Quote :

"Burnette, 27, is a senior history major and the son of former City Council member Brenda Burnette. In 2000 and 2001, he served a 13-month prison sentence after pleading no contest to charges of robbing two Duke students at gunpoint and then violating the terms of his probation."

Seriously? A convicted criminal writes this shit? It's funny that he slams a system that he gave up his right to influence. Thug anyone?

4/26/2007 10:18:34 AM

i think he's racist

4/26/2007 10:22:45 AM

Quote :

"i think he's racist"

4/26/2007 11:04:51 AM

But only white people can be racist!!!

4/26/2007 11:05:25 AM

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/566959.html

5/2/2007 4:32:47 PM

^and as such, Ruth, I'd like to call for your dismissal

rsheehan@newsobserver.com

5/2/2007 5:47:00 PM

That explains why he is biased against Duke students. They probably told the truth in court.

Quote :

"robbing two Duke students at gunpoint and then violating the terms of his probation"

5/2/2007 5:59:26 PM

^^^she just had to put the part about her husband in there to make people feel sorry for her

5/3/2007 11:00:26 AM

^ ya sersly

5/3/2007 11:07:47 AM

i emailed her

5/3/2007 12:06:52 PM

She should resign from journalism.

5/3/2007 12:19:53 PM

Quote :

"Your apology is too little too late. It's because of reporters like you that these 3 young men had to endure 13 months of hardship. If our over-zealous, liberal, eager to lynch and hang media would stop poking around and fabricating stories on little to no evidence then we wouldn't have had this problem and you wouldn't have to give your sappy, sorry and pitiful apology. I commend you for writing the article, but I think that it was the least you could have done. These 3 men will go down in history books and hopefully will shape the future of our corrupt legal system and our even more corrupt media companies. Here's hoping that the N&O tidies up their articles and starts reporting ACTUAL NEWS and instead of speculation and hype! "

5/3/2007 12:49:46 PM

I emailed her. Enjoyed following this thread folks.

5/3/2007 7:14:28 PM

Quote :

"Here it is: I am sorry. I would have written sooner, but for my husband's quadruple bypass surgery. "

fuck her and fuck her weak ass attempt to elicit our sympathy.

there should be calls for her job just as she led the cry for someone elses job.

5/3/2007 7:24:25 PM

it's funny nobody gets this upset over cases that are far more unjust that don't happen to involve rich kids.

5/3/2007 7:28:19 PM

^^^sub "corrupt" for "racist" and "affirmative-action-minded"

5/3/2007 7:28:34 PM

^^people are upset because the injustice here is not simply the result of incompetence, rather it is
a politically and racially motivated act of malice on the part of the "law".

If there were cases nearly as in your face wrong like this case then they would also make the news. Even if the criminals were poor and black or whatever, frankly that would make it a good news story just for that angle.

Sure the poor are punished by the incompetence of law inforcement coupled with the fact that the poor just don't have the same resources to counter the stupidity of those certain prosecutions. But this was not incompetence, this was deliberate calculated poltically motivated railroading.

[Edited on May 4, 2007 at 2:05 AM. Reason : .]

5/4/2007 2:03:40 AM

I often wondered why Al Sharpton couldn't just accept Imus' apology. No matter what Imus did or said nothing could be done to appease him. I guess I can see how that happens now. I think in this case I'd be better served to accept someone's apology and move on.

5/4/2007 7:37:57 AM

Quote :

"Police: Nifong Moved Forward With Case, Despite Problems Posted: Today at 5:18 a.m. Updated: 22 minutes ago RALEIGH, N.C. — Mike Nifong acknowledged inconsistencies in an exotic dancer's story that she was raped, beaten and sexually assaulted at a Duke lacrosse team party but decided to move forward with the case anyway, the lead investigator on the case testified Tuesday. During an initial meeting at Nifong's office, Investigator Benjamin Himan said, he and his supervisor met with the district attorney to review the evidence and status of the case and that Nifong made a comment "to the effect, 'You know we're fucked.'" Among that evidence were search warrants, interviews with the accuser, Crystal Mangum, the second dancer and three lacrosse co-captains who lived at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., where the March 13 party took place. "He said it was going to be a circumstantial case - he said, she said - and that's how most rape cases are," Himan testified. "He said it was going to be hard to prove." Nifong also insisted pressing ahead on indicting lacrosse player Reade Seligmann, even though detectives could not place him at the party at the time of the alleged incident, he testified. "We didn't have any DNA. We didn't have him at the party," Himan said of Seligmann. "It' was a big concern to me to go for an indictment when we did not even know where he was -- if he was even there." The testimony irritated attorneys for the lacrosse players. They said Himan's account was further proof that Nifong should have backed off the troubled case. "When everyone who knew anything about the investigation kept saying, 'There's no evidence, slow down,' Mr. Nifong kept going forward," said Jim Cooney, who represented Seligmann. "To hear the details is just chilling." Wrapping up more than three hours of testimony in which North Carolina State Bar prosecutors questioned him on every aspect of the investigation, Himan said he agreed with Attorney General Roy Cooper's decision to dismiss charges against Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans. "Through interviews, it was a fact that Crystal was lying," he said "Every time she was questioned on something, she improvised it. … I don't know exactly what happened at that house, but I don't believe a sexual assault occurred." The civil proceedings resume Wednesday at 9 a.m. in which Nifong's attorneys are expected to cross-examine Himan. "Right now, you've heard the direct testimony," Nifong's attorney, David Freedman, said after the hearing. "I believe there's a lot more information the investigator has to add on cross-examination." Nifong is on trial facing State Bar charges that he violated rules of professional conduct while handling the case for nearly a year. He is accused of making statements prejudicial to the defendants, making false statements to the court and withholding exculpatory DNA evidence from defense attorneys. If the Bar's three-member Disciplinary Hearing Commission decides he is guilty, he could be disbarred. "This didn't have to happen, and the horrible consequences were entirely foreseeable," State Bar Counsel Katherine E. Jean said during her opening statement. "The harm done to these three young men and their families and the justice system of North Carolina is devastating." Freedman, in his opening statement, recounted the very early days of the case, highlighting evidence he said led Nifong to believe a crime had occurred. "It is not unethical to pursue what someone may believe to be an unwinnable case," Freedman said. "That is not an issue here today." Freedman said Nifong made about 98 percent of his statements early on in the case before suspects were identified and charged. "I believe you will hear him testify that he regrets making those statements," Freedman said, adding that Nifong wanted to solve the reported crime and wanted to urge people to come forward with information about the case. "And then, he stopped talking, realizing it would be improper to go on," Freedman said. Jean also talked about meetings Nifong had with the Dr. Brian Meehan, director of DNA Securities Inc., at which she said Nifong learned that none of the players' DNA matched that material found in and on the Mangum. "There is no evidence - none - of any sort of agreement with Mr. Nifong and anybody to exclude evidence," Freedman said. Prior to Himan's testimony, Finnerty's defense attorney, Wade Smith, took the witness stand and testified that Nifong's actions in the early days of the Duke lacrosse investigation were "far over the line" and helped contribute to media frenzy when he made comments about the case. "I think the statements he made, in effect, took this case out of the court system and deposited it in the hands of the public," Smith said during his testimony, which lasted more than an hour. "It was removed from the jurisdiction of Superior Court and put into the hands of the people of Durham County." Smith also testified that he and other defense attorneys representing other lacrosse players had tried at least twice to meet with Nifong to talk about the case and engage in dialog. "He said he was not hearing what we had to say," Smith said. "He said that he knew more about the case than we knew and that he knew things that we did not know. … The meeting ended with our feeling that we had pushed as far as we could." Worried the pending ethics charges might result in an unfair trial, Nifong asked Cooper's office to take over the lacrosse prosecution in January. By then, most experts and legal observers had long since concluded the case could not be won. Cooper agreed in April and dropped all charges against the three players. In a stunning rebuke, Cooper said there was no rape or attack, calling the indicted players "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse." Nifong's trial is garnering national interest as crews spent Monday wiring the courtroom at the North Carolina Court of Appeals. For the first time in history, the State Bar is holding a trial there to accommodate the large crowd. The courtroom was opened at 8 a.m., and people were turned away because of a lack of space. Among those watching from the gallery Tuesday were the mothers of Finnerty and Evans. Seligmann and Finnerty are expected to attend the trial at some point. Attorneys for all three players were in the courtroom Tuesday."

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1492534/

6/12/2007 8:00:15 PM

any bets as to if Nifong will end up getting his pension ? I think he's close, bet that's most of why
he hasn't resigned into obscurity... but that's just my guess.

6/13/2007 6:22:32 PM

Wow, what a jackass, if what he did wasn't illegal, it should made to be, and they should throw him in jail.

[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 7:17 PM. Reason : ]

6/13/2007 7:16:14 PM

seliggman testimony at nifong ethics hearing

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/law/2007/06/15/sot.duke.seligmann.testimony.couttv

6/15/2007 12:52:18 PM

Nifuck FUCKWAD!

6/15/2007 1:13:55 PM

NIFOWNED

6/15/2007 1:36:10 PM

Nifong just resigned...or something like that.

[Edited on June 15, 2007 at 4:13 PM. Reason : add]

6/15/2007 3:51:35 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2905141

He announced that he is resigning, but the prosecution is continuing to push for him to be disbarred.

6/15/2007 5:26:01 PM

this is hilarious

Quote :

" He also testified about the DNA tests, saying that when he turned over the report to the defense, he "believed at the time that I had given them everything." He said he didn't realize until months later that additional DNA information was missing. "My first reaction was a variation of 'oh crap,"' Nifong said. "'I didn't give them this?"' "

6/15/2007 6:01:33 PM

^ ah yes.... got to love the old "i'm not a bad person, i'm just incompetent and horrible at my job!" defense. Kenneth Lay perfected that one.

6/15/2007 6:22:41 PM

NIFOWNED

6/15/2007 7:56:59 PM

Quote :

"Even if he is disbarred, Nifong's troubles aren't over - the players' attorneys have pledged to seek criminal contempt charges next week in Durham."

6/16/2007 11:55:15 AM

hahaha


biggest pwnage ever


i hope he goes to jail

6/16/2007 2:42:22 PM

he BETTER go to jail...WITH Crystal Magnam.....i hate both of them.

6/16/2007 3:09:03 PM

6/16/2007 3:13:21 PM

wow, what an asshole

he just "surrendered" his license to the state bar after putting them through all of this expense and effort, right before they disbarred him.

6/16/2007 4:30:35 PM

I don't think they accepted it. The panel said he could not surrender his license at this point. He was probably trying to save face somehow, too bad he never gave a shit until he was being faced with his entire career down the drain.

6/16/2007 4:52:47 PM

i just want to hear an apology from all the liberal assholes who were so quick to protest against these guys. proof that fucking liberals are ridiculous and out of control.

Quote :

""The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, it's that they know so much that isn't true." "

- Ronald Reagan

6/16/2007 6:00:28 PM

^ I consider myself fairly "liberal", but I don't think I fit your characterization. Shame on you.

6/16/2007 6:34:14 PM

Quote :

"i just want to hear an apology from all the liberal assholes who were so quick to protest against these guys. proof that fucking liberals are ridiculous and out of control."

i could not agree with you MORE!

please PM all apologies to me, Deshman007.

6/16/2007 8:06:00 PM

i'm a "liberal" and i thought those charges were sketchy from the beginning.

but i'd say most liberals dont want to lock people up without fair trials. that's more of a neo-con patriot-act sort of mentality. sorry.

6/16/2007 8:14:24 PM

Why the fuck would they apologize to you?

6/16/2007 9:31:17 PM

hey dickface, the conservatives jumped all over this shit too. it's not like faux news had a blackout on the story

i think you're mixing up the definitions of "liberal" and "jesse jackson"

you ignorant fuckwad

[Edited on June 17, 2007 at 2:22 AM. Reason : ,]

6/17/2007 2:21:36 AM

what he said ^

6/17/2007 2:38:48 AM

lol omg......so somehow this is now a political issue? one negro cries wolf and now all the sudden democrats are bad?

6/17/2007 2:46:01 AM

its always been nothing but a political issue. that is, the fucked-up brand of NC and Durham County politics.

which does not, in any way, translate into some sort of larger national Reps vs. Dems issue.

6/17/2007 2:58:53 AM

^ no shit.
I'm a liberal and I hang out with a generally exclusively liberal crowd, and I don't know a single person who thought along the Jesse Jackson route that this was all some kind of "we're trying to put the black-man down"

6/17/2007 9:51:25 AM

hey dickface, the conservatives jumped all over this shit too. it's not like faux news had a blackout on the story

i think you're mixing up the definitions of "liberal" and "jesse jackson"

you ignorant fuckwad

6/17/2007 10:36:50 AM

It's pretty much customary for liberals to believe that the white kid is always guilty/black man is always innocent. America is always wrong, North Korea is always right. Give terrorists rights, but take rights away from our citizens...you get the idea.

6/17/2007 12:05:30 PM

maybe that's what your revisionist definition of liberal means, but everyone else defines liberals as "a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties".

I know tons of liberals who thought this whole thing was just a big political ploy for Nifong to appeal to the black population. They were incredibly outraged at just how fucked up our protection from the court system has become when someone inside the DA's office decides that it's time for you to go.

6/17/2007 12:13:15 PM

Everyone knows that the traditional meaning for liberal has *nothing* to do with a liberal in America today. Same goes for conservative.

6/17/2007 12:17:17 PM

so what are the likely outcomes of future civil/criminal cases?

is it possible that they can somehow bankrupt this guy and also send him to jail for a couple years?

6/17/2007 2:12:45 PM