"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -- Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Even with Paris. Especially with the Duke lacrosse players. It will be fascinating to see the tables turned on disgraced Duke District attorney Mike Nifong's ethics trial today as we mourn yesterday's failure to free Genarlow Wilson. Genarlow is still serving ten years for consensual oral sex despite a fleeting moment where it appeared that he would be freed.
Yet, many Americas actually think that Lady Justice is truly blind. When the harsh reality is that some Judges just love their fifteen minutes of fame; district attorneys get it wrong and lie about it; and the justice system does treat the rich and famous differently.
Usually the rich and famous got better treatment. Not so, in both the Paris Hilton and Duke rape case. In Paris' case, she's getting worse treatment like the Duke Lacrosse players. Genarlow has a great lawyer but hasn't benefitted from the same media glare as the wronged Duke Lacrosse players. Sunshine is a powerful disinfectant. We need more sunshine in all these cases.
The Criminal Justice system should treat everyone the same, no one should be treated better or worse. Rich or poor; black or white; or whether you possess crack cocaine or powder cocaine. (We might be inching towards racial fairness when it come to ending the disparities for sentencing for cocaine. )
Judges crave the spotlight.
Some Judges do grandstand, The Dancing Itos couldn't steal the spotlight from the real Judge Lance Ito. Who can forget Anna Nicole's own grandstanding,judicial putz? Remember legal loon, Larry "Give Me A TV Show Please" Seidlin. breaking down in tears on stand?
The Judicial grandstanding in the Paris Hilton case is downright dull in comparison, it is nevertheless, grandstanding. Sure there's no late night dance troupe, no ham-handed auditions but Judge Sauer was waiting for his close-up to send a message.
Don't get me wrong, Paris did drive drunk. What she did was dangerous and illegal. But she should not serve more time an ordinary person. Now she is serving several days for crime that an ordinary person would serve no days for. She's getting reverse celebrity treatment. Sheriff Baca said it best when he criticized Paris' sentence:
"The only thing I can detect as special treatment is her sentence," Baca said. "The special treatment, in a sense, appears to be because of her celebrity status."
And Paris got caught in the middle of a legal, pissing match between Judge Sauer and Sheriff Baca. Baca was "Alberto Gonzales clumsy" when it came to explaining WHY he freed Paris. Baca could have credibly documented his reasoning for releasing Paris with the judge. [It also didn't help that Sheriff Baca is not without a whiff of scandal when it comes to celebrities like him allegedly, initially covering up Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirades during Gibson's own drunk driving incident. Despite the Gibson celebrity stench, it appears Baca got it right with Hilton.]
DA's Also Get It Wrong and Lie About It. They "Nifong" People.
Attorney Generals, Prosecutors and District Attorneys get it wrong. They railroad people. Low income people having been talking about this unfairness for years.
It almost seems like pig-piling by mentioning Attorney General Gonzales missteps. Almost. One problem with Gonzales, is he has so much sleazy stuff going on right now, its hard to know where to begin.
Last summer we had Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy fall for John Mark Carr's fake and easily disproved confession that he murdered Jon-Benet Ramsey.
Nifong Goes on Trial Today.
And Duke Prosecutor Mike Nifong goes on trial today on ethics charges. The North Carolina State Bar has charged Nifong with a number of ethical violations: making inflammatory statements out of court, misleading the public, hiding DNA evidence favorable to the defense and then lying about it to the court.
Nifong got it SO wrong that he's now become a verb!
On the Internet, Nifong's name had entered the lexicon as a verb meaning "to be railroaded" and as a noun synonymous for "unethical prosecutor."
It will be fascinating to watch Nifong defend himself for this miscarriage of justice:
Nifong confidently trumpeted he would not allow Durham to become known best for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl." He thundered away at the Duke players in numerous interviews, calling them "hooligans" and decrying a "blue wall of silence" when claiming they weren't cooperating with police. In fact, they largely were.
He traded barbs with defense attorneys in testy courtroom exchanges and pressed ahead even when it became clear his only evidence was the accuser's myriad accounts of an attack that state prosecutors would later conclude never occurred.
It wasn't until the North Carolina State Bar accused Nifong of violating several rules of professional conduct, including making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion, that he turned the case over to state prosecutors.
More ethics charges followed, include allegations he withheld details of DNA evidence from the defense that showed several men's genetic material was found on the accuser -- though none from a lacrosse player.
Look for Nifong to play the 'blame game". Based on his previous filing, he's likely to blame the Durham Police for not being forthcoming with evidence. I am not sure who he will blame for "fudging" the DNA results, although the DA in the Kobe Bryant case also tried to his argue that the multiple semen samples soaking his accuser were irrelevant when he was mounting his dirty underwear defense. I am not quite sure who Nifong can blame for violating North Carolina's ban on pre-trial publicity when he gave over 70 interviews early on in the case.
What to make of the Duke accuser? She was a deeply troubled girl with a history of mental problems . The glaring inconsistencies in her story should have been sent flares up immediately. They actually did but Nifong disregarded them. She should not have lied but her lies look on a life of their own when fanned by Nifong.
There is an upside to the media flurry about Paris and Duke.
We are having a national critique of the criminal justice system. Even Paris is talking about overcrowding:
I have already served 30 percent of my time. I hope if there is overcrowding in the jail, I would be let out before someone with a much more serious crime.
We can't talk about overcrowding and not talk about the failed the War on Drugs. Would someone please explain to me why the War on Drugs isn't a bigger issue in the Presidential Campaign? Please!?
The Duke Players Get It Right .
And finally Duke players said what some of us have been saying for a while about Lady Justice:
The three former defendants, visibly angry over their treatment, called Wednesday for reforms in the justice system and restraint in the media. (...)
The players and their attorneys acknowledged that innocent people go to prison because they can't afford high-powered legal teams. (...)
"Many people across this country, across this state, would not have the opportunity that we did, and this could simply have been brushed underneath the rug just as another case and some innocent person would end up in jail for their entire life," Evans said. "It's just not right." (...)
"There seem to be some flaws in the legal system that should be addressed," Finnerty said. "The fact that in North Carolina there are no recordings of the grand jury, and to establish checks and balances on district attorneys."
It will be interesting to hear their response's to Nifong's ethics trial.
Genarlow is Still Getting "Nifonged" as are Many Juveniles.
Fellow Huffpo Blogger Stephen Elliott and Columnist Bob Herbert are both talking about just how harshly we treat juveniles in this country was we fuel "school to prison pipeline."
Fellow Huffpo Blogger Trey Ellis captures my anguish over Genralow's "you are free! Not so fast" reversal. I've blogged for months about this miscarriage of justice here, here and here. As Trey suggests, the next step is to share your outrage with Georgia's Governor calling for the removal of Attorney General Thurbert Baker and the original prosecutor District Attorney David McDade.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.