically, serving their own needs and not those of the people who put them in office, and putting lobbyists before their constituents… just like any other year.

The most noteworthy stories of 2011 are listed below in the order of their significance. Story Number One – the charging of Crystal Mangum with first degree murder in the death of Reginald Daye. This media controlled story is the height of vendetta justice and is being muzzled by news outlets on a local and national basis. The main problem with this case, which is being prosecuted by Durham Assistant D.A. Kelly Gauger, is that Reginald Daye was removed from life support, after which he died. The fact that he was in a coma for a week prior to the plug being pulled was kept from the public. There was never any explanation as to how Daye slipped into a coma on his third postoperative day following emergency surgery for a stab wound to the left torso… nor has there been any curiosity about it by the media. Two autopsy-related reports have major disparities, with one being criminally fraudulent in its representation of multiple alleged injuries that could not possibly have come from a single paring knife stab wound. Again, no curiosity by the media. There is no nexus between the stab wound to the body and the comatose condition of Daye, and yet despite all of the above, the autopsy reports concluded that Reginald Daye’s death was due to complications of a stab wound to the chest… this after his emergency surgery was considered a success and he was expected to make a full recovery. The media, the politicians, the NAACP, and other civil rights organizations are working together in an effort to allow our criminal justice system to saddle Ms. Mangum with a murder conviction… one which she did not commit. Even her attorney Chris Shella is complicit in this travesty for he has yet to file a motion to have the murder charge against his client dismissed. The larceny charge Ms. Mangum faces from the stabbing incident of April 3, 2011 is flawed, as well. Mangum was charged with two counts of larceny for taking from the scene of the stabbing two money orders… money orders for which she paid. The remitter was listed as Reginald Daye as the money orders were to go towards rent in a symbiotic relationship in which she and her three children were to secretly share his apartment. Daye wanted the money orders to go towards beer and booze, and this was the crux of that fateful evening’s argument. Common sense suggests that had Daye had the money to purchase the money orders, then he would have used it to purchase beer, and there would have been no confrontation. Again, the media is not curious on this point.

Story Number Two – the racist pardon policies of Governor Bev Perdue. Earlier this year, in February, the Governor’s Executive Clemency panel denied the pardon of Erick Daniels without explanation. He was denied a pardon because he is an African American. Erick Daniels needs the pardon so that he can receive monetary compensation for the more than seven years for which he was wrongly imprisoned for an armed robbery that he did not commit. When pressed by Harr for a reason for the denial of his petition or a pardon, the General Counsel for the governor stated that it had conducted its own investigation which generated questions as to Daniels’ actual innocence… an investigation in which it could not share any results due to “confidentiality concerns.” In addition, another African American, Shawn Massey, who was unjustly incarcerated for twelve years, was denied a pardon. And, Glen Edward Chapman, a black man who was sentenced to death in 1994 for a murder he did not commit and was released from death row in 2007, applied for a pardon from the governor on March 21, 2011. No word yet, as the governor continues to drag her feet with the apparent strategy of not granting a pardon by indefinitely delaying a ruling about it. While these race-based injustices continue, the NAACP, other civil rights groups, and politicians enable the injustice by looking away and keeping mum.

Story Number Three – Harr’s discrimination lawsuit against Duke. This legal filing is basically the result of a big institution (Duke University) trampling on the rights of an ordinary individual. Duke, like many mega-corporations, believes that it can do so with impunity because it has big bucks and the media in its back pocket. As its ally, the media kept Duke’s egregious mistreatment of Harr secreted from the public… this to prevent public pressure and embarrassment from forcing it to do the right thing. That Harr has filed Pro Se had forced Duke to rely upon the Courts, as Magistrate Judge P. Trevor Sharp was quick lie about the facts of the case in order to mislead the Court into ruling in favor of Duke’s Motion to Dismiss the action by Harr. Duke’s discriminatory and malicious actions in its plan to have Harr arrested for being a Nifong supporter, the media’s collusion in preventing the public from learning about it, and the magistrate judge’s unethical misconduct on behalf of the Duke defendants, is an affront to the civic, fair-minded citizens of this state. Although this drama has not played out, if there is any justice, then Harr most definitely will prevail… and Harr will not be the only winner. It will keep establishments and institutions from being able to perform acts of discrimination against individuals based on a person’s beliefs, thoughts, opinions, and/or allegiances.

2012 – looking forward

In the coming year, this blog site will update the three important stories listed above. It will continue to cover as many instances of injustice as possible in order to bring awareness and enlightenment about stories which the mainstream media tries to conceal and keep hidden. The bulk of these blogs and flogs will be devoted to criminal justice issues and cases, with those related to Duke Lacrosse/Nifong having precedence. In addition, some entries will tend to focus on economic, environmental, and political injustices as they are all, to an extent, intertwined.

The introduction of the flog in 2011 was a major boon to the presentation of news and opinion. Its main advantage is that it is a perfect format for the reading challenged. In addition, its interactivity enables the viewer to peruse important documents and look over diagrams, photos and other images which support the narrative. Despite its major advantages over the read-only blog, its main drawback – the fact that each flog takes a lot of time and effort to produce – will limit the number of flogs produced in the coming year. Experimenting with an all flog site this past year, reduced the blog site output drastically which resulted in the inability to cover many important stories. Mind you, flogs will continue to be posted on this site, but not as frequently. It is my plan to publish one to two blogs a week, with an occasional flog thrown in. Still in the pipeline is my epic flog about one of the worse, if not worst, instance of injustice in Tar Heel criminal law.

This coming year I will also try and reply to more comments than I have in the past. As I do not have internet at home (too expensive), my time online at the public library, though free, is limited. I continue to welcome all comments regardless of their position, and appreciate the commenters making the effort to give feedback about the postings.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and Christmas-related holiday, and I wish you all good health and much happiness in 2012. For my part, I will try and bring you vast amounts of enlightenment in the coming year. 

Harr v. Duke - a directory of legal documents

2011-12-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

Notice UPDATE 12-15-11: All of the buttons work appropriately, however, I have not been able to solve the problem with returning straight to the directory. I will continue working to try and resolve that problem. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Click on the link below to access. All narrative is on the flog, so get ready to read fast. At the end of the three minute flog is a directory for documents.

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/harrvduke.html

Enjoy and become enlightened!

NCAA - a parasitic group

2011-12-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

Click the link below to access the flog:
http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog12.html

NCAA – a parasitic group – its members with a repressive, gluttonous, and hypocritical soul
Bent on disrupting college athletic programs for the benefit of its avaricious goal
while Justice casts a disapproving eye on its actions that claim a gruesome toll.

“I want everyone to remember why they need us!” These are the memorable words from my favorite movie, “V for Vendetta.” They are shrieked by England’s governing High Chancellor to his henchmen in charge of executing his commands. Although set some time in the near future it is more than likely that these very words could come from the mouths of the leaders of the NCAA today.

The NCAA, which stands for the National College Athletic Association, is a parasitic organization that feeds off the toil, sweat, bruises, and broken bones of collegiate athletes. A self-proclaimed overseer of college sports, this male dominated group of wealthy individuals has appointed itself as the all-mighty and undisputed regulator of college sports… determining rules and regulations that are all too often vague and discriminatory, and handing out fines and penalties like a cop in a speed trap.

This sedentary and essentially useless gang rakes in the money, hand over fist, that is generated by the physical and emotional sacrifices of the young gladiators on the fields, courts, and arenas. The university athletic system would work fine without the NCAA, so in order for the NCAA to make itself relevant… that is, to remind the university, athletes, and public why they need it… the NCAA conjures up scandals and issues stiff penalties for the most trivial of alleged offenses. And, this group has assigned as one of the most egregious behaviors that of giving assistance to a struggling athlete… lest he/she lose amateur status and be considered a professional. Heaven forbid.

While members of the NCAA wade in dollars flowing in from the toil of college athletes, they rebuke those poor, and disenfranchised players for accepting any money, gift, or assistance, no matter how meager or inconsequential. This rule, which is prejudicial in its nature, causes the greatest impact to the poor, disenfranchised, and minority athletes… for example such a rule would have no bearing on the financially endowed and coddled Duke lacrosse players.

Although the NCAA claims to place a high premium on university athletes obtaining a first-class education, its motivation, like that of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Duke Energy, or any other capitalistic mega-corporation is its bottom line. Drunk with power it pretends that its actions are altruistic rather than avaricious.

When former president of the NCAA, Myles N. Brand passed away recently, Mark Emmert was selected to fill the leadership role of the NCAA. Mark Emmert, whose annual salary and compensation package from the NCAA is in the seven figure range, emphatically stated, “It’s grossly unacceptable and inappropriate to pay players… converting them from students to employees.” It is apparent that Mr. Emmert would rather keep them as the slaves that they are… who generate for the organization well over a billion dollars in revenue annually. For example, the three week NCAA basketball tournament in March kicks out more than $771 million annually in television rights alone. Yet Emmert and his administration cronies want an ever-increasing slice of the pie that was baked from the efforts of college athletes, many of whom are struggling just to get by.

Emmert’s attitude is not surprising, considering his background. Prior to assuming the position at the NCAA, Mark Emmert was the president of the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington. Behind the basketball and football coach, Emmert earned the third highest salary, and among public university presidents during the 2008-2009 academic year, his salary of $620,000, making up part of a $905,000 compensation package was second highest in the nation. Sitting on boards of big corporations, such as Weyerhaeuser, brought in another $340,000 annually for Mr. Emmert.

When the University of Washington was under a protracted period of dire financial straits, Mr. Emmert refused to consider a cap on administrators’ salaries. In kind, the administrators backed Emmert’s excessively high salary, claiming his leadership was responsible for bringing in top faculty, and that he was deserving of it. Due to his salary demands, Mr. Emmert was criticized soundly at the Pacific Northwest institution.

Currently, the NCAA is fighting a class action lawsuit against one of its provisions which limits athletic scholarship to pay only room, board, tuition, and books… a fight that will be played out in the court rather than on the field.

Now, I am not alone in my negative assessment of the NCAA. Dr. Boyce Watkins, a college professor of eighteen years experience, stated, “The NCAA is likely the most corrupt system in America, behind the prison industrial complex.” In his online article of October 2011, titled NCAA Athletes Finally Demanding to Be Paid: A Professor's Perspective, Dr. Watkins accurately challenges the NCAA’s hypocritically bogus claim to be concerned about the academic integrity of the schools in its charge and their commitment to see that the student athletes receive a quality education. Dr. Watkins bluntly tells it like it is: “I've seen countless cases in which athletes have had a tremendous amount of pressure put on them by coaches who are only hired to win games and earn their multi-million dollar salaries. Studying becomes an extracurricular activity for the athlete who is being coached by a man who is only rewarded for a high winning percentage, not graduation rates. By systemic design, any athlete who tries to put academics ahead of athletics is severely punished for doing so.”

Not unlike the Salem Witch Trials back in the day, the NCAA is quick to make unsubstantiated accusations, then stand by them regardless if later disproved. The attacks, which accounted for a wide swath of suspensions for the University of North Carolina football team in 2010, had a detrimental effect not only on the athletes, but the head football coach and his staff, the athletic director, a tutor for the players, and an academic chairman.

In a News & Observer article of June 30, 2011 titled “Stewart defends his role”, Todd Stewart, a DJ from Washington DC, called ridiculous the NCAA allegations that he was a financial adviser who provided more than $7,000 in improper benefits to UNC football players. According to the NCAA, the bulk of the $7,216.20 that Stewart was alleged to have illegally given to football players was in the form of traveling expenses… which Stewart denied. Stewart did admit to lending his car to Tar Heel football standout Marvin Austin and allowing him to stay at his house when Austin came to Landover, Maryland for a visit. As Stewart went on to explain, his friendship with Austin goes back a decade before Austin was a high school football star. And the NCAA’s slipshod investigation also linked Todd Stewart to Pro Sports Financial… an accusation to which Stewart countered, “I never worked for them… ever.”

The NCAA also accused Stewart of giving to UNC defensive back Charles Brown a sum totaling $54.50. This so-called impermissible benefit netted Brown a one game suspension by this organization engorged with dollars made off the backs of college athletes.

The NCAA investigation into UNC’s football program forced the resignation of assistant coach John Blake, resulted in the eventual dismissal of head coach Butch Davis, and led to Professor Julius Nyang’oro stepping down as chairman of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies at UNC… the latter action snared in the imbroglio surrounding UNC linebacker Michael McAdoo.

The tragedy involving Michael McAdoo is insightfully explained in an op-ed piece titled “Who failed the player?” written by former NC Justice Robert F. Orr appearing in the August 2, 2011 News & Observer. He accurately suggests the platitudes emanating from the leadership at UNC of concern for “academic integrity” ring hollow. UNC leaders intently wooed Butch Davis to build a football powerhouse from the mediocre program in place at his hiring. In acquiring talent need to fulfill this mandate, Davis went to Tennessee and recruited Michael McAdoo with the promise to help him develop into an NFL prospect and for the university to provide assistance academically.

In the fishing expedition launched by the NCAA seeking out football players who may have received some impermissible financial aid, McAdoo was caught in the dragnet. The NCAA accused him of having unauthorized tutorial help and it labeled one of his papers as plagiarism because it contained a several paragraphs or passages from other sources… but sources which were given mention. Based on this alleged indiscretion, the NCAA permanently banned McAdoo from participating in college sports, a draconian and much harsher penalty than handed down by the school’s Honor Court… which did not interfere with McAdoo’s athletic pursuit.

On his behalf, McAdoo testified that he did not knowingly or intentionally seek to violate any NCAA regulation when accepting tutorial help or in writing the class paper. He then went through the proper channels in seeking reinstatement to play football at UNC. This move was derailed when Durham Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson denied a temporary injunction to allow him to play college football while he challenged the ruling from the NCAA. With his hopes of continuing his college football career dashed, McAdoo tried out for an NFL team and was picked up by Baltimore Ravens… but at great financial disadvantage as his compensation for not being selected in the draft was severely restricted.

McAdoo then filed a suit against UNC and the NCAA for violating his rights… a lawsuit which was dismissed by Judge Hudson, the very judge who had tossed out McAdoo’s earlier injunction. No surprise there. Hudson avoided the legal and constitutional arguments of McAdoo’s suit by stating that the lawsuit was moot as McAdoo had been signed by a professional team and that he was therefore ineligible to play college ball in the future.

I agree wholeheartedly with the conclusions drawn by Honorable Justice Orr, who stated, “I submit that in all of this Butch Davis kept his part of the deal, as has Michael McAdoo.”

The biased media has not sat on the sidelines as this controversy swirled. They instantly went into attack mode vilifying UNC Assistant Coach John Blake with over-the-top negative coverage. Blake’s sin was that he was a close friend of a sports agent and was communicating with him. And when the cowering UNC chancellor, Holden Thorp finally scrounged up enough mettle to ill-advisedly fire Coach Davis – unjustly, in my opinion – then the media jumped in like a pack of wolves.

Prior to his sudden and unexpected firing, Davis had agreed to release a redacted copy of his personal phone records to the media. However, once he was axed as head coach, the issue was moot, and he did not. Then a coalition of media outlets, led by The News & Observer, had the unmitigated gall to go to court seeking those phone records. It has been shown that when The News & Observer sets its sights on a target, as it currently has with Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline, it will devote limitless time and resources to bring down its prey. For example, when UNC gridiron standout Marvin Austin was under NCAA scrutiny for accepting impermissible assistance in the form of forgiven parking tickets, the newspaper diligently spent innumerable man-hours searching through traffic records.

The NCAA’s self-serving flames of purported scandal in university sports programs that are fanned by the media have resulted in chaos, confusion, and anxiety on campuses across the country. The toll the NCAA charges has had on the University of North Carolina’s administration is evident, as its greenhorn chancellor, Holden Thorp has been shell-shocked into making reckless and impulsive decisions while kowtowing to the Indianapolis-based organization. Instead of vigorously defending its program against the trivial complaints listed in the June 21, 2011 Notice of Allegations, the timorous UNC leadership folded, offering up a list of penalties to mitigate action against it by the NCAA. One of its self-imposed sanctions for its grievous misdeeds is to decrease its scholarship allotment.

A tinderbox of the potential of sanctions by the NCAA has spread to North Carolina State University, where the Wolf-pack Nation called out one of their own for receiving impermissible benefits. Evidently, in May 2011, North Carolina State basketball forward C. J. Leslie was in an accident which disabled his car. Without transportation, he borrowed the car of a friend for a week. In addition, this friend paid an apartment application fee for Leslie’s half-brother. For these two so-called “violations,” NC State dutifully reported Leslie to the NCAA, and declared Leslie to be ineligible to play basketball. The university then filed a reinstatement request with the mighty NCAA. The “magnanimous” organization agreed on the condition that Leslie serve a three game suspension and make “foregoing charitable contributions” in the amount of $410.

The Leslie case is yet another example of the absurdity of the rules and regulations the NCAA has placed on the student athletes. Without transportation, what was Leslie expected to do… walk? Take a bus? Even if someone loaned Leslie money to rent a car, then that would be considered an impermissible benefit.

In a November 30, 2011 News & Observer article titled “Former Wolfpack player barred,” it was disclosed that Eric Leak, a former NCSU receiver, was the person who allowed C. J. Leslie to borrow his car when Leslie’s car was rendered inoperable after an accident. According to Leak, the NCAA falsely accused Leak of paying a rental application fee for Leslie’s half brother… something Eric Leak denied. He did, however, admit to lending two months rent to NC State basketball player Tracy Smith… a close friend of his since they were both in high school.

C. J. Leslie was forced to donate $410 to charity to cover a loan attributed to Leak, which Leak evidently did not make. Because Eric Leak lent his car to C. J. Leslie and helped long-time friend and NC State basketball player Tracy Smith with two months rent, he has been banned by the university for which he honorably played and represented… his crime being that he helped out two NC State athletes, one a longtime friend, in their time of need. Eric Leak should be praised instead of penalized… banning him from having contact with current or future NC State athletes, banning him from using the school’s athletic facilities, denying him the right to rent a suite at the RBC Center or Carte-Finley Stadium, and in the disassociation letter from NC State athletic director Debbie Yow, Leak is prohibited from accepting complimentary tickets from the players or coaching staff, and he cannot purchase season tickets.

Debbie Yow and the NC State athletic department should be ashamed of themselves for rebuking Leak for his actions of kindness, generosity and humanity. The policies of the NCAA have prodded athletic directors, such as Debbie Yow, to enforce irrational policies that are discriminatory against student athletes who are poor, disenfranchised and people of color.

If the NCAA is so concerned about agents or former student athletes giving financial help to struggling students, then the NCAA should open up its coffers and provide assistants to the student athletes in need… the very ones who are responsible for generating money for the NCAA and paying the excessive and exorbitant salaries of the NCAA executives and administrators.

The tolerance of the NCAA by the universities, I believe, is not without bounds. The fat cats at the NCAA who are prospering at the expense of the labor of student athletes need to seriously address the issues of paying athletes for their efforts with full scholarships and other compensation… as has been suggested by Professor Boyce Watkins. It needs to do away with its obstructive and mean-spirited rules and regulations, and place the athletes ahead of its members’ insatiable fiduciary appetites.

To paraphrase a line from my favorite movie, “The universities should not be afraid of the NCAA… the NCAA should be afraid of the universities.” 

On April 14, 2010, Duke University kicked Sidney Harr off campus

2011-11-20T12:29:00.001-08:00

Click link below to access the flog:

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/fl13.html

Read the transcript of the flog below:

Today, in the early morning hours of November 20, 2011, I retrieved from my post office box the following correspondence… a first class letter from the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court in Greensboro. The one page letter from the Clerk of Court appears to have been drafted on Wednesday, November 16, 2011, and the envelope has a postmarked date of Friday, November 18, 2011.

Most likely the letter was delivered on Saturday, November 19, 2011, however I had spent all that day inside my apartment trying to complete a flog and did not visit my mailbox that day.

The envelope contained two sheets of paper, with one page consisting of the aforementioned letter of November 16th from John S. Brubaker, the Clerk. Evidently, the letter was submitted by Deputy Clerk Trina Law.

This document made mention of an accompanying recommendation made by the Magistrate Judge, and it included a time limit of Monday, December 5, 2011 by which to respond to the recommendation.

The second enclosed page consisted only of the heading with my name and address, which I have redacted for this flog, and which was visible in the window of the envelope. Otherwise, the page was blank without any body or text.

Therefore I have no idea as to the identity of the Magistrate Judge or his/her recommendation. I know not whether he/she sided on my behalf or that of the defendants regarding their motion to dismiss.

On Monday, October 3, 2011, I purchased round-trip airline tickets for a Thanksgiving trip to the west coast. My departure from Raleigh is scheduled for early tomorrow morning, Monday, November 21, 2011, with a return date of Sunday, November 27, 2011.

When I fly out of Raleigh first thing in the morning, I will not even be able to visit a post office until I reach my final destination late in the afternoon on Monday. After landing at the airport, I must take a bus and a train to complete my trip. Most likely, the earliest I will be able to mail a letter to the Clerk of Court will be on Tuesday morning, November 22, 2011… and it will be mailed from California.

In the letter I plan on drafting shortly, I will request that another letter be sent out with the inclusion of the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation. Furthermore, I will seek to have the time allotted for my response to be reasonably and fairly extended beyond the date of December 5, 2011.

Until I am aware of the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation and the basis for his/her recommendation, then I am unable to begin work on a response.

I will keep you posted.

Salute to the Occupy Raleigh 20 and 8 - Complete and unabridged version

2011-11-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

Click link below to access flog (Please allow up to a minute to download)
http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog11unab.html

The blog/flog transcript is printed below.

The Occupy movement that began on Wall Street in August 2011 and spread throughout this nation and across the globe, made a splash in Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday, October 15, 2011. It culminated after dusk with the arrest of twenty determined and courageous economic freedom fighters.

Held on the south side of the Capitol Building grounds on a pleasant autumn day, the demonstration was a successful and orderly event, with a crowd at its zenith which I estimated to be at around two thousand. In contrast with a few other Occupy rallies elsewhere which were marred by vandalism, violence, and pepper spray, the Raleigh event was remarkably orderly… loud, but not boisterous… emotionally heart-felt, but not fanatical.

Lack of violent confrontations can be attributed to the following: 1) a well mannered, responsible, and respectful group of participants; 2) state and city police officers who comported themselves professionally and with restraint; and 3) the presence of legal observers, trained by the National Lawyers Guild, to document and record circumstances surrounding arrests and activities that might invoke a physical response by the ever-present police.

Unfortunately the success of meaningful movements often requires sacrifices by those who are disenfranchised and who are fighting for their rights and the rights of those similarly disadvantaged by the few in power.

On Saturday evening October 15, 2011, twenty brave individuals stood their ground in a peaceful protest on the state grounds of the Capitol Building. In doing so, they were arrested by police on orders given from those in power... those bent on breaking the backbone and resolve of the movement in order to maintain the skewed and immoral status quo wherein the rich get richer and everyone else gets poorer.

The brave Occupy Raleigh 20, who sacrificed for the 99 percent of Raleigh citizens who are being victimized by an economic system that enslaves most of them, are deserving of the gratitude and respect of us all.

The distribution of wealth in the United States of America continues its dramatic shift towards the wealthiest. Over the past decade alone, the top one percent of Americans have seen their percentage of the nation’s wealth increase from 40% to 43%. Over that same time frame, the bottom 80% of Americans have seen their dismal 9% of the nation’s distribution of wealth slip to 7%.

This disparity of wealth can be attributed to greed, with the well heeled and big corporations adopting tactics to improve their bottom line at the cost to consumers. Lobbyists, who are nothing more than professional bribers, are hired by big company CEOs to bribe politicians to pass bills that are profitable to their company’s interests. Many times these bills call for the deregulation of rules that are in place to protect the environment, protect workplace safety, to protect consumers from financial abuse, and to protect health by maintaining clean air and water.

Most Republicans and corporation-friendly Democrats introduce bills that will roll back regulations that will benefit the bottom line of the CEOs and big businesses at the expense of the consumer and public.

Republicans also feed the unethical growth spurt of wealth for the wealthiest by clinging to the Bush-era tax-breaks for the wealthy… which was initially designed to be temporary. The tax rate that the wealthiest Americans pay is now lower than that paid by the bottom 80%.

When faced with the growing deficit, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, and other Republicans draw the line when it comes to ending the tax break for the wealthiest, and instead trumpet cutting spending on domestic programs that help the poor, disenfranchised, and people in need. That the rich should pay their fair share in taxes to help address the deficit is a non-starter for the Republicans… who put profits before people and their country.

The excuse touted by the GOP for lower taxes for the wealthy is their claim that it will create jobs. Even some Democrats such as North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan and Governor Bev Perdue have embraced tax breaks for corporations as a way to stimulate job growth.

Such measures are futile, as the well-heeled and big corporations will only hoard the money gained and not use it to hire workers. Hiring workers does not help a company’s bottom line… it is an expense for the company. Corporate executives try to get by with as few employees as possible, often increasing their workload while their salaries remain stagnant.

The paucity of jobs in America is in large measure due to jobs being outsourced or manufacturing set up overseas where there is an abundance of a cheap workforce. It increases the bottom line for the companies, however it also increases the number of unemployed Americans because these jobs are lost. But that is of no concern to the avaricious company bigwigs.

Another way corporations increase their bottom line at the expense of the number of people employed is through the merger of competing companies. The top executives in these deals usually make out like bandits, while many of the workers whose jobs are now redundant, are let go. In addition to a more streamlined staff with fewer workers, the newly forged company will be on the road towards becoming a monopoly, having one less competitor. This is good for big business, but bad for the consumer. Once a business has obtained the status of being a monopoly, the stage is set for it to exploit the many dependent upon its products and services… no competitive pricing to prevent price gouging.

No doubt you are wondering how Republican candidates hope to remain in power when 80% of the population is markedly under-represented in wealth distribution statistics. They get the poor and disenfranchised to vote for them by using the foundation of magicians’ tricks and illusions… misdirection. They misdirect the public’s attention with other petty issues lacking substance and value. For example, instead of addressing the problems of a lack of jobs, economic disparity, the rise in homelessness, and the increased numbers of families falling into poverty, the Republicans concentrate their efforts on the following: passing a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; requiring photo IDs for voting; setting up roadblocks to a woman’s right to get an abortion while reducing funding for the valuable services provided to the poor by Planned Parenthood; repealing the state’s Racial Justice Act; and forcing those on public assistance to submit to drug testing.

All bogus issues intended to capture the people’s attention while they, with the endorsement of lobbyists representing the well-heeled and mega-corporations, proceed to shift economic power and wealth from the 80% to the wealthiest.

When it comes to tackling the real issue of joblessness the Republican’s pat answer is to decrease taxes on corporations and the wealthy so that they can create jobs… but that has been shown to be ineffective as they will stockpile the revenue and continue to slash their working staff in order to increase their bottom line.

When banks, having squandered their assets through risky and immoral business practices, received a bailout from the American people, the first thing many of them did was distribute bonuses to the bank’s upper echelon. They did not use the money to make reasonable loans to the people or help with foreclosure relief. And with regulations about to kick in to limit the percent banks can collect for debit card charges, the banks are instituting monthly debit card fees. In other words, the banks are charging people to spend their own money.

What Republicans do not seem to understand or want to accept is that for the nation’s economy to do well, the majority of everyday American’s must do well. It is those in the lower 80% who purchase goods and services, which in turn fuels production, which leads to hiring. Snuffing out the buying power of the majority is a major obstacle in turning the country’s economy in a positive direction.

The positions presented above are echoed in a November 2010 article of the Triangle Free Press, titled, “I’m Rich – Tax Me More.” It supports the futility of job creation by providing tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations.

Even Warren Buffet, one of the country’s wealthiest individuals, has encouraged legislators to enact reform that would increase the tax on the upper-tiered income earners. As he has repeatedly illustrated, the wealthiest pay considerably less taxes as a percentage of income than the poor and dwindling middle class.

Duke Power is a large corporation providing essential utility services to people and businesses in several states. Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream is also a corporation that makes a product… delicious ice cream. Both companies are comprised of executives, managers, and a workforce.

In June 2010, Progress Energy, a competitor of Duke Energy in North Carolina’s utility arena, announced that it planned to lower rates for its customers beginning in December, with residential customer seeing drop in average of $4 per month.

A month following the lower rates of Progress Energy kicking in, in January 2011, Duke Energy announced that it would be acquiring Progress Energy in a merger. With a straight face, the CEOs of these two companies claimed that the merger would cut their costs and their customers’ bills.

On the first account, they were correct, as the merger allowed the firings of many employees, especially in redundant positions. So overhead in the way of salaries was slashed, thereby increasing the company’s overall bottom line. Layoff notices were sent to 11,000 Progress and 17,000 Duke employees… with an estimated job loss of 2,000.

Not only that, but get this… they want to pay for these layoff by, you guessed it, raising utility rates for its customers. This is what I call a really bad joke.

In addition, Duke Energy wants the lawmakers at the General Assembly to enact laws that will facilitate their ability to hike rates. Send in the lobbyists, as the majority of Republicans and some Democrats can be easily bought.

Another ruse for raising utility rates is to raise capital in order to build more nuclear reactors. I submit that a more fair, ethical, and reasonable way for Duke Energy to raise money would be for them to make cuts in the exorbitant salaries and compensation packages that the higher-ups enjoy. In 2010, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers earned nearly $8.8 million, while his counterpart at Progress Energy, William Johnson earned more than $5.1 million. You can bet that there are others in the high tiers of these companies who also receive excessively and embarrassingly high salaries and benefits.

Now, contrast this company with the pre-1995 model of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream that operated under CEO Ben Cohen, and which currently embraces the Occupy movement. In my opinion, Ben & Jerry’s in pre-1995 was a paragon for a corporate model. At the time, it followed a pay ratio guideline wherein the highest corporate leaders earned no more than seven times that of an entry level employee… its lowest wage earner. Unfortunately, this policy ended with the 1995 resignation of the company’s CEO, Ben Cohen. At that time, the highest paid executive at Ben & Jerry’s, President and COO Chuck Lacey, earned $150,000.

I believe that the seven-times salary ratio applied to executive and entry level wages is more than fair. When compared with Duke Energy, for example, even with the hypothetical entry wage being an annual salary of $50,000, the Duke’s CEO Rogers earned 177 times that of an entry level worker. In reality that figure is probably higher than 200 times.

There is no doubt that greed did not drive the company that was Ben & Jerry’s in ’95. It was evident that its priority was on providing a quality product for its customers. It was evident that it valued its workforce. It was evident that it desired to provide the public with a reasonably priced product.

I have never been a purchaser of ice cream, or an eater of ice cream. Not because I don’t like ice cream… because I do. I just never purchased it. However, due to Ben & Jerry’s support of the Occupy Movement, I am going to financially support Ben & Jerry’s ice cream by purchasing its products.

One soapbox speaker at the October 15th Occupy Raleigh event, Hope Turlington, talked about the short shrift given to Dorothea Dix Hospital by the legislators and politicians. Private businesses, salivating at the prospect of confiscating the prized grounds and the subsequent commercial development of them by the private sector, have sent their army of lobbyist to bribe public officials and politicians to relinquish the mental health facility that has served the mental health needs of the people for one and a half centuries. This, in order to further the aspirations of private developers and to increase their bottom lines.

The closing of the mental health facility at Dorothea Dix makes no sense when there is an acute shortage of beds for the mentally ill who require in-house care. In an August 7, 2010 News & Observer article titled “Mentally ill often turned away,” a study is cited that shows many North Carolinians languish for days in hospital emergency rooms waiting for psychiatric beds… the wait on average being roughly two and a half days.

The problem is exacerbated by a Republican led General Assembly that has made deep cuts into the state’s mental health budget which has resulted in fewer available psychiatric beds. Courting business interests, North Carolina legislators have shifted much of mental health care from state institutions to privatized centers. As a result many of the individuals who require treatment are left out in the cold if they lack insurance coverage.

Instead of directing state money towards renovating and repairing the Dorothea Dix hospital, the General Assembly has allocated money to transfer patients from the Raleigh institute to other facilities, such as the Central Regional Hospital at Butner, just north of Durham. Critics of this move state that isolating these patients in a rural setting deprives them of the cultural stimulus that can be found in museums, concert halls, and other venues in downtown Raleigh. In addition, the support that the in-house patients receive from friends and relative in Raleigh is lost when they are transferred to Butner and elsewhere.

Health care for the poor and disabled has been cut by cold hearted politicians pandering to the well-heeled and corporations… with reductions in the amount of payment that goes to doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers. And most despicable of all, those at the General Assembly have sought to address budget woes by closing one of three schools devoted to the deaf and blind.

Since the fateful arrests of October 15, 2011, Occupy Raleigh protesters have maintained a presence on the south side of the Capitol Building grounds. Although moved from the Capitol grounds that night, protesters were assured that their rights to assemble on the public city sidewalk surrounding it would be guaranteed. So the faithful, diehard, and determined protesters occupied the seldom traversed sidewalk 24/7. Day in and day out. In the warmth of the sun and during the harsh inclement weather.

To better enable themselves to have endure a more comfortable existence, the Occupiers set up tables upon which to store supplies, documents, food supplies and blankets… all well out of the way of the few sidewalk pedestrians. Barricades used to prevent Occupiers from trespassing on the Capitol grounds were utilized to support the numerous signs, placards, and banners which espoused the main grievance of economic inequality and corporate greed. The sidewalk occupation was nicely maintained, clean, and posed no threat.

Occupiers had peacefully maintained a vigil on the sidewalk for more than a week and a half without any trouble, and it became evident to those in power that the movement was not going to just go away. Neither time, rain and cold winds, the oppressive dark nights, nor an intimidating show of force by authorities were able to budge the Occupiers from the pavement. So, with the city sidewalks being in use, the state of North Carolina, under Democratic Governor Bev Perdue, stepped in.

Moses Carey Jr., the Secretary of the mysterious North Carolina Department of Administration issued an order to the Occupiers… using the pretense of complying with an ambiguous statute to maintain and care for public property. The true intent was to disrupt and put and end to the occupation.

Given but just a few hours to meet the conditions set forth in the order, the Occupiers complied, and all tables, boxes, supplies, and other items were disassembled and removed from the sidewalk. However, the demonstrators remained and continued their peaceful protest.

One occupier was Margaret Schucker, who was disabled with a bad back, a condition exacerbated by standing for long periods. So she sat peacefully in her own folding chair, clearly not obstructing sidewalk traffic. The ubiquitous police force, however, demanded that she not sit down. She was threatened with arrest if she continued to remain seated. However, like Rosa Parks who refused to relinquish her seat in the bus, Margaret Schucker refused, as well. And, like the Civil Rights heroine, Ms. Schucker, amid the outrage of other protesters was handcuffed like a criminal and placed in the paddy wagon.

Seven other brave and sympathetic protesters, who sat or linked arms in solidarity with Ms. Schucker, were also cuffed and herded like cattle into the paddy wagon by police.

Now the biased media, which gets its orders from the well-heeled avaricious upper echelon executives, as usual skewed the story in favor of the top 1%... which is not surprising since these head honchos with their embarrassingly excessive salaries, are amongst the 1%.

ABC-11 News even went so far as to “blame the victims,” by bringing up the cost to taxpayers for providing overtime for the police. Larry Stogner, ABC-11 anchor stated that their investigative I-Team found out that it cost $22,000 “in taxpayer money” for policing the October 15, 2011 event, and that the police bill for overtime ran $1,500 per day.

First of all, had budget saving measures by Republican politicians not decimated the ranks of the police force, there would be no need to pay overtime. Secondly, it was not the Occupiers who assigned and scheduled the police officers to maintain a round-the-clock show of force at the sidewalk. The demonstrators have always been peaceful and cooperative with the authorities.

Instead of enforcing the law, protecting the public, fighting crime and taking criminals off the streets, Raleigh’s men in blue apparent overriding duty was to arrest a law-abiding disabled woman who was merely sitting in her own folding lawn chair.

Like the twenty before them, the latest eight Occupy Raleigh occupants gave their fullest demonstration measure… and were arrested for this just cause. They too, deserve our utmost respect and gratitude. Now, a tribute to these heroes… the Occupy Raleigh Eight.


Salute to the Occupy Raleigh 20 and 8

2011-10-31T11:43:00.001-07:00

Click Link below to view flog

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog11redo.html

Blog/Flog transcript is below:

The Occupy movement that began on Wall Street about one month ago and spread throughout this nation and across the globe, made a splash in Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday, October 15, 2011. It culminated after dusk with the arrest of 20 courageous and bold economic freedom fighters.

Held on the south side of the Capitol Building grounds on a pleasant autumn day, the demonstration was a successful and orderly event, with a crowd at its zenith which I estimated to be at around two thousand. In contrast with a few other Occupy rallies elsewhere which were marred by vandalism, violence, and pepper spray, the Raleigh event was remarkably orderly… loud, but not boisterous… emotionally heart-felt, but not fanatical.

Lack of violent confrontations can be attributed to the following: 1) a well mannered, responsible, and respectful group of participants; 2) state and city police officers who comported themselves professionally and with restraint; and 3) the presence of legal observers, trained by the National Lawyers Guild, to document and record circumstances surrounding arrests and activities that might invoke a physical response by the ever-present police.

Unfortunately the success of meaningful movements often requires sacrifices by those who are disenfranchised and fighting for their rights and the rights of those similarly disadvantaged.

On Saturday evening October 15, 2011, nineteen brave individuals stood their ground in a peaceful protest on the state grounds of the Capitol Building. In doing so, they were arrested by police on orders given from those in power... those bent on breaking the backbone and resolve of the movement in order to maintain the slanted and immoral status quo wherein the rich get richer and everyone else gets poorer.

The brave Occupy Raleigh 20, who sacrificed for the 99 percent of Raleigh citizens who are being victimized by an economic system that enslaves most of them, are deserving of the gratitude and respect of us all.

Now a tribute to some of the Occupy Raleigh 20…

Since the fateful arrests of October 15, 2011, Occupy Raleigh protesters have maintained a presence on the south side of the Capitol Building grounds. Although moved from the Capitol grounds that night, protesters were assured that their rights to assemble on the public city sidewalk surrounding it would be guaranteed. So the faithful, diehard, and determined protesters occupied the seldom traversed sidewalk 24/7. Day in and day out. In the warmth of the sun and during the harsh inclement weather.

To better enable themselves to have endure a more comfortable existence, the Occupiers set up tables upon which to store supplies, documents, food supplies and blankets… all well out of the way of the few sidewalk pedestrians. Barricades used to prevent Occupiers from trespassing on the Capitol grounds were utilized to support the numerous signs, placards, and banners which espoused the main grievance of economic inequality and corporate greed. The sidewalk occupation was nicely maintained, clean, and posed no threat.

Occupiers had peacefully maintained a vigil on the sidewalk for more than a week and a half without any trouble, and it became evident to those in power that the movement was not going to just go away. Neither time, rain and cold winds, the oppressive dark nights, nor an intimidating show of force by authorities were able to budge the Occupiers from the pavement. So, with the city sidewalks being in use, the state of North Carolina, under Democratic Governor Bev Perdue, stepped in.

Moses Carey Jr., the Secretary of the mysterious North Carolina Department of Administration issued an order to the Occupiers… using the pretense of complying with an ambiguous statute to maintain and care for public property. The true intent was to disrupt and put and end to the occupation.

Given but just a few hours to meet the conditions set forth in the order, the Occupiers complied, and all tables, boxes, supplies, and other items were disassembled and removed from the sidewalk. However, the demonstrators remained and continued their peaceful protest.

One occupier was Margaret Schucker, who was disabled with a bad back, a condition exacerbated by standing for long periods. So she sat peacefully in her own folding chair, clearly not obstructing sidewalk traffic. The ubiquitous police force, however, demanded that she not sit down. She was threatened with arrest if she continued to remain seated. However, like Rosa Parks who refused to relinquish her seat in the bus, Margaret Schucker refused, as well. And, like the Civil Rights heroine, Ms. Schucker, amid the outrage of other protesters was handcuffed like a criminal and placed in the paddy wagon.

Seven other brave and sympathetic protesters, who sat or linked arms in solidarity with Ms. Schucker, were also cuffed and herded like cattle into the paddy wagon by police.

Now the biased media, which gets its orders from the well-heeled avaricious upper echelon executives, as usual skewed the story in favor of the top 1%... which is not surprising since these head honchos with their embarrassingly excessive salaries, are amongst the 1%.

ABC-11 News even went so far as to “blame the victims,” by bringing up the cost to taxpayers for providing overtime for the police. Larry Stogner, ABC-11 anchor stated that their investigative I-Team found out that it cost $22,000 “in taxpayer money” for policing the October 15, 2011 event, and that the police bill for overtime ran $1,500 per day.

First of all, had budget saving measures by Republican politicians not decimated the ranks of the police force, there would be no need to pay overtime. Secondly, it was not the Occupiers who assigned and scheduled the police officers to maintain a round-the-clock show of force at the sidewalk. The demonstrators have always been peaceful and cooperative with the authorities.

Instead of enforcing the law, protecting the public, fighting crime and taking criminals off the streets, Raleigh’s men in blue apparent overriding duty was to arrest a law-abiding disabled woman who was merely sitting in her own folding lawn chair.

Like the twenty before them, the latest eight Occupy Raleigh occupants gave their fullest demonstration measure… and were arrested for this just cause. They too, deserve our utmost respect and gratitude. Now, a tribute to these heroes… the Occupy Raleigh Eight.
n

Another featherweight defense for Crystal Mangum in her upcoming trial for the murder of Reginald Daye?

2011-10-11T11:51:00.001-07:00

Interactive Flog
Running time: 25 minutes

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog9.html

NOTE: Click the link above to access the flog, or read the script below.

Tracy E. Cooper was a correctional officer with fifteen years of service in the state of Illinois. Tragically, on September 28, 2010, at the age of 42, Officer Cooper passed away. Records acquired online state that he died as a result of an assault that was alleged to have occurred months earlier.

According to documents, on January 25, 2010, Cooper escorted a convicted felon to court, at which time the judge ordered for the felon to be unshackled. Upon being freed from his bonds, the young man bolted in an attempt to escape. Officer Cooper subdued the would-be fugitive by wrestling the convict to the floor, during which time he injured his left shoulder.

When his traumatized left shoulder failed to heal, it was later determined that Cooper had torn his left rotator cuff. Approximately eight months later Cooper underwent surgery to repair the damaged shoulder. Unfortunately he never emerged from the general anesthesia, and he was pronounced dead the following day.

The Illinois Department of Corrections has recorded the cause of death to be an “assault” and the weapon used, a “person.” In other words, the inmate who attempted to flee in January 2010 is being held responsible for the death of the correctional officer in September 2010… eight months later.

I have a problem with this reasoning on many levels. My reading of the incident suggests that the inmate was attempting to escape and that Correctional Officer Cooper executed his job appropriately by its prevention. The injury to Cooper’s left shoulder was plainly work-related and not a result of an assault. It might be different had the inmate charged at Cooper and knocked him to the ground… but that did not happen.

In addition, it is obvious that the proximate cause of Officer Cooper’s death was due to a complication in surgery, most likely due to a problem with the administration of the anesthesia. The injury sustained eight months earlier had nothing to do with Cooper’s passing.

With Cooper’s death being attributed to the incident eight months prior, and it being deemed to be due to an assault, then the inmate, for attempting to flee the courtroom, could be charged with murder… a totally ridiculous and inappropriate charge.

This is the same emotionally irrational logic used in Reginald Daye’s death. The stab wound by Crystal Mangum had absolutely nothing to do with Daye’s death… and everyone knows it, including the prosecutors, the medical personnel at Duke University Hospital, the medical examiners, and the media.

A stab wound made by a paring knife that only damaged the splenic flexure of the colon should have been easily managed without residual effects… Reginald Daye should have made a full recovery.
The pathetic autopsy reports purposely shed no light on the cause of death in Daye’s case, giving us no more information than was initially available from the media on April 13, 2011… that Daye sustained a stab wound, and that he died. For the medical examiner to say that he died of “complications of a stab wound” provides not a scintilla of enlightenment. The links connecting the stab wound to Daye’s death ten days later are omitted… again, on purpose.

I no more agree with the Illinois DOC that the cause of Tracy Cooper’s death was due to an assault eight months earlier, than I do with Durham Assistant District Attorney Kelly Gauger’s position that the stab wound to Reginald Daye resulted in his demise ten days later. The cause of death in both cases is folly and lacks serious merit and consideration.

The amazing cases of Cory Harrison and Joshua Wrenn

On life support, twenty-one year-old Cory Harrison was not expected to come out of the coma, and his doctor in Spain recommended that no heroic measures be taken if he were to contract a life threatening infection. The coma was the result of severe head trauma he sustained when he landed on it after falling from a second story balcony onto a cobblestone pavement while working at a summer job in Spain. In addition to a skull fracture, he had fractures of his ribs and vertebrae.

Although many neurological practitioners did not expect him to recover consciousness, Cory Harrison did just that… but only after more than seven weeks in a comatose state. Currently he is undergoing rehab and physical therapy to help him regain use of his extremities and the ability to speak. Because he was not pulled off life-support prematurely, Cory had the opportunity to emerge from his comatose state.

On April 3, 2011, 29 year-old Joshua Martin Wrenn was arrested on a warrant for assaulting his wife. Shortly after being booked, Wrenn was involved in an altercation with correction officials during which he lost consciousness. He, like Reginald Daye, was taken to Duke University Hospital and placed on life support in its intensive care unit.

Doctors told Wrenn’s mother, Kathy Treadway, that her son was brain dead. However, on the advice of an attorney, the family would not allow doctors to remove him from life support… because that would prevent them from filing a lawsuit against the state for inflicting wounds that rendered Joshua comatose.

Then, on May 30, 2011, approximately eight weeks after being beaten into unconsciousness, Wrenn surprisingly emerged from the coma… no longer requiring the ventilator, making eye contact, and moving his extremities. He is far from being fully recovered as he is partially paralyzed, and has yet to talk… morbidity possibly in part due to several strokes he suffered during hospitalization. According to his mother, he is making progress, slowly but surely.

Now, contrast these two cases to that of Reginald Daye. For certain reasons, which have been concealed from the public by the Duke University Hospital staff and media, Reginald Daye went into a coma on the third post-op day. Prior to lapsing into unconsciousness his evaluation had him on the mend from the stab wound to the torso. Specifics surrounding his downward spiral and his week-long coma were shielded from media consumers, their first awareness that the hospital course of Mr. Daye had gone terribly wrong was with the announcement of his death.

Although I have not been privy to actual events, my sources have stated that Daye passed away shortly after he was taken off life support. In other words, the neurologists had determined that Daye had suffered irreversible brain damage – was “brain dead” in the layman’s parlance – concluded that he would never awaken from his comatose state, and electively removed him from life support with the consent of Daye’s family. The cessation of supportive measures by the medical staff was the proximate cause of Reginald Daye’s death and not any actions that preceded it.

Doctors are not gods and their prognoses are not 100% accurate. If that were the case, then Cory Harrison and Joshua Wrenn would both have been removed from life support and would have expired many weeks before their miraculous awakenings. Like Harrison and Wrenn, Reginald Daye deserved the opportunity to recover. However it was not to be because before a week’s time had elapsed, Daye was removed from life sustaining treatment at Duke University Hospital and allowed to die.

From media coverage just days following his emergency surgery the public had been led to believe that Daye’s course would be uneventful and his recovery complete. But that was not to be and mysterious events at the hospital resulted in a loss of consciousness as well a cardiac arrest. And while Daye lingered in a coma over a long seven day period, the media kept mum about the frightening and unexpected chain of events… with the public first learning of his condition after he was pronounced dead.

Why the rush to remove Daye from life support? Were there those with decision making powers who were concerned that he might recover and deprive the prosecution of charging Mangum with murder? The plug was pulled on Daye before the public even had an opportunity to enter into a debate about his comatose condition. With all certainty, Mangum was not responsible for Reginald Daye’s death or his coma.

If Cory Harrison and Joshua Wrenn could awaken from their comatose states and be weaned off life support measures, Reginald Daye should have been entitled to the same opportunity.

Mangum defense strategy: genius, inept, or Judas-like?

According to The Herald Sun, Crystal Mangum’s attorney, Chris Shella of Durham, entered a motion with the court on September 20, 2011, asking that his client be given a psychiatric evalution. Superior Court Judge G. Wayne Abernathy signed the order shortly thereafter for the purposes of supposedly determining whether or not she is mentally competent to stand trial for the murder of Reginald Daye.

This unexpected defense move was a surprise and one which I feel undercuts the original strategy which stated that she acted in self-defense. Shella had initially and repeatedly stated that Mangum stabbed Daye to prevent him from continuing to beat her up. It has been established that the two, prior to the incident, had been arguing about money orders which Mangum had purchased in the name of Daye to pay rent on the apartment the two symbiotically shared. Mangum wanted to use the money for rent, whereas Daye wanted it to purchase beer and alcohol.

Prosecutor Kelly Gauger and the state have never presented a motive for Mangum’s actions in stabbing Daye. Is the public to believe that she stabbed him without provocation in order to “steal” the two money orders that she had purchased? Or did she merely succumb to an underlying urge to kill boyfriends as the media would have you believe? The prosecution lacks a motive for the stabbing, while on the other hand, the self-defense argument for Mangum makes sense.

The prosecution has a weak murder case against Mangum, as a cursory look at the arrest warrant and grand jury indictment documents will show. Like the autopsy reports on Reginald Daye, both the warrant and indictment lack any information regarding the alleged murder and consist only of one generic sentence statements. Contrast it with the indictment of the trumped up case with which Crystal was charged in 2010.

Furthermore, you will notice that no where in the arrest warrant is there any mention of Reginald Daye being stabbed “seven times” or “multiple times.” ABC-11 News had frequently and erroneously stated that based on the arrest warrant Crystal Mangum stabbed Daye multiple times. This is simply false and misleading… and is typical of mainstream media reporting on this subject.

In addition to lacking a motive, discrepancies between the April 13th and 14th 2011 autopsy reports fail to provide a cause of death and introduces the strong likelihood of criminal fraud in the report of April 14th. There is nothing to support Crystal being driven by insanity to stab Daye, nor anything to suggest she is mentally unable to understand the charges that she faces or her legal situation. It seems to me that Shella undercuts Mangum’s self-defense position by suggesting that she is mentally incompetent and her mental status may have had something to do with her actions the morning of April 3, 2011. That is why his motion seeking a mental health evaluation is so troubling.

To my knowledge, Elisa Baker, who was convicted of killing, dismembering and burying her stepdaughter Zahra Baker, never had her mental faculties brought into question… she was never ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation for competency.

My concerns about this psychiatric evaluation tactic venture far beyond legal matters. With her being transferred to Central Regional Hospital in Butner for evaluation, concerns about her well being and even her life are brought to the fore. Had a psychiatrist or psychologist been sent to Durham’s Detention Center for the evaluation, I would be far less anxious. Within the confines of a mental institution, however, where she is vulnerable to mind-altering drugs and treatment that is shielded by confidentiality policies, anything is possible… and I am fearful for her.

Transferring Mangum from Durham to Butner also deprives Crystal of what little access in visitation that she has to those who support her and care about her. How long she will be held at that institution is an unknown.

Weight of the prosecutor’s case

In 2010, the state of North Carolina’s trumped up case against Crystal Mangum had the weight of straw, and the prosecution was able to prevail in several misdemeanor charges which were: child endangerment, injury to personal property, and resisting a public official. Despite a feather-weight defense by attorney Mani Dexter, the
prosecution was unable to convict Mangum of the felony charge of arson. The jury deadlocked because a few of the jurors with a conscience refused to convict her when they had doubts about her responsibility for setting clothes ablaze in a bathtub. Fact is that the Durham Police officers were the only ones with the motive, means, and opportunity to set the fire.

Crystal Mangum now faces murder charges for a prosecution case that has the weight of dust. The question is whether Mangum will get another featherweight defense performance. Initially I had hopes when attorney Shella challenged the state regarding its murder charge because an autopsy report had not yet been released that specified a cause of death. My hopes were bolstered when he told the media that Crystal acted in self-defense. I have been sent into a tailspin by his recent motion to the court seeking mental evaluation for his client.

A more effective and appropriate tact would be for Shella to ask the court to dismiss the murder charge as the autopsy reports clearly fail to show a nexus between the stab wound and Daye’s death, the discrepancies between the two reports strongly suggests biased criminal fraud, and the elective removal of Daye from life support by hospital staff automatically exempts Mangum from responsibility for his death.

The lack of curiosity on the part of the media and the inactivity on the part of politicians and community leaders reinforces their willingness to allow the state to continue to purse its ruthless persecution of Crystal Mangum as retaliation for her role in the Duke Lacrosse case.

Recently a reliable source stated that prosecution notes handed to defense as discovery, contained a written interview with Reginald Daye in which he admitted that prior to being stabbed he had dragged Crystal Mangum by her hair and “slapped her around.” This admission should be more than enough to have made the prosecution entertain the likely possibility that Ms. Mangum acted in self defense the morning of April 3, 2011. However, despite this, Prosecutor Gauger has pressed forward with her prosecution of Mangum in this case… a waste of county resources and taxpayer dollars, and a slap in the face of Lady Justice.

I have been taking action on behalf of justice by enlightening the people with flogs and by writing letters. Also, I have filed a formal complaint with the North Carolina State Bar against prosecutor Kelly Gauger for her malicious and merit-lacking prosecution of Crystal Mangum.

I am in a quandary as to what to expect next of defense attorney Chris Shella. Whose interests will have his highest priority… his client Crystal Mangum, or those of Duke University Hospital, state medical examiners, the powerful Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants, and the state? Only time will tell.

A time when the Bench needs to step in and toss out

Because prosecutors often pursue criminal charges against defendants that are totally without merit, vendetta-based, and/or frivolously pursued, judges in the state of North Carolina have the ability to dismiss charges before they even reach the jury.

In a recent Durham case, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson felt compelled to dismiss murder charges against Michael C. Dorman II because Durham police had allowed crucial evidence to be destroyed. In this particular instance, the judge issued his order following a hearing brought by a motion presented by the defendant’s attorney. The charge was dismissed despite the fact that Dorman was in possession of the murder victim’s skeletal remains and an alleged confession to another party.

On July 7, 2011, Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Gessner dismissed a murder charge against Antonio Smith because the prosecutor failed to present any evidence that Smith committed the stabbing death for which he was standing trial. The charge was dropped even though Smith had previously been charged with another murder.

As in the aforementioned murder trials of Dorman and Smith, the trial judge in the murder case against Crystal Mangum would be well within justifiable bounds to dismiss the murder charge against Mangum in Reginald Daye’s death. The basis for dismissal would be as follows: (1) the major discrepancies between the investigative report of April 13, 2011 and the autopsy report of April 14, 2011; (2) that the autopsy reports were totally inadequate, full of omissions, did not express a specific cause of death, and did not link the stab wound to Daye’s death; and (3) Crystal Mangum had nothing to do with the removal of Reginald Daye from life support, the true and proximate cause of Daye’s death.

Prosecutor Kelly Gauger’s case is further weakened by the fact that the prosecution has offered no motive for the homicide, and the fact that public sentiment fueled by the mainstream media has insidiously tainted the public and the state’s attitudes against Ms. Mangum.

I believe that Mangum’s attorney Shella should have filed a motion long ago to have the murder charge dismissed. Because it seems to me that such a motion is not forthcoming, it is my hope that Judge Abernathy will take the initiative to step in and toss out the murder charge against Crystal Mangum… a charge that should never reach the hands of a jury. 

Prosecutors value death penalty as an important tool in winning convictions

2011-09-26T06:51:00.000-07:00

On Georgia’s death row for more than two decades after being convicted of killing an off-duty police officer, Troy Davis was finally put to death recently after a barrage of actions to stave off his execution failed. What is alarming is that Davis’ conviction was based solely on eyewitness testimony of nine individuals, seven of whom later recanted… many citing intimidation by authorities and their youth at the time of the incident as accounting for their false statements which implicated Davis.

That police use threats to elicit statements and testimony from vulnerable individuals is not disputed by most observers of the criminal justice system in North Carolina and elsewhere. Such tactics were used to convict Glen Edward Chapman of two murders for which there was no forensic evidence linking Chapman to the crimes… crimes which he stated he did not commit. Specifically, two of his younger relatives falsely told investigators that Chapman confessed to them that he committed the crimes; claims which they later admitted were untrue and the result of duress applied by law enforcement officials.

Troy Davis refused to admit to taking the life of another… something that he maintained until he was put to death by the state of Georgia. More likely than not, Mr. Davis was truly innocent of the crime, and his insistence of maintaining his innocence is what most likely was responsible for his execution. Surely the case against Davis was extremely weak, at best. However, despite the hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and around the world who wanted his execution postponed to allow for closer scrutiny, the state of Georgia acted with Draconian expediency in moving forward with taking his life.

Unfortunately, the death penalty sentence and execution was carried out to appease and satiate the family of the fallen police officer, Mark MacPhail. Circumstances surrounding MacPhail’s death are tragic, in that he was coming to the assistance of an African American assault victim when he was shot and killed. I have great sympathy for the family of the courageous man, however I do not see how taking the life of an individual who is most likely innocent can assuage the grief. When the family members thirst for blood has ebbed and logic and common sense bring to light that they had a hand in the death of a man not responsible for their loved one’s death, their grief can only be compounded.

But it is prosecutors who benefit most by the death penalty. Many studies have shown that the threat of execution does little to deter the commission of murder. However, as has been shown recently in cases of Kenneth Kagonyera and Robert Wilcoxson, the threat of facing the death penalty can be a powerful incentive for innocent people to plead guilty to a crime that they did not commit. Both men confessed to second degree murder with full knowledge that they were innocent. Not only that, but the Buncombe County prosecutor Ron Moore withheld from the defense attorneys exculpatory DNA evidence prior to Kagonyera and Wilcoxson accepting the plea deal offered by the prosecution for confessing to second degree murder. Mark Rabil, a defense lawyer and co-director of the Innocence and Justice Clinic at the Wake Forest University School of Law said that the Kagonyera/Wilcoxson case is a prime example of how much the threat of capital punishment can distort the criminal justice system.

There are many innocent people in prison who have confessed to murder and other crimes in order to avoid receiving the death penalty. In addition, there are many innocent individuals on death row who steadfastly maintain their innocence in spite of a state sanctioned execution looming over their heads.

I am currently devoting much of my time working to help a man on North Carolina’s death row who I strongly believe is innocent of any capital crime. Nearly a year’s worth of research and investigation has gone into this project, and I hope to have a compelling and comprehensive flog documentary about it posted online within the next month or two. It will be a real eye-opener, and represent the best case yet for the abolishment of capital punishment.

The death penalty should be removed from the state’s arsenal of weapons used to get innocent people to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit. The fact that the death penalty is doled out disparately based on class and color is, alone, grounds for calling for its demise… especially since its execution is a finality which cannot be reversed. Financial considerations also fall on the side of doing away with the death penalty. But perhaps the strongest reason for abolishing the death penalty is because it is morally wrong. In a nation that prides itself on being religiously Christian, how can it justify taking the life of a man or a woman? What would the Man from Nazareth think? 

Governor's racist pardon policy denies compensation to wrongly incarcerated African Americans

2011-09-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Click the link below to view interactive flog:

http://justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog8.html

Wake County prosecutor Tom Ford prosecuted Gregory Taylor for the 1991 murder of Jacquetta Thomas. Although he lacked evidence against Taylor in the death of the black woman, Ford maliciously pursued the case against Taylor because he would not implicate African American Johnny Beck, who Taylor knew to be innocent.

Ford used perjured testimony from compromised individuals, who faced their own criminal charges and jail time, along with hocus-pocus SBI lab work, to win a conviction against Taylor which carried a life sentence.

It was only after Taylor served seventeen years in prison that his case was brought before the Innocence Inquiry Commission by Attorney Christine Mumma and the NC Center on Actual Innocence, and he was unanimously declared innocent by a three judge panel. This ruling was enough to free Greg Taylor from confinement behind bars, but he required a pardon from the governor in order to receive the maximum compensation of $750,000 from the state for which he was entitled.

Governor Bev Perdue took her time, causing undo stress and anxiety for Taylor and his family, before finally issuing the pardon in May 2010.

Erick Daniels, an African American who spent more than seven years wrongfully incarcerated for an armed robbery he has adamantly and repeatedly said he did not commit, is equally deserving of a pardon so that he can receive compensation from the state as mandated by the General Assembly. In February 2011, the Office of Executive Clemency denied Erick Daniels’ request for a pardon. When I confronted the Governor’s Office about the denial, Mark A. Davis, the general counsel for the governor told me in a letter dated July 26, 2011, that they had conducted their own investigation. According to their findings, they did not definitively establish Mr. Daniels’ actual innocence, and due to “confidentiality concerns,” they could not share details of their investigation.

Mr. Davis lied in that letter, as the Governor’s Office conducted no investigation, and that is why he cannot share any details of it… and not because of “confidentiality concerns.” Furthermore, there was no forensic or scientific evidence to connect Daniels to the crime, he did not even fit the description of the armed masked perpetrator. The robbery victim fingered Erick Daniels based solely on the shape of his eyebrows in a middle school yearbook.

In addition, another man, Samuel Allen Strong, admitted to committing the crime for which Daniels served seven years. Strong not only fit the initial description of the robbery suspect, but had a past criminal record that included armed robbery, and at the time of his confession was in jail on a separate armed robbery incident.

Despite all of the above, and a declaration of innocence from Judge Orlando Hudson, Governor Bev Perdue expects the public to believe that Erick Daniels very likely was involved in the September 2000 crime.

A May 21, 2000 article in The News & Observer titled “Innocent Charlotte man spent 12 years in prison” tells of the wrongful conviction of Shawn Giovanni Massey on charges of a 1999 kidnapping and armed robbery. He served twelve years of a fourteen year sentence, convicted solely on eyewitness testimony. The only problem is that the victim went to the prosecutor with concerns that she had mistakenly identified Massey, because the perpetrator had cornrow braids and Massey did not.

A striking similarity between the cases of Massey and Daniels is that neither man fit the description of the armed robbery perpetrator, who in both instances was described as having cornrow braids. Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey each had closely cropped hair.

Mecklenburg County District Attorney Peter Gilchrist, in rare prosecutorial candor, admitted that his office botched the case by failing to disclose to the defense that the victim expressed doubt about her identification of the defendant… and eyewitness identification was all that the prosecution had with which to charge and convict Shawn Massey on the serious crimes of kidnapping and armed robbery. In other words, there was no forensic evidence tying Shawn Massey to the crime.

Gilchrist did not identify the prosecutor, and The Charlotte Observer writer Gary L. Wright, who was undoubtedly operating under the well-established media PAPEN (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong) policy, didn’t apparently make the effort to identify the prosecutor responsible for bringing an eyewitness case to trial and obtaining a conviction without disclosing exculpatory evidence to the defense about the victim’s own doubts about the accuracy of her identification. District Attorney Gilchrist also stated that he thought the prosecutor did not intend to withhold the information from the defense attorney, and that it was nothing more than a case of bad judgment.

It is interesting to note that The News & Observer glosses over such egregious missteps and malfeasances by prosecutors such as this that occur routinely throughout the state; yet use the least provocation to go after Tracey Cline, the African American Durham District Attorney, who worked under the former D.A., Mike Nifong, and has treated him with civility and respect. This has made her a target of Carpetbagger Jihadists… but that is another story.

On his release in May 2010, law professor James Coleman, a co-director of Duke’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project, drove Massey from the state prison in Greenville to Charlotte where he was reunited with his family.

Although Professor Coleman and I are diametrically opposed in our positions regarding the Duke Lacrosse case and Mike Nifong, I consider him a good friend, and I credit him with preventing Duke University from arresting me on a trumped up charge for being a supporter of Mike Nifong… again, that is another story.

Since being freed, Massey has been unable to land a job, and earlier this year, the governor denied him a pardon. Upon learning that his pardon had been denied, Shawn spiraled downward into a deep depression.

Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, is unsympathetic to the plight of those whose lives have been destroyed by the state through wrongful incarceration, stating, “This is not a welfare issue. The last thing we need to do is to set up a new program just for people who’ve been exonerated.” I strongly disagree as money alone will not help the wrongfully imprisoned adjust once released and not help them emotionally heal from scars inflicted by the state.

The state has a duty to make things right for these innocents. Many experience painful flashbacks and some struggle with relationships. Most all have had difficulty finding employment. As a wrongly incarcerated man for 18 years, Darryl Hunt summed it up when he said about the state, “They put you out with no help as to how to adjust.”

A September 4, 2011, article in The News & Observer by Mandy Locke titled, “Freedom is sweet, but new problems set in,” described the extraordinary challenges which face those exonerated and released after many years of incarceration… a sampling of which follows.

Darryl Hunt at 46 is battling health issues including a stroke after he spent 18 years on death row. He referred to a misconception when he stated, “Everyone assumes we are okay because we are free. There is so much more to it.”

Dwayne Dail, now 43, spent nearly two decades in jail and finds life after prison overwhelming. He suffers from panic attacks and flashbacks to abuses he sustained while incarcerated.

Leo Waters is 62 but feels decades older. He served 21 years in prison for robbery and rape. A disabling back injury sustained in prison forced him out of a job after being released because he frequently called in sick. Since his experience he now keeps to himself and feels uncomfortable around people.

Shawn Massey, now 38, said about his life and situation, “I’m just trying to keep my head above water.”

Even the compensation of $50,000 per year of a wrongful incarceration with a $750,000 maximum is inadequate. Duke University, in a shakedown, shelled out $20 million to each of the Duke Lacrosse defendants even though they never spent a day in jail. Surely the state can do better than it has.

To an objective, rational, and reasonable individual it is evident that Gregory Taylor, Erick Daniels, and Shawn Massey were all unjustly convicted and wrongly served lengthy prison sentences. Of the three, only Taylor has received a pardon and the compensation that he is entitled to as mandated by the General Assembly… which is a pittance when one considers that they were deprived of a human’s most valuable possession… freedom.

The reason for the denial of a pardon for Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey is obvious. It is because of the color of their skin… the fact that they are African Americans. Race is the determining factor in the governor’s decision regarding pardons of innocence. The onus is on the governor to prove otherwise, but to date Governor Perdue who publicly advocates for transparency in government is shielding a racist policy behind a claim of “confidentiality concerns.”

The reason Governor Bev Perdue feels at ease denying pardons to deserving African Americans who have been wrongly incarcerated is because the NAACP, black politicians, black community leaders, black religious leaders, black businesses, black organizations, and black media have remained silent about the blatant and egregious mistreatment of these people of color who are being victimized again by a Democratic governor blocking their access to the compensation to which they are entitled. The African Americans throughout the Tar Heel state are enabling the governor to proceed with carrying out her policies based on race by remaining silent.

State NAACP President William Barber, to my knowledge, has not commented on the denial of a pardon for Durham resident Erick Daniels. Neither has Durham politicians Senator Floyd McKissick, Representatives Larry Hall and Mickey Michaux, or Democratic Congressman David Price.

Prospects do not look good for another request for a Pardon of Innocence that is pending before Governor Perdue, as the petitioner is an African American named Glen Edward Chapman.

An article in the April 3, 2008 News & Observer titled “Another innocent inmate leaves state’s death row” is about Glen Chapman who spent fourteen years on death row for two slayings he did not commit. Again, information that a key witness identified someone other than Chapman was withheld from his attorneys. Furthermore, a forensic report showed that one victim most likely died from a drug overdose rather than due to foul play.

According to the article, defense attorneys stated that the only physical evidence tying Chapman to the one homicide victim was the result of consensual sex with the victim. In addition, it was never reported to defense lawyers that eyewitnesses had last seen the murder victim alive with someone with a history of violence against her in the days after prosecutors claimed she had died.

On August 15, 2011, I hand-delivered a letter to the Capitol Building for Governor Perdue requesting that she give Glen Chapman the pardon he deserves, so that he can receive compensation for the state’s injustices against him.

Later, I received a letter dated August 23, 2011, from Pat Hansen, the Governor’s Clemency Administrator who stated that my comments regarding a possible Chapman pardon would be taken into consideration. The Office of Executive Clemency’s response was appreciated; however, what I found to be extremely disturbing is that the office is apparently under the auspices of the North Carolina Department of Corrections. This seems to represent a grave conflict of interest and one that does not bode well for the interests of justice.

Odds for Glen Edward Chapman receiving a pardon of innocence from Governor Perdue are a long shot when one considers past history and the fact that Mr. Chapman is a man of color.

Equal justice for all demands that Erick Daniels, Shawn Massey, and Glen Chapman receive a pardon from Governor Perdue. That will enable them to receive compensation from the state for their wrongful incarcerations in accordance with law set forth by the state’s legislature. Tar Heelians of good conscience rooted in the principle of “equal justice for all” will accept nothing less. 

Trend towards mean-spirited media reporting

2011-09-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

Since the inglorious days of the Duke Lacrosse party of March 2006 and its aftermath, it seems to me that the media has adopted and honed to perfection the art of cruel, inhumane, and malicious reporting. Without doubt, the Duke case provided plenty of fodder for the media-types upon which to cut its teeth, especially by going after former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong. In kowtowing to the Carpetbagger Jihadist agenda to seek-destroy-annihilate anyone on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case, the media, with bloodlust relish, crucified Mike Nifong at every turn. No stone was left unturned when it came to Mr. Nifong, and truth, relevance, and objectivity presented no limitations. The worst example of a libelous attack against Mr. Nifong was by MSNBC senior legal analyst Susan F. Filan, who lied in an article by stating that Mr. Nifong asked his son to attend his hearing in an attempt to garner pity and sympathy. Then, based upon the falsehood that she had manufactured, she went to task attacking Mr. Nifong’s character. The truth of the matter is the opposite of the media-reality created by the Nifong detractor. Mr. Nifong specifically asked his son not to attend his hearing, but his son insisted upon showing support for his unjustly targeted father and was present at the North Carolina State Bar hearing; which was more a resemblance of a kangaroo court.

As stated earlier, everyone on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case was fair game for the media headhunters. Brian Meehan, the lab director whose company provided DNA results for the prosecution, was ridiculed by the media after he was unjustly axed from the company he helped establish. Duke Lacrosse case investigator Linwood Wilson’s personal bickering with his wife was dredged across the headlines… a perfect example of mountain making out of molehills. Vying for the cruelest coverage of all, was the way the news portrayed incidents involving the Duke Lacrosse victim and accuser Crystal Mangum. A litany of examples are on hand, with the most recent being the Reginald Daye autopsy report. Although the media has been alerted to the criminally fraudulent and bogus April 14, 2011 Examination of Autopsy Report, it has shown no curiosity as to how or why it differed from the Investigative Report of Death from April 13th. The media was quick to announce that the autopsy report showed injury to “six major organs”… the only problem is that the media relied upon the muscle called the diaphragm to be re-classified as an organ, which it is not. Furthermore, the report of the 13th , which is the far more reliable and accurate of the two, acknowledged only the splenic flexure of the colon as sustaining any stab related injury and receiving any attention during emergency surgery on Daye. ABC-11 television news was also quick to announce that Ms. Mangum stabbed Daye multiple times (seven) which was disproved by both reports. The media is at the ready to help the state keep concealed the truth behind Reginald Daye’s death from a stab wound… trauma from he most assuredly should have fully recovered.

Another gold mine source for the media has been provided by the NCAA’s investigation of the University of North Carolina’s football program. The self anointed organization headquartered in Indiana has as its objective to create athletic-academic crises in order to justify its relevance and the seven figure annual incomes of its top tiered executives. It pretends to place a premium on academic excellence while policing collegiate sports. Using a heavy hand it smashes the opportunities of many athletes to showcase their talents by arbitrarily handing out suspensions, fines, and banishments… usually for the alleged offense of accepting “gifts.” One UNC football player was deemed to have received a fifty dollar gift and the NCAA slapped him with a one game suspension. It is so ironic that the avaricious NCAA organization with it overstaffed and overpaid workforce is so bent on depriving a few athletes from underprivileged and disenfranchised origins from making a few bucks… this, while the NCAA is raking in the dinero hand over fist. Marvin Austin and Michael McAdoo were but a few of the students athletes caught up in the media storm, with McAdoo being cited for receiving “improper academic help” from a tutor. Although he received an F grade in the class, the NCAA tacked on an additional penalty… permanent ineligibility to play college football. The NCAA actions in this case, as in many others too numerous to recount, are examples of excesses in authority with draconian rulings that are arbitrary and capricious.

The media has been especially hard on the fired coach Butch Davis and one of his assistants John Blake. It seems that Blake had a relationship with a football agent of which the NCAA did not approve. Talk about piling on… Blake was unmercifully hammered in media. The News & Observer led the media charge against McAdoo’s professor, Julius Nyang’oro, who was forced to step down from his post as the chair of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies. His alleged culpability was not informing the Dean about a hiring decision he made of a qualified instructor who happened to work as a sports agent.

The main problem at UNC is that its chancellor, Holden Thorp, is shell-shocked. The NCAA really did a number on him, as every miniscule perceived infraction that is connected with UNC college sports is immediately reported to the NCAA. It is pitiful the amount of power the NCAA has over Mr. Thorp and college sports in general. The universities and colleges should unite and force the abolishment of the NCAA which is nothing more than a parasite that is drunk with power and is running rough-shod over student athletes and college administrators.

The News & Observer sports columnist Luke DeCock wrote a truly bizarre article in the September 6, 2011 paper titled, “Withers made bad call with game ball.” Evidently, it’s not enough to just win the football game… now what you do with the game ball is what really counts? DeCock accused UNC football coach Everett Withers of “calling attention to the Tar Heels’ sullied past instead of their new future.” What does he think his article did? First, I, although not an avid sports follower, was unaware that the game ball was given to former coach Butch Davis… until I read DeCock’s column. Second, so what? Big Deal. It is evident that former coach Davis was largely responsible for recruiting many of the team’s members and helping them to develop into a force capable of defeating James Madison by the score of 42-10. The players naturally had affection towards the former coach and Davis was a friend of current coach Withers. So why not give him a game ball that the coach and players felt he deserved? Certainly such an action was not meant to embarrass an overly sensitive chancellor or serve as a detraction. More ink was given to the story about a game ball given by Withers to Davis than to the ponzi scheme which snared North Carolina State University Debbie Yow’s new basketball coach. Somehow, I do not think The News & Observer has its priorities straight.

Finally, there’s The News & Observer’s three part investigative series by J. Andrew Curliss which does a hatchet job on Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline. To summarize my assessment of the series, it was a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. I am not the only one to be of that opinion. It is obvious that she is coming under fire because she is a friend of her predecessor Mike Nifong, and because she has treated him with civility… and the Carpetbagger Jihadist position strictly forbids that, as they follow the dictum that “the friend of my enemy is my enemy.” Claiming that Ms. Cline is under fire is a ruse to get the public to believe that there is widespread disapproval in her work. From what I see, the only disapproval of her job performance is from The News & Observer. Alas, a review of the media treatment of Ms. Cline is worthy of a blog itself.

Instead of hyping sensational stories with the intent of ruining careers, tarnishing reputations and destroying lives, all media-types should make a conscientious effort to report the news fairly and objectively. That would be the best service they could provide for its consumers. 

Coming soon: A flog about Governor Bev Perdue and her race-based pardon policy

Reginald Daye’s autopsy report is nothing more than a disgraceful shame…

2011-08-18T12:09:00.001-07:00

LINK to flog: http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog7.html

The above flog is interactive to allow you to view documents at will.

Script for the flog is below.

Recently I examined two autopsy reports related to Reginald Daye, the early morning April 3, 2011 stabbing victim of Crystal Mangum… the Duke Lacrosse case victim and accuser. Documents included the Report of Investigation by Medical Examiner conducted on April 13, 2011 by someone whose signature I cannot decipher, and the Report of Autopsy Examination of April 14, 2011 performed by the Orange County medical examiner, Clay Nichols, M.D.

Beginning with the investigative report, it clearly shows that at the time of the stabbing he was intoxicated, as he had a blood alcohol level of 296 mg/dl. However, what I find highly curious is that of all media accounts I am aware of regarding the Daye stabbing and subsequent course of events, there was no mention of Daye’s drunken state. A prime example of media bias.

Supporting the intoxicated state of Daye is a passage from an article in the Newsweek’s “The Daily Beast.” It reads as follows: “A neighbor told The Daily Beast that Mangum and Daye had returned to Daye’s apartment after drinking at a cookout and began quarreling about money, eventually leading to the stabbing…”

Under Probable cause of death, the box “Pending” is checked. Lines are left blank where it states that death was “Due to...” No where is “stab wound” or “stabbing” indicated.

In the section “Manner of Death” the pending box is checked. Notice that the homicide box is not marked.

In the Medical History portion of the form, the box for smoking is checked, but notice that the one for alcoholism is left unmarked. It is my understanding from my sources that Reginald Daye was an alcoholic. He had a high blood alcohol level when medical personnel first obtained blood samples following the incident. Furthermore, I believe that the argument proceeding the stabbing had to do with Reginald Daye wanting to use money contributed by Crystal and intended to go towards rent, to purchase beer.

Under “Means of Death,” a sharp instrument is indicated as being utilized, however under description it reads only “knife per report.” There is no mention of what type of knife was used or the dimensions of the blade. My sources told me that a paring knife was used. However, the media again has elected to be as vague as possible by stating only that a kitchen knife had inflicted the damage. Had it been a butcher knife you can bet that the news reports would have said so… and not just said “kitchen knife.”

I looked below in the report’s “Narrative Summary of Circumstances Surrounding Death,” and not only was there no description of a knife, but there was no mention of a knife… the report reading “Mr. Daye… was reportedly stabbed in the flank at 3:15 am…”

The sections titled “Description of Body” and “Body Diagrams” were both left empty with a notice to “Defer to Orange County Medical Examiner.” Now, I do not know if this is standard procedure or not, but it strikes me as being baffling and quite curious.

The “Narrative Summary of Circumstances Surrounding Death” is where things really get mystifying. First it states that the incision wound is in the left 7th intercostals space of the chest… and that the CAT scan examination shows a laceration of the spleen and a small laceration at the superior pole of the left kidney. The exploratory laparotomy does not confirm any lesions to the left kidney or spleen… the only injury noted is to the splenic flexure of the colon.

The narrative of the operation Mr. Daye underwent states the following: “He underwent exploratory laparotomy, mobilization of splenic flexure, repair of splenic flexure lesion, and lysis of adhesions, and was admitted.” Notice that no where in this report is there any mention of a laceration to the left lower lobe of the lung. No mention of a perforation of the diaphragm. And no mention of an injury or repair to the fundus of the stomach.

Based on this report, what I believe the stab wound injuries to Reginald Daye consisted of is a laceration to the splenic flexure of the colon… period. The CT scan confirmed injury there, and the description of the operative procedures listed attention to the colon only. There was no mention of repair of a stomach laceration. There is no mention of repairs to the diaphragm, left kidney, left lung, or spleen.

You will also notice there is no mention of any lacerations, bruises or other lesions to the left upper extremity. This is in sync with media reports in which I did not find any mention of any defensive-type wounds to the left arm.

WRAL reported that Daye underwent surgery and was expected to make a full recovery. With Daye being at Duke Hospital, with its stellar reputation, I would expect nothing less. Newsweek commented that “a friend told ‘The Daily Beast’ on April 5 that he, Daye, was recovering.” This was one day before Reginald Daye unexpectedly went into cardiac arrest.

However, it appears that Daye’s problems began on the evening of Wednesday, the third post-op day, when the report implies that Daye vomited, and aspirated – vomitus entering his airway – which led to respiratory distress and his cardiac arrest.

Then, according to the report, after 20 minutes of CPR, his heart and lungs were functioning, but he was brain dead. So, on the evening August 6, 2011, Reginald Daye was in a deep coma, and remained in a coma for a week until he died the following Wednesday evening of April 13, 2011… and the media never mentioned it once. Remember, Daye was expected to make a full recovery.

There is no mention of how Daye died, but I have been told that he passed away after he was taken off life support.

This report is deficient in explaining what procedures Mr. Daye underwent, other than the emergency exploratory laparotomy. It is my understanding that he underwent some major procedures which may have contributed to his cardiac arrest.

Finally, on July 28, 2011, a reviewer lists “Stab wound to chest” as the cause of death. A vague and totally inadequate finding. There is no nexus between the stab wound and the cardiac arrest. The cardiac arrest which allegedly occurred on April 6th obviously contributed to his grave neurological condition. And, was he removed from life support?

As problematic as this report is, I believe it to be, by far, more accurate and reliable than the Report of Autopsy Examination which was conducted the following morning, on Thursday, April 14, 2011.

It lists the cause of death as “Complications of stab wound to chest.” However, it fails to list what any of those complications were, or how they were related to the stab wound.

Then, under diagnoses, the fantasy begins with the following entry:
“Stab wound to chest with: Perforation of left lower lung lobes; Perforation of diaphragm; Perforation of stomach; Perforation of colon; Perforation of left kidney; and Perforation of spleen (clinical).”

I’m assuming that a clinical perforation of the spleen is a phantom lesion that somehow produces a laceration within the organ without interrupting its capsule. Actually, I’ve never heard of such.

The paragraphs under “Injuries” I find most curious… especially involving the stab wound itself which the medical examiner described as “gaping.” I would hardly call an incision less than three quarters of an inch in length gaping, but if it were open, more than a quarter of an inch wide, then why was it not sutured closed at the time of surgery to prevent infection? Surgical intervention was well within time for primary closure… and if the wound was not closed at the time of the operation, it would have been well on its way to healing itself by granulation. There is no explanation I can see for the stab wound to be “gaping.”

It then claims that there are sutures on all of the following sites: left lower lung lobe, diaphragm, stomach, colon, and kidney. No mention of surgical intervention on the spleen.

Now if there were sutures to the left lower lung, would they have been performed by a thoracic surgeon, or would a trauma surgeon have been charged with its repair?

Regarding the stab wounds to the left arm, which first appear in this report, there is no mention as to the number of wounds. They are stated to run from the biceps to the wrist with 5 inches the greatest in length.

Under Internal Examination, the left lung does not mention any suture material, as stated was present earlier in the report. The tracheobronchial tree is described as having no abnormalities, which would contradict an aspiration. There is no sign of pulmonary embolism, either. These findings beg the question of what caused the cardiac arrest.

The Gastrointestinal System claims to show sutures in the fundus of the stomach and in the splenic flexure of the colon… sigmoid flexure being an obvious mistake.

The spleen does not show any signs of sutures or disruption of the organ’s capsule.

The left kidney supposedly shows signs of hemorrhage under the upper pole of the left kidney, which the medical examiner attributes to a stab wound… but there is no gross lesion observed on the organ’s capsule or any suturing. Also the adrenal gland which sits like a cap over the upper pole of the kidney is intact and normal in appearance.

The diaphragm is not specifically mentioned in this report… so there is no confirmation by report of the gross exam that sutures are present.

The examination of the brain exhibited no signs of pathology to help explain why Reginald Daye went into a comatose state. Most likely, the brain was deprived of oxygen for an extended time prior to the cardiac arrest, but the reason is unknown. Many people who are successfully resuscitated with CPR lasting twenty minute or longer, usually do not end up brain dead. The cause of his brain death is at the crux of his death, and I can find no nexus with the stab wound.

This leads to the “Summary and Interpretation.” The summary is inconclusive and there is no interpretation. The medical examiner explains that Reginald Daye sustained a single puncture laceration that penetrated a slew of organs in the thoracic and abdominal cavities, with hemorrhaging into them. It is evident that Daye did not die due to shock or blood loss. If there was a hemothorax, or bleeding into the chest cavity, or pneumothorax, air in the thoracic cavity, a chest tube would have been inserted. Repairs to lacerated organs should have put an end to the bleeding into the abdominal cavity. There is no mention as to why Daye was brain dead, why he went into cardiac arrest, which preceded which, and whether or not the patient was taken off life support. These questions are all the more baffling when it was reported post-operatively that he was expected to make a full recovery.

From the type of trauma he sustained, he should have made a full recovery. I believe that only the colon at the splenic flexure was penetrated by the stab wound, and that the Autopsy report embellished the injuries to make a better case for a death secondary to complications of the stab wound. The investigative report of April 13, 2011 is by far the more factual report.

The autopsy report of April 14, 2011 does nothing to shed light on why Reginald Daye died. The only thing that is obvious is that he did not die due to the stab wound he received… which penetrated his colon only.

The media, of course, is in cahoots with the police and prosecutors, and the medical examiner, Dr. Clay Nichols. This was evident from the very beginning when ABC-11 News stated that the warrants read that Mangum repeatedly stabbed her boyfriend. The online video of that news report titled: “Warrants: Mangum repeatedly stabbed boyfriend.” Posted the day following the incident, ABC-11 News went on to state that Daye was stabbed seven times. By misleading the public about the number of times Daye was stabbed, the ABC-11 was trying to make a self-defense scenario seem less likely.

The media also attempted to make the damage from the single stab wound seem more severe than it actually was. Whereas only the colon was penetrated by the knife, in my opinion based on the initial investigative report of April 13, 2011, the media wants the public to believe that six organs were penetrated… and to help do that, they refer to the diaphragm, which is nothing more than a very large muscle, as an organ. And the left kidney and spleen show no indication on gross examination that they were lacerated or repaired.

In short, the Autopsy report of April 14, 2011 is a sham, and does not even list any complications of the stab wound or surgery other than a cardiac arrest which mysteriously appeared and which, upon resuscitation left the patient brain dead… it is not even clear if Mr. Daye was brain dead prior to the cardiac arrest.

The media has done such a terrific job of sowing a culture of hatred against former District Attorney Mike Nifong, Crystal Mangum, and those who are considered by the Powers-That-Be to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case, that I would not be surprised if a sinister hand at the hospital was responsible for the death of Reginald Daye. And although this is a very real possibility, the Durham Police never treated Mr. Daye’s death as a possible homicide. Instead the prosecutor was quick to upgrade the charge against Crystal Mangum to include first degree murder… months before the medical examiner even determined a cause of death.

Anatomically there are reasons to doubt the April 14, 2011 Report of Autopsy Examination. According to both reports, the stab wound would have been in the left seventh intercostal space… here. It is very likely that a puncture could have easily penetrated the colon and/or stomach. The April 13, 2011 investigative report well documents that the colon at the splenic flexure was injured.

However, the April 14th report states that the fundus of the stomach had a sutured lesion. This is fundamentally impossible as the fundus of the stomach, which is the part most superiorly positioned, is no where near the colon. Both organs could not be penetrated with a single stab wound.

The April 14th autopsy report is also flawed when it suggests that the knife traveled in a downward direction after penetrating the skin. Notice the position of the diaphragm… and the lungs are sitting atop them. In order to pierce the diaphragm and the lung from the 7th intercostal space, a knife would have to proceed in an upward direction.

The left kidney is located along the back wall of the abdominal cavity, and would require a strenuous thrust up to the hilt of a paring knife to possibly reach the left kidney, and I do not believe it could be reached without first going through the spleen.
And it could not be reached if the blade followed a downward course as determined by the medical examiner.

It is not only the discrepancies between the two reports that makes me doubt the April 14th report’s accuracy, but issues involving human anatomy. The April 14, 2011 autopsy report is nothing more than fiction designed to garner Crystal Mangum a first degree murder charge. The medical examiner is not at fault in the fabrication of this false report. Fault lies with the state and the media, working in conjunction with the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants in carrying out their vendetta against Mike Nifong, Crystal Mangum, and those whom they consider to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case.

In the pursuit of justice, serious problems with reports by the medical examiners in the autopsy of Reginald Daye demands that the first degree murder charge against Crystal Mangum be dropped.



“Race played no role” in Governor’s denial of pardon for Daniels

2011-08-08T06:46:00.000-07:00

Click Link below to view interactive flog:
http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog6redo.html

Script of flog

On Friday, September 9, 2008, Erick Daniels, at 22 years of age was freed after more than seven years of incarceration after being convicted of a September 21, 2000 armed robbery. His road to freedom had begun in late 2004, when attorney Carlos Mahoney began to appeal Daniels’ conviction. Despite several unsuccessful appeals, including a setback in January 2007 when the state’s Court of Appeals denied his case, Mahoney was undaunted and persevered.

Then in September 2008, state prosecutors, knowing they had a pitifully weak case against Erick Daniels, offered an Alford plea deal… wherein he would deny involvement in the crime but acknowledge evidence existed for his conviction in exchange for his immediate release. Had he accepted the plea deal, Daniels would forever be branded a felon. With faith in his attorney, Daniels refused to accept the deal… he would take his chances with an appeals hearing in hopes of getting a new trial.

During two days of the hearing, in which attorney Mahoney dissected the prosecutors’ case against Daniels like a skilled surgeon, the evidence to support Daniels’ innocence was so substantial and overwhelming, that Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson took the initiative to dismiss the charges and proclaiming that Erick Daniels was innocent.

Judge Hudson specifically stated, “I would order a new trial if I were satisfied that this defendant committed this crime and the state could prove it. I have no confidence the defendant committed these charges.”

Lending support to Judge Hudson’s assessment was the fact that in 2003 Daniels submitted to a polygraph tests in which he denied robbing the victim, denied pointing a gun at the victim and denied being present when the robbery took place. According to polygraph examiner Steve Davenport, “It is my opinion there were no reactions indicative of deception to those relevant questions.”

Not only that, but a young man who fit the description of the armed perpetrator and had a history of committing armed robberies, had confessed to his attorney that he was responsible for the September 2000 armed robbery for which Daniels was convicted.

Shortly after Daniels was proclaimed innocent by the judge and released, Durham attorney Gladys Harris began filing a petition for a pardon of actual innocence on behalf of Erick Daniels. Such a pardon was a prerequisite for him to be able to receive financial compensation for his years of wrongful incarceration… as legislated at the North Carolina General Assembly.

In 2010, attorney Carlos Mahoney met with Eddie Speas, Will Polk, and Barry Jenkins, and he requested that Governor Perdue grant Daniels’ petition and issue a pardon of actual innocence. To assist the governor, Mahoney even provided a notebook containing pleadings and trial transcripts.

Apparently in February 2011, the North Carolina Office of Executive Clemency denied a pardon of actual innocence for Erick Daniels, but failed to notify him or his attorney. It was only in mid-April 2011 that Daniels accidentally uncovered the panel’s decision. An article titled, “Erick Daniels denied pardon,” in the April 20, 2011 edition of the “Independent Weekly” brought this to my attention, as all other mainstream media outlets ignored the story.

Erick Daniels’ petition for a pardon was not the only one presented to Governor Perdue… she also received one from Gregory Flynt Taylor.

I had been a staunch supporter of Gregory Taylor since 2009 when I first learned through the media of his questionable conviction for the murder of Jacquetta Thomas. Like many others, I admired and was in awe of Greg Taylor’s integrity, principles, courage and ethics. Rather than falsely implicate an African American man, who Greg knew to be innocent, at the urgings of prosecutor Tom Ford in the Thomas murder case, Greg refused, and as a result spent seventeen of his best years behind bars. He was facing life in prison.

Gregory Taylor, who was found innocent of the murder by a unanimous three panel judge during mid February 2010, immediately sought a pardon from the governor after his exoneration.

When a pardon for Taylor was not forthcoming in what I considered a timely manner, I hand delivered a letter to Governor Perdue on April 12, 2010. I questioned the delay in her response to his request for a pardon. No reply was forthcoming.

The following month, on May 21, 2010, I hand-delivered another letter to the Capitol building for the governor. Again, I received no response. However, shortly thereafter an official pardon was granted by Governor Perdue.

On June 1, 2011, a little over a month following the “Independent Weekly” article about Daniels’ petition for a pardon being denied, I hand-delivered a letter to the governor. I pointed out how Erick Daniels had been unjustly convicted, served seven years wrongly incarcerated, and how he, like Gregory Taylor, had been declared “innocent” by a judge or judges.

Finally, I asked the governor to explain why the Office of Executive Clemency denied Daniels’ request for a pardon. I did not hear from her office.

On July 13, 2011, roughly six weeks after the previous letter, I hand delivered another for the governor. In it, I praised her for granting the pardon to Gregory Taylor, although belatedly. Furthermore, I specifically expressed that I did not feel that because Erick Daniels is an African American that he should be disqualified from being given a pardon. I expressed to her that unless I received an explanation for the denial of Erick Daniels’ petition, I would conclude that the decision to deny his request for a pardon was racially based. To this letter, I did receive a reply from the Office of the Governor.

On July 27, 2011, I received a letter from the governor’s office dated July 26th. It was written by her general counsel Mark A. Davis. He vigorously denied that race played any role in Governor Bev Perdue’s decision to deny Erick Daniels a pardon… that it was based on results of their extensive investigation that failed to prove his innocence. Then he stated that “confidentiality concerns” prevented him from sharing details of this investigation with me.

I have many serious problems with Mr. Davis’s reply. First he suggested that the Governor’s Office conducted an extensive investigation. I don’t believe it. If they did, in fact, investigate Daniels’ case as he claimed, then it was an extravagant waste of taxpayer dollars.

Secondly, he averred that due to “confidentiality concerns” he was unable to share results of the investigation. The confidentiality concerns excuse is commonly used to obstruct and to make opaque and keep from the public information that is damaging to officials, be they in the corporate or governmental spheres. However, what I find most hypocritical is the illusion that Governor Bev Perdue places a high value on “transparency.”

Thirdly, and most importantly, the governor decided that the findings of their alleged investigation did not support Erick Daniels’s innocence. By such a statement it is inferred that she approached the Daniels’ case with a presumption of guilt… this, after Judge Hudson dropped the armed robbery charges against Daniels and proclaimed that he was innocent.

What the governor fails to understand is the basic concept found in Civics 101 called the separation of powers. The governor, like the attorney general, belongs to the executive branch of government. Judicial decisions are handed down by those belonging to the judicial branch of government. Proclamations of “innocent” or “guilt,” whether made by the governor or the attorney general, carry no legal weight.

Attorney General Roy Cooper’s April 11, 2007 promulgation in which he declared the three Duke Lacrosse defendants “innocent” is as invalid and irrelevant as Governor Perdue’s claim that Erick Daniels is “guilty” of armed robbery.

To summarize, the entire gist of the governor’s letter was that race played no role in the governor’s decision to deny Daniels’ request for a pardon of innocence, and that the secret extensive investigation they conducted contradicts the ruling of Judge Hudson… but they can’t divulge results of their investigation due to confidentiality concerns.

This letter from the Office of the Governor actually hurt my feelings as my intelligence was justifiably insulted. Mr. Davis’s letter profoundly failed to convince me that the denial of a pardon for Erick Daniels was not based on racism.

The onus remains on the governor to come up with another excuse for denying Daniels a pardon, or to do the right thing by reversing the February 2011 decision, and granting Erick Daniels a pardon of innocence.



In response to the Unbelievers: the "Innocent Promulgation"

2011-08-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

On July 31, 2011, a blog commenter with the moniker of Sid Owes Another Apology said...
“Sid,

I don't believe your claim about having received correspondence from wral.com. Post it.

Your claim that ALL the media rely on Cooper's statement is almost certainly false. Many observers reached the conclusion that the defendants were innocent through a review of the evidence. As you know, much is publicly available.

Stop it with the straw man arguments. No one has claimed Cooper's statement had legal weight. Your use of straw man arguments is misleading. You owe yet another apology to your readers.”

This comment was in response to the previous blog in which I railed against the media for constantly misleading the public by stating that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were proclaimed “innocent.” This claim was obviously based on the infamous April 11, 2007 “Innocent Promulgation of Roy Cooper.” The A.G. made the unprecedented move of proclaiming the defendants innocent at the strong, arm-twisting urgings of Joseph B. Cheshire’s underling Brad Bannon. The clever defense attorney needed this admission in order to utilize Rae Evans’ decade-long past history as CBS News executive to its fullest.

Once Cooper publicly stated that the Duke defendants were innocent, the biased mainstream media took hold of it and ran with it. Everywhere you looked the media presented as fact that the Duke Lacrosse defendants had been proclaimed “innocent.” To many of the naïve, but trusting public, they took this to mean that they were “legally” found to be innocent. I repeatedly challenged the media about this purposely false misrepresentation, pointing to a statement made by former Campbell Law School professor Anthony Baker. He stated that only a jury or judge, in lieu of a jury, can make determinations of innocence or guilt. The opposition has failed to provide a legal source to support that an attorney general can do so.

Due to the hullabaloo I continued to raise about this subject, the media’s statements about the Duke boys’ alleged “innocence” has morphed. As I pointed out in my previous blog, WRAL, in one of their online articles attribute to reporter Erin Hartness, wrote that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were declared innocent by “state officials”… plural. In other words, it was trying to disguise the fact that the attorney general, from the executive branch of government made the proclamation. By using the plural, and suggesting that more than one person proclaimed them innocent, WRAL was trying to increase the credibility of the statement.

After confronting the station, I received a response from the news director. WRAL deserves kudus for replying to my e-mail and blog on the subject. The response I received supported my assertion in my previous blog that their statement of “innocence” was based on Cooper’s promulgation, and not upon declarations by “state officials” as stated in the article.

Blog commenter Sid Owes Another Apology doubted that I received any communication from WRAL and challenged me to post it. So, I will paste below the statement I received via e-mail on the matter:

“Gall, Rick to me, Aysu
show details Jul 17

Sid,

Thank you for contacting WRAL and sharing your thoughts. When Attorney General Roy Cooper announced in a news conference that charges against the three lacrosse players were being dropped, he specifically said they were "innocent". That's the source of our reporting.

Rick Gall
NewsDirector WRAL News”

So, as the above e-mail clearly affirms, only one state official, who was from the executive branch of government, made the proclamation of “innocence”… a proclamation that carries no legal weight and is false and misleading.

Finally, in regards to statements I make, you can count on them being truthful. For me to present falsehoods in my blog would only take away from its credibility… and that is what this blog site is all about. 

Media kowtows to Carpetbagger families

2011-07-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

Note: This Flog is approximately eight minutes in length, and requires audio.

LINK: http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog5.html

It is shameful the power that the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants continue to hold over the mainstream media. The most recent disgraceful example can be found in the July 12, 2011 online article posted on wral.com titled “Father gains custody of Duke Lacrosse accuser’s children.”

One wonders how such a topic could once again focus on expressing the innocence of the three Duke Lacrosse defendants… but it does. WRAL follows the lead of many recent Duke lacrosse related stories in misleading the public with regards to the source of the defendants’ innocence. Initially, wral.com, and other media outlets stated that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, in his April 11, 2007 promulgation, found the three partygoing defendants “innocent” of sexual abuse charges related to the March 2006 beer-guzzling, stripper ogling bacchanal.

It wasn’t until this blog site repeatedly pummeled the media with the fact that the attorney general belongs to the executive branch of government, has no judiciary powers, and is incapable of the legal pronouncement of “innocent” or “guilt,” for that matter, that media types stopped naming the attorney general as the source of the boys’ exoneration.

Time and time again this blog enlightened readers, and e-mails informed media-types that, as former Campbell University law school professor Tony Baker stated, “Only a jury, or judge in lieu of a jury” can decide innocence or guilt.

So the media continues to morph its statement regarding the innocence of the Duke Lacrosse triad by stating, quote: “state officials (plural) later declared the players innocent,” unquote. This is a flagrant, bald-faced, in-your-face, two-faced lie. Fabrication. Prevarication. A blatant misrepresentation meant to deceive the public… or at least the vast majority who do not bother to engage their gray matter and are easily susceptible to Jedi mind-tricks.

By using the plural when citing “state official” wral is trying to give credibility to its claim that the boys were found innocent. I have spoken to media-types about this very issue in the past, and the only source given for the proclamation of innocence has been A.G. Roy Cooper.

Now, although the article was attributed to reporter Erin Hartness and Matthew Burns, the web editor, I doubt very seriously that either one of them is responsible for the misinformation about who was responsible for proclaiming the Duke Lacrosse defendants “innocent.” There is probably policy in place at WRAL, as well as in other media outlets, as how to phrase the innocence statement. Just as there most assuredly is a policy in place to bring up the alleged “innocence” of the Duke Lacrosse defendants whenever an article even remotely touches on someone who is somehow related to the Duke Lacrosse case.
Not only that, but you can bet that certain topics related to the Duke Lacrosse case are strictly off limits. For example, the fact that the three defendants and their avaricious attorneys shook down Duke University for $20 million each and are seeking an additional $10 mil from the city of Durham, is never broached.

Likewise, Reade Seligmann’s alleged failure to pay close to $7 million in taxes is kept hush-hush by the media.

The expunged record of Collin Finnerty’s assault charge against two men he mistook for being homosexual in Washington, D.C. is glossed over.

And the fact that Dave Evans’ mother, Rhea Evans, worked for more than a decade as an executive at CBS News, was and is never disclosed… not even during the CBS broadcasts of “60 Minutes” during which the Duke Lacrosse case was featured, and in which Ms. Evans and the Carpetbagger parents of the two other Duke Lacrosse defendants were interviewed.

It is no doubt that Ms. Evans’ connections with the media, and her professional role as a highly successful founder of a Washington D.C. public relations firm have served the Carpetbagger Jihadist’s agenda well. How else can you explain wral.com’s perpetual and false assertion that “state officials later declared the players innocent.”

Instead of continuing to consent to the whims of the Carpetbagger Jihadist agenda, it is high time for wral and all media sources to begin reporting truthfully and objectively when it comes to stories with even the slightest connection to the Duke Lacrosse case.


Judge Gessner takes charge by tossing out charge

2011-07-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

In an Anne Blythe article in Friday’s July 8, 2011 The News & Observer titled “Judge throws out murder charge,” Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Gessner dismissed murder charges against 31 year-old Mario Antonio Smith. Prosecutors accused Smith of killing Dwight Lee Dean at a night club after a disturbance there. According to prosecutors, their witnesses gave statements after the incident that significantly differed from testimony given on the witness stand in court. (This is similar to a case involving the conviction of Shan Carter, which I will be highlighting in the future.) Furthermore, the prosecution’s one witness who linked Smith to the crime, described a perpetrator -who did not match the defendant in stature or hair style. (Not unlike the Erick Daniels case.)

Since the incident took place in July 2010, it is reasonable to assume that Mr. Smith was incarcerated for a year prior to his weak case being dismissed by Judge Gessner. The fact that the prosecution even brought such a merit-less case to trial was not surprising to defense attorney Jeff Cutler. Cutler stated about prosecutors, “That’s what they do. They don’t want to take heat for not trying the case. They’d rather let a judge or jury make the decision. I’m not surprised the judge dismissed it.” The prosecutor lacked credible evidence! Without forensics tying Mario Antonio Smith to the crime or a consistent and credible eyewitness, prosecutors plodded forward in preparing a flawed and flimsy case while the defendant cooled his heels in the cooler. (Similar to the Carletta Alston case, Smith essentially served a year sentence on a charge so weak that a judge threw it out before it could be brought before a jury… in Alston’s case the prosecutor avoided that humiliation by dropping charges against her himself.)

In their zeal, the Wake County prosecutors also charged Gregory Mecos Lee Watkins with accessory after the fact because he allegedly drove Smith from the nightclub stabbing scene. The article made no mention of whether or not he endured a lengthy pre-trial incarceration, or was released on bond. Regardless, due to actions from the bench on Smith’s case, the “accessory” charge against Watkins was dropped, as well.

I applaud Judge Gessner for his actions in this case, as it supports justice that is much too often denied the poor, disenfranchised, and people of color. Because prosecutors in the Tar Heel state have a propensity to charge people from the disadvantaged and “not-so-privileged” classes with crimes despite the paucity of evidence against them, they can usually count on a jury, with a mindset to please the prosecution, to deliver a verdict against the defendant. It happens time and time again, when defendants are convicted without a shred of credible evidence. Most of the time these cases pass public attention because the media does not cover them… it is only when the advantaged and privileged are snagged in the cogs of the criminal justice system that the media-types jump on criminal cases.

Unfortunately, it is only in high profile cases involving defendants from the upper echelons of society that jurors take their oaths seriously. In the Jason Young case, for example, the jurors fought to a standoff in a murder trial that was declared a mistrial after several days of deliberation. Holdouts against conviction in that group of twelve, did not feel that the prosecution presented a case without reasonable doubt. In most trials, however, with defendants lacking status or media appeal, jurors tend to reach verdicts not by analyzing the facts, evidence, and presentations of the barristers but instead rely on their visceral emotions… ready to convict when a crime victim is young and innocent or to assuage the grief of victims’ friends and relatives.

Jurors in the Erick Daniels case were not presented with a compelling case for his guilt, yet those dozen who sat in judgment reached a unanimous decision against him. The same can be said for the jurors in the Gregory Taylor case. Indifferent juries are responsible for many innocent people being convicted and given lengthy sentences in this state… the majority of wrongly incarcerated being the poor, disenfranchised, and people of color.

The second to the last paragraph in the article revealed the identity of Smith’s prosecutor as being Melanie Shekita… only to say that efforts to reach her were unsuccessful. I am glad to see the staff of the newspaper taking baby steps away from its ensconced PAPEN (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong) policy. Although prosecutors may feel pressure to convict someone of an especially heinous crime such as murder, it behooves them to take pains to see that their priority is to convict the guilty party. All too often they bring charges and prosecute knowing that the defendant is innocent (such as the Gregory Taylor case and the Erick Daniels case).

Until North Carolina prosecutors become true “Ministers of Justice,” prosecuting only those cases which have merit, it is incumbent upon judges to assure that the rights and liberty of the innocents are protected by dismissing those cases brought by prosecutors in which there is not enough evidence to convict… as did Judge Paul Gessner in the Mario Antonio Smith case. Unfortunately juries cannot be relied upon to use sound reasoning and impartial objectivity instead of sympathy and raw emotions in reaching a fair verdict… especially when it comes to the lives and futures of defendants who are poor, disenfranchised, and people of color.

I believe I speak on behalf of all Tar Heelians when I state that we are all in Judge Paul Gessner’s debt.

GOP Speaker Thom Tillis caught with finger in hypocrisy cookie jar

2011-07-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

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Despite my criticism of The News & Observer’s blatant and well established anti-Nifong bias, it deserves a few kudus every now and then for doing what a good media outlet should do… which is to inform the public about misdeeds and malfeasance amongst public officials. On its Saturday, June 11, 2011 front page, it boldly called out the North Carolina Republican Speaker of the House Thom Tillis for giving outrageous pay hikes to half of his staff, some as high as 27%. This comes at a time when the budget is being slashed with draconian relish by the power-mongering Republican party. It is also at the expense of many Tar Heelians who are unemployed and living on the fringes barely able to survive and who are dependent on the services and programs that are being downsized or eliminated.

According to the article, Tillis’ general counsel Jason Kay received the 27% pay raise bringing his annual salary from $110,000 to $140,000. That’s a $30,000 raise during an economic downturn in which the state’s unemployment rate is at its highest… in large measure thanks to the recently Republican veto-overridden budget which counted many of its victims as state employees whose jobs were shelved. Not only that, but according to Dana Cope of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, the last time most state workers received a raise was three years ago due to the recession, and any raises that were authorized never even approached 27%.

Another benefactor of Speaker Tillis’ largess was Chief of Staff Charles Thomas whose annual pay was bumped by $30,000, too… from $120,000 to $150,000. Two other noticeable pay hikes mentioned in the article went to Christopher Hayes and Amy Hobbs, both of whom were hired in January 2011 as policy advisers at a salary of $70,000, and within six months saw their yearly income balloon to $82,000.

Thom Tillis, who is quite talented when it comes to obfuscation, stated that the initial $70,000 salary the new hires received was probationary and that they would get more money if they performed well. In other words, according to Speaker Tillis, if the new hires did not perform well, they would not get a raise. That just doesn’t make sense. In most business models if new employees do not perform well during the probationary period, they’re fired. This is the typical type of Republican double-speak that I find insulting. But the speaker believes that most Tar Heelians are stupid.

Prior to April 2011, Tillis had a fourteen person staff, and in all, seven of them, including the aforementioned, received raises. Information about the other three who received raises was not presented in the article. Then, in May 2011, amid firings, layoffs, Thom Tillis hired another person to join his staff at a salary of $70,000. The position title was not mentioned, nor was there any clarification as to whether or not the $70,000 amount was probationary.

Not long ago, in January, Tillis boasted that his office payroll would be 17% lower than his predecessor Joe Hackney by hiring fewer people and lowering salaries. However, actions speak louder than words, and as it turns out, Tillis’ payroll is ten percent higher and his staff is larger than Hackney. This hypocrisy when it comes to pay for the staff of the legislative leader is not restricted to a single party. According to Cope, Tillis and others “always find a way to give their staff members higher salaries and pay raises than the rest of state government.”

I do not stand alone in my indignation at the pay raises doled out by Speaker Tillis. Arlene Pulley-Morris of Leland, North Carolina, wrote an insightful letter to The News & Observer that appeared in its People’s Forum on June 16, 2011. In 1975 the Speaker of the House had one full-time employee and three part-time employees; Ms. Pulley-Morris was that full-time employee. She states that the staff for the speaker’s office has swollen to eighteen. Her credible assessment is that payment of these abundant salaries and the inexplicable increase in staff size is a waste of Tar Heelian taxpayer dollars. I fully agree. Furthermore, I applaud her for having the courage to enlighten us about what is going on at the General Assembly. As she also stated, she is of the opinion that “everyone is afraid to speak up because they will be punished by the speaker.”

In the paper’s People’s Forum of June 14, 2011, Valorie Jones of Raleigh, Karen Padgett of Garner, and Martha Hayes of Raleigh also voiced their displeasure at Speaker Tillis’ wasteful actions. Ms. Jones asked Tillis to explain why his staff is given raises when the state is forced to lay off teachers and teaching assistants; cuts are made to child care which allows poor single mothers to hold down jobs; medical and dental health for the uninsured poor is diminishing; and other sacrifices are made due to dire financial straits. Like Ms. Jones, I would very much like an explanation as well.

Ms. Padgett, a veteran teacher, expressed her outrage at Tillis’ raises for his staff, stating that she hadn’t received a raise in years while those in the General Assembly are asking her to do more in the classroom with less.

Ms. Hayes stated that Speaker Tillis should be ashamed for the raises given while Wake County teacher assistant positions are being cut to 90%. Again, I wholeheartedly agree.

In the June 17th People’s Forum, David Lea, of Raleigh, and Connie Schafer, of Apex, opine about their unhappiness over Tillis’ pay raises. Mr. Lea, who admits to being a Republican, noted that the June 11th headline “Tillis gives his staff fat raises,” was clearly understated. Unconscionable, indefensible, egregious, insensitive, and tone-deaf are adjectives Mr. Lea believes are far more worthy.

Ms. Schafer pointed out that many state employees put Tillis and other state Republicans in office and now they are being laid off in droves while not seeing a pay raise in nearly four years. That really is not surprising, as the GOP is a party which puts the privileged, the powerful, and profits ahead of the needs of the masses of people who struggle to buy food, put gas in their cars, and pay for the mortgage on their homes that is most likely underwater. She got it right, and it bears repeating. “It is a slap in the face of each one of them for Tillis to pass a budget that will lay off workers, add a fourth year of no raises, and increase health care costs while handing out raises to a privileged few.” Unfortunately, Republicans, who are masters of obfuscation, will continue to use Jedi mind-tricks and false and misleading rhetoric to skillfully persuade state employees and others to elect to office Republicans who will work against the best interests of those who are vulnerable, downtrodden, disenfranchised, and hardworking Americans who are trying to get by.

Without doubt, the Republican Party works for the interests of corporations, big business, and the well healed, seeking tax breaks and doing whatever else it can, including outsourcing American jobs and manufacturing overseas, to increase its bottom line.

Three letters appeared in the Sunday Forum section of The News & Observer of June 19th, written by Robert I. Bruck, Ph.D., Ken Andrews, and Evelyn Holland, all from Cary. Dr. Bruck wrote that at first he thought the 12 to 27% pay raises to Tillis’ staff was a joke. He read the proposed budget which specifically stated “no pay raises to state employees” for a third consecutive year. Then, for Tillis to reward his state employees with huge raises is like rubbing salt in the wounds.

Mr. Andrews questioned the raises handed out after a probationary period was completed. As Mr. Andrews stated, it makes no sense to give a probationary raise. The incentive for working hard and doing an outstanding job during a probationary period is to hold on to the job… not get a raise. That is unheard of, and it is what makes Tillis’ excuse for the raises lack credibility. Put another way, according to Tillis, if a worker performs poorly or unsatisfactorily during a probationary period, he/she remains employed at the initial salary and is not given a raise. It makes no sense, but Mr. Tillis expects the people to believe him.

Ms. Holland expressed how disappointed she was in Tillis’ pay raises to his staff, and suggested that it wasn’t just Democrats who were disgusted, but some Republicans, too. Those disgusted Republicans, I would venture to guess, are not from the privileged class, but have bought into the Republicans’ lofty words and rhetoric which belie their true motives and actions.

I have been reading the People’s Forum section of The News & Observer since the story about Tillis’ raises appeared. I have found nine opinions fiercely against Tillis’ actions, but have found none in praise of the raises he meted out using taxpayer dollars. The reason is most likely due to the fact that no such letters were submitted… otherwise, at least one or more would have been published to give the subject matter an alternative view or more balance.

I believe the speaker should be accountable to the people to explain how taxpayer money is being spent. I have serious reservations about the large staff at the speaker’s disposal and the salaries they enjoy. Furthermore, I question the need for the May 2011 hire, especially during this debilitating recession. We do not even know the new hire’s job title or description.

Unless the speaker can give reasonable and compelling reasons for the number of his staff and the compensation that they receive, then I would recommend that Thom Tillis rescind the ill-advised fat raises that half of his staff received. In addition, I believe that he should trim not only the number of his staff but compensation packages they receive, as I have no doubt that they are excessive.

Consider, for example, the two policy advisers. What exactly is their job description, and how many are on his staff? How many hours a week do they put in on the job? When the legislature is not in session, what work is being done by the speaker’s staff and how is it audited? Regarding Tillis’ general counsel, why is there a need for his services as a staff member? What hours does he devote to serving the speaker? Does the general counsel receive other income? What work is being conducted by the general counsel when the legislation is not in session? The same questions could be applied to the Chief of Staff for the Speaker of the House, as well as the other staff members whose titles, job descriptions, and incomes are unknown.

Unfortunately I believe that many of the people in power have a tendency to lavish themselves, their cronies, and sycophants with exorbitant compensation and benefits while transferring the burden of making up their avaricious excesses by cutting jobs, salaries, benefits, services and programs for others who are scraping hard just to survive.

Government employees such as firefighters and police put their lives on the line daily to protect lives and property, often working in harsh and unpredictable situations. Maintenance and sewer workers, trash collectors, and those employed to keep the roads cleared and paved and the infrastructure safe and sound makes everyday life comfortable and tranquil. Teachers, teacher assistants, and those who work as janitors and cooks in our public school system help to assure that children will get an education that will help prepare them to meet future challenges and take advantages of opportunities. These individuals all have a job that most people can comprehend the effort exerted by them and their value to society.

The same cannot be said for the staff of Speaker Tillis. What does a policy adviser do? How many hours a week does he/she work? Does a policy adviser work when legislature is not in session?... which is most of the year. Why does Tillis need two policy advisers? Does he have more than two? I do not know the salaries of all of the speaker’s staff members, but I do not believe they deserve to be paid double and triple that of teachers, policemen, firemen, maintenance people, and others who work full-time and year round and make solid and meaningful contributions. The speaker’s staff’s hours and job description are vague, ambiguous, and murky, which makes it difficult, if not impossible to appreciate their positions.

Because we taxpayers are providing money to pay for salaries and benefits of Thom Tillis’s staff, we have right to know what we’re getting in return for investing in their salaries. I am inclined to believe that the money set aside for the outrageous raises and the new position on Tillis’ staff, is nothing more than an extravagant waste of taxpayer money. If Mr. Tillis cannot give a satisfactory explanation for graciously handing out pay raises during the presence of our local and national recession, then I would recommend that he invalidate the raises given to his staff and dissolve the unidentified position for which he hired someone in May 2011.

In other words, we should all demand that Thom Tillis be held accountable for the January 2011 promise he made to Tar Heelians to set an example for others in state government by cutting his office payroll. As Mr. Lea stated, the example that Mr. Tillis has set thus far is unconscionable, indefensible, egregious, insensitive, and tone-deaf. 

The cosmetic self-serving bill that the Guv shouldn’t’ve signed into law

2011-06-26T11:32:00.001-07:00

In the Saturday, June 25, 2011 issue of The News & Observer is an article by staff writer Craig Jarvis titled, “Perdue vetoes bill on lawsuits.” The article makes mention of some of the other bills that Governor Bev Perdue signed into law on Friday. One bill she signed was to “protect prosecutors if police don’t give them all the material they’re supposed to in criminal cases…” This is truly a joke and it’s the kind of thing that cements into the minds of countrymen and women that North Carolina is the laughing stock of the nation when it comes to criminal justice.

The bill is one without substance, offers no benefits to the majority of Tar Heelians, and at its worst is capable of debilitating court room justice. It is self-serving in that the General Assembly, which is comprised mostly of attorneys and individuals with law degrees, in passing it is merely protecting one of its flock from civil liability. This should not even be an issue because prosecutors enjoy immunity in cases which they are prosecuting… all attorneys except former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong. Because Nifong exhibited rare independence and refused to kowtow to the Power-That-Be and dismiss the Duke Lacrosse case charges, he was subjected to the most overbearing and devastating persecution by the state, including disbarment, and crucifixion in the media. The protection he was due as a prosecutor was stripped away to permit the unprecedented filing of civil suits against him. What makes this all the more tragic is that he prosecuted the case well within acceptable standards.

Other prosecutors, such as Tom Ford, who solicit and use perjured testimony, withhold exculpatory evidence from the defense, utilize hocus-pocus forensics, and have no qualms about holding “suspects” in jail for lengthy periods without bringing them to trial, are and have been protected by the laws already in place that provide them with immunity. They are protected under the umbrella of the law so long as they comply with the wishes of those in power… if not the consequences of their actions can be predicted by observing what happened to the independently thinking prosecutor seeking true justice, Mike Nifong.

With the Mike Nifong situation, the state merely bypassed the law that protected Nifong… acted as though it didn’t exist. Because the media had thoroughly poisoned the minds of the masses with its anti-Nifong reporting and opinions there was little reason to believe that the public would object this judicial indiscretion.

But, that is the way things work in the Tar Heel state. When people of privilege, power, status, and connections go afoul of the law, then the laws are bended or broken and they receive “a rare deal for the privileged.” When the disenfranchised, poor, people of color, and those who have incurred the wrath of the state bigwigs are involved in a controversy, then you can bet that the laws will be manipulated and molded in a way that is not to their advantage… a “rare deal for the not-so-privileged.” Bottom line is that this bill is totally useless. The courts and state will continue to use creative means when dealing with the law in order to obtain the results it desires.

The absence of civil lawsuits filed against prosecutors is evidence that this bill to protect them is superfluous. Prosecutor Tom Ford, who vindictively put Gregory Taylor, a man he knew to be innocent, behind bars for a life sentence is not being sued. Even though after serving 17 years wrongfully in prison Greg Taylor was exonerated and proclaimed “innocent” by a three judge panel. Prosecutor David Hoke who put Alan Gell on death row even though he possessed exculpatory evidence of his innocence, is not being sued. This, despite the fact that Alan Gell served ten years wrongfully incarcerated. These are but two of many cases where prosecutors exhibited egregious professional misconduct far worse than anything Mr. Nifong has been accused of and yet are not subjected to civil suits. This bill is unnecessary for protecting those prosecutors who tow the state’s line by following the tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color.”

What the bill does is divest prosecutors of responsibility for the cases they choose to prosecute. In this way, it is a major impediment for criminal defendants who are seeking justice. It is an out for the prosecutors, allowing them to put the blame of an ill-fated and wrongful prosecution on police and investigators. If crucial evidence, records, lab results, notes, and/or documentation are found to be withheld from the defense, then prosecutors can do as they have done in the past… which is to put the blame on the investigator, police, or lab tech. This bill allows prosecutors to say, loud and clear, “Hey, it’s not my fault,” whenever an innocent person has been found to have languished behind bars for years and decades due to a prosecutorial misdeed. If anything, this bill which was just signed into law, has the propensity to ramp up the number of bad acts by prosecutors. This is an outcome that is obviously not in the best interests of Tar Heelians.

A prime example of what I’ve stated comes from an article which appeared in The News & Observer titled, “Bill critics: Hold DAs accountable.” In the news piece, by AP writer Emery P. Dalesio, it discussed an Iredell County double-murder case in which the judge declared a mistrial and barred prosecutors from pursuing the death penalty against defendant Al Bellamy. This ruling from the bench was the result of prosecutors, who three weeks into the trial and having completed presenting their case, handed defense attorneys about 1,700 pages of interview notes taken by a former narcotics detective. Although the prosecutors’ case may be in slight jeopardy, the prosecutors themselves certainly are at no risk. In accordance with the PAPEN (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong), the names of the prosecutors are not even mentioned. The bill newly signed into law would have absolutely no bearing on this case.

These Iredell County prosecutors will not face sanctions, punishment, or disbarment for withholding gobs of evidence from defense attorneys well into the trial, which is an abomination when one considers that the North Carolina State Bar, in large measure, disbarred Mike Nifong for allegedly not giving defense attorneys non-exculpatory lab results fast enough… a trial date having not even been set in the Duke Lacrosse case.

Final analysis: it is the people who need protection from prosecutors, not the prosecutors who need protection from the people. However, through obfuscation, Jedi mind-speak, spin, and fancy rhetoric, the General Assembly has been able to convince many of those who do not adequately exercise their gray matter that this new law to protect prosecutors will lead to fairer criminal justice outcomes. Hah. The laugh’s on us. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

More of Wake County Prosecutor Tom Ford’s handiwork…

2011-06-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

To access flog, click on the link below:

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog4.html

In the Saturday, June 04, 2011 edition of The News & Observer newspaper, an article titled “Accused stepdaughter wants her life back” by staff writer Thomasi McDonald chronicled yet another chapter in the malfeasance and misdeeds of Wake County prosecutor Tom Ford.

The name “Tom Ford” probably does not sound familiar to most but it should, as Ford was the prosecutor in the botched murder investigation of Jacquetta Thomas that unfolded nearly two decades ago. As is it’s PAPEN Policy (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong), The News & Observer article never once mentioned the Gregory Taylor case or linked Tom Ford to it. It was Gregory Flynt Taylor who Prosecutor Ford saddled with that homicide… but he did so only because Taylor, who is white, would not give perjured testimony in order to convict Johnny Beck, the African American designated suspect who was Ford’s primary target.

In 1993, Taylor was convicted by the use of perjured testimony, a specialty of Prosecutor Ford, and with some hocus-pocus forensics which manipulated evidence to favor the prosecution’s scenario. In Taylor’s case, a stain on the bumper of his car was misleadingly determined to be human blood… which, in fact, it was not.

Prosecutor Ford won a life sentence against Greg Taylor because Taylor refused to implicate another innocent man with perjured testimony.

Returning to the story about the accused stepdaughter… Carletta Alston was charged in June 17, 2009 with the death of her stepfather Michael Donnell Smith. Smith, standing in his Knightdale driveway, was shot in the face during the early morning hours as he prepared to drive to work. His wife Phyllis and stepdaughter Carletta were inside the house when they heard the gunfire.

Afraid to venture outside to investigate, they placed a hysterical 9-1-1 call. Police arrived later and conducted an investigation that produced a stack of letters between the murdered victim Smith, who was also a co-pastor at a church and another woman. The correspondence pointed towards a romantic relationship between the two. Michael Smith’s wife Phyllis, denied knowledge of any affair until it was brought to her attention by the police.

Two days following the murder of Michael Donnell Smith, June 6, 2009, Wake deputies first interviewed Carletta Alston. They could not determine a motive for her to commit the murder. According to the newspaper article, police focused on the stepdaughter Carletta because her account of the shooting differed with other witnesses… specifically, police stated that the time Carletta Alston gave for hearing the shot was significantly later than the time given by neighbors.

Police did not state how much different, but surely a record of the 9-1-1 call would narrow down the timeline. Allegedly gunpowder residue was found somewhere on Alston’s nightgown, but not on her hands, or the hands of her mother. And, as Alston’s attorney, Karl Knudsen of Raleigh stated regarding gunpowder residue, “There’s always the possibility of contamination.”

Based upon Alston’s version of the time at which she heard the gunshot differing with the time given by the neighbors and the forensic report that gunpowder residue was found on Alston’s nightgown… exactly where it was never stated… Carletta Alston was charged with the murder of her stepfather Michael Donnell Smith. Police and prosecutors did not even have a motive in arresting Alston.

What is truly absurd is the statement made by Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby which fundamentally stated that there was reason enough to arrest Carletta Alston, there was reason enough for a grand jury to indict Carletta Alston for the murder of Michael Donnell Smith, but that they didn’t have a strong enough case to take it to court. Tea Party conservatives and birthers may believe this line spewed by the Wake County D.A., but Jedi mind-tricks have no affect on me and others with strong logical minds and a modicum of common sense.

Put another way, if the prosecutors did not have a strong enough case to take to court, then Alston should not have been indicted. And, if prosecutors did not have a strong enough case to indict Alston, she should have never been arrested. It’s as simple as that. To aver otherwise is what makes North Carolina justice the laughing stock of the country.

So Carletta Alston upon being arrested lost the two jobs that she held at nursing homes, and she languished in jail at costly taxpayer expense for a year. When she was unexpectedly released from custody without explanation, she had in essence served a one year sentence for not committing a crime… courtesy of prosecutor Tom Ford and the state’s selective justice system based on Class and Color.

The North Carolina justice system is one in which the well-heeled, powerful, privileged, and connected are given “rare deals.” Most of these deals substitute a small fine in place of serving jail time. Those who are disenfranchised, indigent, and people of color are dumped onto the scrap heap of despair and injustice, left to fend for themselves after losing years of their lives and their self dignity to an uncaring, inhumane, and unsympathetic system.

What happened to Carletta Alston is not an isolated incident. The following are but a smattering of examples:

James Arthur Johnson was charged with the murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery of Brittany Willis by Wilson County prosecutor Bill Wolfe. Despite lacking credible evidence Johnson, who solved the crimes against Willis, served a 39 month sentence before being forced to agree to an Alford plea deal for a misprision of felony. A misprision of felony charge is applied to person who has knowledge of a crime but does not go to authorities with it. Even this charge did not fit the plea deal which Johnson accepted.

Not only that, but friends and family of Brittany Willis offered a $20,000 reward upon which they reneged after Johnson identified the perpetrator of the crimes against Willis. The media has kept quiet about this.

Judge Osmond Smith III sentenced 15 year-old Erick Daniels to confinement for ten to fourteen years after he was convicted of an armed robbery in which prosecutor Freda Black offered not a shred of credible evidence. The victim of the robbery picked out the young boy’s photograph from a middle school year book based solely on the shape of his eyebrows.

Although he has been proclaimed “innocent” by a judge, the governor and her Office of Executive Clemency has refused to issue a pardon to Erick Daniels who is struggling to get a job with a false felony conviction on his record.

Crystal Gail Mangum, who was the victim and accuser in the Duke Lacrosse case, had charges trumped up against her in February 2010 after police were called to her apartment by her children out of fear for their mother’s safety. Crystal had been repeatedly punched in the face by her ex-boyfriend after she made an insulting comment.

When the responding police realized the identity of Crystal, they dropped attention from Crystal’s abuser and focused on her instead. In order to have Mangum convicted of a crime that would carry serious jail time, the Durham Police, the only ones with the motive, means, and opportunity, set fire to clothing in the bathtub, claimed it was arson, and attributed it to Crystal.

With a slew of other bogus charges, initial bail was set at $1 million. Like Carletta Alston, Crystal Mangum lost her job… but in addition lost her apartment, many of her belongings, custody of her children, was dropped from graduate school classes in which she was enrolled, and she lost her independence.

Crystal spent three months in jail before a $100,000 bail was unexpectedly satisfied by a benevolent bail bondsman. Even though her attorney, Mani Dexter, put up an almost non-existent feather-weight defense, Mangum was not convicted of the most serious arson charge, and was sentenced to time served on other frivolous charges for which she was convicted.

The system of selective justice based on Class and Color thrives in North Carolina because civil rights groups, politicians, and community leaders allow it. They remain silent while the vulnerable individuals, who look to and depend upon them for protection, are mashed under the uncaring heel of those in positions of power in the justice system.

The NAACP, under leadership of Dr. Rev. William Barber II, remained silent as a dormouse. Where was his voice, or that of the NAACP, when Carletta Alston was thrown into the slammer because her recollection of events differed from others about the time at which a gun was fired? State senators and representatives in Wake County have also remained silent when their constituent Carletta Alston languished in jail at taxpayer expense despite the fact that prosecutor Tom Ford had not built a case against her.

Clergymen throughout the state may deliver fiery sermons to their flock from within the confines of their houses of worship, but when it comes to speaking out publicly against the injustice against the very people they serve , then it is as though they have suddenly lost their voices.

Because of the deafening silence amongst community and civil rights leaders, prosecutors like Tom Ford are emboldened and have no compunction against tossing the disenfranchised, poor, and people of color in jail in order to close a case. So what if innocent people are serving time behind bars while the real culprits run free? Who cares?

And, Tom Ford can count on the media coddling up to him, in conjunction with the media’s PAPEN Policy. Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Mike Nifong in doing his job within acceptable standards, was vilified and butchered by the media… but not so with the Greg Taylor Prosecutor Tom Ford.

Even though the Greg Taylor case received plenty of media press, the prosecutor of the case Tom Ford was rarely mentioned. SBI lab agent Duane Deaver was the designated scapegoat for the case. Well known defense attorney Joseph Cheshire, in defending Greg Taylor, was lenient when discussing the prosecutor who snatched seventeen years of his client’s best years from him. No disparaging words about Ford were uttered from Cheshire’s lips… even referring to Ford as a capable opponent. Cheshire saved his criticism for Mike Nifong only.

In fact, that was Cheshire’s strategy in the Duke Lacrosse case. Not to defend the defendants, but to attack Nifong, the prosecutor who was too independent and would not yield to the tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color.” So with the media in tow, the Duke Lacrosse defense set out to destroy Mike Nifong, which was culminated with his disbarment, making him the only prosecutor to be disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar since its inception in 1933.

I have to hand it to The News & Observer for even having the gumption to mention Tom Ford’s name in the article. However, even in doing so, it attempted to mislead. Take the passage “Knudsen also noted that the prosecutor handling the case, Tom Ford, has a reputation for being very thorough and willing to do everything he can with the available evidence.” Ford exhibited his talents with evidence in the Greg Taylor case when he turned a bumper stain into human blood, and when he took a negative scent from a tracking hound and with a little abracadabra turned it into a positive one.

Then the article tried to define Tom Ford as a dedicated prosecutor by stating, “But he backed away from taking Alston to trial.”

“He came to the conclusion that it was not a case they wanted to move forward with,” Knudsen said.

I have not a problem with that decision, but why did it take twelve months for Tom Ford to come to the conclusion that he did not, and never did have a case against Carletta Alston? Twelve months while Ms. Alston served time without being convicted of a crime. The fact of the matter is, as was previously stated, that Carletta Alston should never have been arrested and charged with the crime.

Thanks to Tom Ford’s handiwork, the state of North Carolina owes Carletta Alston. As Ms. Alston struggles to find work and deal with other problems related to her unjust incarceration, the state needs to step in and help make her whole… as much as is humanly possible. That is what true justice demands and that is what we, as Tar Heelians, should demand. 

Lock ‘em all up, and sort out the facts later… Durham Police Department Policy regarding the Not-So-Privileged?

2011-06-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

A recent article in The News & Observer, titled “Accused stepdaughter wants her life back,” recounts how Carletta Alston, was arrested and charged with the murder of Michael Donnell Smith in June 2009. Although Wake County Prosecutor Tom Ford (who also wrongly prosecuted Gregory Taylor in the 1991 death of Jacquetta Thomas) had no credible evidence or even a motive against Ms. Alston, he held her in jail for a year before finally releasing her. It seems that in North Carolina’s justice system this practice of arresting an individual first and then working up a case against the person is not all that rare… especially amongst the poor, disenfranchised, people of color and those considered Not-So-Privileged.

This kind of arrest first, investigate later policy would not be tolerated if it was applied to the privileged, or those who were deemed to be professionals or educated. For example, Jason Young, who is currently on trial for the murder of his wife Michelle Young, was not scooped up and dumped in the slammer as soon as suspicions about him arose. Heck, no. The police and their investigators conducted a thorough investigation before making the arrest and bringing charges against him.

That is the way the justice system should work when it comes to making an arrest and bringing charges. Justice definitely was not served in the Carletta Alston case… more of which will be presented in the flog which is soon to follow.

In the past few days evidence has been unearthed, literally, which has brought media attention to yet another sad chapter of crime in the cash-strapped city of Durham. Specifically, the case of the so-called “Black Hebrews” religious cult with its leader Pete Moses Jr., who along with a half dozen others, has been charged with the murder of 28 year-old Antoinette McKoy and a five year-old boy, Jadon Higginbothan. According to media sources, a witness stated that cult leader Moses killed the little boy and ordered a follower, Vania Sisk, mother of the murdered boy, to shoot McKoy. It is believed that the deaths occurred sometime in December 2010.

Let me preface my following remarks by stating that neither Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez nor any of his investigators have shared any information about the case with me. All that I have gleaned about the case has come from the mainstream media… which is not the most reliable source. But it is the only source available to me.

I do not question the arrest and murder charges leveled against Pete Moses Jr. and Vania Sisk. From what I have read and viewed on television news, those charges seem to be warranted. Charges against five other individuals seems to be somewhat more suspect. Although Moses’s mother Sheilda Evelyn Harris rented the house nearly a year ago on Ashe Street where the bodies were found, I have seen no evidence that she was involved or had knowledge of the murders. On the television news broadcasts however, relatives of Ms. Harris claimed that she had no involvement in Moses’s religious cult or his crimes. Others arrested included Sheila Falisha Moses, 20; P. Leonard Moses, 20; Larhonda Renee Smith,40; and Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 40. Sheila and Leonard Moses are children of Ms. Harris, and siblings of cult leader Pete Moses Jr. Other than living in the house on Ashe Street, there was no information linking Sheila and Leonard in the crimes.

A newspaper article in today’s The News & Observer titled, “Site of woman’s body yields remains of child,” conveyed that Durham Police Chief Lopez stated that prior to discovery of the bodies on the Ashe Street property, Ms. Harris was not a suspect. The mere discovery of the bodies on the property does not in-and-of itself implicate Ms. Harris in the murder.

Although the five charged with murder (outside of Pete Moses and Vania Sisk), are being held without bail, the real possibility exists that they may be totally innocent… that they could have had no knowledge of the crime. It is possible that one or more may have aided or abetted Pete Moses, and possibly deserved a lesser charge of “accessory after the fact.” And, although I believe that it is highly unlikely, the five could have all taken part in the murders and be guilty as charged.

It just seems to me that when it comes to making arrests amid those who are of the Not-So-Privileged class, police and prosecutors in Durham and Wake Counties, as well as other counties within the state, have no qualms about making arrests first and investigating second. I believe that it should be the other way around.

If I were a bettin’ man, I would be inclined to believe that before the dust settles, of the five presently in custody and facing murder charges (excluding Pete Moses Jr. and Vania Sisk), most, if not all of them will have the murder charges against them reduced or dropped. Although arresting the Not-So-Privileged may be popular with conservative law and order Republicans, arresting and charging people without credible evidence is an unjust policy that results in unnecessary misery and hardship, and drains the county coffers that are maintained with taxpayer dollars.

Arrest first and investigate second policies in Durham, Wake County and throughout North Carolina should be abandoned immediately, and in its place there should be a principle that requires an investigation that yields credible evidence before an arrest takes place… in other words, the same policy that is currently in place for the Privileged class should be applied to the Not-So-Privileged.

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North Carolina’s disgraceful treatment of Erick Daniels continues…

2011-05-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

Click the link below to access the flog.

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog3redo.html

The Independent Weekly, a Triangle area arts and entertainment tabloid out of Durham, has made it clear to me, for reasons which are not, that it doesn't want anything to do with me. I believe its hostility towards me is due to the fact that I am a supporter of Mike Nifong. Despite that, however, I would be remiss to miss an opportunity to look at the publication every chance I get because it does tackle important criminal and social justice issues that other mainstream media avoid like the plague. In fact, I credit its articles about the unjust incarceration of Erick Daniels to be instrumental in public awareness about his plight, and to be responsible for his subsequent release from prison after serving seven of a ten to fourteen year sentence for an armed robbery conviction... a crime he did not commit.

What is particularly tragic about the Daniels case is that he never should have been arrested for the September 21, 2000 armed robbery, let alone convicted and allowed to serve time. Compounding the tragedy is that Erick Daniels was taken into custody at the age of fourteen... hand-cuffed and led away from his middle school class room like a hardened criminal. That the case against him was flawed was evident from the very beginning, but his defense attorney seriously compromised his case by putting the young boy on the witness stand.

Licking her chops, the Durham Prosecutor Freda Black tore into her prey, convincing a pliable jury that Daniels was a threat to society... that he had gang affiliations, etc. She was unable to present credible evidence linking Daniels to the armed robbery, as he differed from the victim's initial description of the perpetrator in hair style and complexion.

The victim’s description of the armed robber was an African American male of light complexion with his hair braided in cornrows. Erick Daniels has a dark complexion and his hair is short cropped.

Fingerprints at the crime scene did not match Daniels's and there was no other forensic evidence to implicate him either. Discrepancies in the lead investigator's records and missing police reports further raised doubts about the legitimacy of the state's case against Daniels. The prosecuting attorney even failed to interview a young man who was later incarcerated who fit the suspect's profile and admitted to committing the robbery.

Perhaps what is most disturbing is that the reason Erick Daniels was deemed to be the most likely suspect was due to the fact that he was picked out of a middle school yearbook based upon the shape of his eyebrows. Daniels appeared before Judge Osmond Smith III, the same judge who sentenced Mike Nifong to 24 hours in jail on a trumped up contempt of court charge. The honorable Judge Smith sentenced Daniels to a sentence of ten to fourteen years. So Daniels languished in jail, year after year, with the state having stolen his youth.

While incarcerated, appeals were filed on his behalf, but all were for naught.
In 2003, after spending several years in jail, Erick Daniels passed a polygraph test which supported his contention that he was not involved in the crime for which he was convicted. It wasn't until the following year that Attorney Carlos Mahoney took over Daniels's case and filed an appeal with Durham Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson which eventually led to Daniels’s release from prison. In releasing Daniels, the judge dismissed all of the charges against him, and as he is legally empowered to do, declared that Erick Daniels was "innocent."

The News & Observer, a Johnny-come-lately in the travails of Erick Daniels, published a front page article in its Sunday, February 1, 2009, issue titled "After injustice, Durham man's eyes are on the future." However, the article by Anne Blythe was quick to turn its attention and sympathies to the three Duke Lacrosse defendants. Defendants who served no time in jail, who through their avaricious lawyers shook down Duke University for $20 million each, and who are attempting to pry another $10 mil each from the cash-strapped city of Durham. Per mainstream media custom, the Duke three are described as "exonerated” and “declared innocent..." However, writer Blythe failed to mention in the article that they were declared "innocent" by an attorney general... a proclamation which she very well knew carried no legal weight and which was meant to mislead the public.

Comparing the Duke Lacrosse defendants to Erick Daniels is like comparing apples and eggplant... as Daniels was declared "innocent" by a judge, not an attorney general. In addition, the Duke Lacrosse defendants were never convicted of a felony, as was Daniels. Daniels’s record is stained by the unjust felony charge and conviction, whereas the Duke Lacrosse defendants’ record is spotless.

Despite a case in which Daniels did not have a forensic print, had ineffective legal representation, had a confession from another man with a criminal past who fit the description, and had been declared "innocent" by a judge, he has been unsuccessful in receiving a pardon. Under state law, without the pardon he is not eligible to receive compensation that the state legislature has designated to go to the wrongfully incarcerated.

With his current attorney Gladys Harris, Daniels had been in the pursuit of a pardon for years through the North Carolina Office of Executive Clemency, which is charged with granting pardons and commuting sentences. A Pardon of Innocence is granted when an individual has been convicted and criminal charges are subsequently dismissed, as has occurred in Daniels's case. Although, like Gregory Taylor, Erick Daniels has been legally determined to be "innocent," a petition to the Governor for a declaration of innocence to enable him to seek compensation from the State for being erroneously convicted and imprisoned by it has not been granted.

There is no doubt among fair-minded people of good conscientious that Erick Daniels is innocent of the charge of armed robbery for which he was convicted, sentenced, and suffered seven years of incarceration. Neither is their doubt that Daniels deserves to be made whole by all measures at the State's disposal, such as expungement of the crime from his record and financial compensation to which he is rightfully entitled by state law.

In the Gregory Taylor case, Governor Bev Perdue had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to do the right thing in giving Taylor a pardon for his seventeen years of wrongful incarceration and enabling him to receive the compensation to which he was entitled. For reasons which have no logical answer, the Governor and her Executive Office of Clemency are bracing themselves to deny justice for Erick Daniels.

According to the Independent Weekly, the Clemency Office denied Daniels's pardon in February 2011, and Daniels's attorney Harris stated that she had not received notification from the state office. Harris went on to state that the office informed her that the denial was issued because "those granting pardons from the state do not disturb jury verdicts." Whoever the mysterious people are in the Clemency Office must believe that Attorney Harris is an idiot. If I am not mistaken, practically all innocent people are wrongfully convicted by a jury. Gregory Taylor was convicted by a jury... yet he was pardoned by the Governor's office. Their explanation for refusing to pardon Daniels makes no sense and they know it. That is why the Governor's office and the secretive Office of Clemency rebuffed the Independent Weekly's efforts to contact them. This is the kind of insanity that makes North Carolina the laughing stock of the country.

One reason that the governor and her Executive Office of Clemency believe that they can get away with this egregious and amoral mistreatment of Erick Daniels is because Daniels’s political representatives U.S. Congressman David Price, State Senator Floyd McKissick, and State Representatives Mickey Michaux and Larry Hall keep at arms length when it comes to defending their constituents caught in a system that dispenses selective justice based on Class and Color.

The injustice suffered by Daniels is not a problem restricted to the Durham area, rather it is an issue which plagues the entire state of North Carolina. Representatives, senators, and all politicians who value the concept of “equal justice for all” should not just feel shock and abhorrence at the mistreatment of Erick Daniels, but they should do something about it.

The NAACP’s state organization under its president, Reverend Doctor William Barber, as well as the Durham chapter of the NAACP, has remained silent as dormice. By so doing, this civil rights organization is nothing more than an enabler to the unacceptable and discriminatory status quo and it does a disservice to all people of color who’s civil and constitutional rights it professes to protect.

It is time for Governor Bev Perdue, her administration, and other state officials to start assuring that “equal justice for all” is being dispensed by the state’s criminal justice system instead of bad jokes. Erick Daniels certainly deserves better... and so do all Tar Heelians.

When an assault turns into a homicide

2011-05-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

Nifong and Mangum detractors are quick to accuse Crystal Mangum in the mysterious April 13, 2011 death of Reginald Daye, who the media has propped up as Ms. Mangum’s live-in boyfriend. As you may very well know, Ms. Mangum is alleged to have stabbed Daye in the torso, on April 3, 2011 after a heated argument over finances. At issue was where money, which Crystal Mangum had earned, should go. Mr. Daye wanted to use the money to purchase alcoholic beverages (my sources have informed me that Mr. Daye had a serious alcoholic problem, and that he may have had liver damage as a result of his drinking), whereas Crystal, who was unable to find anyone willing to rent an apartment to her, wanted the money to go towards rent to pay for the apartment in which she and her three children moved into with Daye. Reginald Daye, who had been laid off work was on the verge of being evicted when Ms. Mangum entered into the living relationship with him.

I have not received any further information regarding what precipitated the physical altercation which resulted in the stabbing of Reginald Daye. It is generally agreed that Mr. Daye was conscious when paramedics arrived on the scene, and that he underwent immediate surgery for the stab wound to the torso at Duke University Hospital. It is unclear, as well, the number of stab wounds Daye sustained, although ABC-11 News reported that he had been sustained as many as eight wounds.

The mystery surrounding Reginald Daye’s death will undoubtedly continue at least until the autopsy report is released… being withheld an unprecedented 120 days after the autopsy was performed. Why the delay? It is very suspicious and only adds to the sowing of doubt about the report’s credibility and the emergence of conspiracy theories.

What seems to have likely transpired is that Daye’s Sunday morning emergency operation went without a hitch and his immediate recovery was uneventful. By the following weekend, however, Daye was suddenly and without explanation, found to be in a coma… one that was deep and determined to be irreversible. There had been no media coverage of the coma, and the media, not surprisingly, does not have any curiosity about why Daye, who was up and walking around and ready for discharge by week’s end, should be at death’s door by the Saturday. Although Daye’s condition was judged to be not salvageable by the medical staff by weekend’s end, April 10th, he was not taken off life-support until Wednesday, April 13, 2011.

There was obviously some event that took place on the Friday or Saturday before his death that contributed to it. Without access to medical records, charts, lab work, toxicology results, nurse’s notes, etc. it is impossible to have even an inkling of what caused the death of Daye. But one thing can be ascertained without doubt, and that is that Crystal Mangum was not responsible for Daye’s demise. During the weekend in question when Daye sustained an insult which eventually deprived him of his life, Crystal Mangum was locked away. There was no way possible for her to have contributed to the comatose state of Reginald Daye.

Without even having a cause of death documented, Durham prosecutors rushed to charge Mangum with murder. Never mind awaiting the autopsy findings. Duke prosecutors were of the mindset that they were going to appease the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants… and to achieve that end, they were going to charge her with murder. The blind loyalty of the Durham prosecutors to the Carpetbaggers is mind-boggling when one realizes that these same avaricious actors who shook down Duke University for a total of $60 million, are actively trying to pry loose another $30 mil from Durham itself. That makes about as much sense as a poor and disenfranchised person voting for a conservative Tea Party candidate.

Because the Duke Lacrosse case has been such a galvanizing cultural event, especially in the Triangle Area, it is not unreasonable to speculate about the possibility that the death of Daye may have been premeditated by someone for the sole purpose of having Mangum face a murder charge instead of merely one for assault with a deadly weapon. A similar tact was carried out last February 2010 when Durham police set clothes ablaze in a bathtub for the purpose of being able to charge Crystal with a serious charge… arson. The police knew at the time that the charge of “attempted first degree murder” against the unarmed Mangum would never stand up in court. And although logic shows that a weekend event was responsible for Daye’s loss of life, the Durham police have elected to turn a blind eye to that possibility and focus on a stab wound from which Daye had been in full recovery.

Daye may have been murdered, but if he was, Mangum is not the culprit… and if determined that he was a homicide victim, the authorities doggedly have no one other than Mangum in their sights.

Now, let me give and example of a patient who is wounded, is taken to the hospital, and then dies from his wounds. On Tuesday morning Darrice Jamar Covington, a 24 year-old man, was shot in a east Raleigh residence. According to the Wednesday newspaper article, which give only the basic rudimentary information, the person was shot Tuesday morning. Whether he underwent surgery or other treatment at the hospital is unknown. It is unknown whether CPR was performed, and if so, when. But the gist, from the article, is that he was alive when he was admitted to the hospital, but that his condition deteriorated thereafter resulting in his death.

There is no doubt amongst individuals of reason and common sense that Mr. Covington most likely died from the gunshot wound he sustained earlier. The proximity in the time from the infliction of the wound to the death is a major determination in the cause of death. Even had Mr. Covington lingered on a day or two after the wound, if his condition had not improved, if he never regained consciousness, and if there was never any up-tick in his condition, it could still be assumed that his death was a proximate result of the gunshot wound he received.

The deaths of Covington and Daye are diametrically opposed, in that the former is a direct result of the initial wound he received and the other strongly suggests an interim unknown insult was responsible for death and not the initial wound.

To many unknowns and irregularities are associated with the death of Reginald Daye, and the lag time in release of the all important autopsy report does nothing to assuage concerns about the truth and justice being compromised.

The next flog is scheduled for release on Tuesday, May 31, 2011.

Flogs amongst the blogs

2011-05-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

To mi amis and others,

I was shocked to realize that my last blog/flog entry on this site was May 9, 2011… two weeks ago. That is totally unacceptable for the self-imposed high standards I set for myself. Ergo, I will begin to post the more traditional (read only) blogs more frequently… interspersed with flogs, which are specifically ideal for the reading challenged, but designed for everyone. In the future you can expect to see a new entry, be it flog or blog, at no less frequency than once a week, and more frequently when current events warrant.

It was my initial desire to post nothing but flogs, along with a script for those wishing to dissect the entry by poring over every word. However, producing a flog is extremely time and effort intensive, and coming up with a quality product, unfortunately, cannot be turned out like an order of burgers and fries at a fast-food joint. It was my dream to have a flog posted yesterday or today at the latest. It is my wish to have it posted by Wednesday or Thursday. But the reality is that my next flog will probably be posted by this coming weekend.

Why the delay? Because I want the flog to be not only full of info and words of wisdom, but I want its presentation to be stimulating, interesting, and fun. To reach those lofty goals, I plan to add interactivity in the way of buttons to allow viewers to take detours on their journey through the flog. I also plan to add more sound effects and background music to make the experience more enjoyable.

This site will set the standard for flogs, although I doubt that many other flogs will spring up anytime soon. The main reason is because of the time and effort required. It’s like producing a mini-documentary with interactivity, to boot. It requires editing, synchronization of audio, animation, and other capabilities and talents which many bloggers lack… not to mention an understanding of Flash. So, the only place that you are likely to see a flog is on this blog site.

Durham-in-Wonderland, Liestoppers (an oxymoron), and other blog sites do an admirable job, but face it… they tend to be a bit boring, and definitely lack the entertainment value of one of my flogs. The way I see it, they are best off sticking with the read-only format of the traditional blog. They should leave trailblazing and innovation to me. As Dirty Harry Callahan said in “Magnum Force,” “A man’s got to know his limitations.” I am not bragging when I say this, as boasting is not in my DNA… I am merely making statements of fact.

Upcoming flogs will focus on a myriad of criminal and social justice topics and cases, including those about Erick Daniels, James Arthur Johnson, my lawsuit against Duke University, and others. I will try to post a flog at least once every other week… which may be a bit optimistic. Flogs will be easily discernible from blogs because I will post an image and a link at the beginning of the entry, with the flog script to follow. Traditional read-only blogs will appear in a format as is this one you currently are reading.

I have put to electronic paper my plans and ambitions for this blog site. I would like to thank my viewers and commenters for choosing to follow it. Permit me now to make a request of you. What I ask is that you take that next step… challenge yourself, and try to make a positive difference in the world. If you are merely reading or viewing the blogs and flogs, take the next step and send in a comment on topics of interest to you. Share your ideas, thoughts, and feelings with everyone. For those who are regular, or irregular, commenters to this site, step outside the box’s comfort zone and send a letter to your political representatives, the governor, or anyone in a position of power… or not. You cannot make a difference if you're on the sidelines. Contributions can be made only when you’re on the playing field… unless you’re the water boy.

As always, I appreciate and welcome any suggestions, thoughts, or comments you may have regarding the blogs, flogs, and their content.

What really happened between Crystal Mangum and Reginald Daye the morning of April 3, 2011.

2011-05-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

[Note: Click link provided to access the flog (Flash blog). Be patient to allow time for it to upload as the running time is twenty minutes. Audio is required for the flog. The essence of the flog is basically contained in the script which is printed below in the traditional blog form. Return from the flog to the blog page to post comments.]

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog2.html

The mainstream media has once again painted a mirage for its viewers, readers, and subscribers regarding the April 3, 2011 stabbing incident involving Crystal Mangum and Reginald Daye. What the media wants you to believe is that Reginald Daye was a good citizen with a kind heart who took it upon himself to try and help Crystal Mangum, who had been burdened by notoriety of the Duke Lacrosse case and the February 17, 2010 case in which she was found guilty of several misdemeanor charges. It suggested that Daye offered to share his apartment with Crystal and her three children, who were for all intents and purposes homeless. And that he did so despite a warning from his nephew about Mangum.

Then, the media would have you believe that Crystal, who had been labeled by police as the physical domestic abuser against her boyfriend in the February 17, 2010 incident, followed an established pattern by stabbing Daye, for the purpose of stealing his money. Conscious, after being wounded, Daye told police that Mangum stabbed him and took his money.

Shortly, after the incident, Mangum was apprehended and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

Daye underwent emergency surgery on April 3, 2011, for his stab wound and was on the mend and on the verge of discharge when he suddenly went into a coma around April 9th or 10th. It was an irreversible coma and on the evening of April 13, 2011, Daye was taken off life support. The cause of death was not established at the time.

On April 18, 2011, five days after his death, Durham prosecutors obtained a grand jury indictment against Mangum for murder, and two counts of larceny… one count for each of two money orders Crystal was alleged to have taken from Daye. At the time of the indictment, an autopsy report had not been released and there was no official cause of death listed for Reginald Daye.

On April 19, 2011, the sixth day following his death, Reginald Daye had a funeral and was laid to rest.

Before explaining what happened during the wee hours of April 3, 2011, let’s review the events which led up to the encounter… beginning with the Duke Lacrosse case. What the media persistently glosses over is the fact that Ms. Mangum’s services to entertain on March 13, 2006, were fraudulently obtained… with a Duke lacrosse party host using an alias and claiming he wanted an exotic dancer to entertain a small bachelor party of four or five. Media also frequently ignored the presence of under-aged drinking at the party… a crime. Finally, in recounting the tale, the media goes to extreme lengths to shield the fact that racial epithets were hurled at Ms. Mangum by the partygoers.

The abject bias of the specific rulings pertaining to the prosecution’s case and the media coverage is apparent as Mr. Nifong, who had always maintained an open file policy – even prior to it being mandated by law – handed over nearly 5,000 pieces of evidence to each of the three teams of defense attorneys. Brad Bannon, one of Joseph Cheshire’s underlings, led the charge that Mr. Nifong delayed turning over lab evidence, which he claimed was exculpatory. Fact is, that the so-called evidence was not exculpatory, and that the basis of the prosecution’s case was not DNA. The media, however, tried to represent before the public that Mr. Nifong had withheld evidence… especially vital exculpatory evidence. This was blatantly false and misleading.

What is not false is that when Mr. Nifong sought reciprocal discovery from the defense attorneys, he was rebuffed, ignored. Defense attorneys had no problem plying media types with snippets of videos, which may or may not have been doctored, but they refused to submit them to the prosecution. This is a twist of irony, again that the media does its best to conceal.

Aftermath of the Duke Lacrosse case fielded many innocent casualties, the most obvious being former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong who was selectively disbarred, selectively jailed on trumped up contempt charges, and otherwise persecuted. Subsequent to Attorney General Roy Cooper’s April 11, 2007 “Innocence Promulgation” the media began in earnest its ambitious quest to mislead the populous into believing that the boys were by legal determination found to be innocent. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the media boldly and brashly trumpeted that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were “innocent,” “exonerated,” and “cleared.” Ms. Mangum, in the meantime was shackled with the label of the “false accuser.” Furthermore, the media had the audacity to intimate that grounds existed to charge Ms. Mangum – supposedly with filing a false report.

K Rae Evans, mother of Duke Lacrosse defendant Dave Evans, used to work as an executive for CBS News for a decade. Afterward, this enterprising lady founded a very successful public relations firm in Washington, DC. During an interview on “60 Minutes,” the CBS TV newsmagazine she expressed her unlimited enmity towards Mike Nifong, and her desire to see that he “paid every day for the rest of his life.” This statement fueled the flames of critics of Mike Nifong, and ushered in the despicable and malicious treatment against Nifong, Crystal Mangum, Nifong supporters, and others considered by the Powers-That-Be to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case… a juggernaut which has come to be known as the “Carpetbagger Jihad.”

On February 17, 2010, Durham police, like true Carpetbagger jihadists, took full advantage of their encounter with Ms. Mangum, who at the time was self-supporting, employed, independent mother, attending classes at NCCU in pursuit of a Masters degree. Durham’s finest were summoned to Ms. Mangum’s apartment by a 9-1-1 call placed by one of Mangum’s children during an altercation initated by Mangum’s ex-boyfriend who had repeatedly punched her in the face. Instead of taking him into custody, police designated him as the victim and proceeded to arrest and charge Crystal Mangum with assaulting him. To invoke more serious charges which carry heavy jail sentences, police evacuated the house on the pretense of smelling smoke and then set clothing ablaze in the bathtub. They made no attempt to extinguish it by turning on the water. Instead, the assembled law enforcers closed the bathroom door, called the Durham Fire department, and waited for there arrival.

Among the outlandish charges the police saddled on Ms. Mangum were attempted first degree murder, assault and battery, first degree arson, identity theft, child abuse, communicating threats, injury to personal property and resisting a public officer. The number and seriousness of the charges supported a bail of one million dollars, which is unheard of in a domestic violence case.

Of those charges, Ms. Mangum was indicted on felony first degree arson, three counts of child endangerment related to the fire, injury to property, and resisting a public officer. She was held under a reduced bail of $100,000. There is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Mangum would still be languishing in jail today awaiting trial had not a generous and benevolent bail bondsman satisfied the bond, which paved the way for Ms. Mangum’s release from the jail after 88 days of incarceration. Because prosecutors cruelly labeled Mangum’s children as victims of their mother, conditions were set by the Court regarding visitation with them, and Ms. Mangum was required to remain under house arrest.

Prosecution took the case to trial, and Ms. Mangum was convicted of the three misdemeanor charges. Despite a feather-weight defense by Mani Dexter, the prosecution was unable to prevail on the felony arson charge and a mistrial was declared. She was sentenced to time-served and released.

A friend from her church allowed Ms. Mangum to live with her in her apartment, and that is where she and her three children remained until recently. Because of the notoriety of the Duke Lacrosse case and the February 17th incident, Ms. Mangum was unable to secure employment. Apartment hunting was fruitless as well, especially with the arson tag deceitfully affixed to her by Durham police.

Taking inventory following the February 17th incident, Ms. Mangum faced the reality of having lost her job, being dropped from courses at NCCU, losing her apartment, losing many of her belongings, and basically losing her independence. Furthermore, during her incarceration, she was unable to help care for her father, and he passed away. Her mother, who was unable to care for herself, was spirited off to a nursing home by Crystal’s aunt, who then proceeded to terminate Crystal’s mother’s lease. Although her friend was gracious and generous to house Crystal and her children, by the spring of 2011, Crystal was desperate to find lodgings for herself and her family.

In the spring of 2011, Reginald Daye, who had been working as a painter, had been laid off work. He had a history of heavy alcohol consumption and a history of criminal activity, although mostly misdemeanor. According to records from the court, Daye had approximately fifteen charges against him, including two for assault… one victim in particular identified as being a female. I was told that by March 2011, Daye was a couple of months arrears in his rent, and that he was on the verge of being evicted from his apartment.

These conditions set up the symbiotic relationship which was to develop between Crystal Mangum and Reginald Daye. I am unaware as to how the two initially met or the precise nature of their relationship, other than they, including Crystal’s children, were to share the apartment. Although Daye had been laid off, there is the possibility that he was re-hired shortly before April 3, 2011… but he had not generated money to pay the rent due. Although Crystal was receiving training to enable her to become once again gainfully employed, she resorted to only avenue of employment open to her… exotic dancing at a club. Working for several days she cleared enough money to pay rent due on Daye’s apartment. In addition, she anticipated receiving a tax refund which would supplement her financially.

Around April 3, 2011, Crystal, using her money, purchased two money orders, one in the amount of three hundred, and the other for four hundred, as there was probably a five hundred dollar maximum limit. I was told that she wrote “rent” on the memo portion of the money orders, and used Reginald Daye’s name as its purchaser. The reason for using Daye’s name on the check was because he was the one listed on the rental agreement as the renter. With her negative name connotation, had Crystal placed her name as purchaser of the money order, recognition of it by the landlord might very well have jeopardized the arrangement and possibly even the apartment.

I was informed that the argument between Crystal and Reginald began because he wanted to use the money order to purchase beer or otherwise have a good time. Crystal, on the other hand, wanted the money orders to go towards paying the rent. The verbal argument, to my understanding, was quite heated and lengthy, and I am ignorant as to the proximate events which led to the stabbing itself. To my knowledge Daye was stabbed once, although he might have been stabbed as many as three times. ABC-11 news which has a very biased anti-Nifong bent, reported that Daye was stabbed as many as seven or eight times. The autopsy report, if and when it is made available to the public, may shed light on the number of wounds he sustained.

Taking a look at the Certificate of Death for Reginald Daye, a public document, you will notice that the immediate cause of death is listed as “pending.” For sequential cause of death, there is nothing which states that a stab wound or laceration was involved. In the section for “manner of death,” “pending” is checked… not “homicide.” This death certificate was dated April 18, 2011, the day that Crystal Mangum was indicted by the Grand Jury for premeditated murder. The updated cause of death will be at least four months from the time the autopsy was performed. I am further unaware if toxicology tests were performed on Daye and whether or not, if done, their results will be made available.

Examining the criminal record of Reginald Eugene Daye, as provided by the Clerk of Courts Office in Durham, you will note that the first page contains incidents involving mainly traffic offenses, including a misdemeanor involving beer or wine.

Page two lists two traffic offenses, one of which is driving while intoxicated… most likely due to alcohol consumption. On that charge he pled guilty. The other charge appears to be driving with license revoked.

Page three contains four misdemeanor charges including breaking and entering, assaulting a female, larceny, and simple assault. The fifth name on the page carries a middle name of Douglas and a birth date which differs from Reginald Eugene Daye, so this might be a different individual who shares the same first and last names.

Page four is a mixed bag containing a couple of traffic related charges and several misdemeanor charges including larceny and shoplifting.

My assessment of Daye’s criminal record is that it is not representative of a hardened career criminal. However, the presence of assault charges, along with the confiscation of brass knuckles from his apartment, indicates to me that he is not adverse to using physical force. The brass knuckles and his criminal record, in conjunction with his apparent problems with alcohol, and allegations from my sources relating multiple instances of the physical abuse of females, entertains the likelihood that Crystal Mangum’s actions were borne out of self-defense.

That Daye was stabbed by Mangum is not in dispute, but that he died by her hands most vigorously is. To charge Ms. Mangum with the murder of Reginald Daye is outlandish, and to charge her with two counts of larceny for money orders which she purchased is a joke. This extreme and vindictive scorched earth take no prisoners mindset that is and has been utilized in attacking Crystal Mangum, Mike Nifong, Nifong supporters, and others considered to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case is unholy, unjust, and makes the North Carolina justice system the laughing stock of the country.

The Carpetbaggers need to take charge of their own dirty work when it comes to inflicting punitive retribution against Mangum, Nifong, et al… we Tar Heelians, and Durhamians, in particular, need to immediately cease and desist from doing it for them.



Postmortem shenanigans and media makeover of Reginald Daye

2011-04-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog1.html

Media bias against Crystal Mangum has been evident for some time… made obvious by the unflattering and misleading moniker given to her “the False Accuser.” This title which is almost always affixed to her name is false and misleading. She stands by her story that she was sexually assaulted in March 2006, and a court has not made a ruling in the Duke Lacrosse case, as North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed all charges against the three Duke Lacrosse defendants.

However, the A.G. took an unprecedented step on April 11, 2007 of proclaiming the Duke Lacrosse defendants “innocent,” a proclamation which was overreaching and which carried no legal weight. People in the legal profession and most media-types are aware of that and realize that only a jury, or a judge in lieu of a jury can determine “innocence” or “guilt.” If the Attorney General possessed such power, there would be no need to hold a trial. The A.G. could simply review the evidence presented by the prosecution and render a decision.

The media could barely contain itself, anxious to declare that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were “innocent,” “exonerated,” and/or “falsely accused.” Never mind that it was aware that it was misleading the public by declaring the defendants “innocent” and by labeling Ms. Mangum as the “False Accuser.” Its goal was to mold the minds of the gullible flock to believe that the determination of “innocence” had been legally reached and carried legal weight.

During the February 17, 2010 incident involving Crystal Mangum and her ex-boyfriend, the media toned down its coverage after realizing that the charges against her were a bunch of crock. A domestic violence call was placed to 911 by Crystal’s children because she was being beaten up by her ex. When police who responded became aware that Ms. Mangum was the accuser in the Duke Lacrosse case, all attention was focused on trumping up charges against her which would result in a lengthy jail sentence. So Durham Police, who were the only ones with motive, means, and opportunity, set clothes in the bathtub on fire, made no attempt to extinguish them, and called the Durham Fire department.

Police were so intent on trumping up charges against her that they purposely did not even address the fact that Crystal’s ex-boyfriend instigated the physical clash between the two by repeatedly punching her in the face.

Charges brought against Crystal by police were excessive and without merit, and she was placed under a million dollar bail. Media-types, aware that the charges against Mangum were bogus, devoted most of their news stories to re-hashing Mangum’s role in the Duke Lacrosse case… which also afforded the opportunity to mention that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were “innocent.”

Although the charges against Ms. Mangum were pathetic, the jury sided with the prosecution on the misdemeanor charges. Despite a feather weight defense by Mangum’s counsel, the jury could not bring itself to wrongfully convict her of the arson charge, and Ms. Mangum walked away from court with a sentence of 88 days time served.

The city’s unjust treatment and incarceration of Ms. Mangum was the proximate cause of her losing her job, apartment, being dropped from graduate program at NCCU, losing custody of her children, losing personal property, and losing her independence. Furthermore, the notoriety from that case in combination with media vilification regarding the Duke Lacrosse case, made it impossible for her to just pick up from where she was at the time of her arrest on February 17,, 2010. She had trouble finding employment and someone willing to rent her an apartment. This situation spawned her ill-fated symbiotic relationship with Reginald Daye.

Reginald Daye, at 46 years of age, was 14 years senior to Crystal. From what I had been told, Daye’s reputation was anything but sterling. Sources told me that he had had run-ins with the law, that he was a heavy consumer of alcoholic beverages, that his alcohol induced drunken states had led to clashes with police, and that he had the capacity and a reputation for physically abusing women with whom he had relationships.

The media, however, refused to sully Mr. Daye’s reputation, printing and broadcasting only the positive… of which there was very little, and some fabrication. To my knowledge, there was never any mention of his criminal record, which I have been told is extensive. Yet, the media stresses Mangum’s record, and gives credence to the charges stemming from the February 17, 2010 incident in which she was an assault victim and against whom charges were trumped up.

In an ABC-11 online article, Reginald Daye was said to have been employed at the time of his stabbing, working at Scotts Painting and Decorating, however, my sources have informed me that he was unemployed at the time. It is further my understanding that he was two months behind in his rent payments when he met Ms. Mangum. In addition, it was Ms. Mangum who was employed, doing the only work she could get at the time, dancing. She had been attending a trade school in preparation of seeking another position which would be considered more socially acceptable. I was told that she was anticipating getting a sizeable tax refund, as well.

By moving in with Daye, she prevented his impending eviction and was able to provide shelter for herself and her three children. Whether or not an intimate relationship between the two existed, I do not know.

I was told that early Sunday, April 3, 2011, Crystal and Reginald were involved in an argument about money which she had earned. She wanted the money to go towards rent, and I believe a money order or check had been made out to go towards rent. He wanted the money to go towards something other than rent. Money that he had not generated. However, the media only reported that a search warrant stated that responding Durham police officers said Daye told them that Mangum stabbed him and took his money. This statement by Daye was evidently enough for police to charge Mangum with two counts of larceny, regardless of the fact that they were cohabiting and possibly in a relationship. Again, an example of aggressive over-charging by the Durham police.

According to WRAL 5 news, Daye underwent emergency surgery for his stab wound to the torso and was expected to make a full recovery. However, the wral.com article posted on April 5th, two days after the incident exhibited prime examples of shoddy biased reporting. The headline, for example, blares, “Police seize knives from Duke Lacrosse accuser’s apartment.” The apartment was, in fact, rented by Daye, and not Ms. Mangum… therefore, police seized knives from Daye’s apartment. By conferring apartment rental status to Mangum, it suggests that its contents belonged to her and not Daye. Mention was made of a set of brass knuckles, but reporters made no attempt to determine its ownership. My guess would be that the brass knuckles belonged to Reginald Daye. Ownership of the knives which were confiscated during the execution of the search warrant was not addressed in the article.

WRAL’s article further states that in the February 2010 incident Mangum was accused of assaulting a “different boyfriend” and setting his clothes on fire. This statement is disingenuous and misleading as Ms. Mangum was the victim of the assault, being repeatedly punched in the face in the incident instigated by her ex-boyfriend. WRAL is trying its best, along with other media, to establish a pattern of specific criminal conduct that does not exist.

As is usual media protocol, wral.com misled the public by stating that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were declared innocent. Not only that, but an attempt was made to give credence to the innocence declaration by stating that officials, plural, were responsible for the determination... but, in fact, the media had based its claim of Duke Lacrosse innocence solely on the April 11, 2007 promulgation by Attorney General Roy Cooper.

This article is a prime example of media reporting on a Duke Lacrosse case related story that is false and misleading throughout.

In addition to Reginald Daye’s criminal record which is publicly available to the people and media alike, a source of mine also procured a copy of Reginald Daye’s death certificate which lists the cause of death as “pending.” However, CNN writer Maria White, in her April 14, 2011 piece takes the liberty to mislead by claiming that Daye died “as a result of the stabbing…” Keep in mind, this is well after WRAL reported a couple of days post-op that Daye was “expected to make a full recovery.”

In an article in “The Daily Beast” by David Graham titled “Murder Charge Latest Twist for Duke Lacrosse Accuser,” a friend of Daye’s told the “Beast” on April 5th, two days following surgery, that Daye was recovering. The rumor in the Durham community was that Daye died due to something other than as a result of his stab wound… a rumor which is only logical. Whether Daye’s death was due to complications from another unrelated pre-existing medical condition, due to medical mistakes, or the result of premeditated homicide, it is unknown, but I believe it is safe to say that he did not die due to the stab wound he received on April 3rd.

For a death which has the potential for being the handiwork of a homicidal fanatic who might have been motivated by a strong desire to see charges against Mangum to be upgraded to murder, the Durham Police department and Durham County District Attorney’s Office seem to approach this incident in a lackadaisical manner. To my knowledge, the potential crime scene was not secured, surveillance cameras were not reviewed, and no steps taken to ascertain whether or not Daye’s care might have been intentionally compromised or sabotaged. Instead, without even having a cause of death, the prosecutors make a dash to the grand jury seeking an indictment on the charge of first degree murder.

According to the article in “The Daily Beast,” the Durham County Medical Examiner stated that an autopsy might not be available for 120 days, or roughly four months. And he stated that there would not be a preliminary autopsy report issued. The postmortem treatment of Daye by the medical examiner is not routine, and there is a reason for that… to conceal, to shield, to coverup, to obfuscate the truth. Rest assured, that had autopsy findings directly linked the Mangum-inflicted stab wound to Daye’s death, a final report would have already been published and eagerly carried by the media to the people.

Some media outlets try to suggest Daye’s April 13th death was a result of the wounds he received ten days earlier on April 3rd. ABC-11 News, which is extremely biased in its reporting stated that “Daye died days later..” suggesting that he succumbed to wounds sustained. This is an example of misleading media spin at its best.

David Graham’s article in “The Daily Beast,” is one of the most balanced accountings of the April 3rd story that I have seen. Unfortunately, like the rest of the mainstream media, it too insisted on referring to Mangum’s rape allegations as false… as though decided by a court of law. Duke law professor James Coleman questions the appropriateness of the first degree murder charge against Mangum that was handed down by the Grand Jury on Monday, April 18th. Taking their domestic relationship into consideration Coleman represented that a more suitable charge would be voluntary manslaughter.

I don’t know what kind of investigation the Durham Police Department undertook with regards to the stabbing incident, but with Daye’s criminal record (which I have been told includes an assault against a female) there is a great likelihood that the April 3rd stabbing was an act of self-defense on Crystal Mangum’s part.

There is no doubt in my mind that the authorities, courts, and media are, and have been, out to get Crystal Mangum because of her accusations in the Duke Lacrosse case. The excessive overcharging, the exceedingly high bail, the secrecy with public reports, and biased, selective, and misleading reporting by the media has been engaged for the purpose of punishing Crystal Mangum because of her claims about being sexually assaulted in 2006.

The success in carrying out their vendetta against Ms. Mangum can be attributed in large measure to the silence of politicians representing Durham. To my knowledge, U.S. Congressman David Price, State Senator Floyd McKissick, and State Representatives Mickey Michaux and Larry Hall have been silent and made no attempt to challenge the gross mistreatment of Ms. Mangum by the authorities and the court. Likewise, civil rights organizations, such as the NAACP under state President Reverend Doctor William Barber has been quiet as dormice. As far as I know, women’s rights organizations and those which profess to protect battered women, stand by while Ms. Mangum is slaughtered by the state and the media. The viciousness of the attacks against Crystal Mangum rivals only those launched against former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong.

Although I am not a Durham County resident I have been appalled at the recent treatment of Ms. Mangum by the state, and on the morning of Monday, April 18th, I mailed letters to Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez and Durham District Attorney Tracy Cline advising them against seeking to indict Ms. Mangum in Reginald Daye’s death. I later learned that at the time I was dropping off my letter at the post office, a Grand Jury had been convened and had given the prosecution the murder indictment against Ms. Mangum that it had sought.

An indictment for first degree murder when the victim’s cause of death had not even been determined in a patient who postoperatively had the prognosis of making a full recovery. First degree murder wherein the victim and the offender were in a domestic relationship wherein the possibility of self-defense was not even considered by the authorities. First degree murder in which the victim was well on his way to recovery and close to discharge when he suddenly and without explanation lapsed into a deep and irreversible coma. First degree murder in a man whose death was without doubt not related to a stab wound he had received.

I wrote the letters to Lopez and Cline in hopes of preventing the murder indictment which I felt might come against Mangum, but which I strongly believed was based on irrational Duke Lacrosse case bias instead of the objective and fairly applied rule of law. Durham County, in a swirl of Duke Lacrosse aftermath litigation, is dead set on taking its frustration and hostilities out on Ms. Mangum, Mike Nifong, Mike Nifong supporters, and others with empathy towards Nifong. I have made my voice heard on the Duke Lacrosse-related issues, while the voices of Price, McKissick, Michaux, and Hall have remained silent. They remain hushed because they lack the will and the courage to protect their most vulnerable of constituents from the bullying and vindictive individuals in positions of power in law enforcement and the prosecutors’ office who are motivated to carry out the vitriolic vendetta against those perceived by the Powers-That-Be to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case.

Towards the unethical goal of unjustly saddling Crystal Mangum with a first degree murder conviction, the media is doing its part by portraying Reginald Daye in the best light possible… amplifying the good, concealing the bad, and giving an ambitious makeover on the ugly.

Conclusion of Episode V

2011-04-23T08:10:00.002-07:00

Well, as the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end,” – and so it is with Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.” But don’t despair, Episode VI will make its appearance, hopefully in the not too distant future. It will be titled “Carpetbagger Vengeance Full Throttle” and it will be based upon a true story… my experiences on the Duke University campus in 2010 when a malicious and premeditated attempt was made to have me arrested for the crime of being a Nifong supporter.

The next time the A.G. dons his cape, cowl, and buccaneer boots to protect the North Carolina tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color,” will be in Episode VII, as of yet untitled. If you think Episode V was action packed, you’d better hold onto your hats for a pitched battle of the ages… and there is a good likelihood that Dame Justice will be in on the fray in that one.

In following a request by commenter guiowen, I have begun a new tradition with the strip, in which I will now depict faces of individuals in cameo roles or with speaking parts, such as I did with guiowen’s character in Part 17 of Super-Duper Cooper. Individuals need only to send me by e-mail a photo. (justice4nifong@gmail.com) The more views and expressions sent will provide a better chance of capturing the likeness of the person. There is also the opportunity for people to be placed on wanted posters in Cooper’s office… it just requires a frontal and profile photograph.

Any other information provided by the individual can be helpful, for example alumni of a specific college may be outfitted in clothing sporting that school’s logo.

Future episodes will continue to include post-strip commentary to provide the best educational experience possible for the strip’s viewers. In the near future, I do plan on uploading a version of Episode V on YouTube for the reading impaired.

Thank you for your interest in this educational comic strip, and know that I welcome all feedback.

Below is a Link to the final installment of Episode V. Enjoy.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc193.htm

Media spin shields public from facts about Daye’s death

2011-04-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

To see a Flash version of this blog with audio, click the link below. The script of the blog follows.

LINK: http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog041511.html

Because the media has been vague and mysteriously silent about Reginald Daye, the professed boyfriend of the Duke Lacrosse case victim and accuser Crystal Mangum, I have contacted some of my sources to find out what they say happened. Mainstream media will not inform the public, so you can find out by accessing this blog site.

The following is based upon what I have been told, and is not firsthand knowledge. Bear that in mind. This is what I have been told, and what I believe to be true.

Ever since Ms. Mangum’s arrest in February 17, 2010 on trumped up charges, she lost her apartment, job, personal belongings, and independence. In addition her father passed away while she was incarcerated and her mother, who was suffering with dementia, was placed in a nursing home. Through the kindness of friends, Crystal and her children stayed at a house of a friend, while Crystal struggled to regain her independence. She and her children moved into an apartment with Reginald Daye, a 46 year old man, eleven years her senior.

On the night of April 3, 2011, Ms. Mangum and Mr. Daye got into a financial argument… she wanted to use money to pay the rent, and he had other ideas for how the money should be spent. The argument ensued and escalated, and I am uncertain as to the immediate circumstances which led to the stabbing of Mr. Daye.

The media was vague about the wounds Reginald Daye received, with ABC-11 reporting that he was stabbed seven times. Some reports stated he was stabbed multiple times. Evidently the stab wounds were to the torso, but whether to the chest and/or abdomen was not clear in any of the mainstream media reports I came across. It is my understanding that Mr. Daye underwent surgery for his wounds and that his recovery was unremarkable. That by Friday, April 8, 2011, he was awake, strolling around, talking, and making plans for his release.

Then, over the weekend, he unexpectedly lapsed into a coma from which he would never recover. His condition was so dire that a medical decision was made to remove him from life support. I was told that Mr. Daye may have died as early as Monday April 11th, or on Tuesday, April 12th. The media reports claim that he died the evening of Wednesday, April 13th.

I was furthermore informed that it is believed that he succumbed to a massive air embolism… which suggests that someone purposely injected a large volume of air into his intravenous tubing. If this is true, then Mr. Daye was murdered, and not by Crystal Mangum because she, like Alan Gell, was incarcerated at the time of the crime.

As I stated initially, I do not know if the above scenario is factual, but I believe it carries a lot of weight. Consider that the media has been hush about Mr. Daye’s condition. There was no mention of him lapsing into a coma over the weekend. Also, had Mr. Daye died of his injuries, it would most likely have occurred within a matter of days after he underwent surgery and was hospitalized. The fact that he was on the mend and ready for discharge also rules out that he died of the stab wound(s) he sustained. Finally, had Mr. Daye’s death been a proximate result of Ms. Mangum’s attack, she would already be charged with first degree murder, and it would have happened without a cabal of Durham prosecutors and police.

Instead of rushing to assign a murder charge against Ms. Mangum, the Durham prosecutors and police need to obtain an autopsy report, study its findings, and move on from there. Whatever the cause of death, be it medical negligence, medical malpractice, or intentional homicide, Crystal Mangum is not responsible for the death of Reginald Daye. 

To view Part 16 of comic strip click on the following link.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc187.htm

Politicians’ lack of will and courage hamper justice in Duke Discrimination case

2011-04-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

On this blog site I have frequently complained about the gross mistreatment I received when I attended a public event on Duke campus in April 2010. I have also mentioned my attempts to reach out to politicians who represent me in hopes that they would help resolve this issue to everyone’s satisfaction.

The other day, a commenter asked the following: Anonymous said...

Sidney, give us the specific reasons why your US Representative declined to intervene with Duke University on your behalf. Could you quote the reasons word for word. April 7, 2011 7:31 AM

Therefore, I devote this blog in response, with links to the letters in question. I wrote not just one, but three politicians who represented me… U.S. Congressmen David Price and Brad Miller, and State Representative Deborah Ross.

What I basically sought from them was a letter seeking an explanation from Duke University about its alleged treatment of me, or if they were satisfied with the extensive amount of evidence presented on my website, a letter to admonish Duke for its excessive and barbaric treatment of me. In other words, I wanted Duke University to know that my political representatives, if not concerned about my treatment, were at least giving it their attention.

Not to my surprise, all three of the politicians who represent me refused to get involved. To do so would require the will to seek justice for me, and the courage to go up against Duke University – attributes which, with regards to this instance, were regrettably lacking among Price, Miller, and Ross. The media, employing its Jedi mind-tricks on the public, has made support of former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong political poison… regardless of issues of fairness, ethics, and justice. In addition, Duke University is a powerful conglomeration with deep pockets which are capable of filling coffers of candidates.

Requesting assistance from my representatives in the form of a letter was both appropriate and doable. Congressmen Price and Miller both tried to convince me that their First Amendment Right to Free Speech was somehow impinged by their roles in the U.S. Capitol. They should know better than anyone that their right to express concern, support, disappointment, or any other emotion on a constituent of theirs who has been mistreated, is protected by the Bill of Right and by common decency.

I do take offense from Mr. Price making the reference about “self-imposed exile from the (Duke) campus,” which is meant to absolve Duke from any responsibility for me not feeling comfortable to return to Duke. There is no doubt in my mind that Duke University would have arrested me had I not had the fortune of running into Duke law professor James Coleman. Professor Coleman is a friend of mine, and his intercession on my behalf is the only thing that kept me from being tossed into the clinker. By its actions, Duke did, in effect, exile me.

Mr. Price also attempts to give credence to Duke’s flimsy excuse of solicitation, which I find insulting. No reasonable adult would believe that handing out a business card to a selected number of individuals and inviting them, in a private conversation, to visit a website should be construed as soliciting.

Bottom line regarding Mr. Price is that he had two of his constituents who were at odds with one another. He choose to side with the constituent with deep pockets rather than the one with justice on his side.

At the time that Congressman Miller and Representative Ross responded to my appeal, they redefined my problem as being a legal matter, which it wasn’t. I had hoped for their intervention on my behalf for the explicit purpose of preventing it from becoming one. Unfortunately, that was not the case and I was left with no option but to take it to the next level. Had a politician aggressively become involved in seeing that justice was served, I believe there would have been a decent chance that the issue could have been amicably and expeditiously settled.

Below is the link to the letters.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/irepoDirec/irepoB2/ltr5reps.htm

Also, below is a link to Part 15 of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.”

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc181.htm

What the media doesn’t want you to know: I filed a lawsuit against Duke

2011-04-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Being within a week of the one year anniversary of that most despicable incident that I experienced on the Duke, I was forced to preserve my legal rights by filing a lawsuit against Duke University. I made the trip to Greensboro on April 5th to file the civil papers with clerks in the Federal Court, and the summons and complaints were mailed out that same day.

It was my hope to reasonably settle things with Duke University, and I provided every opportunity to reach a resolution based on the principles of “restorative justice.” Duke’s rebuff, combined with the reluctance of the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene and my so-called political representatives lacking the will and courage to get involved, I was left with no alternative than to take action by filing the complaint.

It is evident in retrospect that Duke utilized information in my pleasant and complimentary letter of April 12, 2010 to ambush me two days later on the 14th of April. The guard was sent to remove me from the campus, and without reason kept threatening to arrest me. I was upset and being kicked off the campus, but compliant, and did not warrant Duke police backup being called in as I was not belligerent, hostile, or threatening. The reason the police was called in was to arrest me, however the security guard and police did not anticipate that I would run into a friend of mine, James Coleman – a Duke law professor, who would intercede on my behalf. Had Professor Coleman not come along when he did, I might still be languishing in a Durham County jail cell.

Duke’s actions against me were outrageous and unwarranted and they should be held accountable. Politicians and the U.S. Department of Justice are not going to do that, which leaves it solely up to me… and that’s a shame.

The media, which gets its marching orders from the powerful and well heeled, will no doubt keep its distance from this story. Therefore, to keep abreast of this ongoing drama, stay tuned to this blog. I will keep you informed.

A link below will take you to the fifteen page complaint. LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/irepoDirec/irepoB1/cvDuke040511.htm For additional information about the case, including audio recording and transcript LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/irepoDirec/irepoB/irepoBopen.htm

Update on the Un-Indicted Duke LAXer’s attempted money-grab

2011-04-03T11:25:00.001-07:00

I spent the better part of last evening skimming the 223 page March 31, 2011 ruling issued by U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty on the complaint filed by the three un-indicted “Duke Lacrosse Defendant wannabe’s” Ryan McFadyen, Matthew Wilson, and Breck Archer. Three civil case plaintiffs who want to parlay their evening of bacchanal barbarianism at a beer-guzzling, stripper ogling, under-aged drinking party in March 2006 into a big pay day… and I’m not referring to the peanutty candy bar.

These three lads were never charged with a crime related to that evening of debauchery and criminality, and they were not arrested. Ryan McFadyen, in fact, invited closer scrutiny by his hateful and threatening e-mail about the night’s entertainers, though when exposed, he stated that it was just a harmless joke. In the atmosphere of events that night, talking about skinning strippers alive is cruelty at its worst and insensitivity on a grand scale at best. However, such an action as McFadyen’s befits the well-earned reputation that the Duke Lacrosse players had cultivated over the years.

The lawsuit by the three Un-Indicteds listed 29 defendants (I don’t believe any janitors at Duke were included), and claimed 41 counts of deprivation of their civil rights. What a joke. Plaintiffs had the gall to claim that they suffered emotional distress on many of the counts, which Judge Beaty wisely dismissed. The claims were so ludicrous that even the plaintiffs themselves could not support them in writing. I, however, believe that the Un-Indicted Threesome did suffer severe emotional distress… only not at the hands of the defendants. When they learned that the three Duke Lacrosse defendants settled out of court with Duke University for $20 million each, they were extremely distressed. And since Duke was in the gifting mood, they wanted some of that charity.

Greed by the Un-Indicted and their avaricious attorneys are what has fueled this ambitious, though ridiculous, legal storm surrounding the Duke Lacrosse case, and it was undoubtedly brought about by Duke University’s excessive largess in settling with the three original Duke Lacrosse defendants without a fight. Well, Duke is now willing to put up a vigorous defense, but it is too little and too late, as the wolves are loose and in search of their pecuniary prey, which has spread to encompass the deep pockets of the cash-strapped city of Durham and any individual with even the remotest and most benign contact with the case.

Although the judge complained about the plaintiff’s submissions being long on wind, his ruling which comes close to requiring a half ream, surely could have been condensed. My ruling in the Un-Indicted’s case would have taken no more than three pages total, considering that the first two pages list all of the defendants and the counts. No doubt I would have tossed out all of the Un’s charges.

In most circumstances, the setting of precedence is taken into consideration, but as has been show to be clear with all of its singular rulings and the total disregard for the rule of law, what happens in the Duke Lacrosse case stays with the Duke Lacrosse case. It gets special treatment by the state of North Carolina, the biased media, and the misguided public. So, it is safe to say that defendants such as Gregory Flynt Taylor, James Arthur Johnson, Floyd Brown, Levon “Bo” Jones, Alan Gell, and Erick Daniels will never be afforded the wide breadth of opportunity to pursue recompense in the civil courts for losses incurred when wrongfully charged, convicted and incarcerated. If that was the case defense attorneys like David Rudolf, Joseph B. Cheshire V., James Cooney, and Wade Smith would have already filed civil suits against prosecutors, investigators, and labs for these victims of Tar Heel injustice. Joe Cheshire won’t be filing a civil suit on behalf of his client Gregory Taylor against Prosecutor Tom Ford. It ain’t gonna happen. In fact, Cheshire has not one disparaging word to say about Ford, who used perjured testimony from felons in exchange for leniency and hocus-pocus forensics to win a murder conviction against Taylor and a life sentence. Cheshire even considers Ford to be an estimable courtroom opponent.

What did not come as a surprise when going over the ruling is that as many counts as humanly possible that were lodged by the Un-Indicteds against former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong were kept intact. As has been long demonstrated, Mr. Nifong is the sole designated lightning rod for all of the state’s justice system ills. He has been in a biblical sense sacrificed to atone for sins of his fellow prosecutors… not unlike another man from Nazareth. Discount fairness, ethics, and the rule of law when dealing with Nifong. This biased media, wealth-idolizing, capitalistic society encourages keeping the heel on the necks of the downtrodden and heeping praise, privilege, and riches on the well-heeled.

I dread reading the opinions with regards to the complaints by the original Duke Lacrosse defendant threesome as they seek to enhance the $20 mil gifted to them by Duke resulting from a shakedown of the institution by their high-profile attorneys. Think I’ll take a break for a couple of days before slogging through that morass of legalese mumbo-jumbo. Although I venture to say that I am sure to be disappointed by what I find, at least I believe that it will be more palatable than the civil complaint filed by McFadyen, Wilson, and Archer. Keep in mind that these Un-Indicted gold diggers were never even charged with a crime.  <>

Below is a link to Part 14 of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.” Be sure to check out the commentary which follows by clicking the upper left blue button. At the end of the commentary is a link for feedback. Enjoy.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc175.htm

NC General Assembly: “Yup, We’re racist bigots.”

2011-03-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

A resolution was recently brought before the floor of the North Carolina General Assembly to pardon Reconstruction era NC Governor William W. Holden. The offense that he committed which resulted in him being the only governor in United States history to be impeached and removed from office, was his attempt to curb the slaughter of innocent African Americans civilians by the Ku Klux Klan shortly after the Civil War’s end. This is an action by the General Assembly that is long overdue, such as the interracial marriage of heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson during the early Jim Crow days which was a crime in several southern states. Recently, Arizona Senator John McCain has led the crusade to have Johnson posthumously pardoned by the nation’s legislative body and to be signed by the president. There are many examples in history where grave and immoral injustices by the municipal, state, and country’s ruling body are rectified with apologies and pardons after generations of objectivity and distance from the emotional pressures of the day. The resolution to pardon Governor Holden is really a no-brainer and should have been adopted and passed with unanimity. However, Tar Heel politicians have managed to turn what should have been a sure thing into so much drama. Where the issue now stands, I know not and am thoroughly confused. I only know that it did not fly through the General Assembly for Governor Bev Perdue’s signature. What confounds me is what is the argument against passing such a resolution? By not absolving Holden for taking action against the KKK, the General Assembly is in essence saying to the world, “Yup. We’re racist bigots.” This sentiment is reinforced by the recent passage of a bill honoring the unrepentant and admitted racist Jesse Alexander Helms, a North Carolina senator whose actions inside Washington’s capitol helped impede the nation’s movement towards equal civil rights. Of course, Senator Helms’s actions in North Carolina were especially repressive and detrimental to African Americans, gays and lesbians. Yet, the General Assembly honored Helms by passing a laudatory resolution praising him by a bi-partisan, sweeping and almost unanimous vote, with but one nay dissent, and a dozen or so abstaining from the vote. Actions by the Assembly in both the Helms and Holden cases are an insult to African American in the state, and others who were discriminated against by Helms (such as homosexuals). Democratic Senator Dan Blue, one of several African Americans who voted in favor of honoring Jesse Helms, is a leading state senate voice for pardoning Holden. The Assembly’s refusal to do so is a slap in his face. It is indefensible. However African American politicians, such as Blue, have no one to blame except themselves for the disdain state politicians have shown regarding Governor Holden’s pardon. For example, black politician have remained silent when the state castigated former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong who was violently attacked for doing his job in extending the concept of “equal justice for all” to a young African American woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by members of the Duke Lacrosse team. Durham politicians in particular (Representatives Larry Hall, Mickey Michaux, and Senator Floyd McKissick) deserve the brunt of criticism, as they were also quiet as dormice when the Duke Lacrosse case victim, Crystal Mangum, was arrested on trumped up charges and held for three months until her unexpected release by a benevolent bail bondsman satisfied the $100,000 bond under which she was held. That trio of black Durham politicians, like so many other politicians, is missing in action when it comes to issues of the social injustices that plague our state with its tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color”… lacking the will and/or the courage to do the right thing. Governor William Holden should no more have been impeached and removed from office than Mike Nifong should have been disbarred and forced to resign as Durham district attorney. Generations removed from the accepted standards and attitudes of the day, the morally correct path is clear in the case of Holden, and it demands his immediate pardon. Generations from now, when the emotional turmoil that has been stoked by the biased media has simmered and the minds of the people are driven by reason and objectivity, a movement will be undertaken to reinstate Mike Nifong’s law license… rest assured. It will be Mike Nifong’s legacy that will shine brightest in the future, not the members of the unregulated North Carolina State Bar, not Attorney General Roy Cooper who caved in to defendants’ attorneys’ demands for him to issue an “innocent proclamation,” and not the three Duke Lacrosse defendants, who along with their attorneys, were responsible for shaking down Duke University for $60 million and with their greed not satiated are trying to rip off the cash-strapped city of Durham for $30 mil in addition. Today most people look back at the 19th century and wonder how an injustice such as the one against Holden could have taken place. In the future, the vast majority of people will shake their heads in disgust at the disbarment and mistreatment of Mike Nifong… as many people are already beginning to do. It would be a wonderful thing if people today could take responsibility for cleaning up the injustices it commits, instead of handing the duty for righting wrongs over to those in the future. Current North Carolina politicians should pardon William Holden and undo the injustice of their predecessors, and they should clean up their own mess by seeing that Mike Nifong’s license to practice law is unilaterally and unconditionally reinstated without restrictions. Don’t miss the most recent installment of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper”… Part 13 of 17. Be sure to view the Comments, Insight, and Analysis which follows the strip and feel free to offer feedback on the link at the conclusion of the commentary. A link is provided below. LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc169.htm

Right conclusion, but wrong hypothesis

2011-03-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

On March 13, 2011, The News & Observer published an op-ed piece titled “An Anniversary Duke will try to overlook.” It was authored by Bob Wilson, a Durhamian who reached the correct conclusion, but by using faulty reasoning. Yes, Duke University would like to forget March 13, 2006, and the events that transpired subsequently. However, the overriding reason they would like to forget the incident is because it was bamboozled out of sixty million dollars ($60,000,000.00) by three avaricious and crafty attorneys who represented the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants. Those attorneys (Joseph Cheshire, Wade Smith, and James Cooney) probably convinced Duke that it would have no problem being reimbursed by their insurance carrier after paying the Duke threesome. Duke realized, only too late that it had been snookered when their insurance company refused to simply fork over to them the sixty mil. Then, Duke threw good money after bad when it fought to force the insurance company to pay, ignoring the fact that it was Duke that breached its contract with the insurance company and not the other way around. After substantially wasting money on this ill-fated endeavor, Duke University eventually dropped its complaint with both parties agreeing to pay their own costs.

The misguided columnist, however, seems to feel, for some unexplained reason, that the Duke Lacrosse defendants are entitled to an apology from Duke University. My question is: Why? The Duke Lacrosse defendants, with their well-earned reputation for revelry and debauchery, held the beer-guzzling, stripper ogling party with under-aged drinking (and most likely illicit drug use) despite warnings by the university president to their coach to rein in the boys. Not only did the Duke Lacrosse player who arranged the night’s entertainment use a false name to procure it, but a false pretense as well… stating two exotic dancers were wanted for a small bachelor party of four or five, instead of a rowdy kegger sponsored by the Duke Lacrosse team. Now, add to the mix that the partygoers shouted out racial epithets using the “n-word” to the two African American female performers.

The Duke Lacrosse team members had a shady background when it came to legal matters to begin with, as nearly a third of the team had run-ins with the law for offenses ranging from public intoxication, driving with open beer containers, urinating in public, and other transgressions. Specifically Collin Finnerty was convicted of assault and battery against two men who he erroneously assumed to be gay… a hate crime. Dave Evans was cited for driving with an open alcoholic beverage in his car. And Reade Seligmann had a lien slapped against him for attempting to evade paying taxes of $6.7 million on his $20 mil windfall. Mr. Wilson obviously believes these are the types of citizens who are entitled to a payday of $20 million… while Duke University hikes tuition and cuts services and classes for its entire student body in order to make up for the loss of more than $60 million. Rest assured, that none of the make-up for the debt is coming from the hefty compensation packages that the Duke University bigwigs enjoy.

The columnist seems to feel that the Duke Lacrosse defendants suffered greatly because a protester against their reckless party-going ways held up a sign that read “Castrate.” Face it, the boys never spent one day in jail, and the media played them as victims from the git-go. The biased media, following the Carpetbagger Jihadist doctrine to destroy Mike Nifong and anyone deemed to be against the Duke Lacrosse defendants, crucified Mr. Nifong and the victim of the incident, Crystal Mangum. Every article written and broadcast aired spoke about how the Duke Lacrosse defendants were wrongly accused, that Mike Nifong was disbarred, and that the defendants had been declared “innocent.” The media types knew that they were misleading the public and that the Attorney General Roy Cooper had no legal right to make such an unprecedented innocent proclamation. (This promulgation of April 11, 2007, was engineered by Joseph Cheshire’s underling Brad Bannon). Books have been written in defense of the Duke Lacrosse boys, and HBO has been trying to make a movie about the incident… but they had to keep firing scriptwriters for creating a story that was uncomfortably too close to the truth. (Trying to make the Duke Lacrosse defendants appear like choirboys is a monumentally impossible task, if an attempt is made to retain any semblance of the truth.)

The fact is that the Duke defendants prospered, and not just financially, because of their involvement in the case. An admiring judge in Washington, DC, expunged all legal trace of Collin Finnerty’s assault and battery conviction, and they were all highly sought after and recruited by universities and Wall Street-type companies. Doors were open to them for all types of opportunities and ventures. The ones who truly suffered as a result of the aftermath of March 13, 2006, are Mr. Nifong and his family, Crystal Mangum, Nifong supporters, and others considered to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case.

The treatment I received by Duke University was far worse than what the institution doled out to the Duke Lacrosse defendants, as I was kicked off campus and nearly arrested at a public event I attended in April 2010. Because I was a known supporter of Mike Nifong, holding thoughts, beliefs, and opinions favorable to him, I was humiliated, intimidated, and nearly arrested by a security guard who was unable to give an explanation as to why I was being kicked off campus. As he stated, he was merely doing his job, which was to get rid of me. Fortunately for me, I ran into James Coleman, a Duke law professor and friend, who interceded on my behalf. Had he not, I believe the Duke police officer who was called in for backup, without cause, would have arrested me.

Duke University does have hostility and animus as a result of the Duke Lacrosse case, but I submit that it is directed at the wrong targets. Mike Nifong was conscientiously performing his duties when he prosecuted the Duke Lacrosse case, Crystal Mangum was the victim of the Duke Lacrosse case, and Mike Nifong supporters are merely seeking justice… equal justice for all, which begins with justice for Mike Nifong. And, none of the above attempted to shakedown Duke for $20 million.

If Duke University wishes to vent its hostility, it should direct it towards the true culprits, the Duke Lacrosse defendants. Yes, Duke University, Mike Nifong, Crystal Mangum, and most everyone else involved in the case would like to forget the anniversary… everyone except the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants, the defendants themselves, their avaricious attorneys, and the Duke Lacrosse defendant worshippers (which probably includes Mr. Wilson) who want to brag about and laud before the masses their financial rip-off of Duke University. 

Below is a link to the documents and audio of Nifong supporter Sidney B. Harr’s encounter with Duke University on April 14, 2010.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/irepoDirec/irepoB/irepoBopen.htm

When it comes to owing the IRS tax, Reade Seligmann got a “rare deal”

2011-03-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

I am definitely not a fan of reality television, and I do not recall ever watching an episode of “Survivor”… at least I will not admit to it in public. Through the tabloids and media, however, I am aware that Richard Hatch, the initial $1 million winner of “Survivor” had been having disputes and problems with the Internal Revenue Service regarding taxes he was supposed to pay on his million dollar winnings. Hatch has already spent three years in jail for these tax related issues, and without them being resolved, the meter has continued to run. As it now stands, with interest and penalty, Hatch owes the IRS two million dollars ($2,000,000.00), which amounts to twice the total of his initial winnings, and he has recently reported to prison to begin a nine month sentence for failing to pay back taxes.

To me it seems like Mr. Hatch is being treated cruelly, at best. Maybe someone in the IRS is homophobic (Richard Hatch is the gay contestant who frequently competed in the nude during the televised event). Regardless of his sexual orientation or propensity to bare it all, the treatment he received by the IRS seems draconian and excessive.

Another celebrity who has been at odds with the IRS is Wesley Snipes, who is currently serving a three year sentence for failing to pay taxes. According to news articles, Mr. Snipes owed $2.7 million on income of $13.8 million earned during a three year period. Surely the IRS has ways to collect the income owed from citizens who are reluctant to pay taxes. Why not do so? Why is the penalty against Snipes so extreme and punitive? According to prosecutors for the IRS, they wanted to send a message to deter others from trying to obstruct the IRS.

Evidently, the message the prosecutors are trying to send with the Snipes prosecution is not getting through, because Duke Lacrosse defendant Reade Seligmann was accused of not paying taxes on the $20 million windfall that resulted from a successful shakedown of Duke University in 2007. According to a lien filed recently, Seligmann owes approximately $6.7 million in taxes on the settlement earnings which stemmed from the Duke Lacrosse case. (Currently Seligmann, along with the other Carpetbagger families and their attorneys are still in litigation trying to wrest $10 million each from the cash-strapped city of Durham. They had erroneously concluded after Duke easily rolled over and gave them the $20 mil, that getting Durham to settle for half that amount would be a piece of cake… however, it did not quite work out that way.)

The question I have is why is Hatch serving a nine month sentence, after being locked away for three years already for not paying taxes on $1 million, and Snipes serving a three year sentence for not paying taxes on $13.8 million, when Reade Seligmann is not being tossed into prison for three years for not paying taxes on 2007 income of $20 million? All the IRS did to Mr. Seligmann was apply a lien, which evidently amounts to a rare deal. Why was this action not applied to Hatch or Snipes when their tax payments were not forthcoming?

Don’t get me wrong, for I’m not suggesting that Seligmann be tossed in the brink for evading taxes, but my position is that Hatch and Snipes should not be incarcerated for their tax-related sins. Hatch, for one, will probably never be able to satisfy the $2 million tax debt he now owes, and which is growing. Is the IRS going to continually keep putting him in the slammer for being unable to come up with the dough? There is a simple solution, however, for Mr. Hatch, who has been a contestant on another TV reality show, “Celebrity Apprentice.” Have Donald Trump pay the amount Hatch owes to the IRS in full. Surely Mr. Trump can afford to do so. Then the Donald can work out a schedule for Richard Hatch to re-pay him that is far more lenient than that of the IRS. With regards to Mr. Snipes, he should be released so that he can make another “Blade” movie… or other movie, and he can designate that his salary goes towards satisfying obligations to the IRS. It would be a much more constructive option for all involved. Currently taxpayers are footing the bill for his accommodations behind bars, Snipes’ talents are languishing, and the public is being deprived of enjoying his performances… not unlike the public being deprived of enjoying the pugilistic prowess of Muhammad Ali when he was barred from boxing at the height of his career because of trifeness.

I’m no historian, but I believe that using tax evasion as a means of incarcerating individuals began with the Chi-town gangster Al Capone. It is obvious that Richard Hatch and Wesley Snipes are not violent criminals from whom the public at large needs protection. They do not deserve to be treated like Scarface. They should, instead, be treated like Reade Seligmann… in other words, fairly. Allow them their freedom so that they can be productive, employed citizens able to work towards paying taxes they may owe. Although Richard Hatch, an openly gay man who enjoys traipsing around in the buff, and Wesley Snipes, an African American with a militant streak may not be media darlings like Reade Seligmann, they should be treated equally and justly. 

Note: below is a link to the latest installment (Part 12 of 17) of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.” Be sure to visit the site for Commentary, Insights, and Analysis which follows the comic strip, to get the best educational value. At the end of the commentary is a link for feedback. Enjoy.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc163.htm

Wake County School Board VP Debra Goldman got caught with hand in cookie jar

2011-03-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

Debra Goldman, the Wake County School Board Vice Chairwoman should be sent to detention for bringing more unwanted attention to a county school board that is already under fire both locally and nationally for its efforts to replace the diversity program with a neighborhood friendly school assignment program. According to an article in The News & Observer titled “Tata to look into transfer: Girl’s mother is on school board,” Debra Goldman secretly conducted a mid-year transfer of her daughter from Martin Middle School (a Wake magnet in West Raleigh) to Davis Drive Middle School. Davis Drive School is highly regarded, but it is not Goldman’s base assignment… however, that point is apparently irrelevant to Ms. Goldman. Not only that, but the school system took the extra step of re-routing the bus so that it stops directly in front of Goldman’s house on its way to and from Davis Drive Middle School.

Goldman’s daughter was secretly transferred in January 2011, with approval by the interim Superintendent Donna Hargens. At the time of the transfer, Ms. Goldman and interim Superintendent Hargens made no attempt to make a disclosure to the public. It was only after the media discovered the move and reported about it that Ms. Goldman acknowledged the move with a response. Goldman defended her actions, according to the newspaper article, by stating that she utilized a seldom used administrative policy to justify the transfer. That policy was never defined or explained in the article.

In an attempt to show integrity, she sent an e-mail to current Wake County School Superintendent Tony Tata, asking him to look into her transfer. This is hardly a move that can be construed to be ethical, as Goldman was integral in voting for Tata to be hired for the position he holds as superintendent. And from the sparse statements made by Mr. Tata so far, it is obvious that his findings will support the transfer. For example, he stated that Ms. Goldman’s daughter’s welfare was his chief concern. Specifically, Mr. Tata said, “I want to make sure that she is protected and in a place where she feels safe.” In other words, Mr. Tata is implying that for some reason or another Ms. Goldman’s daughter does not feel safe in Martin Middle School. Notice how he evades the real reason that Ms. Goldman is seeking the transfer… she wants her daughter enrolled in a school with the best educational reputation and program. If we are to believe that the daughter of a school board vice chairwoman has reason to feel unprotected and insecure at Martin Middle School, then how must the children of parents without ties to the County School Board feel when it comes to their safety and security at the school.

Mr. Tata then stated, “She deserves to be at a good school with great teachers.” In other words, Ms. Goldman’s daughter deserves to be at a good school with great teachers because her mother is the Vice Chairperson of the Wake County School Board. The other students at Martin Middle School don’t deserve to be at a good school with great teachers. And, Mr. Tata implied, with his remark, that Martin Middle School is not a good school and that its teachers are not great.

Now the people are supposed to be satisfied because Mr. Tata stated that he would look into the cases of the 15 students who have received administrative transfers, which are based on oral requests. How convenient that the reasons for their transfers are not in writing. The reason for that is so that there can be no accountability. The problem is not whether policies are followed. The problem lies within the policies themselves… policies which favor students with parents who have connections with the administration… policies that grant special treatment for those students, such as bus stops at their front door.

It is no wonder that the school system, like other agencies in the state are having budget problems. Policies that are in place, such as those governing administrative transfers, need to be abolished. All students should receive the same treatment and the same opportunities, the same quality of education and instructors, and the same sense of security.

In this particular instance, Superintendent Tony Tata needs to scrutinize the fairness of the schools policies, and not whether or not unfair school policies are followed.

Secrecy – the most valued weapon in the ordnance of the Greedy

2011-03-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Secrecy is employed by the greedy to conceal from others their outrageous, insatiable, gluttonous appetite for money and the possessions and power it can purchase. Whenever transactions are made in which pertinent details are omitted or withheld, it is a sure bet that the reason for its concealment is an attempt to shield from view unreasonable and outlandish terms benefiting one or both parties. For any transaction that is legitimate and on the up and up, and void of excessive, over-the-top compensation, there is no need to withhold terms, especially financial, of the agreement.

Transparency in contractual matters is the honorable policy and one which best serves the interests of all. Transparency is the policy by which the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong conducts its business and to which it strictly adheres.

Unlike the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong, the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants and their avaricious attorneys demanded that the terms of their settlement with Duke University be cloaked in secrecy. Carpetbagger attorneys were successful in shaking down Duke University for a total of $60 million for their clients because they imposed upon Duke University a vow of secrecy regarding its financial settlement until the financial transfer had been completed and it was too late. At the crossroads, Duke elected to abide by its agreement with the Carpetbagger attorneys even though adhering to that agreement was in conflict and violation of its agreement with its insurance company and resulted in a breach of contract with its insurers. As a proximate result of withholding terms of its settlement from its insurance company, Duke University forfeited coverage which it might have been entitled had it reached a reasonable agreement.

Due to Duke Lacrosse defendant Reade Seligmann’s attempt to evade paying taxes on his windfall settlement, the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $6.7 million plus tax lien against him, and it was only through this public filing that tax experts were able to accurately calculate the payout that Duke University made to the Duke Lacrosse defendants nearly four years earlier… $20 million per defendant… a $60 million total.

Greed, unfortunately is widespread, and arm in arm is the secrecy that is in place to conceal it. A prime example is the recent dispute between players and owners of the National Football League. The owners of the teams, who are basically nothing more than parasites living off the gridiron gladiators who destroy their bodies and brains in a brutal sport, risk strangling the lucrative enterprise in order to squeeze every last cent they feel that they can. The owners want billions of dollars off the top of $9 billion annual revenue claiming that they need it for “operating expenses.” However, when the players ask to actually “see” the operating expenses, secrecy jumps into the mix and the owners refuse to open their books. The same secrecy employed by attorneys for the Duke Lacrosse defendants (Joseph B. Cheshire V, James Cooney, and Wade Smith).

I would have more respect for the owners of the NFL teams if they just came forward and admitted that they want all of that money because they are greedy. Instead, they expect the football players, the football fans, and the public in general to believe that they are really not greedy… that cost of living expenses, oil problems in Libya, natural disasters, and other expenses which they have no control over, have raised costs of operations to the point that they need all that money in order to barely break even with just a minimal profit. In other words, the NFL owners believe that the American people are idiots. For the most part, Americans aren’t idiots… they’re just apathetic. They know the owners are in it, not for the love of the game or to provide family entertainment… but because they’re greedy. That, greed, is why they do not invest any of their excessive profits in supporting the wounded and injured players after they retire or are forced by injury to retire. The owners care not a whit about the Alzheimer’s or other debilitating brain damage that the players suffer. The owners will continue to demand as much money as they can from the hardworking ticket buying fans. And the owners will continue to extort from cities taxpayer money to build palatial stadiums with luxurious skyboxes and offices which deprives cities of revenue for the services and programs most in need to help the poor and disenfranchised.

Of all of the teams in the NFL, the current world champions, the Green Bay Packers, have the best model… a team that is not owned by one person or one family in the private sector, but by a community. I believe that all sports teams should be owned by municipalities, and that profits should be used to help support its citizens through social programs and help its fans by providing tickets at reasonable prices.

The owners should open their books, but they won’t because they have something to hide… proof of their greed. Just as in the Duke Lacrosse case, when Attorney Jim Cooney refused to divulge the amount of the settlement payment given to the Duke Lacrosse defendants by the university, he wanted to hide from the public proof of the greed of the Carpetbagger families and their attorneys. Shameful.

Transparency is the answer in all issues… whether you’re talking about legal settlements, arbitration in professional sports, or contracts involving the purchase of an automobile through financing by the automaker. 

Below is a link to Part 11 of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.” Be sure to view the Commentary that follows the strip which can be accessed by clicking the upper left blue button. We welcome comments with an e-mail link that is present at the conclusion of the Flash commentary.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc157.htm

Challenge to the N&O’s Barry Saunders

2011-03-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

In today’s The News & Observer of March 3, 2011, columnist Barry Saunders opined about Dr. Raymond Cook’s DWI case. Saunders pretty much jumps into any topic, no matter how controversial, with gusto, and usually produces a scathing, satirical, stinging, and sarcastic masterpiece. I am in awe of his literary talents, and only wish that on occasion he would lend them to this blog site.

However, the one topic that he has steered clear of is the shakedown of Duke University by the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants and their attorneys for $20 million each… a total of $60 million. In addition, the university squandered another huge undisclosed amount of money for attorneys to try and get the school’s insurance company to reimburse them after Duke had flagrantly breached the contract. Mercifully, they finally agreed to drop their suit and lick their wounds.

Actually, there are three related stories that the media has recently decided to keep isolated and hush-hush with minimalist coverage. And they all began with an IRS lien filed around February 17, 2011 against Duke Lacrosse defendant Reade Seligmann. Local media pretended not to notice that the lien even existed, and it took the Detroit News, a newspaper in the Motor City in the state of Michigan, to bring it to the attention of the world. Now, in all fairness, local media did report about it on television and newsprint, however, if you blinked, you would’ve missed it. Keep in mind coverage of this volatile story pales in comparison with the massive media overload given to a rinky-dink piece of gossip about Duke Lacrosse detective Linwood Wilson. That story about a private and personal marital squabble consumed the local media spotlight for months.

Anyway, the disclosure of the Seligmann tax lien and resultant accurate estimates of the amount Duke doled out to the three defendants began when the university announced that it was going to settle the lawsuit it brought against National Union Fire Insurance Company. Basically, Duke would drop its suit, National Union would drop its countersuit, and both parties would pay for their own attorneys’ fees. On Duke’s part, it is a classic case of throwing good money after bad. Duke University was probably motivated to settle when it learned that a lien against Seligmann had been applied by the IRS.

The Detroit News article was published about a week after that, and reported in The News & Observer shortly thereafter, a day after its article on Duke’s settlement.

Then, low and behold, three days later, Duke University raised its tuition a whopping 4.3% … to total as much as $53,905 with room and board included. Well, it is no wonder after its ill-advised and generous gift to the three Duke Lacrosse defendants… the university is trying to make up for its $60 million plus loss on the backpacks of its students.

What Duke University needs to do is address the compensation paid to the administrators instead of shifting attention to the students in the form of tuition and other fees. Administrators with their high salaries, bonuses, pensions, and benefits are financially sapping the budget of funds that should be used to pay instructors and professors and help defray costs to its student body. At least that’s my opinion, and I would really be interested in what Barry Saunders has to say about this and other topics touched upon in this blog.

Barry, I know that you must answer to you superiors, so I recommend that before you take my challenge that you obtain an okay first. I would hate for you to be axed on my account. Anyway, the gauntlet has been thrown. Barry, it’s your move. 

NOTE: Due to unavoidable and unforeseen scheduling conflicts, Part 10 of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper” will be uploaded today, three days earlier than planned. Be sure to check out the commentary which follows. At the end of the commentary feature, there is a page with an e-mail link. I appreciate all feedback.

A link to Part 10 is below:

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc151.htm

Enjoy.

Gluttonous Carpetbaggers’ shakedown of Duke greater than believed

2011-02-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

Recent revelations about a 2007 IRS tax lien against Duke Lacrosse defendant Reade Seligmann just goes to confirm the obvious, as I stated long ago… the reason for keeping the financial arrangement of Duke University’s settlement with the party-going Duke Lacrosse defendants secret was because it was so outrageous. Duke University was too embarrassed for rolling over without a fight and submitting to the demands of the avaricious attorneys, and the Carpetbagger families didn’t want people to think that they threatened Duke with a law suit just for the money. It seems that the amount Duke University forked over to each of the Duke Lacrosse defendants was far greater than the figure my sources gave me of $7 million. That amount actually is closer to the amount of tax due the IRS, which the agency puts at $6.5 million. According to Raleigh tax lawyer Jack Cummings, a tax of that amount would be indicative of an income of $18 million. Another tax attorney has the estimate as $20 million… which is probably the most accurate and the figure with which I will refer.

And it was in 2007 that Duke University settled out of court with the Duke Lacrosse defendants, and it is where the vast majority of their income would be of account. That is $13.5 million after tax per Lacrosse player, and that’s not bad especially when you consider what they went through to get it. First, they attended a beer-guzzling, stripper-ogling party with under-aged drinking, shouting of racial epithets (and probably other crimes taking place), then after being charged with a sexual assault they did not spend one day in jail. They became media darlings with all the media types coddling over them and misleading the public by proclaiming that they had been “exonerated” (as was reported by Deborah Morgan of WRAL-TV-5 as recently as the night of February 24, 2011, when the story broke here.) Then books are written about the Duke Lacrosse party incident which is revisionist propaganda history at its best. And HBO has been wracking its brains trying to somehow produce a movie about the Duke Lacrosse case without showing the true colors of the Duke Lacrosse defendants. Two objective screenplays have already been written, but the head honchos discarded them and fired their authors… HBO is essentially requiring that the Duke boys be put in a positive light which is itself an impossibility if a story about the Duke Lacrosse case is to contain an iota of truth. The plan which seems to be adopted by HBO movie executives is to demand a script that does not mention the Duke Lacrosse boys and instead focuses on former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong. (I would suggest that they consider hiring MSNBC Senior Legal Analyst Susan F. Filan. She has shown the capacity to fabricate libelous statements about Mr. Nifong and then to use those very false statements to attack his character.) Finally, universities and Wall Street bigwigs have been clamoring to bring the boys into the fold to study and work.

Now it’s not enough that each of the defendants was rewarded with $20 million for their bad behavior, but even after that, they want an additional $10 million each from the city of Durham. It is very apparent that the Carpetbaggers and their counsel thought that when the mighty Duke University toppled, that the city of Durham would follow suit and turn over the money. Somehow the cash-strapped city managed to summon up the nerve to stand and fight against the Carpetbagger juggernaut, not unlike Winston Churchill stood up against Nazi aggression. Now action on that front has been at a standstill for years, more or less. Nonetheless, Durham is still wasting taxpayer dollars to pay lawyers to go through the motions of defending the city.

The Carpetbaggers want the public to believe that they are so much in legal debt in fighting Duke University and the aftereffects of the Duke Lacrosse case, but surely they can use some of their net gain of $13.5 mil to pay their attorneys. Their stated excuse for suing the Bull City (to effect changes in the criminal justice system to the benefit of all Durhamians) is nothing more than a bunch of bull. They are suing the city because they are GREEDY.

Although Duke shelled out $60 million in an ill-advised settlement with the Carpetbaggers, they compounded that mistake by trying to force the National Union Fire Insurance Company, the university’s insurance company, to reimburse them… this, after making such an outlandish settlement without even discussing it with them. Duke is the one that breached its agreement with the insurance company, yet it filed suit in an attempt to recover the money it handed over on a platter. Just recently, Duke reached an agreement with the company, an affiliate of AIG, and per protocol terms were not disclosed. However, both parties agreed to drop claims and counterclaims against each other, and pay their own legal costs.

The Carpetbaggers need to emulate Duke University with regards to its squabble with National Union Fire Insurance Company. Instead of continuing to throw good money after bad, they need to rein in their attorneys and drop their suit against the city of Durham. They need to accept the fact that the city refused to take their bluff, as did the mighty university, unless it is the underlying goal of the Carpetbaggers to deplete the city’s coffers as a final vindictive act. But I don’t believe that is their goal… they’re in it for the money. 

According to a news report last night, Duke University has approved a substantial increase in tuition… no doubt to help cover its giveaway to the Duke Lacrosse defendants and its ill-advised lawsuit against their insurance company.

Note: Click on the link below to access the latest installment (Part 9) of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.”

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc145.htm

Solution to problems with the State’s Racial Justice Act

2011-02-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act was enacted as law in response to the perceived disparity in the disproportionate number of African American criminal defendants sentenced to death. Studies, including one by Michigan State University’s law school, have supported findings that higher numbers of African American men were sentenced to death when their victims were white, or when juries deciding their fate were white. The purpose of the law was to enable those on death row, mainly African Americans, to cite that their capital convictions were based on issues of race, and thereby afford a judge the ability to convert their sentences from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors from Forsyth County are complaining that the law is too sweeping and vague, and are claiming that some non-African Americans who are facing execution are using the Racial Justice Act to get off death row. However, as defense attorneys have pointed out, it is not just the race of the defendant, or the makeup of the jury that is the basis for inequity, but the race of the victim. Murderers of white victims are far more likely to be convicted of a capital offense than if the victims are of color.

What concerns some Forsyth County prosecutors is that the number of appeals processes to which death row inmates are entitled can become extremely high. That is a legitimate claim in these times of our state and nation’s fiscal calamity. However, the taking of a person’s life by the state should not be taken lightly, either.

One of the first test cases to be subjected to the Racial Justice Act was recently taken out of contention when the judge who was hearing the case removed Isaac Stroud, an African American convicted of killing his girlfriend in 1995, from a date with the executioner. Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson commuted Stroud’s sentence from death to life without the possibility of parole because of his mental illness, which prevented him from contributing to his own defense.

However, Stroud was mentally ill when he was sentenced to death initially and at the time he allegedly committed the homicide. It begs the question, why was he sentenced to death in the first place? I don’t know, but you can bet that race played a part.

The solution to inequities in the way capital punishment is dispensed is simple. Abolish the death penalty. Not only would it prevent the execution of innocent people, but it would save millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars that go towards attorney fees to appeal capital sentences and to fight the appeals. The issue of race of the defendant, race of the victim, and makeup of the jury would become moot if no death penalty was ever to be enacted.

Lawmakers at the General Assembly, especially Republicans who claim to be fiscal conservatives, should refocus their energy from diminishing the potency of the Racial Justice Act, and instead concentrate on repealing the state’s death penalty… if for no other reason than to save the state money. 

Part 8 of 17, Episode V, of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper” is now uploaded on the website: www.justice4nifong.com. A link is provided below. Be sure to view the commentary that follows this educational comic strip.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc139.htm

NC State Bar eager to disbar prosecutor

2011-02-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

The North Carolina State Bar can now boast that it disbars prosecutors just like it does criminal defense and civil lawyers. By golly, Mike Nifong is not the only prosecutor to be disbarred by the Bar since its inception in 1933. The albatross around its neck has been lifted with the disbarment of a former district attorney for Person and Caswell counties, Joel Brewer, slated to take effect on February 25, 2011.

It was the fact that Mike Nifong’s disbarment in 2007 represented the only time that a prosecutor had been disbarred, to my knowledge, which spurred my activism and led to the formation of the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong. I have often made the following argument… that Mike Nifong was the only prosecutor to be disbarred by the NC State Bar. With the recent order of disbarment against Mr. Brewer, I must now modify my statement about Mr. Nifong to read that he is the only prosecutor to be disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct by the North Carolina State Bar since its inception in 1933.

The reason the State Bar jumped on the disbarment option when made aware of unprofessional conduct about Brewer was most likely its desire to shut me up about my claims about Nifong being the only prosecutor disbarred. In their search to find a prosecutor that could be thrown under the bus like a human sacrifice, the Bar latched onto Brewer like a pack of wolves to a slab of bacon. And, what, you may ask, were Brewer’s grievous offenses that cost him his law license? It appears that during June 2008 and September 2009, Brewer conducted himself inappropriately by kissing and fondling women, often after illegally making traffic stops by posing as a police officer. The seven counts of misdemeanor assault which resulted from his unsolicited acts of affection were not the only charges he faced, and to which he pled guilty. According to the ABC-11 online article, Brewer also routinely dismissed random citations, which may account for the one count of “willful failure to discharge his duties.”

Although the charges against Brewer are criminal and serious, they come no where near to approaching the professional misconduct of prosecutors who have schemed and used foul tactics to put innocent people in jail. These prosecutors, such as Tom Ford (Gregory Taylor case), Bill Wolfe (James Arthur Johnson case), Michael D. Parker (Floyd Brown case), and David Hoke (Alan Gell case), and their prosecutorial misconduct have caused their defendants to be wrongfully held, charged, convicted and sentenced… with their actions being willful and malicious. By far, they are more deserving of being disbarred than Joel Brewer.

The practical solution to Mr. Brewer’s obvious problem was counseling, and not disbarment. A temporary suspension of his license while the extent of his problems could be ascertained along with a thorough mental and physical evaluation would have been reasonable steps for the State Bar to take. According to the ABC-11 article, Brewer’s behavioral problems occurred over a fifteen month interval, with the last known offense taking place more than a year ago. There might have been a physical explanation (brain tumor, for example) or emotional problem (family death, etc.) to explain Brewer’s string of irrational behavior. From what I could glean from the online articles, nothing suggested that Brewer’s prosecutorial actions during the period in question resulted in innocent people being convicted and languishing behind bars.

Because Joel Brewer was a prosecutor, you can expect for him to receive the “rare deal”… one that is not available to the disenfranchised, poor, and people of color. After pleading guilty to the nine misdemeanor charges, Brewer was not sentenced to serve jail time, but was placed on supervised probation (the length of which was not mentioned in the article), and fined $50,000.00. Rare deals often include fines that are arbitrary. For example former Governor Mike Easley, when pleading guilty to a felony charge, was fined $1,000.00 while serving no jail time. And the media kept talking about how the State Bar could take Easley’s law license, but don’t count on it. He’s being represented by Joe Cheshire and the State Bar doesn’t want no parts of that.

For a brief comparison, consider the following: Brewer pleads guilty to nine misdemeanor counts and receives no jail time. Easley pleads guilty to one felony charge and receives no jail time. Crystal Mangum gets assaulted by her ex-boyfriend, is charged with a fire started by the Durham police, and serves 88 days in jail (she was extremely lucky that the bail bondsman came through out of nowhere). Mike Nifong does nothing wrong, but is accused by Judge Osmond Smith III (who is evidently a mind-reader just like the Bar’s F. Lane Williamson) of lying to the court and ends up serving 24 hours in jail. And I was nearly arrested on the Duke University campus for being a Nifong supporter, although its spokesperson came up with the cockamamie excuse that I was “soliciting” because I handed out a half dozen business cards to people who I had been talking to, and may have suggested that they visit my website. It all boils down to selective justice based on Class and Color, and it makes North Carolina’s justice system the laughing stock of the nation.

For former D.A. Joel Brewer it was a matter of bad timing. Had his offenses and his grievance before the Bar taken place prior to me raising a stink about Mike Nifong being the only prosecutor to be disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar, then he undoubtedly would’ve been given nothing more than a mild reprimand, and possibly a paltry fine. Prosecutors, however, still need to be wary as the Bar will continue on its troll for disposable prosecutors to relieve of their law license in order to make the number of disbarred prosecutor appear to be realistic, especially when compared with the total number of disbarred professionals. 

Note: In keeping with its PAPEN (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong) Policy, The News & Observer’s only mention of Brewer’s disbarment was snuck in at the bottom of page 2B in the February 5, 2011 issue of the paper, and which consisted of a four sentence blurb by the Associated Press.

Below is a link to Part 7 of EpisodeV of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper. Be sure to take a few minutes to view the commentary, insight, and analysis of Part 7 that follows.
It is very enlightening.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc133.htm

Judge allows Floyd Brown suit against SBI to proceed

2011-02-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

According to The News & Observer February 4, 2011 edition, Floyd Brown’s civil suit against the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will be allowed to proceed. The article by Mandy Locke and Joseph Neff, which strictly followed the PAPEN (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong) never once mentioned the name of Brown’s prosecutor, Anson County District Attorney Michael D. Parker. It was Parker who charged the severely retarded African American male, with the intelligence of a seven year-old, with a 1993 murder that was based solely on the existence of a so-called confession from Brown that was taken by verbatim by SBI agent Mark Isley.

There was no eyewitness or forensics evidence tying Brown to the crime… in other words, there was no credible evidence for with which to charge Brown. Therefore, Parker relied on the “verbatim confession” to charge Brown with murder and hold him in a mental institution. It was the objective of the mental health staff to somehow miraculously whip Brown’s severe retardation into a state that would allow him stand trial for the murder with which he was charged. But the mental health team was unable to perform miracles, and Floyd Brown languished in the institution at taxpayer expense for fourteen years until an appeal was held outside of Anson County wherein he was freed.

Brown’s declaration of freedom was based on the fact that the judge heard from a variety of expert mental health witnesses who averred that Floyd Brown’s retardation was so severe that there was no way that the six page verbatim written confession could have been attributed to him. So Brown was finally released to the custody of his family, but not before prosecutor Parker maliciously went out of his way to disrupt assisted living plans that the government social workers had put together for Brown’s release.

Brown’s family sought to bring a civil suit against the prosecutors, but Attorney General Roy Cooper proclaimed that Michael Parker had immunity against such action. This is not the stance he took in the Duke Lacrosse case when he invited civil suits against former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong who had prosecuted the Duke Lacrosse case within acceptable bounds, acted as a true “minister of justice,” and did so without malice.

Parker, with the complicity of media-types, transferred all of the blame for the “doctored” confession on SBI agent Isley. Any person of reasonable mind would no doubt believe that Parker was aware that the alleged “verbatim confession” by Brown was a fabrication, which was more likely than not pressed forward by prosecutor Parker. Michael Parker is an intelligent man, and has likely had much experience in orchestrating unethical schemes to prevail with a favorable verdict, yet steer clear of any liability. Parker was also indoctrinated by the state’s policy of “selective justice based on Class and Color” and was fully aware that stealing years of a man’s life would be of little consequence as long as he/she were poor, disenfranchised, and a person of color.

When Brown’s family brought the suit against the SBI for its role in Floyd’s lengthy detention, the Attorney General’s Office objected, according to the newspaper, by arguing that it didn’t matter whether a SBI agent “elaborated or augmented or even smoothed out the alleged confession.” In other words, when defendants belong to a certain class and color, it is permissible in the eyes of the state’s head prosecutor to charge a defendant with a confession that is bogus… or as the state euphemistically put it “smoothed out.”

Unfortunately the state of North Carolina “smooths out” a lot of evidence and testimony in order to place behind bars many innocent people who are considered by the Powers-That-Be to be disposable. Attorneys representing the Attorney General’s Office do not feel that Floyd Brown, a retarded man who was involuntarily held in a mental hospital for fourteen years based on a bogus “verbatim confession,” is deserving of any compensation from the state. There is no doubt that he deserves compensation… just like Alan Gell deserved compensation… and Greg Taylor deserved compensation. Many others who deserve compensation by the state but are unlikely to receive any are Erick Daniels, Levon Bo Jones, and James Arthur Johnson.

Superior Court Judge Forrest D. Bridges undeniably made the right decision in allowing the civil case against the SBI to proceed. The civil suit against Mike Nifong for his handling of the Duke Lacrosse case is the one that should have been dismissed, as it was prosecuted honorably and in good faith. Not to mention that the three Duke Lacrosse defendants not only received seven million dollars each, but in contrast to Floyd Brown, Gell, Taylor, Johnson, Daniels, and others, never spent one day in jail.

With the SBI now under scrutiny thanks to the ill-advised challenge by Prosecutor Tom Ford and Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby against Greg Taylor’s release, it seems like the scales of justice are tipping, ever so slightly, towards that which is just. 

Be sure to catch the latest installment of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper” -- Part 6. Just click on to the Link below. Also be sure to view the “Commentary, Insight, and Analysis” which immediately follows the strip. A new feature to the commentary allows viewer feedback by e-mail at its conclusion.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc127.htm

Note: The e-mail response at the end of the commentary which follows the strip may not be functional at this time.

Durham County Sheriff’s Office uses Mangum trial as pretense to investigate

2011-01-30T11:11:00.000-08:00

Although The News & Observer printed newspaper never bothered to write an article about the Durham district attorney deciding not to retry Crystal Mangum on the trumped up arson charge, it did write one about the Durham County Sheriff’s Office conducting an investigation on Crystal Mangum supporters. The article, by staff writer Jesse James DeConto appeared in the January 26, 2011 edition of the paper and was titled “Crystal Mangum supporters investigated.” According to the article Major Paul Martin of the Sheriff’s Department is investigating Mangum supporters for alleged witness intimidation, and he stated that he would decide whether to bring charges against anyone next month.

What is particularly troublesome is that Maj. Martin would not tell the reporter what sort of intimidation may have occurred. If this were a legitimate cause of action, the specifics of the witness intimidation would not be under wraps. For example, what action does he feel warranted the charge? How many “Mangum supporters” are being investigated? How in depth does he plan carry out the so-called investigation? There is no doubt in my mind that these questions are not being answered by the major because he is using it as a pretense to conduct an investigation into everyone who has shown support for Crystal Mangum and/or Mike Nifong. It is a fishing expedition in which he hopes to be able to reel in peaceful law-abiding activists who seek justice for Mike Nifong and Crystal Mangum. And it is apparent that he wants to give himself at least a month’s worth of time to cast his wide net and see what he’s able to dredge up against the civic minded citizens.

This action by the Sheriff’s Office of Durham once again exemplifies how the law enforcement agencies and courts of the cash-strapped city will go to extreme lengths to appease the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants and their attorneys. When it comes to the Duke Lacrosse case, Mike Nifong, Crystal Mangum, or anyone considered by the Powers-That-Be to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case, no pretext is considered too mundane or trivial to capture the full attention of the law enforcers. They are following the Carpetbagger Jihad Agenda handbook to the letter.

The city of Durham should be pleased to win a conviction on the misdemeanor charges and walk away without any collateral damage to its police and fire departments… something that Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby and Prosecutor Tom Ford failed to do in the Gregory Taylor case when they unintentionally exposed long standing unethical practices by the SBI lab. The Sheriff’s Office should let this travesty of Durham justice regarding Mangum slink away, and not continue to beat the dead horse.

Now if this was a homicide case, in which a witness or witnesses was threatened, then I could understand conducting such an investigation. However the charges against Ms. Mangum which stemmed from the February 2010 incident were trumped up by Durham’s finest. The only crime committed that night (Ms. Mangum being assaulted by her ex-boyfriend) was totally ignored by police, the courts, and the media.

According to Major Martin during a television news interview, a serious drug war is about to break out in the city. There are plenty of homicides already on the Durham ledgers, as well as rapes, robberies, and other violent and cold case crimes that have yet to be solved. To me it does not seem that the Sheriff Department has the time or luxury to investigate a group of non-violent supporters in an attempt to bring up more bogus charges. What is the Sheriff’s Office’s end game... to take a couple of Nifong and Mangum supporters off the streets and house them behind bars at taxpayer expense? Not only that, but an investigation into Mangum and Nifong supporters eats up taxpayer dollars and distracts law enforcement resources and manpower from the important issues of protecting the citizens and property of Durham.

Let there be no doubt that the investigation into Mangum supporters is nothing more than a fishing trip, because otherwise Maj. Martin would have given specifics to The News & Observer writer Jesse DeConto. Unfortunately, with the media’s help, the public has swallowed Maj. Martin’s investigation into members of Mangum supporters hook, line, and sinker. 

Notice: A link will follow to Part 5 of Episode V of “The MisAdventures of Super-Duper Cooper.” Be sure to look at the commentary, insight, and analysis that follow the comic strip to get the most out of this feature.

LINK: http://justice4nifong.com/direc/sdcDirec/sdcEpv/sdc121.htm