Justice Dies in Darkness: Part One

NC Justice in Crystal Mangum's case: Cruel, corrupt, and racist -- Part One

Roy Cooper's refusal to be confronted by truths of Mangum's case: Parts One and Two

Roy Cooper, Crystal Mangum, hidden truths and elusive justice

YouTube Video versions below

(These can be accessed on phones, pads and handheld-devices)

Crystal Mangum Endgame Packet

Cooper, Congressmen, City choose Cruelty over Compassion for Crystal

Crystal Mangum's Motions Hearing on Her Malicious Prosecution Complaint

Malicious Prosecution Motions Hearing Syllabus entered into evidence

Cooper can't handle the truth... when it comes to Crystal Mangum

Crystal Mangum's Habeas Corpus

The Duke Lacrosse Myth

A rare deal in Sparta, Mississippi

Word count: 1,432

It was my intention to post only sharlogs (definition: pl. for a flog by Sidney Harr) on this site, however the production of one is time consuming and very energy-intensive. It takes several weeks to write, narrate, and put images together to make a sharlog… and I’ve been averaging one a month recently. There are many topics of interest and importance which I haven’t been able to address because I’ve been working exclusively with sharlogs. As they say, “a brilliant mind is a terrible thing to waste,” ergo I have decided to change policy and to once again resume posting blogs… that have to be read. I’ll post blogs once or twice weekly while posting sharlogs once or twice a month. Although it was my intention to have a sharlog posted this weekend, despite my frantic efforts, it looks like it will be ready to be posted closer to next weekend.

This afternoon the regular CBS programming was rearranged for airing of the NCAA basketball tournament, so I turned to WRAL-2 (I don’t have cable) to await my soap opera, “The Bold and the Beautiful”… anxious to see if Wyatt’s evil mother would toss crazy Allie from the overpass railing onto traffic below and whether Brooke would succeed in wresting her former husband and fiancée Ridge from her little sister Katie’s newly formed relationship with him. While waiting for the show to come on, I had to sit through an episode of “In the Heat of the Night,” a Carroll O’Connor police drama set in the deep South… fictional Sparta, Mississippi.

This episode featured Kevin (or Keith, I don’t remember which) a friend of the police captain nicknamed “Bubba.” Kevin, considered a good guy, was deeply in love with his wife, and they had nearly completed work on adopting a one year old boy. Turns out, the boy’s father Dalton Jones is a real creep and shows up at the last moment and tells Kevin that he won’t contest the adoption if he’s paid a little moolah. Kevin, not wanting to stress his wife, keeps this from her and pays the boy’s father thousands of dollars. Naturally, Dalton keeps upping the ante, to where Kevin can’t shell out any more dough. At that point Dalton tells him that he will go to Court to get his boy. Kevin is very concerned because he knows that his wife’s heart would be broken if she were to lose the child.

Dalton makes Kevin one final option… promising to refrain from going to court after his son if Kevin would give him the code to the alarm system at the shop where he’s employed. After hours of vacillating, Kevin agrees and gives the shady character the numbers to enable him to burglarize the place.

That night, Dalton using the codes given him by Kevin, gains entry into the shop and begins using a torch to break through the safe containing cash revenue. Unfortunately, the owner of the store just happens to walk by, notices the burglary in progress and proceeds to go to his office and grab his revolver to confront the thief. End result, the burglar pulls out a concealed gun of his own and shoots the owner in the chest, killing him.

The next morning when Kevin goes to work he finds police mulling around and the ambulance taking a body from the building. It was then he learns that his boss had been killed. Bubba, who had been watching his friend closely, began questioning Kevin about his whereabouts the previous evening. Bubba had also been looking into the boy Kevin and his wife were going to adopt and learned that Dalton with his criminal record was the birth father of the boy.

Distraught, Kevin goes over to the shack where Dalton lives and tells him to high-tail it… that the police are going to figure that he was responsible for the fatal burglary. Dalton doesn’t need to be told twice.

Meanwhile Kevin goes to his wife and tells her that he’s in big trouble. She comforts him and later on he goes into town to the Sheriff’s Office. After giving him a well-deserved tongue lashing, Bubba takes Kevin to Chief O’Connor’s office, and Kevin confesses to his role in giving Dalton the codes to the alarm system. The Chief then tells one of his officers to arrest Kevin for a slew of charges… conspiracy to commit a crime, aiding and abetting, interfering with a police investigation, blah-blah-blah. (I can’t really remember all of the charges against him.)

Now I’m thinking: “this guy’s in big trouble… by being an accomplice in a burglary gone wrong and involving the death of a store owner, he’s facing some serious jail time.”

Eventually Dalton is captured after a long car chase and gun battle from the barn of a small country farm… with Bubba supplying the heroics in subduing the villain.

The final scene takes place in the County Courthouse where Kevin is before a female judge… getting ready to pronounce sentence. Chief O’Connor is sitting in a pew near the back when Bubba comes in and announces to the judge that an agreement has been reached with the district attorney which calls for Kevin to have five years of supervised probation… no jail time! The judge then looks over to the Chief, as if awaiting his response. He subtly nods his head, after which the judge then announces that she will accept the deal worked out with the district attorney. Then, fade to black.

The takeaway

Prior to my enlightenment regarding the way the justice system works, I would’ve thought that the good guy had a happy ending, the bad guy got caught… a warm and fuzzy ending to the story. Because I am enlightened, what has leapt out from that episode is: rare deal! Kevin got a rare deal because he was a friend of police officer Bubba. No doubt the district attorney worked out the sweetheart plea deal as a favor to Bubba.

The second thing that jumped out at me was the awkward relationship between the judge (judicial branch) and the Police Chief (executive branch). It was obvious that the Chief held significant sway over the judge’s actions, and I found this to be quite disturbing.

Rare deals have no doubt been meted out by adjudicators since a legal system was first used by man. Discretion given to sentencing has usually favored the privileged and powerful, whereas “raw deals” (those that are disproportionally harsh and severe) have been handed down to the poor, disenfranchised, and people of color. Unfortunately, the discretionary power has been the province of the district attorney. Therein lies the problem as most, if not all, district attorneys in North Carolina lack Nifongian courage, and are nothing more than marionettes dancing to the strings of the Powers-That-Be.

Because former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong was a man of uncompromising integrity and independence, he did not fit into the takeover scheme of the big boys, and he had to go. So, like Crystal Mangum, charges were trumped up against him to force his resignation and disbarment. To prevent other idealistic prosecutors from following his lead, Mr. Nifong was severely persecuted by the State and crucified in the media.

As far as the executive branch overstepping on the toes of the judicial, as it did in the television drama, the same thing happened in real life on April 11, 2007 with Attorney General Roy Cooper’s famous “Innocence Promulgation.” Although it was within his professional rights to dismiss the criminal charges against the three Lacrosse defendants, it was totally inappropriate and unprecedented for him to make a declaration of “innocent.” That is not in his purview. Legally acceptable judgments of innocence or guilt can come only from a jury or a judge in lieu of a jury. In other words, it must emanate from the judicial branch. Officials in the executive branch cannot hand down judgments.

The mainstream media is aware that the innocence proclamation by the attorney general is bogus, but it wants to mislead the public into believing that it’s true. In almost all of the media releases, either press or broadcast, the Duke Lacrosse defendants are mentioned to have been found innocent (or exonerated) of the sexual abuse allegations.

Viewers of this blog site who elect to become enlightened have the privilege of being able to dissect the relevance and discern the nuances of issues covered in the news… stories both factually occurring in real life and those fictionally generated in Hollywood. 

Complaint filed with A.G.O. against Durham prosecutors

Word count: 984

Within hours of posting this blog, Sidney B. Harr, the Lay Advocate for the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong, filed a formal complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office against Durham County prosecutors Kelly Gauger, Charlene Coggins-Franks, and Orange County Medical Examiner Dr. Clay Nichols. Dr. Nichols authored the April 14, 2011 Autopsy Examination Report on Reginald Daye which contained may discrepancies in its findings when compared with operative and consultative reports. Furthermore, the conclusion arrived at by Dr. Nichols – that Daye’s death was due to complications of a stab wound to the chest – is without support or documentation. No nexus is established by the medical examiner between the stab wound and Daye’s death.

Filing of this complaint was made with great sadness and reluctance, and unfortunately deemed necessary in the pursuit of justice for Crystal Mangum, the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser who is wrongfully charged with Daye’s death. Many communications were made with prosecutors Kelly Gauger and Charlene Coggins-Franks, beseeching them to dismiss the baseless charges against Mangum. Letter upon letter was hand delivered to the office of the Durham County District Attorney’s office requesting him to prevent reputations from needlessly being smeared and lives destroyed… but to no avail. Even reaching out to the state’s highest elected executive official, Governor Bev Perdue, went for naught as she ignored the frequent communications pleading for the innocent victim of a vendetta prosecution to be cleared of frivolous charges and granted precious freedom so that she could finally be reunited with her three children.

Problems abound with not only the first degree murder charge, but with the little known/rarely used “larceny of chose in action” charge, as well. Prosecutors provide no credible evidence that Mangum took two cashier’s checks and lack credible evidence that she had intent or made any effort to unlawfully convert the checks for her benefit. In addition, both charges lack motive. Fact is, that like the 2010 arson case, on April 3, 2011, Crystal Mangum was the victim of an assault by an intoxicated Daye. Mangum was noted to have small lacerations around her left eye and a swollen lower lip. In addition, clumps of her hair were found at the scene, and the bathroom door she locked behind her in seeking refuge from Daye, was kicked in by him. What more is necessary to suggest physical abuse? Instead of charging Reginald Daye with domestic violence, assault on a female, false imprisonment, and placing him under arrest, Daye is not charged with a crime and is determined to be a victim of domestic violence.

What happened to Crystal Mangum should bode ill for advocacy groups such as the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence. However, despite attempts to get the Durham-based activists involved in the injustice, they, like so many others, have elected to remain on the sidelines as spectators. They are ignoring the message being sent by prosecutors that if a spouse is being physically abused and he/she fights back in self-defense, they run the risk of being labeled the aggressor. I am betting that the people at the Coalition believe, however, that the treatment of Crystal Mangum is singular and not a widespread likelihood… something that they can live with as most Durhamians possess animosity towards Mangum as it is.

Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed charges against the Duke Lacrosse defendants claiming that there was no credible evidence. The question with the prosecution of Crystal Mangum for murder and larceny is where is the credible evidence against her? Regarding the larceny charge, the prosecutors would be hard pressed at best to even prove that a crime was committed.

In dismissing the charges against the Duke Lacrosse defendants, A.G. Cooper questioned the credibility of Mangum, the accuser. In the current murder case against Mangum, there is no doubt that the Autopsy Examination Report of April 14, 2011 by Dr. Clay Nichols is false, misleading, and fraudulent in its findings and conclusion. Mr. Cooper should be questioning how the prosecutors could bring such a charge based on an autopsy report that is totally lacking in credibility… grounds for immediate dismissal.

The number of 106 fatal victims of 2011 North Carolina domestic violence probably erroneously included Reginald Daye. Truth is that Daye’s death should be categorized under “deaths due to medical malpractice.” Mangum prevented herself from being a statistic of domestic violence fatalities when she fought back against her attacker by stabbing him… a non-life threatening wound. The attorney general’s concern about the high incident of deaths due to domestic violence should encourage him to protect all victims of physical abuse, including those who fight back in self-defense.

Although the Duke Lacrosse defendants never spent a day in jail, the day of the filing of the complaint with the A.G.O. marks the 470th wrongful day of incarceration of Crystal Mangum, a true victim of domestic violence and a victim of a vendetta prosecution by Durham prosecutors bent on carrying out a misguided mission to exact retribution against Mangum for her role in the Duke Lacrosse case. It is needless to say that such a perversion and miscarriage of justice against Mangum would not be occurring if Mike Nifong were still the Durham district attorney.

Whether Attorney General Cooper will allow the Durham prosecutors to continue to throw away precious taxpayer dollars on a Carpetbagger jihadist inspired vendetta against Mangum remains to be seen. Hopefully the state will be able to resolve this problem of imperfect justice without interference from the federal government and the national attention that accompanies it. For the sake of Crystal Mangum, victims of domestic abuse, Lady Justice, and all Tar Heelians, A.G. Roy Cooper will do the right thing and see that all criminal charges against Crystal Mangum are dismissed. 


Click on the link below to view the Formal Complaint filed as well as related documents:
LINK: http://www.justice4nifong.com/legal/cgm/agoCOdirec.htm

In response to the Unbelievers: the "Innocent Promulgation"

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

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.


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

[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

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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

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

Joseph Cheshire’s criticism of the media is the height of hypocrisy

Joseph B. Cheshire V, the state’s premiere defense attorney for the powerful, privileged, and well-heeled, should know about the media, and its ability to mold the minds of individuals who are ill-informed and have an abiding faith in whatever the media spoon-feeds them. Cheshire used the media in the Duke Lacrosse case, playing it like a well-tuned Stradivarius, in laying waste to the good reputation that had been built over nearly three decades by a dedicated prosecutor and man of the highest integrity, Mike Nifong. When called upon to destroy the man who dared to charge and prosecute the sons of the three Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants, Cheshire exceeded all expectations in helping to orchestrate the downfall of the man who Rae Forker Evans, mother of Duke Lacrosse defendant Dave Evans, vowed on CBS’s “60 Minutes” would “pay every day for the rest of his life.” Cheshire did not pull any punches in lambasting Nifong in the media… the media working in unison with Cheshire, state agencies of North Carolina, the North Carolina State Bar and others in fulfilling the Carpetbagger Jihad agenda against Nifong. It was the perfect storm that the media used to control public thought about the Duke Lacrosse case, and mindless individuals exposed to the biased media spin came away believing that the three Duke Lacrosse defendants were exonerated, that Prosecutor Mike Nifong prosecuted the case in an attempt to win an election, and that nothing untoward happened at the Duke house on Buchanan Street, which Duke University wasted no time in secretly razing. The media characterized Mr. Nifong as the second coming of Satan, and he was vilified to the extent that almost all individuals in North Carolina, and those individuals somewhat familiar with the media’s presentation of it throughout the country, have negative and even hostile feelings towards Mr. Nifong. And one person responsible for fanning the media flames has been Joseph Cheshire.

In the November 24, 2010 edition of The News & Observer is an article titled “Lawyer says media fanned the flames.” In it Mr. Cheshire decries the media treatment of his client, former North Carolina Governor Mike Easley. The former governor was involved in several shady deals during which he received substantial financial gain… deals involving real estate and travel. Cheshire managed to wrangle out a plea agreement in which his client pled guilty to a single felony charge in exchange for the State and Federal investigations and prosecutions coming to a close. And, of course, he was to face no jail time… that is punishment reserved for those North Carolinian felony offenders who are poor, disenfranchised, and people of color. Privileged felons are usually required to pay a nominal fee to the court… and I believe that the fine for Mr. Easley was approximately one thousand dollars. Also he is not subject to probation or required to spend time with community service.

All told, Mr. Easley got off easy. He was treated with kid gloves not only by the media, but by the prosecutors and judge as well. State and federal prosecutors were quick to bring their investigations to a close as soon as the former governor agreed to plead guilty to a minor, but felonious, charge. Easley was probably well advised to take the deal in order to prevent more damaging revelations from being brought to the fore. Although Cheshire was able to arrange for the attorney general to state that his Duke Lacrosse clients were “innocent” (and which the media falsely gave credence to), he could not engineer one in this case, so he took it upon himself to state that although his client pled guilty to a felony charge, there was no corruption. I don’t know what Mr. Cheshire’s definition of “corruption” is, but it must come from the same dictionary used by Duke’s Michael Schoenfeld who defined “solicitation” as handing out a business card and asking someone to visit your website.

It’s hard for me to conjure up sympathy for the friendly media treatment of Mike Easley when one considers the hostile and blatantly biased media treatment of Mike Nifong. The media’s greatest flaw is in using Roy Cooper’s April 11, 2007 “Innocent Promulgation” as a basis for stating that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were innocent or exonerated. Despite being informed about this misleading statement, it continues to this day, nearly four years later. In addition, the media persistently labeled Mike Nifong as the “disgraced” former Durham district attorney. Any negative adjectives used to describe Easley were sparingly if ever used. For me, it is more disgraceful to abuse one’s position of power in exchange for one’s personal gain… such as what apparently transpired with Cheshire’s client. Mike Nifong, on the other hand, was merely carrying out his job as the Durham district attorney when he prosecuted the Duke Lacrosse case. And he carried it out at the risk of losing his election bid as the incumbent district attorney. By proceeding with the prosecution of the Duke Lacrosse case, the May 2006 primary election was tightened, and he nearly lost to a November candidate who ran only to oppose Nifong, with the publicized intention of resigning if victorious in order to permit the governor to appoint a new district attorney.

Joe Cheshire is selective when it comes to criticizing the media, or others. For example, he is highly critical of Mike Nifong, but when it comes to Tom Ford, the prosecutor of one of Cheshire’s other clients, Gregory Taylor, Cheshire doesn’t utter one disparaging word. Ford put an innocent man in jail for life as a vendetta because he would not turn and give perjured testimony to implicate an innocent black man in the death of Jacquetta Thomas. Taylor was convicted by hocus-pocus forensics and Ford’s witnesses who gave perjured testimony against Taylor… and although Taylor was wrongfully incarcerated for seventeen years because of Ford’s vengeful actions, Cheshire publicly refers to Tom Ford as a good prosecutor and admirable court-room adversary.

Tom Fetzer, the state Republican chairman stated in response to Easley’s plea deal, “I think North Carolina has developed a reputation for being a very corrupt state.” Well, I agree with Fetzer’s observation, and believe that it is a reputation that is well deserved. How else can the state explain why Mike Nifong is the only prosecutor to be disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar since its inception in1933, when it trails only the states of Louisiana and Illinois in the number of death row inmates who have been exonerated by DNA evidence? How else can the state explain the draconian, singular, and unwarranted persecution of Mike Nifong when it is not even apparent to public why Nifong was disbarred? There is no logical or reasonable explanation for the persecution meted out to Nifong… he was punished to set an example for other prosecutors who elect to pursue the principle of “equal justice for all” instead of abiding by the state’s tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color.” Nifong was also punished as part of the Jihad against him that was launched by Rae Evans in her “60 Minutes” interview.

For his Duke Lacrosse defendant, for Gregory Taylor, and for Mike Easley, Joseph Cheshire served his clients well. And even though only one of his aforementioned clients was legally found to be innocent (Gregory Taylor), the media has been favorable to them all. The same cannot be said for Duke Lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong who the media attacked with relish. Spearheading the media onslaught against Nifong was Joseph Cheshire who now takes umbrage at the slightest media insult of his client, the former governor of the state. The complaints by Cheshire leveled at the media for its coverage of Mike Easley’s alleged corrupt actions are hypocritical and mind-boggling when one considers Cheshire’s role in the media war aimed at Mike Nifong… a war that has not let up since its first volleys in 2006.

Panthers and people of Durham County have no one to blame but themselves

In the November 11, 2010 sports section of The News & Observer, writer Caulton Tudor opined what everyone who follows the NFL already knows… the Carolina Panthers are terrible. Titled “Panthers are awful, and no fun to watch: Even worse, there’s not much hope for the future,” Tudor whines about how depressing it is to watch the 1-7 team which appears to be struggling mightily to win. He is especially critical of the Panthers’ quarterbacks, stating that they lack any hint of promise or improvement… and that they are unable to get the ball with an accurate throw to the team’s most exciting player Steve Smith. Mr. Tudor ranks another 1-7 team, the Dallas Cowboys, as being better than Carolina. Even winless Buffalo Bills are placed in a more enviable position than the lackluster Panthers.

Now, there is not much that I disagree with in the Tudor evaluation, including his prediction that Coach John Fox will not be able to retain his position as head coach. Although I will bet dollars to doughnuts that Tudor is equally accurate in his assessment that John Fox will not be at the team’s helm next season, that doesn’t mean I have to like it. It seems that whenever a team goes into a tailspin, the solution all too often is to release the coach. With the Carolina Panthers, it is the owners who are responsible for the dire situation in which they find themselves. First they were too quick to rid themselves of the veteran quarterback (Jake Delhomme) whose play was admittedly streaky at times, with no quarterback of substance to step in immediately and take over the position. Matt Moore and Jim Clausen may very well develop into first rate quarterbacks, but that usually requires experience to back up talent. Secondly, and more importantly, the owners of the Carolina Panthers had the opportunity to pick up, for a song, one of the best and most exciting quarterbacks in the league… Michael Vick. But they didn’t.

After Vick was released from incarceration after serving a two year sentence for his role in a dog-fighting venture, he was available to play for all of the teams in the league. Carolina could have made an offer to Mr. Vick, which I am sure he would have taken. As it was, no team showed any interest in having Michael Vick on their team. Carolina definitely did not. Philadelphia Eagles was the only team willing to give Vick any consideration, and this only after its star quarterback McNabb pleaded with the Eagles to give Vick a chance. So, it was only with reluctance that Michael Vick landed on an NFL team as a backup QB. This is hard to comprehend when one considers the talents of Vick… he has a rifle for an arm, the southpaw is accurate with his throws, he runs like a deer, and he has the ability to escape from a collapsing pocket and turn a big loss into a big gain. Talk about an exciting tandem of Vick and Steve Smith… makes your mouth water. Not only that, but Vick has been playing in the league for years, so he brought with him to Philadelphia on-the-field experience, as well a maturity that was honed in prison.

Panther owners passed on the opportunity to have Michael Vick quarterback the Carolina franchise, and now to make amends for their lack of foresight they will most likely sack their head coach, John Fox. Had the owners made the logical and intelligent decision to immediately pick up Vick the moment he was available, there is little doubt that the Panthers’ record would more likely than not be better than .500. There is no doubt that it would be better than it is currently. An attempt to obtain Vick was not a coaching decision, rather it was a ownership one, and because the ownership messed up by not at least trying to acquire Vick, it appears as though the Panthers, Coach Fox, Panther fans, and Sports commentator Caulton Tudor will suffer.

The reason the Panthers owners did not go after Vick is not a mystery. They were in cahoots with the other owners to blacklist Michael Vick. He was not supposed to be picked up by any NFL team, but the Philadelphia Eagles owner, it seems, would much rather have a chance at bringing home a championship trophy than engaging in a loosely knit cabal to put a premature end to a talented professional’s career. Not so, the Carolina Panthers owners (who needed a quality quarterback much more than Philadelphia which had Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Donovan McNabb at the time), and as a direct result, the Tar Heel state team is now suffering the consequences.

The media has kept quiet about the debacle with NFL teams not pursuing Michael Vick, especially those in need of a quality player in the game’s most important position. Mr. Tudor did not even mention the fact that Carolina passed on the opportunity to obtain Vick. And, of course, since Michael Vick landed with the Eagles, the media has consistently tried to stir up a quarterback controversy in Philadelphia... even after Vick’s spectacular play was interrupted by a rib cartilage injury. I did not buy into the media’s QB controversy hype for a minute because I knew that when Vick recovered that he would be playing… and he would be playing because the Eagles want to win more than they want to punish a man who has served his time with dignity.

As I have stated before, this same sort of blacklisting can be compared to legal events in the cash-strapped city of Durham. Another Michael, former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, represented the finest prosecutor, in my opinion, that the state of North Carolina will ever have the fortune to have. He had nearly three decades of prosecutorial experience under his belt when the Duke Lacrosse case fell into his lap, and he had built a reputation of being a prosecutor who was fair and who had integrity. One thing that set Mr. Nifong apart from other prosecutors is the fact that he was independent in seeing that justice prevailed. Very much like Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett who defied England’s King Henry II and followed strong-held religious principles much to his detriment, District Attorney Nifong defied the wishes of the Powers-That-Be when he proceeded to prosecute the three Duke Lacrosse defendants based on statements made by an alleged sexual assault African American victim. When the defense attorneys for the Duke Lacrosse defendants filed a motion for prosecutorial discovery, Nifong’s office responded within 24 hours with approximately 1,500 pages of documents, plus CDs and DVDs. The media has never mentioned that Mr. Nifong has always maintained an open file policy when it came to sharing evidence with defense attorneys… doing so 25 years before it became mandated by law. Finally, Mr. Nifong demonstrated his dedication to the principle of acting as a “Minister of Justice” when, after later statements by the alleged accuser did not meet standard for rape, he immediately dropped those charges against the Lacrosse defendants.

The media, egged on the Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants, flagrantly devoted its energies to destroy Mike Nifong. One outstanding example was the fabrication by MSNBC Legal Analyst Susan Filan that Mr. Nifong requested that his son attend his hearing. Using this false statement, she then lambasted Mr. Nifong for using his son, when she is the one, in fact, who was using Mr. Nifong’s son. Another example of media bias was the rigged Primary Poll sponsored by ABC-11 News in an attempt to establish a pitiful and diabolical motive for Mr. Nifong’s decision to prosecute the Duke boys. Another egregious act by all media was the misleading and false statements that the Duke Lacrosse defendants were exonerated, cleared, and determined to be not guilty… all based on Attorney General Roy Cooper’s April 11, 2007 “Innocent Promulgation.” Although the state persecuted Mr. Nifong, it was the media that crucified him, and turned the unwitting public against him.

In comparison of the cases of the two Michaels, the owners of the Carolina Panthers went along with the overriding consensus of the majority of other NFL owners… only at their detriment when giving up the golden opportunity to have on their roster one of the game’s most exciting and talented players. The people of Durham County, who did not rally behind their unjustly beleaguered district attorney, are the ones who suffer by not having as district attorney the man who epitomizes “equal justice for all.” Furthermore they lack the services of a prosecutor who has the courage to go it alone in truly fulfilling his role as a “Minister of Justice.” Whereas the people of North Carolina should be well aware of the blunder by the Carolina Panther owners, it may take some time before the people of Durham County realize theirs.