Friday, December 29, 2006

Ethics Complaint Filed Against Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor

Via law.com:

North Carolina's association of lawyers filed ethics charges Thursday against the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse case, accusing him of breaking four rules of professional conduct when speaking to reporters about the sensational case where a black woman said she was raped by three white men.

The punishment for ethics violations can range from admonishment to disbarment.

Among the rules District Attorney Mike Nifong was accused of violating was a prohibition against making comments "that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused"...

Another rule Nifong was charged with breaking forbids "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation." The association said that when DNA testing failed to find any evidence a lacrosse player raped the woman, Nifong told a reporter the players might have used a condom.

The association said Nifong knew that assertion was misleading because he had received a report from an emergency room nurse in which the accuser said her attackers did not use a condom.

This isn't surprising at all, given that Nifong's behavior damages the credibility of rape cases in general, racially motivated rape cases in particular, and tarnishes the reputation of all prosecutors.

I'm trying to find feminists who condemn what happened to the Duke lacrosse players. So far, what I'm finding looks more like this, defiance in the face of reality. The writer claims she is still "agnostic" about whether the rape happened. Even blogs dedicated to this rape case seem to have disappeared (I wonder why no concluding post about Nifong's incompetence?). More defense of ruining white boys' lives if it advances the matriarchy here, here, and here.

The Duke rape case is illustrative of two overarching problems in our country: sensationalism and victimization.

The MSM has become addicted to high-profile, sensational stories, many of which shouldn't even get the national attention they do (remember Chandra Levy?). This isn't to say that stories of child kidnappings, rapes, murders, et al are not newsworthy. They simply aren't worthy of the wall-to-wall coverage particularly cable news outlets give these stories. And when it comes to sensitive issues of race and sex, the propulsion of a questionable rape charge to the front pages of major newspapers and the top of the broadcast on television and radio is unconscionable.

For months, the Duke lacrosse players have been subject to a high-tech lynching, as Clarence Thomas once characterized it. Because of American sympathy for victims, there was only tepid skepticism about this victim's story. To question her motivations for accusing these white men of raping her was tantamount to racism and sexism, a double-shot accusation few people are willing to stand up against.

I don't know what happened at the frat party that night, but, frankly, the story told about what happened that night is falling apart. It's time for those who supported it the most when it suited their agendas to admit they were wrong.

UPDATE: Mary Katherine Ham tells us who the Duke lacrosse players really are.