Flog 18: Charges against Crystal Mangum - corruption, conspiracy, and cover-up

Click the link below to view the interactive flog:
http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog18.html

Flog 18: Crystal Mangum – corruption, conspiracy, and cover-up

Word count: 3,109
 In the beginning of March 2011, Reginald Daye, a man in his mid-forties, was back on the job after having been recently laid off work as a painter. Mr. Daye had seemed to have turned his life around from his earlier days of misdemeanor crimes. A couple of the crimes for which he was charged included assault… one assault on a female.

In addition to traffic violations and petty crimes, Reginald Daye had a history of drug use which he managed to kick over time… however, his addiction to alcohol was one which he had not been able to beat. According to Crystal Mangum, the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser, he would consume a case of beer on weekdays and down a gallon of whiskey on weekends.


These drinking habits of Daye were observed by Crystal Mangum because around the beginning of March 2011, she and her three young children moved into Reginald Daye’s apartment at his invitation. Months prior to their cohabitation, Daye, attracted by Mangum’s notorious celebrity, sought a relationship with her, and around the middle of January 2011 he introduced himself to her.


After living together during the month of March 2011, their platonic relationship became an intimate one. According to Ms. Mangum, she brought some clothes along with a washing machine and dryer to the arrangement, and helped pay the rent.


It was after she had moved in with Daye that Crystal noticed his jealous nature as he confiscated her cell phone to monitor who she communicated with and for his own personal use.


Crystal Mangum noted that Reginald Daye had a pair of brass knuckles, and he admitted to her that he owned a gun, although she states that she never saw it. Daye also acknowledged to her that in the past he had been physically abusive with his girlfriends, but up until the morning of April 3, 2011, he never laid a hand on her.


On March 25, 2011, Reginald Daye purchased a cashier’s check for $300, and on April 1, 2011, he purchased a cashier’s check for $400, both checks totaling $700 to cover the rent. On both checks the payee was listed as the apartment’s owner and Reginald Daye’s name was down as the remitter.


On the days they were purchased, March 25th and April 1, 2011, Mr. Daye gave both cashier’s checks to Crystal. Because he was scheduled to be at work during the apartment office hours on Monday, April 4, 2011, he instructed Crystal to visit the office and deliver the April rent in the form of the two cashier’s checks. Crystal placed both checks in her purse for safekeeping at the time she received them.


In the late evening of Saturday, April 2, 2011, Reginald and Crystal attended a birthday party. Daye drank prior to their arrival at the party at 11:00 pm, and imbibed alcohol while at the party. Ms. Mangum’s alcoholic consumption consisted of two Jell-o shots (Jell-o made using gin), and a drink containing gin. After an hour or so, the two left the party and returned to the apartment they shared.


At the apartment, Crystal Mangum saw a police officer she knew who was on the apartment grounds. They greeted each other and began to chitchat. Reginald Daye became angry with the attention Mangum was giving the officer and began demanding that she leave and accompany him into the apartment. When Mangum stalled, Daye became enraged, and proceeded to engage her in a heated argument.


Crystal became frightened and concerned about Daye’s behavior and went to the officer and asked him to drive her to her aunt’s house. The officer refused and told Mangum and Daye to take their argument inside of their apartment.


While Daye was forcibly dragging Mangum up the stairs, she sustained a cut on her right knee.


Once inside the apartment, the terror for Crystal Mangum would begin and last approximately an hour, from around two to three in the morning. In the living room, he punched her in the face and spit on her. When she ran to the master bedroom, he pursued; tackling her with the two of them on the bed. Mangum clung tight to the mattress as Daye lifted her and it up and deposited them on the floor.


After Crystal managed to free herself from Daye she ran to the bathroom in the master bedroom and locked the door behind her. Daye proceeded to kick in the door knocking it off its hinges, and he grabbed Crystal by her hair and drug her back into the bedroom… clumps of her hair being deposited by the bathroom door and on the mattress.


Mangum tried to grab her purse in order to flee, but Daye blocked her. Sometime thereafter he demanded that Crystal get up and leave the apartment. Anxious to comply, Daye held her down and told her, “You’re not going anywhere.”


After a period of time, Daye went to another part of the apartment momentarily leaving her alone in the bedroom. He later returned with a pot of boiling water and then left again. When Daye returned minutes later, he had a set of steak knives and began to throw them at her as she tried to shield herself with the mattress.


Crystal stated that Reginald Daye then began eerily having a conversation with himself discussing whether or not to kill her and finally concluding to do so.


With steak knives strewn around the bedroom, Daye got on top of Crystal and he gouged at her left eye with his fingernails, leaving small lacerations. She tried to push him off but to no avail. He then put both of his hands around her neck and began to choke her.


Crystal’s head throbbing with the strangulation, she grabbed a steak knife that was lying about and stabbed Daye once in the left side of his torso. Daye then got up and yelled, “You stabbed me, Bitch!”


Crystal got up grabbed her purse, which contained the two cashier’s checks, and fled the apartment. Daye gave pursuit as Crystal ran for her life into the woods nearby the housing complex. She did not know exactly when Daye gave up the chase. Once free of imminent danger, Crystal Mangum began walking to her aunt’s residence.


Reginald Daye went to the apartment in the same complex in which Carlos Wilson, his nephew, lived and told him that Crystal had stabbed him. Evidently they both told police and investigators that Crystal took his money, then stabbed him and fled … the only version presented by the mainstream media.


Daye, who was walking around his apartment when EMS arrived, was instructed to sit down while the paramedics administered to his wound.


Meanwhile, Ms. Mangum arrived at her aunt’s house at 4:00 a.m., and according to her aunt’s statement to police, upon opening the door Crystal was crying and said, “He beat me.”


Police were directed to Crystal’s aunt’s house by Reginald Daye’s nephew as a place at which Ms. Mangum may have fled. Officers found Crystal lying on the floor and in enough distress to request their assistance in helping her stand up. Crystal was then arrested and taken to headquarters.


According to police notes, Crystal Mangum was cooperative in signing a consent to photograph her injuries and wanted to give a statement to police. However, after she was told that she was under arrest for assaulting Daye and read her Miranda Rights, and without any legal counsel present, Ms. Mangum wisely refused to say anything to the officer.


In other words, Ms. Mangum was placed under arrest before any investigating officer or police even took a statement from her about what had transpired. She was arrested without having a chance to give her side of the story, and placed under a $300,000 bail.


Two days later, on Tuesday, April 5, 2011, a police officer went to the apartment of Crystal’s aunt and retrieved from her the two cashier’s checks that Crystal had carried in her purse.


Confiscation of these two cashier’s checks would become the basis for the two count charge of larceny against Ms. Mangum.


After Reginald Daye’s arrival at the hospital by ambulance on Sunday, April 3, 2011, he was assessed to be stable enough for an abdominal CAT scan prior to rushing him into surgery. Contrast confirmed a perforation in the colon at the splenic flexure. A chest x-ray showed no sign of a pneumothorax or other lesion to the left lung.


In his preoperative orthopedic consultation, the doctor found that all four extremities were normal without any breaks in the skin or lacerations.


Reginald Daye underwent an emergency abdominal laparotomy the morning of April 3, 2011, during which a laceration to the colon was noted and repaired with sutures while a minor lesion to the spleen was observed and repaired with electrocautery and surgi-cel.


The operative report specifically states that the stomach was normal and that there was no bleeding or lesions in the left kidney bed. There was no mention of the diaphragm or left lung in the surgical report.


In addition to the stab wound, Daye was also noted to have an extremely high blood alcohol level of 296 mg/dL… which would put a non-alcoholic adult male in a stupor. To ward off any signs or complications of delirium tremens, Daye was begun on a regimen of benzodiazepine sedatives soon after his admission to the hospital.


Surgery for the stab wound was uneventful and Daye was expected to make a full recovery.


During the days immediately following surgery, Daye was noted to have episodes of agitation, which were attributed to his withdrawal from alcohol, and he received sedatives to treat them.


On Wednesday, April 6, 2011, Daye was noted to have some respiratory distress and a diagnostic procedure was ordered which required oral contrast. The contrast agent was introduced through a tube from the nose leading into the stomach and sometime thereafter, it triggered emesis.


Concern about protecting the airway and providing high concentrations of oxygen led to the decision to intubate. Daye was then intubated with an 8 mm diameter tube, however the confirmatory EtCO2 test for its proper placement was negative. This resulted in a visual inspection of the tube’s placement, which was deemed to be properly positioned, and the tube was left in place.


In actuality the tube was not in the trachea and the lungs were deprived of oxygen. Subsequently, the blood cells were unable to carry life-requiring oxygen to the cells of the body.


Cells of the brain are the most sensitive to oxygen deprivation, and they died relatively quickly. When the muscles and tissues of the heart were denied oxygen, a cardiac arrest ensued.


Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was begun at this time and the endotracheal tube that had been mis-positioned was removed, and a smaller 7.5 mm tube inserted. This time the confirmatory EtCO2 test for placement was positive. With oxygenated blood flow restored, most of the cells throughout the body began to recover, and as a result the heart was resuscitated. Unfortunately, the brain cells had been without oxygen too long… the outcome being that Daye was brain dead with a grim prognosis that he would never awaken from a comatose state.


Reginald Daye was placed on life support and kept alive for a week, during which time the media remained silent about his condition… never informing the public that Daye had lost consciousness and had been in a coma since April 6, 2011.


On Wednesday, April 13, 2011, after seven days of monitoring his comatose condition while on life support, the family of Reginald Daye consented to have him electively removed from procedures which had sustained his life for a week, and shortly thereafter he expired.


The media coverage of Daye’s death was vague, superficial, and did not go into specifics. Only one source even mentioned that his removal from life support preceded his death. In addition, the media lacked any curiosity about the nuts and bolts of Daye’s death.


Lacking an official autopsy report specifying the exact cause of death, Durham prosecutor Kelly Gauger got a grand jury to indict Crystal Mangum for the first degree murder of Reginald Daye. Mangum was also indicted on two counts of larceny, one for each of the two cashier’s checks that Daye had given to her and were in her possession following the incident of April 3, 2011… cashier’s checks which she could not have possibly converted to money for her own use.


Her bail was increased from $300,000 to $500,000 with the upgraded charge of murder. However, in June 2011, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson reduced Mangum’s bail from half a million dollars to $200,000 after reasonably questioning whether the stab wound actually caused Daye’s death.


Although the single mother of three, Crystal Mangum was the victim of domestic violence, unlawful imprisonment by Daye, and a victim of malicious prosecution by the Durham prosecutor, the mainstream media portrayed her as a villain who was incapable of telling the truth, was mentally unstable, and preyed upon men, especially boyfriends.


Without exception, media accounts related to the April 3, 2011 incident devoted significant portions of their reports to the rehashing the Duke Lacrosse case and making false and misleading statements about the Duke Lacrosse defendants being exonerated and claiming as fact that Ms. Mangum lied about being sexually assaulted at the Duke Lacrosse beer-guzzling, stripper-ogling bacchanal.


Approximately four month later, in early August 2011, the autopsy report was released to the public which included findings not supported by the operative report and other medical records. For example, the Autopsy Examination Report of April 14, 2011 falsely stated that the stab wound inflicted by Mangum punctured Daye’s left lung, diaphragm, left kidney, and the stomach. This is all fabrication, as the only internal injuries sustained by the stab wound were to the colon and a minor wound to the spleen. In addition, the autopsy report noted old wounds to the left upper extremity which were suspicious of being “defensive wounds,” however a preoperative examination by an orthopedic surgeon during a consultation reported “no appreciable lacerations or skin breaks in the visualized areas of his four extremities.”


The Autopsy Examination Report of April 14, 2011 is false and misleading in concluding that Reginald Daye’s death was due to “complications of stab wound to chest.” There is no nexus established between the stab wound, which was successfully treated at surgery, and Daye’s brain death and removal from life support. This report fails to mention that Daye was comatose, was on life support, and that he died after being electively removed from life support.


The Investigative Autopsy Report of April 13, 2011 also came to a false and misleading conclusion attributing Daye’s death to “stab wound to chest” and declaring it was a homicide. This document is notable for its omissions in that it failed to mention that Daye was intubated prior to having a cardiac arrest, and it failed to mention that Daye passed away after being removed from life support.


Despite the fact that the prosecution’s case against Mangum for the murder and larceny charges was baseless, her attorney Chris Shella never filed a motion to dismiss the charges. After successfully getting bail reduced to $200,000 in June 2011, Mr. Shella attempted to get bail further reduced to $100,000 in November 2011, and again in March 2012.


The March 2012 bail reduction hearing was before Judge Osmond Smith III who was the judge in the Duke Lacrosse case and made what a reasonable person with full knowledge of the facts could be construed as a malicious ruling when he ordered Ms. Mangum to present Duke Lacrosse defense attorneys with results of a paternity test of her newborn after it had been ruled out by DNA and history that none of the Duke Lacrosse defendants could have possibly sired the baby. Despite this history, Judge Smith made no effort to recuse himself.


Having also sentenced former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong to 24 hours in jail in 2007, Judge Smith quickly denied Shella’s request for a reduced bail to $100,000 at the March hearing.


As the one year anniversary of her incarceration rolled around with no sign of any action by her attorney, Ms. Mangum sought help from Sidney B. Harr. A retired physician, Harr recognized serious problems and inaccuracies with the autopsy report and agreed to help Ms. Mangum draft some motions that she could file Pro Se.


Having no legal training and not being a lawyer, Harr was not aware that by assisting Mangum with the drafting of the motions that he would be in violation of North Carolina statutes.


He agreed to help Ms. Mangum because she had no access to the internet or a law library. In order to draft the motions he requested some of the prosecution’s discovery documents, including police reports and medical records. She sent the documents to Harr, and after he drafted the motion, she signed them. Because she was incarcerated, Harr physically took the motions to the Criminal Clerk of Court in Durham where they were filed.


With knowledge that the mainstream media had concealed true events of the case from the masses and made misleading statements putting Ms. Mangum in a negative light, Harr published some pertinent discovery documents online so that the public could get a more balance picture of events that transpired related to the April 3, 2011 self-defense stabbing incident.


Upon learning that his client had shared discovery with Harr, Attorney Shella asked the Court to release him from representing Crystal Mangum… a request which was granted.


Defense attorney Woody Vann has since been appointed to represent Ms. Mangum against the two charges now pending of first degree murder and larceny.


On Tuesday, May 22, 2012, Attorney Vann received from Mangum’s prior attorney Chris Shella, approximately seven or eight disks containing the prosecution’s discovery. He immediately recognized the discrepancies between the medical records and the autopsy report, and he is making it his top priority to obtain a consultation with a forensic pathologist to review the autopsy findings of the county medical examiner.


This action should have been executed by the defense attorney on day one… or shortly thereafter. Findings by the forensic pathologist will substantiate my assertion that the autopsy report, upon which the prosecution is basing its murder charge, is fraudulent and is totally lacking in credibility.


The forthcoming truth, as will be contained in the pathologist’s report, is one key to opening the jail doors and setting Crystal Mangum free. The report should be available in a matter of weeks…



Review and Critique of "www.DukeCheck.com" April 6, 2012 blog

     This is the inaugural edition of this feature which reviews, critiques, and grades other blogs and news articles for the enlightenment of all.  Links are provided at the end to direct the viewer to other documents.

     The flog about the April 3, 2012 incident is still in production and should hopefully be posted before the end of this week.

     CLICK on the LINK to access the feature.

LINK:  http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog20.html

Crystal Mangum’s hour of terror the morning of April 3, 2011 to which the mainstream media turns a blind eye

The following narrative is the product of a brief but in-depth direct conversation with Crystal Mangum (the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser) about the specific rampage by Reginald Daye during the early morning hours of Sunday, April 3, 2011 which resulted in his being stabbed and Ms. Mangum charged with first degree murder and larceny.
 * * * * * *
 In 2011, Reginald Daye was an African American male in his mid forties who was an alcoholic and imbibed prodigious amounts of beer, whiskey, and other ethanol-based liquids. Around the first part of March 2011, Crystal Mangum and her three children moved into Daye’s apartment, with Ms. Mangum contributing a washing machine and other of her possessions and financial assistance to the living arrangement. Daye, who had recently returned to work after a layoff as a commercial painter, was in arrears on his apartment rent and was threatened with eviction at the time Ms. Mangum moved in with him.
 Sometime shortly after moving into the apartment with Mr. Daye, Ms. Mangum entered into an intimate relationship with him. It was at about this time that she learned from Daye, himself, that he had battered previous girlfriends. She also became of his addiction to alcohol as he drank up to a case of beer (24 cans) a day during weekdays, and a gallon of whiskey on weekends. Crystal Mangum also became aware of Reginald Daye’s possessive nature and jealous side, which resulted in his confiscating her cell phone for his own personal use and to control the calls which she made.

On March 25, 2011 and April 1, 2011, Daye purchased a cashier’s check, with both checks totaling $700.00, the amount of April’s rent. The apartment landlord was listed as the payee and Reginald Daye as the remitter. Sometime after their purchase, Daye gave the checks to Ms. Mangum with instructions to drop them off at the rental office on Monday, April 4, 2011 during its office hours… a time during which Daye was scheduled to be at work. For safekeeping, Ms. Mangum placed both checks in her purse.
 On Saturday evening, April 2, 2011, Mangum and Daye attended a birthday party. Daye drank heavily, and Crystal had two Jell-o shots (Jell-o made with a mixture of gin) and a drink with gin. Crystal estimates the party began around 11:00 pm and that she and Daye returned home sometime after 2:00 am.

Upon arriving back at Daye’s apartment, the nightmare began when, according to Crystal, Daye started into his accusatory jealous rant. With no previous history of physical abuse against Crystal, Daye began punching Crystal in the face. In addition to punching her, Mangum claims that Daye spit on her. The assault by Daye took place in the living room, and Ms. Mangum retreated to the master bedroom where he caught her on the bed. He tried to pick her up as she clung to the mattress which was then deposited on the floor along with Ms. Mangum. She then ran to the bedroom’s bathroom to seek refuge and locked the bathroom door behind her. A furious Reginald Daye proceeded to kick the door off its hinges. Daye then grabbed Crystal by the hair, leaving clumps of her hair at the site, and carried her back into the bedroom.

Daye told her that he wanted her to leave his apartment immediately, but when she scurried to comply he held her and told her that she wasn’t going anywhere. Crystal was cornered in the bedroom and the apartment by Daye who wandered off and momentarily left her alone in the bedroom. He returned to the bedroom about five or ten minutes later with a pot of boiling water. Daye left and shortly returned from the kitchen with a set of steak knives which he threw at Mangum, who tried to shield herself behind the mattress.

Crystal said that Daye began having what appeared to be a psychotic conversation with an imaginary person with the discussion centering about his intention of killing her. Shortly thereafter, Reginald Daye was astride Mangum on the floor next to the mattress and he gouged at her face with his fingernails leaving small lacerations around her left eye. In a futile effort she tried to push Daye off of her but to no avail. Daye placed both of his hands on her throat and began strangling her. It was at this time, with her head throbbing, that she managed to grab a steak knife that was lying around and she blindly stabbed Daye once in the left torso. (Daye never attempted to block repeated knife thrusts and did not incur “defensive wounds” to his left upper extremity as described in the April 14, 2011 autopsy report.)

After sustaining the wound, Daye got up off of Mangum and exclaimed, “You stabbed me, Bitch!” Crystal quickly retrieved her purse (containing the cashier’s checks) and raced towards the door and ran out into the dark night and the shadows and concealment of the woods nearby. She believes that Daye was in pursuit for some time after the stabbing but is unaware when exactly he gave up the chase.

Crystal Mangum estimates this horrific episode lasted approximately an hour. After her escape, she walked to her aunt’s residence.

* * * * * *

The above scenario was given by Crystal Mangum of events that transpired during the early morning hours of April 3, 2011, and they are supported by evidence of the crime scene as presented in prosecution’s discovery. The prosecution’s story, which is illogical and flawed, wants the public to believe that Crystal Mangum stabbed Daye in the commission of the theft of his money.

This makes absolutely no sense as Ms. Mangum did not take Daye’s money and was not even charged with taking Daye’s money. She was charged for taking two cashier’s checks given to her earlier by Daye that she could not even convert for her own personal use… checks that she put away in her purse long before the incident involving the stabbing. It is reasonable that Crystal Mangum did not have the presence of mind, while fleeing for her life after stabbing Daye, to stop before going out the door to pull both cashier’s checks out of her purse, to leave them inside the premises, and then to continue with her escape outside.

The prosecution theory doesn’t make any sense when one considers the apartment’s disarray, with the bathroom door knocked off its hinges, tufts of Crystal’s hair in the apartment, and the physical injuries to Crystal’s face. Does the police believe Crystal kicked in the door? Does the police believe the brass knuckles belonged to Crystal? How does the police explain clumps of Crystal’s hair at the scene?

Sometime prior to the stabbing which took place around 3:00 am, it is my understanding that Crystal and Daye were outside arguing, and that Ms. Mangum approached the police officer, who I believe was called to the scene by a neighbor in the apartment complex. She pleaded for his help, but was instructed to go along with Daye back into their apartment to continue their argument. I don’t have all of the particulars of this or the timeline, so I did not include discussion of it in this blog. In the future, I will update this incident as I accumulate more firsthand information.

To show how selective, skewed, one-sided the mainstream media’s reporting of this incident has been, a link is provided below that will give a critique of but a small sampling of the media’s presentations.

LINK: http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flogblog17.html

What really happened in the wee hours of April 3, 2011

 The biased mainstream media has unfortunately flooded the newsprint and airwaves with false declarations that the stab wound inflicted by Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser Crystal Mangum during the early morning hours of Sunday, April 3, 2011, resulted in the death of Reginald Daye. This myth has been adequately debunked by the previously posted blog which has gone into depth with medical records about how and why Daye died. The short version is that an intubation tube was misplaced by the staff at Duke University Hospital, resulting in lack of oxygen to the lungs, bloodstream, and eventually the brain cells. The brain cells died and Daye lapsed into a comatose state… and unlike brain damaged inmates Joshua Wrenn and Timothy Helms, who both regained consciousness after months in a coma, Daye was removed from life support after only a week. He died shortly thereafter and as a proximate cause of its removal.

The medical examiner reached the conclusion that Reginald Daye died “secondary to complications of a stab wound to the chest” in order to provide Durham Prosecutor Kelly Gauger with a basis for charging Crystal Mangum with murder. He did so with full knowledge that the stab wound had nothing to do with Daye’s death, and made no attempt to develop a nexus between the stabbing and Daye’s brain death or actual death. The mainstream media, however, attributes Daye’s death to the stabbing, and does its best to keep hidden from the public the fact that a Duke University Hospital staff member is the one who should take the blame for Daye’s demise… not Crystal Mangum.
 

But, even if the stab wound was directly responsible for Daye’s death, there is plenty within the prosecutor’s discovery to support the fact that Crystal Mangum acted in self defense when she stabbed Daye. The two, who had been in a brief relationship at the time, were living together in Daye’s apartment along with Crystal’s three children. She contributed financially to help pay the rent for the apartment which had fallen into arrears due to a recent layoff at his job. However, he was now back at his job, and Daye purchased a money order on March 25, 2011, and one on April 1, 2011, both totaling $700.00 – rent for the month of April. Daye was scheduled to work on Monday, April 4, 2011, leaving at six in the morning and returning home after five in the afternoon. Because he would not be at home during the office hours of the rental company, he gave both cashier’s checks to Crystal prior to April 3rd with instructions to drop them off at the rental office the following Monday. Mangum placed both checks in her purse for safekeeping.

 On Saturday, April 2, 2011, Crystal Mangum had a couple of drinks whereas Reginald Daye imbibed quite a bit of alcohol… enough to the point that he became heavily intoxicated. Daye became upset with Crystal because she was not totally attentive to him, and this led to an argument. Although Daye’s nephew stated that the two were fussing over rent and money, this was definitely not the case according to Ms. Mangum. The argument between the two was strictly due to personal relationship issues.


Early in the morning of Sunday, April 3, 2011, the argument became physical as Reginald Daye started punching Crystal in the face and pulling her by the hair. To escape him, she sought refuge in the bathroom and she locked the door behind her. An out of control Daye proceeded to kick in the bathroom door, then grabbed Crystal by her hair and took her to the bedroom. Sometime during this horrific altercation, Daye brought a bunch of steak knives from the kitchen and started throwing them, using Ms. Mangum as a target. These knives ended up being scattered all over the bedroom, as was noted in a later police report. The struggle came to an end as Daye was astride Mangum with both of his hands on her throat choking her. She managed to grab one of the steak knives that was lying around and stabbed him once in the left torso. No “defensive wounds” were sustained by Daye to his left upper extremity as was stated in the April 14, 2011 Autopsy Examination report.


Prosecution discovery documents scattered knives throughout the house, the damage to the bathroom door, notes clumps of Crystal’s hair by the bathroom door and in the bedroom, in addition to physical signs of injury she sustained which included a cut below her left eye, a swollen lower lip, a lesion to the back of her left hand, torn clothing, and blood on clothing (most likely from Daye when she stabbed him while he was atop her).



After stabbing Daye in self defense, Crystal grabbed her purse, which happened to contain the two cashier’s checks, and made her escape from Daye’s apartment and went to her aunt’s house. There she was later apprehended after calling 9-1-1, and the two cashier’s checks confiscated. The presence of these two cashier’s checks in Crystal Mangum’s possession would be the basis for Prosecutor Kelly Gauger to file two counts (one for each check) of larceny even though Daye gave them to Crystal, she did not take them from him, and she could not convert them to cash for her own personal use because she was not listed as the payee or remitter.


Daye’s blood alcohol was 296 mg/dL, a level which would put a non-alcoholic adult into a stupor. No alcohol, toxicology, or blood testing was conducted on Ms. Mangum, most likely due to lack of suspicion of her possibly being intoxicated.


That the stabbing was self defense is a logical conclusion from the evidence and investigation provided by the prosecution alone. Chris Shella, Mangum’s defense attorney, who claims to be working Pro Bono on her behalf, had not conducted any investigation into the incident, and the only thing he did was weaken the self-defense argument by seeking a mental health evaluation for his client.



The link below will connect to a directory of prosecution documents supporting the veracity of events as described above. When taken in conjunction with the previously posted blog and its link to the medical records, one cannot help but come to the following conclusions regarding the incident that occurred in the early morning of April 3, 2011:

(1) Crystal Mangum was the victim of domestic abuse at Reginald Daye’s hands;

(2) Crystal Mangum stabbed Reginald Daye in self-defense;

(3) the stab wound to Daye was non-life threatening;

(4) Duke University Hospital staff’s misplacement of the endotracheal tube was responsible for Daye’s brain death;

(5) Reginald Daye’s death was due to his elective removal from life support by Duke University Hospital staff with the consent of Daye’s family;

(6) the Autopsy Examination Report of April 14, 2011, in listing injuries to Daye that were fabricated and not inflicted by the stab wound, did so to make the stab wound appear more serious than it actually was;

(7) the autopsy reports, in listing “complications due to a stab wound to the chest” as the cause of Daye’s death, did so fraudulently and for the purpose of providing a basis for first degree murder charge against Ms. Mangum;

(8) Daye gave the two cashier’s checks to Mangum with the intention that she would drop them off at the rental office while he was at work on Monday, April 4, 2011;

(9) Mangum could not have converted the checks to cash even if she wanted as she was not listed as the payee or remitter; and

(10) Crystal Mangum is innocent of the murder of Reginald Daye and both counts of larceny, and both charges against her should be dropped and she should be immediately released from custody.

 The date of this blog posting, April 22, 2012, is day 385 of Crystal Mangum’s wrongful incarceration. This, more than any colorful language used by former Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline in her public feud with Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson, is what puts the Durham County and Tar Heel state’s justice system in disrepute. It is apparent to anyone with a modicum of knowledge about recent Durham history that the actions against Ms. Mangum are motivated by her role in the Duke Lacrosse case. Because this African American woman made accusations of sexual abuse against three student/athletes from families of wealth, power, and privilege, destroying her life and keeping her behind bars is the retribution being sought by these Carpetbagger families in their Jihadist agenda against those they deemed to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case.


In order to carry out the diabolical plot against Mangum, many individuals had to collude in a grand conspiracy… some of the conspirators being as follows:

(1) Durham prosecutor Kelly Gauger who had Ms. Mangum indicted for murder on a fraudulently false autopsy report;

(2) Medical examiner Clay Nichols, M.D. who provided the April 14, 2011 Autopsy Examination Report that contained erroneous findings and conclusions;

(3) Dr. Andrew W. Buck who authorized the flawed autopsy report of April 14, 2011;

(4) the doctor who authored the April 13, 2011 Autopsy Investigative Report whose name was not typed on the report and whose signature was not legible. The conclusions he/she reached were misleading and in agreement with those of Dr. Nichols in supporting the prosecutor’s bogus murder charge against Mangum;

(5) defense attorney Chris Shella, who volunteered his Pro Bono services to Crystal Mangum, is an enabler who allowed Prosecutor Gauger to proceed with her prosecution of Ms. Mangum. Representation of Mangum by a capable and dedicated defense attorney would have been enough to prevent Gauger from pursuing the murder and larceny indictments, and would’ve brought the prosecution of Mangum to a halt;

(6) Judge Osmond Smith III, who should have recused and disqualified himself from hearing a motion by Shella for a bail reduction from $200,000 to $100,000, was predisposed to maintain Mangum’s bail at a high enough level to prevent her from satisfying bond; and

(7) the media, mainstream and otherwise, by heavily reporting the false conclusions of the autopsy-related documents that attributed Daye’s demise to the stab wound, and by fiercely keeping from the public the fact that the autopsy reports and their conclusions are spurious.



However, the media’s role is quite insidious and represents one of Prosecutor Gauger’s most powerful allies in the malicious, vindictive, and unfair war against Crystal Mangum. The media kept quiet for the entire week that Reginald Daye was in a coma, only mentioning it after he had died. The media showed absolutely no curiosity about the unexpected and unusual etiology of Daye’s lapse into a comatose state. The media even kept the fact that Daye was on life support hidden from the public and that it was only after he was electively removed from it that he died. The media has downplayed Reginald Daye’s state of intoxication the morning of the incident and has suppressed informing the masses of the injuries sustained by Mangum at Daye’s hand. The media did not attempt to find the basis for the charge of larceny. Because the case against Mangum was so weak, many of the media-types restricted reporting on the case in order to keep its weaknesses concealed. This accounts for a disproportionately large part of articles about Mangum/Daye being devoted to rehashing the Duke Lacrosse case… and reminding the people of Mangum’s role as the “false” accuser.



Although anti-Mangum media reporting is punitive in large measure to retaliate for her part in the Duke Lacrosse case, another significant motive is likely due to financial reasons. By blaming Daye’s death on Crystal Mangum’s actions, it takes away the real responsibility from Duke University Hospital for malpractice that led to the loss of Daye’s life… and Duke University advertises heavily in state’s media markets (with the exception of African American newspapers).

 Politicians and so-called “civil rights organizations” which possess knowledge of the injustice against Ms. Mangum and elect to remain quiet and do nothing out of fear and/or apathy, are culpable in this conspiracy of enormous size and intensity. As long as the conspirators keep rank and their deeds remain secreted away, minorities will continue to suffer throughout North Carolina. As long as those with the knowledge of the injustices stay on the sidelines and apart from the struggle for equal justice for all, the unholy persecution of Crystal Mangum will continue, Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey will be deprived of the pardons they deserve, Duke University will continue to discriminate with impunity against Nifong supporters and African Americans, and the GOP will proceed with its onslaught against the Racial Justice Act.


In the post Duke Lacrosse era, Crystal Mangum has emerged the true victim of a broken North Carolina criminal justice system. Innocent of any crime and a victim of domestic abuse, she approaches 400 days in jail with a bail that is higher than Sanford, Florida’s George Zimmerman, who targeted, stalked, and killed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. The media is generously providing its contribution by vilifying and demonizing Crystal Mangum while holding this revenge-driven grand conspiracy against her together.



LINK: http://www.justice4nifong.com/legal/cgm/pddirec.htm

Conspiracy in the charges against Crystal Mangum

(Link at end of the blog article)

There is no doubt in my mind that the flimsiness of the prosecution’s charges of first degree murder and larceny against Crystal Mangum, the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser, that are associated with the death of Reginald Daye requires the collusion of both prosecution and defense attorneys in order to move forward. I believe that Chris Shella has allowed his client to sit in jail for more than a year with no end in sight because he is working with prosecutor Kelly Gauger to in effect have Crystal Mangum serve a sentence without even going to trial.

To date she has served one year… and for what? On April 3, 2011, Ms. Mangum was beaten by Reginald Daye, and in self defense she stabbed him with a small knife… once. Daye only sustained internal injuries to the splenic flexure of his colon and a small lesion to his spleen. On the third postoperative day, Daye, who was also fighting delirium tremens, was having respiratory difficulty and a decision was made to make diagnostic tests that required oral contrast. After the contrast was introduced through a naso-gastric tube (a tube that runs from the nose to the stomach), Daye had some emesis. In order to protect his airway and to administer high concentrations of oxygen, the decision was made to intubate Daye. Unfortunately the intubation tube was placed in the pharynx instead of the airway, and as a result oxygen was prevented from entering his lungs, and subsequently his bloodstream became oxygen deficient. The brain cells, which are extremely sensitive to oxygen deprivation, died quickly, whereas the cardiac heart cells responded to the decreased oxygen level by going into cardiac arrest. With the arrest, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was begun and at this time the endotracheal tube which had been mis-positioned was removed, and another one re-inserted… however this tube was properly positioned. With the tube in the airway, oxygen flowed into the lungs once again and the blood received oxygen. The cardiac cells recovered with the fresh flow of oxygenated blood, but the brain cells had already died and could not be revived… accounting for Daye’s comatose state. After a week on life support, Daye’s family consented for the life support measures to be removed, and subsequently and as a proximal result, Daye died.

Daye’s death was due to his removal from life support. Daye’s brain death was due to medical staff error in placement of an endotracheal tube.

Recently I visited with Crystal Mangum at the Durham Detention Center in Durham, NC. She told me the following about the cashier’s check for which she was charged with two counts of larceny:
1. prior to Sunday, April 3, 2011, Reginald Daye purchased two cashier’s checks totaling $700 to pay for the rent of his apartment that he was sharing with Crystal and her children;
2. both cashier’s checks were made out to the apartment rental company and both had Reginald Daye listed as the remitter;
3. prior to Sunday, April 3, 2011, Mr. Daye gave both of the cashier’s checks to Crystal with the understanding that she would drop them off at the rental office on Monday, April 4, 2011… this arrangement necessary because Daye was scheduled to leave for work that day at six in the morning and would be returning home after five in the late afternoon. In other words, he would be at work during the office hours of the rental agency;
4. prior to Sunday, April 3, 2011, Ms. Mangum put both cashier’s checks in her purse for safekeeping;
5. late in the evening of Saturday, April 2, 2011, Daye and Mangum got into an argument about personal relationship issues. At no time was the argument about finances or money;
6. in the early hours of Sunday, April 3, 2011, the argument between Reginald Daye and Crystal Mangum turned physical, with him dragging her by her hair and punching her in the face;
7. in self-defense, she stabbed him once in the torso with a small kitchen knife, grabbed her purse (which contained the cashier’s checks), and quickly left the premises;
8. hours later, when police found Crystal Mangum at her aunt’s residence, she was taken into custody and the two cashier’s checks that were in her purse were confiscated;
9. despite the fact that: (a) both checks were given to Ms. Mangum by Reginald Daye; (b) their argument had nothing to do with money issues; and (c) due to the way the cashier’s checks were filled out, Ms. Mangum could not convert them to money for her own personal use, Durham prosecutor Kelly Gauger proceeded to charge Crystal Mangum with two counts of larceny… one for each cashier’s check.

Both criminal charges against Crystal Mangum are seriously flawed and any attorney worth his salt would have filed a motion immediately to have both charges dismissed. The murder charge should be dismissed because (1) Ms. Mangum acted in self-defense; (2) the autopsy reports were criminally fraudulent themselves; (3) Daye’s brain death was caused by error in endotracheal tube placement by Duke University Hospital staff and not related to the stab wound; and (4) Daye was electively removed from life-support with the consent of his family.

Regarding the larceny charge, it should be dismissed because both cashier’s checks were given to Mangum by Daye, and because they were useless to her as she could not convert them for her own use.

Other than the extreme weakness of the charges against Ms. Mangum, other issues suggestion collusion between the two parties is that no action has taken place on the prosecutor’s side, and there is nothing in play on the Court calendar in the foreseeable future. This reinforces my contention that prosecution’s plan is to have Ms. Mangum serve a sentence of as many years as possible without even being taken to trial (similar to the prosecution strategy used in the James Arthur Johnson case).

That Crystal’s defense attorney Chris Shella has not filed any motions on her behalf also speaks of his culpability in this nefarious scheme. Why has he not filed for the dismissal of these merit-less charges? She’s sat in jail for more than a year, and during that time, Crystal told me, Mr. Shella has been to visit her three or four times, and that the visits last from five to ten minutes. She said that even though she has requested since May 2011 to see all prosecutorial discovery, he has withheld much from her, including photographs.

That is why Ms. Mangum was desperately seeking assistance and asked me to help her with motions to have the charges dropped. In communicating through intermediaries, I asked her to send me the discovery so I could help her draft the motions, as she had no access to a law library, internet or laptop. She sent me the discovery and signed the documents, and because she was being held in jail and could not be allowed to walk to the courthouse to file the motions herself, I filed them on her behalf.

I strongly believe that Chris Shella was furious because the motions were filed, and that went against his agenda to keep Crystal Mangum isolated with no legal activity. Like the prosecutor, Mr. Shella wanted Ms. Mangum to quietly serve out her jail sentence of several years, and when time for trial could no longer be pushed back, force her to accept a stringent plea deal.

Now Chris Shella is seeking retribution against me by asking the North Carolina State Bar to investigate me for violating laws against practicing law without a license. But which is the bigger crime? Trying to help a young mother who has been vilified by the media and who is being falsely held in jail on bogus charges, or being party to a conspiracy to hold that innocent mother in jail, away from her three children? I submit the North Carolina State Bar should be directing its attention towards Chris Shella and Kelly Gauger, not me.


Click on the link below to access a directory to documents that support the fact that the Autopsy Examination Report, upon which the murder charge against Ms. Mangum is based, is false.
http://www.justice4nifong.com/legal/cgm/mddirec.htm

How Daye died… What the media doesn’t want you to know

Note: At end of blog is link to Mangum’s motions

In the January 29, 2012 issue of The Durham News, I contributed a guest column titled “Autopsy reports don’t add up.” It expressed why I felt that the April 13 and 14, 2011 autopsy reports on Reginald Daye were flawed. Mr. Daye was the man who was stabbed on April 3, 2011 by Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser Crystal Mangum, and who, three days following this incident and emergency surgery, lapsed into an unexplained coma at Duke University Hospital. After an unpublicized week in a deep comatose state, Mr. Daye was electively removed from life support and died. Shortly thereafter Ms. Mangum was charged in his death with first degree murder.

Recently I have had the fortune to examine many of Daye’s medical records, including his operative report, EMS reports, and physical examinations. To support the veracity of the facts presented and conclusions drawn, I have presented redacted and highlighted copies, with notations, of key medical records about Reginald Daye to some of the mainstream media-types.

It should be remembered that the April 13 and 14, 2011 autopsy reports concluded that Reginald Daye’s death was due to “complications secondary to a stab wound to the chest.” Both reports were vague, incomplete, misleading, factually incorrect, and gave no real inkling as to the true cause of Daye’s coma and death. My review of Daye’s hospitalization has removed from my mind the shroud of mystery covering Daye’s demise, and I will forthwith explain with 99.9% certainty the most likely scenario of what led to Reginald Daye’s comatose state and death.

The morning of April 3, 2011, within hours after being stabbed by Ms. Mangum, Mr. Daye had been transported to Duke University Hospital where he was evaluated and found to have a blood alcohol of 296 mg/dL… a stupor causing level in an average non-alcoholic individual. In order to deal with alcohol withdrawal complications, upon admission Daye was immediately begun on a sedative drug regimen to keep delirium tremens at bay. His condition was stable enough to permit the luxury of performing a preoperative radiological examination regarding his wound to the left torso which confirmed a lesion in the colon (large intestine). Daye underwent emergency abdominal surgery during which only a lesion to the splenic flexure of the colon and a minor lesion to the spleen were identified and repaired.

In the evening of April 4, 2011, the third postoperative day, Daye began experiencing respiratory problems and doctors ordered a diagnostic procedure requiring contrast dye. A tube was placed in his stomach through his nose, and the contrast agent was introduced through it. The contrast agent in the stomach most likely induced vomiting, and healthcare staff concern about possible aspiration and need for protecting the airway led to the decision to intubate him. The 8.0 mm diameter endotracheal tube, which was supposed to be inserted into the trachea to allow oxygen to flow into the lungs, was mispositioned, and instead of oxygen-enriched air gushing into his lungs, his lungs were being deprived of oxygen. Lack of oxygen to the lungs meant that the blood was being deprived of oxygen as well. The brain cells, which are extremely oxygen sensitive, die within a relatively short time once being starved of oxygen. Heart muscle cells are hardier than ones in the brain, but they, too, require oxygen. After a critical point, the heart muscles, working without sufficient oxygen, began to dysfunction, which led to a cardiac arrest. CPR was instituted which included the removal of the misplaced endotracheal tube and the reinsertion of a 7.5mm diameter endotracheal tube which was properly positioned and allowed effective ventilation of the lungs. With restoration of oxygen to the lungs, the blood, and eventually the tissues, the heart muscles received much needed oxygen and were able to recover. However, the brain cells had been without oxygen too long and could not be revived... thus accounting for his coma. Daye’s irreversible comatose state, as determined by the neurological specialists, led to the eventual decision to electively remove Daye, with his family’s consent, from life support… the proximate cause of his death.

Discrepancies exist between the April 13 and 14 Daye autopsy reports themselves and Daye’s medical records. The operative report specifically stated, “The stomach, pancreas was without injury.” This contradicts the autopsy report of April 14, 2011 that documented a lesion to the “fundus of the stomach.” In addition, no where in the operative report is there mention of any lesion or repair to the left lung or diaphragm which further contravenes the April 14th report. The left kidney and its immediate environs were found to be intact and without lesions according to the operative report. One inch gauze used to pack the incision wound at the time of surgery would help explain its post-mortem appearance of being open. Daye’s operative report coincides and validates in the April 14, 2011 autopsy examination report only the lesions to the splenic flexure of the colon and the spleen. The operative report rules out lesions to the left lung, diaphragm, left kidney, and fundus of the stomach as averred in the April 14th autopsy document.

The 14th report also reads: “.. multiple minor scabbed over lesions and minor contusions which may represent defensive injuries are found running from essentially the left biceps to the left wrist. These measuring up to 5 inches in greatest [length].” A Durham County EMS Patient care report on Daye of April 3, 2011 relates different findings, reading, “Left Arm/Hand: Assessed with No Abnormalities.” Also at odds with the April 14, 2011 autopsy report’s declaration of left upper extremity wounds is the consultation report of April 3, 2011 by orthopedic surgeon Christopher R. Jones which states under physical examination: “There are no appreciable lacerations or skin breaks in the visualized areas of his four extremities.”

Discrepancies in the autopsy reports, in conjunction with the convenient omission in Daye’s discharge summary and the April 13, 2011 autopsy investigative report that entubation followed emesis but preceded cardiac arrest is troublesome and would lead a reasonable person with knowledge of pertinent facts to conclude that the autopsy reports were bogus and used solely to support the prosecutor’s charge.

Medical examiners should be independent and objective in their autopsy examinations and should not be a part of the prosecution team, as it definitely is in the case against Crystal Mangum. Dr. Clayton Nichols, the author of the phony autopsy examination report, should not be held liable for the substandard and false document for two specific reasons. First, he did not take it upon himself to produce a false and misleading document for no reason whatsoever. Undoubtedly he received instructions from higher up to produce a document that would enable the prosecutor to charge Crystal Mangum with murder. Second, Dr. Nichols felt compelled to “go along with the plan” after seeing what happened to Duke Lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong. Dr. Nichols learned well from the example the state made of Mr. Nifong, and not wanting to put his personal and professional life at risk, producing the desired deceptive document was a no-brainer.

Unfortunately in the twenty-first century, the mainstream media is not as independent and objective as it should be. But the media’s actions and attitudes are often based on financial incentives. For example, Duke University, which harbors unbounded animosity and misdirected hostility toward Mike Nifong, Crystal Mangum, and Nifong supporters, is one of the state’s largest conglomerations. Duke University and its healthcare system advertise heavily in print and broadcast media… this cannot help but make an influence on how the media covers stories, who it demonizes, and who it places on pedestals. You can bet that when a story involves Duke University, the media, in bringing it before the public treads with the most extreme care.

In short, the media is trying to keep hidden from the public the following facts:
(1) Reginald Daye’s brain death was due to the misplacement of an endotracheal tube by Duke University Hospital staff;
(2) Reginald Daye was electively removed from life support by Duke University Hospital staff with the consent of Daye’s family;
(3) Crystal Mangum had nothing to due with events that transpired in Duke University Hospital and she is therefore not responsible for Daye’s death;
(4) the Autopsy Reports of April 13 and 14, 2011 are totally bogus and purposely reach the false conclusion that Daye’s death was “due to complications of a stab wound to the chest;”
(5) the Autopsy Reports of April 13 and 14, 2011 made their false conclusion for the purpose of making a foundation upon which to build a murder case against Crystal Mangum;
(6) Crystal Mangum sustained physical injuries at the hands of Daye and there is additional evidence to support her self-defense claim in the stabbing; and
(7) prosecutors lack any credible evidence to support the two counts of larceny against Crystal Mangum.

That the authors of the Autopsy Reports are working with the prosecution is evident. However, what is most troubling is that the media is heavily involved in this conspiracy as can be seen by its selective and skewed reporting about Mangum, Daye, and others involved in the case.


LINK to Mangum’s Motions:
http://www.justice4nifong.com/legal/cgm/cgmMo.htm

April 3rd… a truly sad anniversary

April 3, 2012 will mark the one year anniversary of yet another Durham tragedy… one that surely calls for no celebration. It will be a year since Crystal Mangum, the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser has been in jail on bogus charges related to the stabbing of Reginald Daye. What this day will invoke, in people of enlightenment and good will, is a feeling of shame for yet another injustice based on the vendetta prosecution of Ms. Mangum. Like a pit-bull that won’t turn loose a leg of lamb, the Durham police and prosecutors continue to pursue to seek vengeance against the person, an African American female, who was responsible for what has been known as the Duke Lacrosse case.

The Carpetbagger families of the Duke Lacrosse defendants are not just satisfied with the $20 million payout that they each received in a shakedown of Duke University… they thirst for blood of all involved in the case. Rae Evans, mother of Duke Lacrosse defendant Dave Evans, made clear her vindictive streak by publicly stating that she wanted Mike Nifong to “pay every day for the rest of his life.” With her strong connections to the media, which includes more than a decade of working as an executive with CBS News, she has managed to direct the mainstream media into an all-out crusade to crush former Durham district attorney and Duke Lacrosse prosecutor Nifong, Crystal Mangum, Nifong supporters, and anyone considered by the Powers-That-Be to be on the wrong end of the Duke Lacrosse case.

This Carpetbagger Jihad agenda has been highly successful in manipulating the mainstream media to destroy the honorable careers of Mike Nifong, lab director Brian Meehan, and the then Durham Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline… although, removed from her elected position as Durham district attorney using a little known-rarely used elastic law, the Jihadists’ work on Cline will not be completed until she is at least disbarred. Police detectives and officers who worked on the Duke Lacrosse case have also been put through the wringer by the media and courts, however, with the possible exception of Mike Nifong himself, no one has been exposed to as much media-spurred venom and wrath as Crystal Mangum.

It wasn’t enough that she was abused and exploited at the March 13, 2006 Duke Lacrosse beer-guzzling, stripper-ogling, under-aged drinking debauchery, the city of Durham pounced on its first opportunity to destroy her when she was in need of the services of Durham’s finest. On that February 17, 2010 night, being a victim of a domestic assault in which police were called to her apartment by her children who feared for her life, she ended up in jail on a multitude of trumped up charges. Among them was a felony arson charge for clothes set on fire in the bathtub, with Durham police being the only ones with the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime. Her three months of incarceration were interrupted only by the benevolence and generosity of a bail bondsman who had the courage to assist her by satisfying her $100,000 bail. With a mistrial on the most serious arson felony charge, Mangum was convicted on three frivolous and merit-less misdemeanors and sentenced to time served.

Having lost everything after her lengthy time in detention, Crystal Mangum had to virtually start from scratch. With her media-driven notorious past and arson charge, she was unable to find a landlord willing to rent to her, so she entered into a symbiotic relationship with Reginald Daye, a recently laid-off painter who was in arrears with his rent and facing eviction. Their arrangement was for her to help with paying the rent in exchange for her and her children to be allowed to secretly cohabitate in his apartment.

Unfortunately, Mr. Daye had a problem with alcohol and on the evening of April 2, 2011 he had been heavily drinking. An argument between Daye and Mangum ensued and proceeded into the early morning hours of April 3, 2011. It eventually became physical with him dragging her around by her hair and punching her in the face. In self-defense she stabbed him with a paring knife… once in the left torso, and then left the premises.

Daye was awake and walking around his apartment by the time first responders arrived. EMT noted no injuries other than the stab wound to the left torso that had minimal bleeding. They accessed his left upper extremity and found not lesions, contrary to the autopsy report of April 14, 2011… no “defensive wounds.” He was transported to Duke University Medical Center where, in addition to the stab wound, a blood alcohol lab test revealed a level of 296 mg/dL… enough to cause stupor in a normal individual.

When EMT later picked up Crystal Mangum, they noted a cut under her left eye and a swollen lower lip. In addition, at the scene, police recorded finding tufts of brown hair.

Mangum was arrested immediately for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, despite her claims of self-defense, and forensic evidence to backup her claim.

Meanwhile, Reginald Daye, having successful emergency surgery to repair a lesion to the splenic flexure of his colon and a mild lesion to his spleen, required treatment for severe alcohol withdrawal… and was treated with benzodiazepine sedatives to control his symptoms of delirium tremens.

On the evening of the third postoperative day, April 6, 2011, Daye was having respiratory problems and a diagnostic procedure was ordered. However, while being prepped for the procedure, Daye sustained a severe and lengthy anoxic episode that induced a cardiac arrest and brain damage. These events were responsible for Daye lapsing into a deep coma which eventually brought about his elective removal from life support one week later. His brain death had absolutely nothing to do with the stab wound inflicted by Mangum, but rather the lack of oxygenated blood circulating to his brain which was directly responsible for the death of brain cells.

One year later, Mangum remains in jail for acting against Daye in self-defense. Compare this with the case in Sanford, Florida, where George Zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed seventeen year old boy because he “looked suspicious”… evidently defined as being a young black boy wearing a hoodie. In this case Zimmerman was obviously the aggressor and was in pursuit of the young black teen who was walking with iced tea and a bag of Skittles while talking on the cell phone with his girlfriend. There was no photographs released of Zimmerman, who alleges to have sustained a broken nose and a bloody wound to the back of his head. There was no indication of facial trauma on the recently released video of his visit to the police station immediately following the incident. There was no indication of any blood from Trayvon Martin on Zimmerman’s clothing; Martin who Zimmerman claims was on top of him when he shot Martin in the chest. Zimmerman’s story of self-defense doesn’t stand up, and yet he has remained free for more than a month since the incident happened.

Why is it then that Crystal Mangum has already served a one year sentence in jail for acting in self-defense in a state which has its own version of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law? The answer is simple… it is because of race. Had the roles in Sanford, Florida been reversed and Zimmerman was an African American and Martin was white, then an arrest would have been made at the scene and the shooter would be in jail today and not awaiting for a grand jury to convene on April 10, 2012 to make a determination.

The problem is in large respect due to mainstream media and its inherent bias. The incident involving Trayvon Martin was of no interest to the mainstream media. It was the social media that brought national and worldwide attention to this outrage, and forced the mainstream media to get involved.

With the circumstances involving Crystal Mangum, she has been so vilified and demonized by the mainstream media that it is nearly impossible for her to get any sympathy from anyone. This is compounded by the NAACP, both locally and nationally, ignoring her plight. Also the African American politicians, especially in Durham, are turning a blind eye and deaf ear to this grave injustice. Senator Floyd McKissick, and Representatives Mickey Michaux and Larry Hall, as well as the entire North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus should be up in arms about the injustices that have plagued Crystal Mangum since February 2010. But they aren’t, and she continues to languish in jail… for a year now.

This is a truly tragic anniversary of incarceration of an innocent person, Crystal Mangum… and it is one that will not be repeated if the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong has anything to say about it. 