North Carolina’s disgraceful treatment of Erick Daniels continues…

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

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

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.

[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.

