Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Sentenced To One Day In Jail

Associated Press:

Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III could have sentenced Nifong, who had already been stripped of his law license and had resigned from office, to as many as 30 days in jail and given him a fine as high as $500. Instead, he opted for a largely symbolic punishment -- the public humiliation of sending a prosecutor to jail -- that he said would help protect the integrity of the justice system.

"If what I impose with regard to Mr. Nifong would make things better or different for what's already happened, I don't know what it would be or how I could do it," Smith said.

Read the whole story: Associated Press

Comments

[baramba]

THE BEST LAWYER IS,WHO KNOWS THE LAW!!??

NOOOO,THE BEST LAWYER IS ,WHO KNOWS THE JUDGE.
THIS A FACT ABOUT OUR BELOVED COUNTRY,WE ARE INVADED BY CORRUPT LAWYERS,AND CORRUPT JUDGES!
HOW MANY DAYES I WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN ,IF I WERE IN CONTEMPT OF COURT RULES.HA HA HA HA .
AMERICA WAKE UP AND VOTE BOTH PARTY OUT,DON'T BE SELFISH,IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY VOTE THEM OUT.YAHOOO­OOOOOOOOOO­OOOOOOOOOO­OOOO.

[wadenelson1]

something wrong with the caps lock on your keyboard?

[NABNYC]

Re: Nifong, the Duke LaCrosse Prosecutor: The reason there are laws requiring prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense is because there is a long history of prosecutors hiding that evidence. In other words, prosecutors are in many cases more interested in their own "win" record than they are in justice.

To see this man attacked on a national level is such a joke. His real crime is that he took the side of a black stripper against some white frat boys from "good" families. His real offense is siding with the underprivileged and with blacks.

How many young black men are wrongly charged in his state every day? Why not outrage from the frat-boy parents about that? Well because those young black men cannot afford private defense counsel, and are dependent on state-provided counsel who are assigned thousands of files, and can't even keep their clients' names straight never mind do any real legal work. Prosecutors threaten to go for the "max" - ludicrous over-charging of a guy with a dot of drugs, and threatening to turn that into a major drug-dealer charge, to force defendants to plea bargain. In other words, go to jail, get a record, innocent or not.

This whole thing is just sickening to see these white arrogant wealthy and powerful southerners pretend they are outraged at the thought that a district attorney would take the word of a black stripper over the word of the white southern privileged frat boys.

Remember, these "nice" boys were college boys, jocks, hiring strippers. That's not "nice" in my book. It's just a sign of privileged white males using women, in this case a black woman, for their own sexual gratification in exchange for money. Who's the victim here?

[Independent voter]

A ho is a ho buddy boy. If she didn't want't to be 'used', she should have picked another career path.

[wadenelson1]

Amen.

[autodefensa]

NABNYC

Good post. There was a news article to the effect that semen from at least five men unrelated to the lacrosse team players was all over every items in evidence. It looks like the good ole boys' club made sure semen specimens were applied liberally to support their assertion that the woman was a "sl*t," and therefore (in their estimation) deserved to be raped.

[Happyfella]

Hey stupid....­there was no evidence that they raped her. Face it she was looking for nice fat lawsuit and it blew up in her face. She fucked up their season and ruined their reputations with a lie. She is nothing but a slut and she deserves to have her face and name spread as far and as wide as she spreads her legs.

[IntrepidReader]

None of the lacrosse players charged in this crime were southerners, NABNYC. Perhaps if you'd studied the case a bit more carefully you would have noticed that two of them are from places just outside of......NY­C.

And your point is that somehow they're at fault because their families were able to get them good lawyers, instead of being angry at a system that makes it almost impossible for someone without money to clear himself of a wrongful accusation? I completely agree with you that poor defendants get railroaded every day, and perhaps the spotlight on Nifong will make other prosecutors think twice before they move so quickly to slam dunk someone into jail.

Hiring strippers isn't illegal, so let's just move on past that lame "but but" argument, shall we? Besides, where else would a drug-and-alcohol dependent bipolar woman make 400.00 for a couple of hours of dancing and trying to act sexy? Are strippers really being used and exploited? I remember seeing a Maury Povitch show where a woman in the audience castigated a stripper, and the stripper replied that she had been used by men when she worked her butt off as a legal secretary for peanuts while her bosses made big money, now she was getting 1500.00 bucks a night in salary and tips for dancing in her scanties; she laughed and said she wasn't feeling exploited at all....NOW­.

[1will]

Good post.

[heath]

EVERY single prosecuter in this country is guilty of what Nifong did. He is being railroaded because it is abhorrent in this age to act like privileged folk are privy to the same 'justice' as common folk.

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

Well, he got more time than Nicole Richie.

What the hell is going on with the judicial system? He ruins the lives of those young men and he gets a day in jail?

I just hope it's Riker's or Attica.

[sparkey]

Justice will happen if he has to pay for what he did to those students. I want to see him lose everything he has or ever will have. That will send a symbolic punishment to other DA's who want to run for public office while hiding evidence.

[Purcy]

Amazing...­wonder why it's called justice???

[Bystander]

And the stripper who made the false accusations gets...not­hing.

[Iluvbush3]

Still afraid to confront her because of the NAPPY HEADED HO remark. But as Freud once said, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"

[autodefensa]

Bystander

It wasn't enough that the three party boys brutally raped her in a bathroom and she was vilified and put on trial for reporting it. You feel she deserves even more punishment.

Well I, too, feel sorry for the poor little gang rapists. Excuse me while I wipe the tears I've been shedding for them and blow my nose.

[Chubbster]

What a moron. No one got raped but the Duke students.

[1will]

Are you (and GEG on the Huffpost) the last two people in America that believes this stripper/protitute was really raped?

[Waitaminute]

They strippers, the strip club owners were paid off. Threaten with closure, fine or criminal charges. There is no way, the stripper and her fellow stripper, would not be charged, if this was not the case. Especially in North Carolina.

[1will]

Not entirely true. Don't forget that Jesse and his group paid for her college tuition. Who says crime doesn't pay?

[Blutus]

How brutal.

[shawshank]

White folks in the U.S. are straight out of the old testament. An unforgiving and vengeful bunch. See how they are all so gleeful over the brutal destruction of a man's life.
His true crime, he dared to take the eternally wrong side. Wonder how you'll all feel when he jumps.

[Chubbster]

He ought to jump for what he did. Or use razor blades.

[1will]

Have you forgotten that this man tried to destroy the lives of 3 other men just so he could win a couple of elections?